ItiG MANNERS IN THE BACKWOODS. [CHAP, XXXII. 



whose children she had been sitting, that she was really a good 

 girl, who knew no better. The stewardess also, knowing she 

 should incur blame, came and apologized for her mistake, ob 

 serving that the girl was quite undistinguishable by her com 

 plexion from a white. There was a quadroon lady on board, 

 of very respectable appearance and manners, who w^as taking all 

 her meals in her own state-room, thus avoiding the risk of meet 

 ing with similar indignities. It is not 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 assimilate 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 tortur 

 ing 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 wife, a half-breed 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 ribbon round my neck, with 

 much curiosity. Some of them asked me to read for them the 

 name inscribed on the stern of a steamer so far off that I doubted 

 whether a good telescope would have enabled 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, ex 

 claimed, in a disappointed and half reproachful tone, that they 

 could see nothing. Meanwhile, the wives and daughters of pas 

 sengers 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 many comments, usually, 

 however, in a complimentary strain. To one who is studying 

 the geology of the valley of the Mississippi, the society of such 

 companions may be endurable for a few weeks. He ought to 

 recollect that they form the great majority of those who support 



