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whose reign it was built I forget whose sent to know of the engineer if he was building it of solid gold. The cannon are all planted on the top, and fire through embrasures and not port-holes, as in the forts about this city. The town stands on a tongue of land, with salt water flowing all around the top of it, and this fort is on the root of the inland cape. On approaching the place, the eye seeks in vain for the appearance of a city. You may see one or two - perhaps at times three vessels at the end of a long tier of round palmetto logs, and back of this an antiquated looking hamlet; and you may fancy you see an old Spanish picture on the proscenium of a theatre; but city there is not. Ruins may be seen in all directions, as if there might have been, at some former time, more legitimate pretensions.

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There is a square of about an acre, with an old court-house in a falling condition, facing the sea, and a Catholic church, with its three bells in open niches in the front wall; on the opposite side a small new Episcopal church, and in the centre of the square a meat market, which, however, is not used to hang meat in, but as the market places of old were, for men to meet in, to discuss politics, health, and by association, perhaps, we have heard the classics mentioned there. The if streets the lanes and alleys can be called are not paved, nor do they appear much like Broadway. One passenger of whom we heard, went up the long wharf, and through the square, and when he reached the centre of the city, he asked the way to St. Augustine. When told that he was in the principal street, and in the heart of the place, he turned on his heel, and retired to his cabin, sulkily refusing to go on shore again. This was in consequence of the glowing descriptions he had received. But for my own part, I was very much pleased, both with the place and the inhabitants, who were very civil, and happy to oblige strangers. I liked the unique appearance of all I saw. Orange trees, as large as half grown appletrees, shooting their branches over walls of a peculiar kind of yellow shell stone-by the way, the only kind of stone to be seen — gave a very singular effect, and so far as the orange trees were concerned, a beautiful one, especially to a northern eye, accustomed to consider such trees as great ornaments. The houses of far the greater number of the inhabitants are very small. You might move two or three of them, roof and foundation, into some of our parlors. These stand on very narrow lanes, some too narrow to allow a northern cartman to drive through. You would imagine them the abodes of utter wretchedness and vice but no mistake could be greater. The people by whom these miserable lodgings are inhabited, are very orderly and virtuous indeed. They are descendants of Minorcan ancestors from the Mediterranean, and these constitute the majority of the people. There are a few Spaniards, and the remainder are principally of the 'universal nation,' we will not say 'who go about seeking whom they may devour,' lest it should be said that in jest we approach too near the truth, and incline some to give us secret thrusts. But they jest upon each other there. On one occasion, one of the finest old gentlemen in the world, belonging to the East, called to a young man of an agreeable appearance: Come hither, you young yankee! I wish to introduce you to a friend

of mine.' He came along, laughing and blushing, and on being introduced, said it was too true he had some yankee blood in his veins; one of his parents was a yankee, and he acknowledged that although kind and good to him, he was ashamed of nothing in the world so much as the fact of his parentage. Here was a retort courteous to the full-blooded marino. In truth, the yankee name is in rather bad repute with some at the South. I one day heard a Spaniard cursing some man who had injured him, and after all other bad terms failed, he called him a ' yankee, and no American'-'for,' said he, ' no American would ever have been so mean.' As it happened, the very men he appealed to as his friends to bear him out in his assertion, were themselves from the land of steady habits, and we were ready to die of suppressed mirth at their knowing winks.

The Minorcans, who, to judge by their dwellings, we should take to be poor and miserable, are, on the contrary, in some cases rich and almost always happy. From the doors whence we might expect nothing but misery to issue, well-dressed, innocent girls would come, and they are for ever dancing. They seem to meet and have balls every night. In the carnival time, especially, (for they are Catholics,) they seem to go mad with mirth. Dancing and masquerading is the order of every day, while this season lasts. They go out into the streets, and enter every house, and turn all the furniture, where they find any, up side down, and do every thing but real injury- and then, with all sorts of instruments, not forgetting the tin pan, depart in peace. Thus they keep it up. They have also what they call the 'posey dances,' which we think not so bad, and the trick might not be out of place in Gotham, in dragging many an old bachelor out of his shell of snapping turtle. It is this: Some lady-how the first one is chosen I know not has a bouquet of flowers with which she dances, and she is considered the queen of the evening; but toward the last, she fixes her eye on some bachelor, and with a great deal of grace and archness offers the flowers. He knows what it means, and that he is bound in all gallantry to accept the gift, and make some other queen for some other evening, which his favorite may appoint. The wherewithal comes from the new king, of course. Thus is the ball kept up, and many are the sly tricks resorted to, to bring wary old rats into the trap. The graver they are, the more sport they make. They make it a point not to have them expensive, and there appears to be no difficulty to find some one always willing to accept the honor - but old bachelors or widowers are most desired. There is a great deal of primitive simplicity and poetry in the manners of these people, with which I was much pleased. One thing struck me forcibly-namely, their mode of disposing of their dead children. Instead of calling forth the most painful emotions by gloomy hangings, the heart-breaking shroud, and all the soul-sickening paraphernalia of the tomb, as we do, their lost treasures are surrounded by fresh flowers, the windows are closed, and candles are ornamented and placed at the head and feet. The effect is beautiful and poetic, beyond any thing I ever witnessed. The grief exhibited is subdued, and proves, in these primitive people, an acquaintance with feelings which many a moneymaking Croesus might envy, in his chambers of gilded cornices and

