218 MANNERS IN THE BACKWOODS. [CHAP. XXXII. 



surprising, in such a state of society, that they who 

 belong to the degraded race, should make every effort 

 to conceal the fact ; or, if that be impossible, to as 

 similate themselves, as far as they can, to individuals 

 of the dominant race. In proportion to the mixture 

 of white blood, the woolly, short hair of the negro 

 lengthens and straightens, and the ambition of the 

 black women is to contend with nature in torturing 

 their hair, by combing and plaiting, till it resembles, 

 as near as possible, the flowing locks of the whites. 



At one of the wooding stations, a countryman 

 came on board with his w r ife, a half-bred Indian. 

 She had straight black hair, and a soft mild eye. 

 She sat at table with us, taking her place on terms 

 of perfect equality, no distinction of caste being made 

 in this case. 



As I was pacing the deck, one passenger after 

 another eyed my short-sight glass, suspended by a 

 riband round my neck, with much curiosity. Some 

 of them asked me to read for them the name in 

 scribed on the stern of a steamer so far off that I 

 doubted whether a good telescope would have en 

 abled me to do more than discern the exact place 

 where the name was written. Others, abruptly 

 seizing the glass, without leave or apology, brought 

 their heads into close contact with mine, and, looking 

 through it, exclaimed, in a disappointed and half 

 reproachful tone, that they could see nothing. Mean 

 while, the wives and daughters of passengers of the 

 same class, were sitting idle in the ladies cabin, 

 occasionally taking my wife s embroidery out of her 

 hand, without asking leave, and examining it, with 



