WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 287 



unknown wanderer to come and take a seat beside them ; 



but there was one who encouraged me more than the rest. 



I saw clearly that he was an American, and I judged, by 



his manners and appearance, that he had not spent all his 



time upon his native soil. I was right in this conjecture, 



for he afterwards told me that he had been in France and 



England. I saluted him as one stranger gentleman ought 



to salute another when he wants a little information ; and 



soon after, I dropped in a word or two by which he might 



conjecture that I was a foreigner; but I did not tell him 



so ; I wished him to make the discovery himself. 



He entered into conversation with the openness and 



candour which is so remarkable in the American ; and in 



a little time observed that he presumed 1 was from the 



old country. I told him that I was, and added, that I was 



an entire stranger on board. I saw his eye brighten up at 



the prospect he had of doing a fellow-creature a kind turn 



or two, and he completely won my regard by an affability 



which I shall never forget. This obliging gentleman 



pointed out everything that was grand and interesting as 



the steam-boat plied her course up the majestic Hudson 



Here the Catskill mountains raised their lofty summit; 



and there the hills came sloping down to the water's edge. 



Here he pointed to an aged and venerable oak, which 



having escaped the levelling axe of man, seemed almost 



to defy the blasting storm and desolating hand of time ; 



and there, he bade me observe an extended tract of wood, 



by which I might form an idea how rich and grand the 



face of the country had once been. Here it was that, in 



the great and momentous struggle, the colonists lost the 



day ; and there, they carried all before them : — 



" They closed full fast, on every side 

 No slackness there was found ; 

 And many a gallant gentleman 

 Lay gasping on the ground." 