glittering chandeliers. Their conceptions of the tomb are not mixed with despair and horror.

The fair sex of the Minorcans are not fair, but very brown, and they appear in the streets in full dress without hats or bonnets of any kind. The young men are very jealous of the dandies of the North, who go there with sick friends- and altogether, they are rather clannish; but not perhaps without good reason, for they are more virtuous, in general, than an equal number of our best educated young men would be found to be, on a fair trial; at least, so they appeared to me.

Among the most melancholy sights to be witnessed here, is the number of consumptive invalids who crawl about the place, with the hand of death upon their unresisting frames. Oh! how frequently does the wish arise, that we might stretch forth a hand, and command health to return to their emaciated forms! If there be acute misery in the world, it must be in witnessing the chords of life snapping, one by one, until the last tendril breaks, and leaves the mourner desolate in a land of strangers. The young friend who went out with me for health, could not afford the expense of a companion: he was very low when he sailed, and it fell upon me, a stranger, to see to his wants; and even now, I cannot remember his case without emotion-how he failed day by day, until at last he was told he must arrange his affairs write his last letter to his widowed mother — and die! His eye assumed a new lustre; he could yet walk slowly about; his mind was perfectly clear, and his look seemed to indicate that he felt like one who had made every arrangement for a long journey, and was about to quit his native land forever. I know not if many can sympathize with such a case as this; but having myself been so situated as to give up the expectation of life, I could understand his feelings better. The vault of Heaven appears to contract; the earth, the whole ball, seems to shrink to a size not larger than could be made by the hands of man, and the light of the sun casts a strange, sickly hue; yet this is not the least remarkable thing that happens, when we have received our sentence. Thus my friend bade adieu to the earth and all things in it. I was not by him at the hour of his death, and I never desire to witness the 'last agony,' of any, if I can avoid it. I would much rather suffer sudden death' myself, than watch the protracted demise of one to whom I may be strongly attached.

As to the air of St. Augustine, I found it delightful. It was happiness to live and breathe it. The inhabitants thought it cold, and wore cloaks and surtouts, but I was very warm in summer clothes in midwinter, when I first arrived in the country. Subsequently, there were two or three cold winters there, which killed all the orange trees. The salubrity of the air is however unquestionable, for there is a sandy soil, and no bad swamps to engender miasma in the neighbourhood, while the trade-winds are almost constantly blowing on the coast. Where there are no local causes of disease, and there is an abundance of pure air, it is as conducive to health under the line as any where on the globe. However, I believe that in every place where men exist, they say it is healthy. I have been where the inhabitants did not seem to dare to venture out of doors

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after night-fall-for I have walked about until my usual hour of retiring, without meeting a single white man in the town, and hardly any blacks and yet they said their place was very healthy! But St. Augustine is certainly so. It is a very excellent place for a seat of learning for southern youth-who have reason to fear our northern winter winds, or an acclimation on their return to the South-and I hope the hint may be acted upon. It may save many valuable lives, and restore the fading honors of this venerable place.

The ruins I saw seemed to indicate that the best buildings of former times are dilapidated. But there is nothing in the surrounding country, at present, to make this either a commercial or manufacturing place, and there is no hope of a resurrection of its honors, except by making, beside its climate, literary and scientific attractions. At the time I was there - if I remember aright-the post arrived only twice a week, and then a pair of saddle-bags answered for a mail-bag. From this one may judge of the business of the

'city.'

