82 
cony; the second gallery is destined for the reception of coloured 
spectators, among whom I saw not a single female, and in the 
upper gallery the mob and women of the town sit. The saloon 
is lit with gas, and has a very tasteful girandole. I remained 
but for a short time. 
One witnesses almost daily examples of the degrading treat¬ 
ment which the poor negroes experience. I should say nothing 
of it, but one particular scene, which roused my indignation in 
the highest manner, on the 22 d of March, I cannot suffer to pass 
in silence. There was a young Virginian female slave in our 
boarding-house, employed as a chamber maid, a cleanly, atten¬ 
tive, quiet, and very regular individual. A Frenchman residing 
in the house, called, in the morning early, for water to wash. 
As the water was not instantly brought to him, he went down 
the steps, and encountered this poor girl, who just then had some 
other occupation in hand. He struck her immediately with the 
fist, in the face, so that the blood ran from her forehead. The 
poor creature, roused by this unmerited abuse, put herself on her 
defence, and caught the Frenchman by the throat. He screamed 
for help, but no one would interfere. The fellow then ran to his; 
room, gathered his things together, and designed to leave the 
house. But when our landlady, Madam Hernes, was informed 
of this, in order to satisfy the wretch, she disgraced herself by 
having twenty-six lashes inflicted upon the poor girl with a cow¬ 
hide, and refined upon her cruelty so much, that she forced the 
sweetheart of the girl, a young negro slave, who waited in the 
house, to count off the lashes upon her. * 
The river was progressively on the rise: the level of the water 
already higher than the land. It still brought down great quan¬ 
tities of drift timber with it. It was said, that about three days 
before, an uncommonly long and thick rattlesnake had been caught 
upon a tree that had been fished out. It was killed by a stroke 
of an axe, and had eighteen rattles on its tail. From this it was 
concluded that extraordinary inundations had taken place in the 
upper countries. 
In order to pay my farewell visit to Mr. and Madam Andry, 
I crossed the Mississippi river in a little boat, and it occupied me 
full three-quarters of an hour to gain the right bank. It required 
a quarter of an hour alone to pass through the drift wood, which 
had collected on the shore. We were compelled, nevertheless, 
to direct our course parallel with the bank, for if we had attained 
* This Frenchman, a merchant’s clerk from Montpelier, was not satisfied with 
this: he went to the police, lodged a complaint against the girl, had her arrest¬ 
ed by two constables, and whipped again by them in his presence. I regret 
that I did not take a note of this miscresfnt’s name, in order that I might give 
his disgraceful conduct its merited publicity. 
