MURRAY'S TRAVELS IN AMERICA AND CUBA.

MR. MURRAY SCI off for America in 1834, apparently on business connected with some estates in Virginia ; but stumbled at starting. The vessel sprung it leak in a storm ; and, after many contentions with the elements and ceaseless exertions in keeping her afloat, the worn-out passengers and crew were enabled to make the port of Faval, in the Azores. Delayed it month by the repairs necessary to be effected, Mr. Mean.tv occupied himself in pigeon-shooting,

and visiting the different islands of the group ; frequenting parties, encountering, on his departure, a month and more of ad- verse gales and short commons ere he reached New York. After visiting the chief towns and places in the Atlantic provinces, which usually excite the attention of the tourist, and sporting, land- surveying, and exploring in Virginia, he crossed the Allegheny range by a railroad ; steamed on the Missouri and its tri- butary the Ohio ; and sojourned at several of the settlements on their banks till he found himself' at the frontier fort of Leaven- word), the last station in the far West. At this post, acci- dent enabled him to execute a meditated trip amongst the re- moter Indians of the Prairies. A band of Pawnees arriving at the fort, he made arrangements to return with them to their village and remain there for some time. The head-quarters of the tribe

were reached without more accidents or hardships than are usual in Prairie travelling, especially with novices ; but the ac-

count of his mode of life on their arrival must deter any one from following his example, unless stimulated by some higher motive than mere curiosity. The women were ugly and dirty drudges; with the men he could not talk ; their habits are so monotonous as to be soon exhausted ; and every place and person teemed with vermin, which infested his skin and clothes. His only occupations were trying to acquire their language; assisting at feasts, where polite-

ness compelled him to gorge himself with their ill-cooked provi- sions; accompanying the camp in its changes of ground, and at-

tending their hunting-parties. The magnificent appearance of' a herd of butlidoes in full charge, and the picturesqueness of the Indian hunters on these occasions, could not be destroyed ; but the charm of hunting was gone, for with the Pawnees it was a trade. Depending upon success rim subsistence, their object was to kill as much and as quickly as possible, without regard to the excitement

of the chase ; and Mr. MURRAY, who has doubtless assisted at an

English sporting-party, was shocked at a battue of bisons. His sport was to single out an animal and slaughter it with his own hand,—sotnetimes at no small risk, and always with the certainty of

hunger ; tbr the Indians took little with them, trusting to the pro- duce of their arms, and he was several times so ravenous 'as to

follow their example and devour a slice of buffalo liver raw and reeking ! When he got tired of the monotony of Indian life and departed, his companions fleeced him without. mercy, with an

honourable exception in his host ; his guides deserted in the Prai- ries, leaving him with a friend and two attendants to find his way to Fort Leavenworth ; which, after much anxiety and difficulty, was successffilly accomplished.

Arrived once more amongst civilized men, our adventurer ex- plored the most remarkable places in the \Vest, and then descended the Mississippi to New Orleans. From that city of the South he sailed to Havanna ; and alter visiting the planters of Cuba, he re- turned to America, whence he finally sailed to England. The accomplishments and qualities of Mr. MtautAy, though superficial, are unique, and not ill adapted to the circumstances into which he was thrown. He possesses the classical education and reading of a gentleman, with a certain amount of dilettante taste in music and the arts, but has no scientific knowledge or intellectual

pursuit. His mind is also deficient in depth or penetration ; and his style, rarely rising to picturesqueness and never to strength, often runs wild, is as often sentimental, and spreads his matter over too wide a space. On the other hand, his manner is free, agreeable, and animated; he has much native good sense, improved by previous travel, and a buoyant and hearty spirit disposed to look at the bright side of affairs and find some Food in every thing. What is more important, as regards a judge of American manners, he possessed a wide acquaintance with life, and a born familiarity with arisotcratical usages, which enabled him to overlook conventional modes, and, neglecting the husk, regard the kernel of social practices ; so that the son of the house of Dexmona and the Equerry of Queen VICTORIA is the most tolerant arbiter elegantiarum the Americans have yet had. But his physical qualities were the most characteristic, and the most useful too, in situations where a high development of the ani- ma/ man was necessary to success. A sportsman, thoroughly equipped with the perfection of English gunnery, he beat the Americans and the Indians at a long-shot, where their rifles

