BY STEAMER TO NEW ORLEANS. 115 



"New Orleans," now some 240 miles distant, about 

 which I had heard so much. But on the second day, 

 when I was still some hundred miles from it, a little 

 above Baton Rouge, it came on to blow fresh, and the 

 wind caused such a swell in the river, that I could no 

 longer keep my little craft free of water ; indeed it 

 was not without great effort and difficulty that I was 

 able to reach the shore. 



There was a farm near the place where I landed, 

 whose owner had a quantity of wood for sale, ready 

 cut, and piled up for the use of steamers. A steamer, 

 bound for New Orleans, was in the act of wooding at 

 the time. It w^ould have been folly to have attempted 

 to continue the voyage in such a swell in so frail a craft 

 as mine, and as I found the farmer willing to buy her 

 ■we soon agreed as to terms. I transferred my effects 

 to the steamer, and late on the same evening arrived at 

 New Orleans. 



For the night I slept on board, but early the next 

 morning went to a German tavern to refresh myself 

 after all the hardships I had undergone, and to sleep 

 in a regular bed. Oh, how comfortably I stretched 

 myself on the soft mattress ! I got up very early to 

 have a look at the place, liaving no wish to show my- 

 self in the costume of a savage when the streets were 

 thronged. For nine months my hair had been uncut, 

 and during five no razor had approached my chin ; 

 then what with my old woollen hunting-shirt, my em- 

 broidered belt, and the high waterproof boots, which 

 had faithfully held out to the last, people would have 

 thought me more like a scarecrow than a human being : 

 my first visit was to a barber. 



