CHAP. XXIII.] SOUTHERN STEAMBOAT. 45 



It was the first of these magnificent southern river boats \ve had 

 seen, fitted up for the two-fold purpose of carrying as many bales 

 of cotton as can be heaped upon them without their sinking, and 

 taking in as many passengers as can enjoy the luxuries which 

 southern mariners and a hot climate require, especially spacious 

 cabins, abundance of fresh air, and protection from the heat of 

 the sun. We afterward saw many larger steam vessels, arid some 

 of them fitted up in finer style, but none which made such an 

 impression on our minds as the Amaranth. A vessel of such 

 dimensions makes a grand appearance in a river so narrow as the 

 Alabama at Montgomery ; whereas, if she were a third longer, 

 she would be comparatively insignificant on the Mississippi. The 

 principal cabins run the whole length of the ship on a deck above 

 that on which the machinery is placed, and where the cotton is 

 piled up. This upper deck is chiefly occupied with a handsome 

 saloon, about 200 feet long, the ladies cabin at one end, opening 

 into it with folding doors. Sofas, rocking-chairs, tables, and a 

 stove are placed in this room, which is lighted by windows from 

 above. On each side of it is a row of sleeping apartments, each 

 communicating by one door with the saloon, while the other leads 

 out to the guard, as they call it, a long balcony or gallery, cov 

 ered with a shade or verandah, which passes round the whole 

 boat. The second class, or deck passengers, sleep where they 

 can on the lower floor, where, Jbesides the engine and the cotton, 

 there are prodigious heaps of w r ood, which are devoured with 

 marvelous rapidity by the furnace, and are as often restored at 

 the different landings, a set of negroes being purposely hired for 

 that work. 



These steamers, notwithstanding their size, draw very little 

 water, for they are constructed for rivers which rise and fall very 

 rapidly. They can not quite realize the boast of a western cap 

 tain, &quot; that he could sail wherever it was damp ;&quot; but I was 

 assured that some of them could float in two feet water. The 

 high-pressure steam escapes into the air, by a succession of explo 

 sions alternately from the pipes of the two engines. It is a most 

 unearthly sound, like that of some huge monster gasping for 

 breath ; and when they clear the boilers of the sediment collected 



