330 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOKT. 



volved. The influence which hotel bars exercise 

 over the lives and fortunes of individuals in America, 

 invests the institution with an importance which the 

 stranger is at first sight apt to overlook. At the bar, 

 many agreeable and profitable acquaintances may be 

 made, and friendships cemented. Here, too> are hard 

 bargains struck, and good stories told, and insults 

 given and received, which result in duels fought under 

 a wonderful variety of conditions, and reconciliations 

 effected, and political intrigue concocted, and opinions 

 ventilated ; here men celebrate their first meeting 

 after a long and eventful inter vaL of years, and here 

 they pledge each other before parting, to join some 

 adventurous expedition, from which they have little 

 chance of returning. New Orleans is, of all others, 

 the city of the United States where " the bubbling 

 passions of the country " most freely find a vent. It 

 is conveniently situated in a filibustering point of 

 view, and a favourite point of concentration for the 

 more reckless spirits of the South, who find in the 

 mixed and somewhat rowdy crowd which throng its 

 streets and bars a congenial atmosphere. It is not to 

 be supposed, however, that this constitutes the society 

 of New Orleans. While its fluctuating population is 

 composed of such varied materials, its social attractions 

 are as great, if not greater, than those of any other 

 city in the Union. In its clubs the visitor will find 

 a cordial and hearty welcome ; at its opera he will be 

 fascinated by an array of beauty more brilliant than 



