CHAP. XXX.] THUNDER-SHOWER. 135 



of the youths, the inability of southern planters to govern their 

 children themselves, and their unwillingness to delegate the 

 necessary authority to the masters of universities or schools. 

 &quot; But they are growing wiser,&quot; he said, &quot; and vigorous efforts 

 are making to improve the discipline in the university of Char- 

 lottesville, in Virginia, which has hitherto been too lax. 



We soon afterward passed a convent on the same bank, and I 

 heard praise bestowed on the &quot; Sisters of Charity,&quot; for their 

 management of a hospital. 



At St. Thomas s Point, about twenty-five miles above New 

 Orleans, we passed a fine plantation, which formerly belonged to 

 Mr. Preston, of South Carolina, a distinguished member of Con 

 gress, whose acquantaince I made in 1842. There are, I am 

 told, nearly 1000 negroes here, and I am astonished at the large 

 proportion of the colored race settled every where on the land 

 bordering the river. The relative value of colored and white 

 labor was here, as elsewhere, a favorite 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 laborer. 



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 w r e 

 should remain prisoners until the temperature of the Mississippi 

 and that of the atmosphere were more nearly equalized. 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 w r ould cool the air. The latter 

 change soon occurred, and we were instantly released. 



I was congratulated by some northerners at having escaped 

 the musquitocs. The captain said, &quot;that they who are acclirnat- 



