the ship. This being the first specimen of an American whom many of the
passengers had seen in his native climate, their curiosity was aroused,
and they crowded round him, regarding every word and movement with the
greatest attention and interest. The pilot was evidently displeased with
being made "a lion" of, and gave vent to his feelings rather freely,
while there was a curl of hauteur on his lip, that indicated a species
of contempt for the company he was in. This disposition did not convey a
very favourable idea of his countrymen, and was, to say the least of it,
an ill-judged display before strangers; coming, however, as it did, from
an illiterate man, belonging, as I knew from previous inquiry, to rather
an exceptional class of individuals in America, I did not suffer my mind
to be biassed, although I could see that many of the passengers were not
disposed to view the matter in the same light. He was a brusque and
uncouth man, of swaggering gait, about forty years of age, above the
middle stature, and soon let the captain and crew know, by his
authoritative manner and volubility of tongue, that he was chief in
command on the occasion. No one seemed, however, to dispute this, for
the passengers looked on him as a sort of divinity sent to their rescue;
the ship's hands were implicitly obedient, and the captain very soon
after his arrival retired into the cabin, glad to be relieved from a
heavy responsibility.

The following morning, the haze having cleared off, we could again see
the Jersey shore. The sea in every direction was now darkened with
millions of black gulls, wild ducks, and other aquatic birds; we shot
many of these from the ship's deck, but were, much to our mortification,
obliged to see them drift away, the pilot, seconded by our austere
captain, strenuously objecting to a boat being lowered; this was very
discouraging, as such a change in our diet would, after a rather
prolonged voyage, have been acceptable.