But of all cities and towns I ever beheld, those of Florida show largest in the map, and smallest when one sees them. Amelia Island has also a city, by charter, which has a right to a mayor and corporation. This city stands at the mouth of the St. Mary's river; and it shows that the Irishman's curse, 'May the grass grow before your door!'-is no trifle. Grass grows before the doors of all the rookeries in the place, and is the strongest evidence of dissolution a deserted city can exhibit. There are not enough inhabitants in the place, if they were to elect each other as aldermen, to form a quorum. However, there would be none to protest against their proceedings, should they vote to bring in pure and wholesome water without appealing to the people. The deserted wooden shanties stand on a very handsome hill, and indeed this is one of the finest places in the territory for a gentleman's seat. It was chosen as a place of export for cotton, during the last war. The inhabitants were a lawless gang of smugglers, who bought cotton for little or nothing of the planters, and sold it at enormous prices to the foreign cruisers. It is said by some who were there at the time, that no man would stand up and sit down again for less than a dollar. So well are the wages of iniquity generally paid, while it is too often the case that virtue and patriotism starve.

But not to conclude with a reflection so melancholy- for after all, 'virtue is its own reward'-I will repeat one of the stories of a traveler on horseback, which I heard from the hero himself. He had a journey to make between the two famous cities just mentioned, and it was reported by the post-rider and others that there was a fierce robber on the road, whom he escaped only by furious driving. Our hero was under the necessity of going, and he had a rare article in Florida― money to take with him. Not being inclined to meet an unknown enemy unprepared, he procured a dirk and a brace of pistols, and the largest and fleetest horse in the place, and off he started. After travelling some miles, he reached the suspicious neighborhood just about night-fall. Like many a soldier, he felt brave by day-light, but in the dark, not a frog croaked, or a dry limb snapped, but he grasped his arms convulsively, checked his horse, and lis

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tened earnestly; then he would spur his steed on again. He had just descended a short hill, and crossed a bridge formed of small unhewn pine trees and rubbish, when his horse stopped short and snorted fearfully. What was to be done? In the thick bushes, almost within pistol shot, he saw the outline of the murderer. The hair of his head stood on end, and his flesh crawled. His horse, catching the infection of his rider's fear, wheeled short round, and flew like lightning back. He ran thus some two or three miles, before he thought what he was doing. Knowing if he returned without firing a shot, after all his preparations, that he would be bored for life, he checked his Rosinante, returned, and cocking his pistol, advanced at a good round trot, charged within pistol shot, and fired on his cool and determined enemy. Without waiting for a bidding, his horse turned again and flew back, as at first, like the wind. Checking himself sooner than before, however, he reloaded his pistol, advanced the third time, and discharged it again, and again fled - but not with like success; for when he reached the bridge, down it went, and 'the horse and his rider,' and logs and rubbish - an undistinguishable mass- were all in the muddy stream together. He felt the murderer on his back, holding him down, and expected every moment to have a Spanish knife drawn from ear to ear. He cried aloud for mercy, but all was in vain; the villain was astride his back, while he begged for his life, and offered to deliver up every cent. But no answer was returned. Making a sudden desperate effort, he threw off his enemy, and found it was nothing but logs and rubbish! Then he asked himself, rubbing his eyes, and wide awake, 'Why did he not follow, and fix me while I was down? I must have finished him!' With this persuasion, he went back very softly, peering to the right and left, stopping and going on again, taking care all the time not to break a dry branch, or make any noise, until at last he approached, like an Indian, to within striking distance of his ambushed enemy, when, as he was just about to take ample vengence with his dagger, he found he was no match for- -an old gray stump! How he gathered up his courage after this, and helped his charger out of the mire of the creek — was his own business. But not to leave the contempt upon the memory of our hero, I will show that if he could only fairly have seen his enemy, he was no coward; for on another occasion this very man, singlehanded and alone, took five desperate runaway negroes prisoners at once. They were armed with two or three guns, axes, and large knives, and were out in the woods when he met them. Seeing them first, he approached cautiously, and placed himself in the way they were proceeding, and at a fortunate moment sprang out and told them to throw down their arms, and march to the right about, or he would give the word of command to his men in the brush to shoot every one of them down in an instant. Not suspecting any man would dare to act thus without the means of enforcing his threat, they did as they were commanded, and he walked up and took their guns, and marched them all before him into town. An exploit like this I have heard of having been performed on some Hessians, by an Irishman in the revolution; and when General Washington asked him how he, a single man, could capture five, he could only account for it by saying that he 'surrounded them!'

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