could not carry ; a Highland deer-stalker, he surpassed the Pawnees in the art of winding and creeping upon game ; if his senses were not so quick, his speed so great, his wind so ex- haustless, his powers of endurance so wonderful, and his stomach so capacious when victuals was to be had, as those of the horn child of the Prairie, he could compete with them in such things without being visibly disgraced. Nothing but a strong constitution, trained and hardened by pedestrian exercise and field sports, enabled him to thread the forests of frontier America, or to bear up against the

fittigues, privation, and exposure to wet and variable weather, he underwent in his journey across the waste, after his Pawnee guides

had left him. It was only an eye accustomed to note trifling landmarks, with an observation sharpened by experience among In- dians, that brought him successfully through his weary pilgrimage. Let no Highland chieftain throw himself amongst the Red Indians, without a tail, unless his teeth are hard enough to chew bullets as a substitute for water, his stamina strong enough to fast for four- and-twenty hours, the greater part of the time under strong exer- cise, and his constitution able to defy ague, fever, and all the other ailments of the West.

The amount of new knowledge which Mr. Muna.ty has contri- buted to what previously existed respecting America is not great; but he has thrown a new light upon many subjects. The im- pression his remarks leave upon the mind with respect to manners is, that in the better circles there is no lack of refinement, courtesy, or accomplishments, though sometimes taking a different form from that of England. Among the multitude he found manners some- times " more free than welcome "—rusticity, coarseness, rudeness,

blackguardism, but not vulgarity. Hospitality is hearty almost everywhere : the entertainments of' the wealthier classes are well regulated, and agreeable; and in one respect superior to those of London, for they give you the same wines at a ball as they do at a dinner, instead of palming off an inferior article upon the dancers. Young unmarried women possess a much greater freedom than is allowed in this country, matrons a good deal less : the young men are more addicted to physical amusements—racing, sporting, billiards, &e. than Mr. MURRAY approves of; which he attributes to their superficial education. Reading, however, the daily press, and seeing what we see of the pranks of the aristocracy at home, it does not appear that the more limited course of study at Oxfbrd and Cambridge infuses such an extraordinary love of letters. To the rapid advance of the country, the ease with which a competency may be obtained, and the extraordinary rise in the value of property, with the prospect to the speculator of making an enormous fortune, MURRAY hears the same testimony as MARRYAT; and notes the squeamish aversion to public executions which allows the greatest monsters to escape. He also agrees with MARRYAT as to the caution with which any judgment on the Americans in general should be hazarded, on account of the great varieties in the different States ; the Southern planter, the Ken- tucky settler, and the merchant of the North-eastern States, differ- ing as much from each other as the most opposite nations of Europe. In the wealthy commercial cities of the scabord, he found aristocratical ideas, and even an aristocracy, growing out of the natural circumstances of society,—great wealth in a few hands, and a denser population, capable, it is true, of earning an ample subsistence, but obliged to earn it by labour : and here the lines of demarcation drawn in society, Mr. MranAY inclines to think, are as strong and as various as in England. In Virginia, the manners were more akin to those of the old English country gentleman, modified of course by circumstances, and breaking down under the laW of equal partition ; the old manor-houses of their fathers stand- ing empty and decaying, none of the sons being rich enough to live in them. It was only in the new settlements of the West, where law is almost a name, and every one must in a measure de- pend upon his own resources, that he found pure unmitigated equality : and a very unpleasant thing it was,—intrusive, blas- phemous, bullying, gambling, drunken, and murderous, but not thieving.

