174 THUNDER-SHOWER. [CHAP. XXX. 



everywhere on the land bordering the river. The 

 relative value of coloured and white labour was here, 

 as elsewhere, a favourite theme of conversation, when 

 there happened to be passengers on board from the 

 Northern States. The task of three negroes, they 

 say, in Louisiana, is to cut and bind up two cords of 

 wood in a day, whereas, a single white man in the 

 State of New York, prepares three cords daily. In 

 packing cotton, the negroes are expected to perform 

 a third less work than a white labourer. 



In the afternoon we were overtaken by a heavy 

 thunder-shower, the water pouring off the eaves of 

 our cabin roof, in copious streams, into the river, 

 through numerous spouts or tin pipes. When the 

 rain abated, I saw a fog slowly stealing over parts of 

 the stream, for the water was much colder than the 

 air. For some hours we were unable to proceed, and 

 the captain informed me, that we should remain 

 prisoners until the temperature of the Mississippi and 

 that of the atmosphere were more nearly equalised. 

 This, he hoped, would happen in one of two ways, 

 either by a renewal of rain, which would warm the 

 river, or by the wind veering round from south to 

 west, which would cool the air. The latter change 

 soon occurred, and we were instantly released. 



I was congratulated by some Northerners at 

 having escaped the musquitos. The captain said, 

 u that they who are acclimatised, suffer no longer 

 from the bites, or scarcely at all, and even the young 

 children of Creoles are proof against them, although 

 the face and neck of a new settler, whether young or 

 old, swell up frightfully. Yet the wild cattle and 



