Atlantic, I cannot do better, on gaining terra firma, than devote the next chapter to New York and its lions, premising that it is not my object or intention to enter into petty details, or to fatigue the reader with extracts from, or opinions of, writers he may have already perused; my wishes being confined, as before stated, to the desire of uniting the character of a plain straightforward journalist, with any limited powers I may possess of artistic representation, having been from my youth an ardent worshipper of God's omnipotence, and an humble delineator of his great and glorious works. CHAPTER II. New York City.-Broadway.-Emigrants.--Immense increase of Population.-Trade and Shipping.-Bay and Roadstead. Staten Island and Ferry Boats.-Forts Fuzelte and Hamilton.-Brooklyn.-Greenwood Rural Cemetery. Character of the Irish.-Mechanics and Labourers.-Impressions on Landing.-Astor, Irvine, Hamilton, and Washington Hotels.-American Ladies. White and Black Servants.-Boarding Houses.Washington Markets.-Prohibiting Sale of Wine and Spirits. Paper Money and Currency. Circulation.-Silver Coin. Go-a-head Character.-Boats and Steamers.-Education of the People.-Public Institutions.-Stores and Tariff-Iron, Lead, Coal, &c.Labour scanty.-Increasing Population and Wealth.Great Ambition of the Yankees.-Canada, West Indies, and Cuba.-Slavery and its Abolition.-Influence of the Valley of the Mississippi.-Mexican War.--Medley Character of the Troops.-Departure to the Lakes, &c. Most travellers will concur in opinion that the far-famed city of New York, for noise and bustle, surpasses all other cities in the civilised world, not even excluding the great metropolis of England. The well-known Broadway sweeps through the entire town, five miles in length, and in it appears to be concentrated everything connected with public as well as with private life. Enormous hotels, large stores and public buildings, are scattered in all directions without any regard to uniformity. A constant running is kept up by about six hundred omnibuses all day long, and a weary stranger, just escaped from the perils of the deep and requiring repose, may look for it in vain. The heat, too, was insufferable, but by keeping the windows and Venetian blinds closed during the day, a comparatively cool atmosphere was obtained. During the summer, about fifty thousand emigrants per month land in the city; such, however, is the increased and still increasing demand for labour, that these are soon dispersed over various parts of this vast continent to assist in developing the resources of the country they have chosen. The effect produced on the advance of agriculture, and the rapid progress made in the increase of population, is beyond all precedent. At the commencement of the present century, the inhabitants of New York, and its adjacent cities, Jersey and Brooklyn, did not exceed in number fifty-three thousand; they now amount to at least seven hundred and fifty thousand. The city of New York, itself, is built on the island after which it was named; the approach to it, however, is not so striking as an admirer of natural beauty might be led to hope for: it is formed by the north and the east rivers and a creek or inlet connecting them. The island is fourteen miles long, and, on an average, a mile in breadth; at its southern point stands the city, which extends from one river to the other. The principal trade is on the east side, where |