New Orleans is gradually becoming more purely American in all its characteristics; but many of its inhabitants are of French and Spanish descent, and the French language is more commonly spoken than the English. The charitable institutions of the city are highly creditable. Education is not so much attended to as in other parts of the country; but great improvements have been made in this respect within a few years. The police is efficient, and scenes of disorder rarely occur.
This city is the grand commercial metropolis of the Mississippi valley. The tributaries of the great river on which it stands afford an extent of more than twenty thousand miles, already navigated by steamboats, and passing through the richest soil and the pleasantest climates. Steamboats are departing and arriving every hour, and fifty or sixty are often seen in the harbor at one time; while many hundreds of flat boats are seen at the levee, laden with the various productions of the great valley.Measures have been adopted by the state legislature to have the neighboring country well explored, for the purpose of draining, raising, and improving it.[64] The streets of the city have been paved, and gutters are washed by waterfrom the river. Pop. one hundred and two thousand one hundred and ninety three. New Orleans will probably become the largest city of America.
Newport, a seaport and semi-metropolis of Rhode Island, is pleasantly situated on the south-west end of the island of Rhode Island, thirty milessouth of Providence. During the summer months it is a place of fashionable resort, being celebrated for the salubrity of its climate. It formerly possessed considerable commerce, and contained more than nine thousand inhabitants; but during the revolution, it was a long time occupied by the enemy, and suffered severely. The principal street is a mile in length; the houses have an antique appearance. The harbor is very safe, sufficientlyspacious for a whole fleet, and defended by three forts. Newport was first settled in 1638. A large stone mill is still standing here, which was erected before the date of the earliest records. Population, eight thousand three hundred and thirty-three.
Asylum at Newport.
New York.
New York, the largest and most populous city in the United States, lies in the state of that name, at the head of New York bay, about sixteen miles from the Atlantic ocean. Manhattan island, on which the city stands, and which is formed by the Hudson, the Hærlem, and East rivers, with the bay on the south, is fifteen miles in length, and from two to three in breadth. On the south-west point of the island, overlooking the bay, is a fine public promenade, of from five to six hundred yards in length, and one hundred and fifty in breadth, prettily laid out in walks, and planted with trees. In the evenings it is generally crowded with citizens, who assemble to derive the benefit from a pleasant breeze off the water, or listen to a band that frequently plays in the Castle garden, which is connected with the walk by a wooden bridge. The former promenade is called the Battery, from having, in the olden times of the Dutch settlers, or during the revolutionary war, mounted a few guns; and the Castle garden, in a similar manner, possessed no garden, nor could it ever have possessed one, being a modern stone fort, with twenty-eight embrasures, built upon a solid rock, which appeared but a short distance above the water. This being an unprofitable kind of investment of funds, has been let by the corporation to a publican, who has converted it to a much more profitable use charging sixpence for admission, and giving a ticket, so that the visitor may enjoy a stroll upon the upper platform of the fort, admire the view, and then call for a glass of liquor at the bar. The battery, nevertheless, is the most pleasant promenade in New York, and excels any thing else of the kind in America. Governor’s island, about three quarters of a mile distant in the bay, has a large stone circular fort, with three tiers ofembrasures, and is calculated for more than one hundred guns at its western extremity.
Castle Garden and Battery.