" It certainly appears at first sight to be a strange anomaly in linnam nature, that at Dubuques, Calcium, and other rising towns un the Mississippi, contain- ing in proportion to their size as profligate, turbulent, and abandoned a population as any in the world, theft is almost unknown ; and though dirks are frequently drawn, and pistols fired in savage and drunken brawls, by ruf- fians who nrird neither the laws of Cod nor man, 1 do not believe that an instance of larceny or housebreaking has occurred. So easily are moue): and food here obtained by labour, that it seems scarcely worth a man's whale to steal. 'nuts, the solution of the apparent anomaly is to be found in this, that theft is a naughty child, of which idleness is the father and want the mother."

Of the different peoples whom emigration brings together as subjects of the United States, he says the Scotch have earned the highest average character. The Irish, notwithstanding their many good qualities, are the most lawless and troublesome ;• and Mr. MURRAY regretted to find in many of them a malicious hatred of Great Britain. WASHINGTON IRVING and others have done some- thing to dissipate the halo of mingled philosophy and romance which report had shed over the Red Indian—" the stoic of the woods ;" but Mr. MURRAY gives them the coup de grace. In the society of White men, he says they act a part ; their gra- vity and immoveable calmness being assumed, and their high sense of honour and adherence to their word being a chimera. He found them riotous, curious, jocular to buffoonery, licentious in conversa- tion, thieving, treacherous, and subject to paroxysms of ungovern- able passion. It must, however, be remembered, that his expe- rience was limited to the Pawnees, who have a bad character from all the other Indians and the traders. It is also contended by some, that the once powerful Five Nations, from whom the poetical no-

tion was drawn, were far superior in character and the arts to the degenerate tribes of the Prairie. Although, luckily, wanting in those scenes of frightful suffering which sonic adventurers in the vast interior have undergone, Mr. lloanay's journey homewards, when abandoned by his guides, is -as interesting a narrative of the kind as we have met with, front the skill, self-reliance, and ready application of the Indian prin-

ciples which he displayed; showing the superiority of an educated mind, in a position where education would seem of little use. The attraction of this part, however, depends upon its continuity : so we shall pass it over, taking our extracts indifferently from any part of the author's multifarious tour.

THE NECTAR OF THE WEST.

I spent two or three days here (at Rockaway) very agreeably, being at once introduced to many members of the best society from all parts of the Union. During the morning we strolled on the shore, bathed; rode, or drove about in light carriages, which the active horses of this country draw at a speed truly -surprising : the evenings were passed in music or dancing; and after the ladies retired, IT joined some of the younger men of the party in smoking a cigar under the verandah, finned by the cool night breeze from the sea, and- making my first acquaintance with a beverage approaching more nearly to nectar than any that I had ever tasted or imagined. The American reader will at once know how to apply this panegyric ; but how shall I attempt to convey to Eng- lish senses all thy fragrant merits, divine mint-julep I This delicious com- pound (which is sometimes in the Southern and Western States denominated

hail- storm") is usually made with wine, (madeira or claret,) mingled in a tumbler with a soupcon of French brandy, lime, or lemon, ice pulverized by attrition, and a small portion of sugar, the whole being crowned with a bunch of fresh mint, through which the liquor percolates before it reaches the drinker's lips and " laps hint in Elysium." This beverage is supposed to be of Southern origin, and the methods of preparing it vary in the different States ; seine Carolinians will assert that it can only be found in perfection at Charleston ; but I believe that, by common consent, the immortal Willard (who kept the bar of the City-hotel in New York for many years) was allowed

to be the first master of this art in the known world.

LATE REWARD OF EARLY TOIL.

