with many of these people, even of the _fair sex_, and an impartial judge
should certainly decide that the said ourang-outang was the handsomer
animal. Many of them are wealthy, and dress remarkably well. The females,
when their shins and misshapen feet are concealed by long gowns, appear
to have good figures. A few days after my arrival, walking down "Broadway"
(the principal street) I was struck with the figure of a fashionably
dressed woman, who was sauntering before me. After passing, I turned
round, when--O angels and ministers of ugliness!--I beheld a face, as
black as soot--a mouth that reached from ear to ear--a nose, like nothing
human--and lips a full inch in diameter! On the following morning, whilst
dressing at my bed-room window, I heard a squeaking sort of voice warbling
forth, "Love was once a little Boy," and "I'd be a Butterfly." The strange
_melody_ and unusual intonations induced me to look out, when, to my
astonishment, I found that the _fair_ songstress was a most
hideous-looking negress! Such are the scenes that constantly present
themselves here, and remind a European that he is in a new region.

The white ladies dress fashionably, generally _à la Françoise_; have
straight figures, and with the help of a little cotton, judiciously
disposed, and sometimes, the smallest possible portion of rouge, contrive
to look rather interesting; in general, they are lamentably deficient in
_tournure_ and _en-bon-point_. The hands and feet of the greatest belle,
are _pas mignon_, and would be termed plebeian by the Anglo-Normans--the
aristocracy of England. Yet I have seen many girls extremely handsome
indeed, having a delicate bloom and fair skin; but this does not endure
long, as the variable nature of the climate--the sudden and violent
transitions of temperature which occur on this continent, destroy, in a
few years, the complexion of the finest woman. When she arrives at the age
of thirty, her skin is shrivelled and discoloured; she is thin, and has
all the indications of premature old age. The women of England retain