The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-01-10

Letter to the C'neinnats C01nnseTcsdi.
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. Is.
Eighteen miles of leveel London,
with all the gloomy vastness of her docks
and her "river of the ten thousand masts," !"
can offer no spectacle of traffic so pictu-
resquely attractive and so varied in its
attraction.
In the centre of this enormous crescent
line of wharves and piers lie the great
Sugar and Cotton Landings, with their
millions Of tons of freight newly un.
shipped, their, swarms of swarthy steve
dores, their innumerable wagons and
beasts of burden. Above the line of
depot and storehouse roofs, stretching
southwark, rises the rolling smoke Of the
cotton press furnaces. Facing the Sugar
Landing, stretching northward, extend
a line of immense sugar sheds, with roofs
picturesquely peaked, Sierrawise. Be-
low, along the wooden levee, hundred
river boats have landed without jostling,
and the smoky breath Of innumerable
chimneys floats, upward-eddying, into
the overarching blue. Here one sees q
comely steamer from the Ohio lying At
the landing, still painting, after its long
run of thousand miles; there vast
Mississippi boatsl lies groaning, with her
cargo of Z, 900 bales, awaiting relief by a
legion Of 'longshoresmen. At intervals
other vessels arrive, some like mountains
of floating cotton, their white sides hid
den by brown ramparts of bales built up
to the smoke-stacks, some deeply freight
ed with the sweet produce of the cane
fields. Black tugs rush noisily hither
and thither, like ugly water goblins seek
ing strong work to do; and brightly
painted luggers, from the lower coasts
from the oyster beds and the fruit tree
groves-skim over the wrinkled water,
some bearing fragrant freight of golden
oranges, and pomegranates, and bananas,
richly ripe; some bringing 6shy dainties
from the sea. Ocean steamers are rest
ing their leviathan side at the Southern
piers, and either way, along the far curv-
ing lines of wharves, deep-sea ships lie
silently marshslled, their pale wings
folded in motionless rest. There are
barks and brigs, schooners and brigan-
tines. frigates and merchantmen, of all
tonnages-ships of light and graceful
build, from the Spanish Main; deep
bellied steamers, with East Indian names,
that have been to Calcutta and Bombay !;
s.rong.bodied vessels from Norway and
all the Scandinavian ports; tight-looking
packets from the English ports; traders
under German, Dutch, Italian, French
and Spanish flags; barks from the Med
iterranesn; sbapely crafts from West
Indian harbors. They seem ENJOYS Of
the worlds commerce in sunny session al
the Gate of the Tropicsl Look either
way along the river with strong glass !
the fringe of masts and yards appears
infinitely extended; the distant spars
become blended together in darkly out
lined thicket of sharply. pointed strokes
and thread, cutting the blue at all angles;
fnrther and further yet, the fringe seems
but a fringe of needle points and fine
cobweb lines; and, at last, only the
points remain visible, the lines having
wholly vanished.
It is not an easy thing to describe ones
first impression of New Orleans; for
while it actually resembles no other city
upon the face of the earth, yet it recalls
Vague memories of a hundred cities. 1t
owns suggestions of towns in Italy, and
in Spain, of cities in England and in