From Canandaigua, which I left with much reluctance, we passed through a thriving, and well-cultivated country to Geneseo, where I had the pleasure of being introduced to Mr. W—, the • owner of a magnificent estate in the Genesee flats. Fortune seemed not vet wearied of being bountiful, and al- lowed us to see this most beautiful valley with the advantage of residing in one -of the most hospitable and agreeable houses that I ever entered. Mr. W—'s son accompanied us through his extensive farins., which are formed to delight equally the eye of a Poussin or a Sir J. Sinclair. The broad meadows of an alluvial sail, covered with the richest grasses and watered by the winding Genesee, arc studded with trees, beautifully and negligently grouped, among which are scattered large herds of cattle of various breeds and kinds, both English and American ; these meadows are here and there interspersed with fields of Indian corn and wheat, while the hills that rise on each side are crowned with timber, excepting spots where the encroaching bona of improve- ment has begun to girdle some of the tall sons of the forest, whose scathed tops and block bare arms, betokening their approaching fall, give a picturesque variety to the scene. Yet this scene, extraordinary and interesting as it was, possessed less interest to it contemplative and musing mind than the venerable and excellent gentle- man who had almost created it ; for it was now forty-four years since Mr. W— came as the first settler to this spot, with an axe on his shoulder, and slept the first night under a tree. After this, he lodged in a log-house ; subse- quently in a cottage ; and he is now the universally esteemed and respected possessor of a demesne which many of the proudest nobility of Europe might look upon with envy, where he exercises the rites of hospitality in the midst of his amiable family with a sincerity and kindness that I shall not easily forget.

DEPENCE OF THE YANKEES* AND THE INNS.

Here I cannot help making .a few remarks upon a subject on which I think the greneml opinion in Britain is erroneous. We are taught to believe that the Yankee is invariably a suspicious and avaricious man in his money transactions, and incapable of those feelings and acts of liberality for which the British cha- t/meter is distinguished. I shall mention two instances that occurred to me in the space of four days, which showed a very different character from that of which the New Englanders are accused. The change in the route which the prevalence of the cholera at Montreal induced me to adopt, Wad prevented me tom drawing any of the money which I intended to get in that city ; and my finances were, therefore, so much reduced as to leave me only just sufficient to take me as far as Boston. Upon my mentioning the circumstance to Mr. T—, my landlord at Burlington, as my reason for not making sonic trifling purchases in that town, he at once advanced me fifty dollars, by indorsing my draft on New York, and presenting the bill to the Burlington Bank.

The second instance which I shall quote was in the purchase of the Indian pony. Mr. C— of Montpelier, understanding that it svould be inconvenient for me to pay his price out of my travelling pocket-money, offered at once to accept my draft on New York for the stun, i n which manner the purchase was

made. Neither of these gentlemen had ever seen or heard of me before, and neither of them asked even for a letter of introduction or other papers to sa- tisfy then as to any particulars respecting me ; and with all due and modest allowance ter my own gentlemanly appearance, 1 very much doubt whether I should have met with titer same liberal treatment, under similar circumstances, at a country. town in Yorkshire or Laneashire.

Another thing I am also bound in candour to say, inanely, that the de-

scriptions hitherto given by travellers of the accommodations at the taverna in the more remote parts of the country have been highly coloured to their dis- advantage. Its travelling for the last fortnight with my own horse and wag- gon, I have stopped at three or four different places in the course of each day, and have gone through a great portion of the most unsettled country in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. In many instances the taverns have been very small ; but I have never had reason to complain of want of cleanli- ness, good victuals, or civility. I have asked at the most unseasonable hours, both early and late, for breakfast, dinner, and supper ; and in the course of ten minutes have always been supplied with a beefsteak, potatoes, bread and cheese, butter, eggs, and tea or coffee : the beds have been clean, and whenever I asked for two or three towels instead of the one placed in the room, they have been furnished without any hesitation or extra charge. All that a traveller requires is a sufficient knowledge of the world to prevent his mistaking manners for in- tention, and a sufficient fluid of good temper its himself to keep hint from being irritated by trifles. Upon entering or driving up to a tavern, the land- lord will sometimes continue smoking his pipe without noticing your en- trance; and if you ask whether you can have dinner, you may be told • Dinner is over, but 1 guess you can have something." If you are a true John Bull, you will fret and sulk • and, silently comparing this with the bustling atten- tion and empressement of an English waiter or boots, you walk about by your- . • Tills nuncio limited in the United States to the New Englanders. self, chewing the bitter cud of your wrathy but if you are a traveller, or formed by nature to become one, (which John Bull is not,) s•l a few ott will minutes reception as you find it and as the usage of the country, d in he of the pipe will be assisting to arrange your baggage, to dry your wet great- coat, and a tolerable dinner will be in preparation.

