Letter XLII.—­The Willey House.—­Mount Washington.—­Scenery of the White Mountains.—­A Hen Mother of Puppies.

Letter XLIII.—­Passage to Savannah.—­Passengers in the Steamer.—­Old Times in Connecticut.—­Cape Hatteras.—­Savannah.—­Bonaventure.—­Charleston.—­ Augusta.

Letter XLIV.—­Southern Cotton Mills.—­Factory Girls.—­Somerville.

Letter XLV.—­The Florida Coast.—­Key West.—­Dangerous Navigation.—­A Hurricane and Flood.—­Havana.

Letter XLVI.—­Women of Cuba.—­Airy Rooms.—­Devotion of the Women.—­Good Friday.—­Cascarilla.—­Cemetery of Havana.—­Funerals.—­Cock-fighting.—­ Valla de Gallos.—­A Masked Ball.

Letter XLVII.—­Scenery of Cuba.—­Its Trees.—­Sweet-Potato Plantation.—­San
Antonio de los Barios.—­Black and Red Soil of Cuba.—­A Coffee Estate.—­
Attire of the Cubans.

Letter XLVIII.—­Matanzas.—­Valley of Yumuri.—­Cumbre.—­Sugar
Estate.—­Process of its Manufacture.

Letter XLIX.—­Negroes in Cuba.—­Execution by the Garrote.—­Slave Market.—­African, Indian, and Asiatic Slaves.—­Free Blacks in Cuba.—­Annexation of Cuba to the United States.

Letter L.—­English Exhibitions of Works of Art.—­The Society of Arts.—­Royal Academy.—­Jews in Parliament.

Letter LI.—­A Visit to the Shetland Isles.—­Highland Fishermen.—­Lerwick.  —­Church-goers in Shetland.—­Habitations of the Islanders.—­The Noup of the Noss.—­Sheep and Ponies.—­Pictish Castle.—­The Zetlanders.—­A Gale in the North Sea.—­Cathedral of St. Magnus.—­Wick.

Letter LII.—­Europe under the Bayonet.—­Uses of the State of Siege.—­The Hungarians.—­Bavaria.—­St. Gall.—­Zurich.—­Target-shooting.—­France.—­ French Expedition to Rome.

Letter LIII.—­Volterra; its Desolation.—­The Balza.—­Etruscan Remains.—­Fortress of Volterra.

Letters of a Traveller.

Letter I.

First Impressions of an American in France.

Paris, August 9, 1834.

Since we first landed in France, every step of our journey has reminded us that we were in an old country.  Every thing we saw spoke of the past, of an antiquity without limit; everywhere our eyes rested on the handiwork of those who had been dead for ages, and we were in the midst of customs which they had bequeathed to their descendants.  The churches were so vast, so solid, so venerable, and time-eaten; the dwellings so gray, and of such antique architecture, and in the large towns, like Rouen, rose so high, and overhung with such quaint projections the narrow and cavernous streets; the thatched cots were so mossy and so green with grass!  The very hills about them looked scarcely as old, for there was youth in their vegetation—­their shrubs and flowers.  The countrywomen wore such high caps, such long waists, and such short petticoats!—­the fashion of bonnets is an innovation of yesterday, which they regard with scorn.  We passed females