SAMPSON IN NEW YORK CITY. 163 
Never before had he left the peaceful quiet of this little island 
world. Passing over nearly a thousand miles of a solitude such 
as only the immense, pathless, treeless wastes of the ocean can 
produce, he landed at last in that immense, seething, boiling, 
noisy whirlpool of intensified human life—the great city of New 
York. Afraid of being cheated—atraid of being robbed—afraid 
of being run over—afraid of being, in a hundred ways new to 
him, killed—not merely a stranger in a new land, but an ignorant, 
semi-tropical, Bahama African in a babel and pandemonium far 
surpassing anything his imagination had ever conceived, he seemed 
for a time to have every particle of life taken out of him. The 
ferryboats, constantly passing and repassing loaded with passen- 
gers—the immense labyrinth of streets and avenues, stretching 
away in every direction farther than he could see—the great, 
elaborate and expensive buildings of every description—the street 
railroads, and particularly the vast crowds that made it necessary 
to carry people on elevated railroads over the heads of those rush- 
ing in a ceaseless tide below—and the loud, harsh, deafening and 
infernal mingling of noises that ever ascended day and night— 
all wonderfully impressed him, and revealed a much more new 
and strange world to him than his own Bahamas did to Columbus 
nearly four hundred years ago. He got lost in New York seven 
times the first day after his arrival; paid ten cents to go to Cen- 
tral Park, and, after a long ride, he was astonished (and almost 
scared at the seeming witchcraft) to find himself at the precise 
place he started from. ‘‘ Why,” said he, “der ting had turned 
round and I know’d nothing ’bout it, and I had to pay my ten 
cents over agin.” He still retains a vivid impression of the de- 
licious flavor of northern strawberries, but ate so many he de- 
clared that at night ‘‘dey confused” hisstomach. His sea voyage 
seasoned to his taste everything he ate. ‘‘ Why,” said he, “I’d 
give more for jess wun mutton chop like as dat I had in New 