RED INDIAN DANDIES.

I have seen some dandies in my life, English, Scotch, French, German, oh and American dandies too; but none of them can compare with the vanity ss coxcombry of the PnWnee dandy. Lest any of the gentry claiming this this.. i• Unction, and belonging to the above-mentioned nations, should doubt or feel aggrieved at this assertion, I will faithfully narrate what passed constantly be- fore my eves in our own tent ; namely, the milliner in which Sd-nistSs-rish's son passed the days on which there was no buffalo-hunt. He began his toilet, about eight in the morning, by greasing and smoothing his whole person with lid, which he rubbed afterwards perfectly dry, only lean. lug the skin sleek and glossy ; he then painted his face vermilion, with a stripe of red also along the centre of the crown of the head ; he then pro. cesded to his "coiffure," which received great attention, although the quantum of hair demanding such care was limited, inasmuch as his head was shaved close, except into tuft at the top, from which h nog two plaited. " tresses." (Why must 1 call them " pigtails ?") He then filled his cars, which were bored ht two or three places, with rings and wampum, and hung several strings of beads round his neck; then, sometimes painting stripes of vermilion and yellow upon his breast and shoulders, and placing armlets above his elbows and rings upon his linger, lie proceeded to adorn the nether man with a pair of mocassms, some scarlet cloth leggins fastened to his waist-belt, and bound rooml below the knee with garters of beads four inches broad. Being so far prepared, he drew out his mirror, fitted into a small wooden frame, which he always, whether hunting or at home, carried about his perso' n and commenced a course of self-examination, such as the severest disciple of Watts, Mason, or any other religious moralist, never equalled. Nay more, if' 1 were not afraid of offending the softer sex by venturing to bring man into comparison with then in an occupation which is considered so peculiarly their own, 1 would assert that no female creation of the poets, from the time that Eve first saw " that smooth watery image," till the polished toilet of the lovely Belinda, ever studied her own reflected self with more perseverance or satisfaction than this Pawnee youth. I have repeatedly seen him sit, for an hour at a time, examin- ing his face in every possible position and expression ; now frowning like Homer's Jove before a thunder-storm, now like the same god, described by Milton, "smiling with superior love ;" now slightly varying the streaks of paint upon his cheeks and forehead, and then pusliiim or pulling, " each par- ticular hair" of his eyebrows into its most becoming place. Could the youth, have seen any thing in that mirror halt' so dangerous as the features which the glassy wave gave back to the gaze of the fond Narcissus, I might have feared for Ins life or reason ; but, fortunately for these, they had only to contend with a low receding fitrehertd, a nose somewhat sinthms, a pair of small sharp eyes, - with high cheek-bones, and a broad mouth, well furnished with a set of teeth which had at least the merit of demolishing speedily every thing, animal or vegetable, that came within their range. * • • 'All things being now ready for the promenade, he threw a scarlet mantle over his shoulders, thrust his mirror in below Isis belt, took in one hand a large fie, of wild-goose or turkey feathers, to shield his fair and delicate com- plexiou from the sun ; while a whip hung from his wrist, having the handle studded with brass nails. Thus accoutred, he mounted his jingling palfrey, and ambled through the encampment, envied by all the youths less gay in at- tire, attracting the gaze of the unfortunate drudges who represent the gentler sex, and admired supremely by himself.