81 
Not long after our arrival, we went to the sugar-mills, behind 
the mansion-house, near the negro-quarter. The mill, in which 
the cylinders lie horizontally, is set in motion by a steam-engine 
of twelve horse-power, made in Liverpool by Faucett. The 
juice from the cane flows into the boiling-house, in which there 
are ten kettles. Mr. Andry directs himself all the operations, 
and while the mill is at work resides in a small room not far 
from the engine. He has the reputation of being very severe to 
his negroes. Whether this imputation be just or not, I could 
not decide, but twelve years ago an insurrection of the slaves 
broke out at his habitation, in which one of his brothers was 
murdered, and his father received three severe wounds with 
an axe. The garden here was not well kept. Scientific gar¬ 
deners are very difficult to be procured here. Some years before 
two ships arrived with German emigrants, who were sold to de¬ 
fray the price of their passage. There were several gardeners 
among them. These men very soon extricated themselves 
from their dependent situation, and part of them established 
themselves; but the rest fell a sacrifice to the noxious climate. As 
the term of their service was limited to a few years, their mas¬ 
ters did not give themselves much trouble to reclaim the runa¬ 
ways. Mr. Andry’s garden was surrounded by a thick hedge 
of orange trees, and contained many magnolias, orange trees, 
myrtles, jasmines, &c. We returned to the left bank about 
eleven o’clock at night, and our carriage conveyed us through the 
beautiful, mild moonlight, back to New Orleans in an hour. 
In the American theatre, “Der Freischutz” was presented 
under the title of the “Black Huntsman of Bohemia.” This 
drama, so universally known and admired, and which has follow¬ 
ed me even in America like and evil genius, (since detached 
pieces of it were sung and played in almost all companies,) I had 
never yet witnessed. Determined not to remain longer in the 
rear of the age, I therefore went to the theatre. The orchestra 
was very weak and badly filled, hardly any of the performers 
could sing; I was told that the handsomest pieces of music are 
either abridged or entirely omitted. The decorations, neverthe¬ 
less, were tolerably good, I found the boxes and galleries throng¬ 
ed. In the pit there were but few spectators, and these consist¬ 
ed of sailors and countrymen from Kentucky, who made them¬ 
selves quite at ease on the benches, and cracked nuts during the 
finest pieces of music; a custom I have noticed in all English 
theatres, and from which my tobacco-chewing neighbours in the 
boxes did not refrain. The theatre is newly erected, and is ar¬ 
ranged not untastefully. It contains, besides the pit and parquet, 
three rows of galleries as the French theatre; the boxes are only 
divided by low balustrades, so that you look out as if from a bal* 
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