CHAP. XX VII.] GOODS AT NORTHERN PRICES. 121 



superior healthiness may be less preposterous than at 

 first it sounded to my ears. I asked an Irishman if 

 the summer heat was intolerable. &quot; You would have 

 something else to think of in the hot months,&quot; said 

 he, &quot; for there is one set of musquitos who sting 

 you all day, and when they go in towards dusk, 

 another kind comes out and bites you all night.&quot; 



The desertion of the city for five months by so 

 many of the richer residents, causes the hotels, and 

 the prices of almost every article in shops, to be very 

 dear during the remainder of the year. &quot; Goods 

 selling at northern prices&quot; is a common form of ad 

 vertisement, showing how high is the usual cost of 

 all things in this city. The Irish servants in the 

 hotel assure us that they cannot save, in spite of their 

 high wages, for, whatever money they put by soon 

 goes to pay the doctor s bill, during attacks of chill 

 and fever. 



Hearing that a Guide-book of New Orleans had 

 been published, we wished to purchase a copy, al 

 though it was of somewhat ancient date for a city of 

 rapid growth. The bookseller said that we must 

 wait till he received some more copies from New 

 York, for it appears that the printing even of books 

 of local interest is done by presses 2000 miles distant. 

 Their law reports are not printed here, and there is 

 only one newspaper in the First Municipality, which 

 I was told as very characteristic of the French race ; 

 for, in the Second Municipality, although so much 

 newer, the Anglo-Americans have, during the last ten 

 years, started ten newspapers. 



We were very fortunate in finding our old friend, 



VOL. II. G 



