“To-day we pass among plantations on both sides of the river.  We begin to see the live-oak—­a noble tree.  The foliage is so thick and dark that I have learned to know it by its color.  The magnolia trees, too, are becoming fragrant.

“March 31.  We are at length in New Orleans, and up three flights at the St. Charles, in a dark room.

“The peculiarities of the city dawn upon me very slowly.  I first noticed the showy dress of the children, then the turbaned heads of the black women in the streets, and next the bouquet-selling boys with their French phrases.

“April 3.  This morning we went to a slave market.  It looked on first entrance like an intelligence office.  Men, women, and children were seated on long benches parallel with each other.  All rose at our entrance, and continued standing while we were there.  We were told by the traders to walk up and down the passage between them, and talk with them as we liked.  As Mr. S. passed the men, several lifted their hands and said, ’Here’s the boy that will suit you; I can do any kind of work.’  Some advertised themselves with a good deal of tact.  One woman pulled at my shawl and asked me to buy her.  I told her that I was not a housekeeper.  ‘Not married?’ she asked.—­’No.’—­’Well, then, get married and buy me and my husband.’

“There was a girl among them whiter than I, who roused my sympathies very much.  I could not speak to her, for the past and the future were too plainly told in her face.  I spoke to another, a bright-looking girl of twelve.  ’Where were you raised?’—­’In Kentucky.’—­’And why are you to be sold?’—­’The trader came to Kentucky, bought me, and brought me here.’  I thought what right had I to be homesick, when that poor girl had left all her kindred for life without her consent.

“I could hold my tongue and look around without much outward show of disgust, but to talk pleasantly to the trader I could not consent.  He told me that he had been brought up in the business, but he thought it a pity.

“No buyers were present, so there was no examination that was painful to look upon.

“The slaves were intelligent-looking, and very healthy and neat in appearance.  Those who belonged to one owner were dressed alike—­some in striped pink and white dresses, others in plaid, all a little showy.  The men were in thick trousers and coarse dark-blue jackets.

“April 5.  We have been this morning to a negro church.  We found it a miserable-looking house, mostly unpainted and unplastered, but well filled with the swarthy faces.  They were singing when we entered; we were pointed to a good seat.

“There may have been fifty persons present, all well dressed; the women in the fanciful checkered headdresses so much favored by the negro race, the men in clean collars, nankin trousers, and dark coats.  All showed that they were well kept and well fed.

“The audience was increased by new comers frequently, and these, whatever the exercise might be, shook hands with those around them as they seated themselves, and joined immediately in the services.  The singing was by the whole congregation, the minister lining out the hymns as in the early times in New England.