SOUTH AMERICA. 
There was a great number of well-dressed ladies and 
gentlemen in the vessel, all entire strangers to me. I 
fancied I could see several, whose countenances invited 
an unknown wanderer to come and take a seat be¬ 
side them; but there was one who encouraged me more 
than the rest. I saw clearly that he was an Ameri¬ 
can, 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 after¬ 
wards 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 infor¬ 
mation ; 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 Ameri¬ 
can ; and in a little time observed that he presumed 
I 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 every thing 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 
