File:Lands of the slave and the free- or, Cuba, the United States, and Canada (1857) (14779901721).jpg

Identifier: landsofslavefree00murr (find matches)
Title: Lands of the slave and the free: or, Cuba, the United States, and Canada
Year: 1857 (1850s)
Authors: Murray, Henry A. (Henry Anthony), 1810-1865
Subjects: Slavery
Publisher: London, New York, G. Routledge & co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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romthe upper country which are congregated here ; for miles andmiles the levee forms one unbroken line of them, all lyingwith their noses on shore—no room for broadsides. Onarriving, piled up with goods mountain high, scarce does abow touch the levee, when swarms of Irish and niggers rushdown, and the mountainous pile is landed, and then draggedoff by sturdy mules to its destination. Scarce is she cleared,when the same hardy sons of toil build another mountainouspile on board; the bell rings, passengers run, and she is facingthe current and the dangers of the snaggy Mississippi. Thelabour of loading and unloading steamers is, as you maysuppose, very severe, and is done for the most part by niggersand Irishmen. The average wages are from 71. to 81. permonth ; but, in times of great pressure from sudden demand,&c, they rise as high as from 127. to 14Z. per month, whichwas the case just before my arrival. The same wages arepaid to those who embark in the steamers to load and unload
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HOTELS. 141 at the different stations on the river. Every day is a workingday ; and as, by the law, the slave has his Sunday to himselfto earn what he can, the master who hires him out on theriver is supposed to give him one-seventh of the wages earned;but I believe they only receive one-seventh of the ordinarywages—i.e., 11. per month. Let us now turn from the shipping to the town. In theold, or French part, the streets are generally very narrow ;but in the American, or the La Fayette quarter, they arevery broad, and, whether from indolence or some otherreason, badly paved and worse cleansed; nevertheless, if thestreets are dirty and muddy, the houses have the advantageof being airy. There are no buildings of any importanceexcept the new Custom-house, and, of course, the hotels.The St. Louis is at present the largest; but the St. Charles,which is being rebuilt, was, and will again be, the hotel prideof New Orleans.# They are both enormous establishments,well arranged, and, with the

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