up our sympathies until we almost sincerely
believed that we were deeply interested in some
ship that appeared just above the horizon; and
when a black fish—which was pronounced by
some of our zoologists to be a "porpess," by
others a small whale—shot through the waves,
there was a general rush to the bulwarks, and
a shriek that was a most artistic imitation of
genuine enthusiasm. A concert in the state
saloon, to which both classes were politely
invited by the captain, and in which two or
three German ladies were the chief performers,
now and then consumed an evening, and served
to strengthen the paternal tie which united
the two sections of the oligarchy into one
compact body. A few attempts, too, were made to
get up balls; but these did not greatly succeed,
as they threatened to lead to something like
fraternisation with "Steerage," who danced
every evening to his own barrel-organ or fiddle;
and this, as I have said, would have been an
infringement of the law, in which the whole of
our decalogue was comprised. But of all the
attempts at pastime, a dreadful game called
"ship-billiards" was the most utterly vain.
Those who are unacquainted with that horrible
recreation—and I trust there are many—
may, if they please, picture to themselves a
hop-scotch horoscope chalked upon the deck,
that despairing pleasure-seekers may arm
themselves with wooden spades, and by performing
an action that combines the blow with the
push, drive into the compartments which are
numbered a set of clumsy wooden discs made
heavy with lead. The compartments are eleven
in number, ten being positive and the eleventh
negative, so that if a disc remain in this last
one at the end of the game, its number is to be
deducted from the amount attained by the
occupation of the others. If readers cannot easily
realise this brief description, they are requested
to pass on to the next paragraph, as the
comprehension of ship-billiards would by no means
compensate for the slightest mental effort.

The last resource was to promenade to the
fore, and look down upon "Steerage" in his
own proper quarters. The picture he
presented, though exhibiting a vast quantity of
dirt-colour, was by no means devoid of interest
or variety. The Germans proper were notable
for heavy figures, neutral-tint clothes, and faces
which wore no expression whatever, but
indicated a capacity for sleeping at will, that would
enable its owners to get through any number
of tedious days without feeling the weight of
them. They had also a great talent for doing
nothing while awake, and the number of male
figures that stood for hours together staring
before them, sometimes smoking, sometimes not,
but obviously without any mental action whatever,
was truly wonderful. Occasionally, a few
of them reclined in classical attitudes, lazily
playing at cards, and feeling as if sleep would
overtake them long before the termination of
the game. I doubt whether they played for any
stakes; but whether or not, I am sure that
nothing short of the most princely winnings or
the most ruinous losses could have imprinted a
trace of emotion on their heavy features. Otherwise
was it with the sprinkling of Bohemians
who varied the mass. The women might be at
once picked out by the gay handkerchiefs which
they wore round their necks, and skull-cap
fashion on their heads, and men and women
were alike distinguishable by sharp vivacious
features and keen intelligent eyes. There was,
indeed, a sort of squalid finery about these
Bohemians that rendered them fitting subjects
for the imitation of supernumeraries engaged
on dramas of the Flowers of the Forest kind,
and a very small addition of tinsel would have
at once fully qualified them for the stage. An
Hungarian or two with a fierce Calmuck face
presented another type of humanity, and another
rarity was the Italian Swiss, who dressed more
like a vagabond than any of his fellow-travellers,
and was exactly the sort of man that one would
not care to meet in a lonely mountain-pass,
but whose large flashing eyes and white teeth,
rendered visible by a ferocious grin, kept
him above the suspicion of dull heavy villany.
He might have been a brigand, but he could
not have been a vulgar ruffian of the St. Giles's
herd. A knowledge of that national Italian
game which is played with the fingers only,
was the distinctive accomplishment of this
variety of the emigrants, and the vivacity with
which each player darted forth his fingers and
guessed in shouts the number, contrasted
strangely with the dull manner in which the
Germans played their cards. Nor was their
proficiency in a game that required no implements
whatever at all superfluous under the
circumstances. There were not above three or four packs
of cards among the whole body of the emigrants,
who numbered from three to four hundred, and
continuous play had so completely reduced these
from a rectangular to an elliptical form, and had so
thickly encrusted them with dirt, that by the time
they reached Wisconsin they must have lost every
quality associating them with the vice of gaming.

Taken altogether, "Steerage," asleep or
waking, dull or vivacious, got very pleasantly
through his long days, though he was without
the relief of a regular meal: his food being
apportioned to him in his own pan, which he
took to the cook-house when his appetite
prompted him so to do. As for his evenings,
they were joyous. He had his regular soirée
dansante, in which all the constituent particles
that made up his aggregate body distinguished
themselves greatly, not without the admiration
of the oligarchs; for "Steerage" danced much
more deftly than his betters.

A superb Atlantic sunset which welcomed
our approach to the Western world, and which
caused a gorgeous play of colours in the light
clouds that skirted the horizon, came as a
desirable object, and aroused the enthusiasm
of us all, with the exception of three or
four lady-passengers, German by nature, who,
during the entire fortnight consumed by
our passage, perpetually walked up and down
the deck, pouring out to each other the