I was on board at the advertised time; but punctuality on a Mississippi
steamboat must not be expected; and I found myself too early, by a
couple of hours at least.
The time was not thrown away. I spent it to some profit in examining
the peculiar craft in which I had embarked. I say, _peculiar_; for the
steamers employed upon the Mississippi and its tributary waters are
unlike those of any other country--even unlike those in use in the
Atlantic or Eastern States.
They are strictly "river-boats," and could not live in anything like a
rough sea; though the reckless owners of some of them have occasionally
risked them along the coast from Mobile to Galveston, Texas!
The hull is built like that of a sea boat, but differs materially from
the latter in depth of hold. So shallow is it, that there is but little
stowage-room allowed; and the surface of the main deck is but a few
inches above the water-line. Indeed, when the boat is heavily laden,
the waves lip over the gunwales. Upon the deck is placed the machinery;
and there rest the huge cast-iron boilers, and the grates or "furnaces,"
necessarily large, because the propelling power is produced from logs of
wood. There, also, most of the freight is stowed, on account of the
light capacity of the hold; and on every part, not occupied by the
machinery and boilers, may be seen piles of cotton-bales, hogsheads of
tobacco, or bags of corn, rising to the height of many feet. This is
the freight of a down-river-boat. On the return trip, of course, the
commodities are of a different character, and consist of boxes of Yankee
furniture, farming implements, and "notions," brought round by ship from
Boston; coffee in bags from the West Indies, rice, sugar, oranges, and
other products of the tropical South.
On the after-part of this deck is a space allotted to the humbler class
of travellers known as "deck passengers." These are never Americans.
Some are labouring Irish--some poor German emigrants on their way to the
far North-West; the rest are negroes--free, or more generally slaves.
I dismiss the hull by observing that there is a good reason why it is
built with so little depth of hold. It is to allow the boats to pass
the shoal water in many parts of the river, and particularly during the
season of drought. For such purpose the lighter the draught, the
greater the advantage; and a Mississippi captain, boasting of the
capacity of his boat in this respect, declared, that all he wanted was
_a heavy dew upon, the grass, to enable him to propel her across the
prairies_!
If there is but little of a Mississippi steamboat under the water, the
reverse is true of what may be seen above its surface. Fancy a
two-story house some two hundred feet in length, built of plank, and
painted to the whiteness of snow; fancy along the upper story a row of
green-latticed windows, or rather doors, thickly set, and opening out
upon a narrow balcony; fancy a flattish or slightly rounded roof covered
with tarred canvas, and in the centre a range of sky-lights like glass
forcing-pits; fancy, towering above all, two enormous black cylinders of
sheet-iron, each ten feet in diameter, and nearly ten times as high, the
"funnels" of the boat; a smaller cylinder to one side, the
"'scape-pipe;" a tall flag-staff standing up from the extreme end of the
bow, with the "star-spangled banner" flying from its peak;--fancy all
these, and you may form some idea of the characteristic features of a
steamboat on the Mississippi.
Enter the cabin, and for the first time you will be struck with the
novelty of the scene. You will there observe a splendid saloon, perhaps
a hundred feet in length, richly carpeted and adorned throughout. You
will note the elegance of the furniture,--costly chairs, sofas, tables,
and lounges; you will note the walls, richly gilded and adorned with
appropriate designs; the crystal chandeliers suspended from the ceiling;
the hundred doors that lead to the "state-rooms" on each side, and the
immense folding-door of stained or ornamental glass, which shuts in the
sacred precinct of the "ladies' saloon." In short, you will note all
around you a style and luxuriance to which you, as a European traveller,
have not been accustomed. You have only read of such a scene in some
Oriental tale--in Mary Montagu, or the "Arabian Nights."
And yet all this magnificence is sometimes sadly at variance with the
style of the company that occupies it--for this splendid saloon is as
much the property of the coarse "rowdy" as of the refined gentleman.
You are startled by the apparition of a rough horse-skin boot elevated
along the edge of the shining mahogany; and a dash of brown nicotian
juice may have somewhat altered the pattern of the carpet! But these
things are exceptional--more exceptional now than in the times of which
I write.
Having satisfied myself with examining the interior structure of the
"Belle of the West," I sauntered out in front of the cabin. Here a
large open space, usually known as the "awning," forms an excellent
lounging-place for the male passengers. It is simply the continuation
of the "cabin-deck," projected forward and supported by pillars that
rest upon the main deck below. The roof, or "hurricane-deck," also
carried forward to the same point, and resting on slight wooden props,
screens this part from sun or rain, and a low guard-rail running around
it renders it safe. Being open in front and at both sides, it affords
the best view; and having the advantage of a cool breeze, brought about
by the motion of the boat, is usually a favourite resort. A number of
chairs are here placed to accommodate the passengers, and smoking is
permitted.
He must take very little interest in the movements of human life, who
cannot kill an hour by observing it upon the "Levee" of New Orleans; and
having seated myself and lighted my cigar, I proceeded to spend an hour
in that interesting occupation.