The Opelousas courier., 1886-07-03
SOUTH STREET.
A PICTURESQUE QUARTER OF
AMERICAS METROPOLIS.
Craft and Cargoes From all Parts
of the Civilized World-Odd
Observation-Disclosures Of
the Canalboats.

Ia Vi " HIN ouS "a ol4lpo 4lOIll
every part9 of the world. A veritable
forest Of mast5 reaches up into the sky
from amid a maze Of spars and rigging.
Some of the slender mast tops seem to
scrape the dome of the sky itself, while
here and there the red and black smoke
stacks of ocean steamers thrust them
selves into the vision of spars and ropes,
emitting spiral clouds of sooty smoke
that twist away skyward, where the
breezes blow them over the East River to
the windows of the rich dwellers on
Columbia Heights in Brooklyn. The
row of long jibbooms that thrust their
noses across South street almost into the
windows of the wa ehouses and ship
chandleries opposite, suggest nothing so
strongly as a regiment of infantry pre-
pairing to receive at the point of the
bayonet the attack of a column of charg-
ing cavalry. A walk among the wharves
and under the slanting booms is a study
of naval architecture, f%gure-heads and
geography. Queer names confront the
beholder on all sides.
Some of the ships were painted adeep
red others green, black, white, and still
others an indelinable lead color. The
finest vessels in the collection by far were
the splendid California clippers. From
the wharves the sailors at work on the
sails of these ships resembled spiders
crawling ''along under the edge of
Heaven" as a spectator observed to the
reporter. From the deck of the Samaria,
which lay at Wall street, a mate shouted
hoarse orders to three sailors toiling up
aloft relative to slowing away the "for'ty
g~allan'-sl," and other bits of canvas un-
known to land-lub5ers.
Not the least interesting of the sights
of this busy street was the miscellaneous
merchandise lying in heaps On the pi rs
OF being hoisted out of the dark holds,
representing truly the four quarters of
the earth. There were the barrel shaped
black steamers of the Mallory Line, built
for the short and tumbling waves of the
Gulf, lying next to Fulton Ferry.
Stacked up On the wharf were the pro-
ducts of Texas and the South, bales of
cotton, ~hogsheads of molasses, piles of
~cotton-ties and crates of carly vegetables
from the ''truck" gardens of Florida.
Next to these signs of the South lay a
"round-the-Horn'' clipper, her pier laden
with boxes of dry goods and tons of ma
chinery and hardware, all preparing for
the 100 days voyage to San Francisco.
AT Pier No. Is the Bristol steamer
Warwick was discharging a cargo con-
sisting principally of the square fat boxes
of tin from the Cornwall mines. x to
her lay the Norwegian ship Professor
N~ordenskiold, engaged in hosting on
board a miscellaneous cargo of Yankee
notions, the chief part of which, strange
to say. was shoe pegs from Connecticut.
Gone would think that there was wood
enough in Scandinavia to manufacture
their shoe-pegs at home, I" said a specta-
tor. A large gilt efigyof the Arctic ex-
plorer after whom the vessel is named
decorated her bow. His hair was brushed
neatly back from his high wooden fore
head; his mouth was ornamented by a
mustache that would create envy in the
bosom of a New York Alderman: and
his right hand, stretched forward with
the forefinger pointing ahead, completed
the image of the distinguished traveller.
The Professor Nordenskiold hailed from
Stavanger. Side by side at the Coenties
Slip lay a ''blue nose" three-masted
schooner, unloading lumber and potatoes
from Nova Scotia, and a queer little I'D
brig with slender masts and black wards
that bore the name of Durham, of London.
The figure-head ON the stem of the latter
vessel was a naked Zulu c~hieftain, with
thick, red lips, coal-black body, knotted
hair, headdress of feathers and a barbaric
necklace. of tiger claws.
At the foot of Wall street, a strong
smell of sugar and molasses is waited at
all hours into the noses of the people
who are crossing the ferry. 1t proceeds
from the holds of the Havana steamers
that berth at this point. Near here the
ships that load with salt, coal and oil
for Calcutta can be seen wedged in be-
tween coasting schooners and the steam
ers that bling ~cocoanuts and bananas
from the Mosquito Coast. Hundreds of
peddlers' wagons, old rattle-traps drawn
by equally dilapidated ''crowbaits" of
horses, flock to the piers and block up
traffic in South street, whenever one of
these 'sfruiters' comes in. Not the least
interesting of the miscellaneous collec-
lions of vessels strung along South street
are the hundreds or more canalboats that
rise and fall with the tide between Piers
2 and s. Little tugs puff in and out,
taking some away and towing others in.
On pleasant evenings the families OF TIE
sturdy boatmen sit out on deck. Pretty
girls fit from boat to boat chatting with
.sunburned lovers or forming little
dancing parties by moonlight on the deck
to the music of half-cracked accordeons.
Most of these canalboats have in their
narrow limits all the comforts of a home.
are carpeted parlors, where the
captain and his wife receive their COM
pany in simple state. Many of these
parlors boast Of upright pianos, while
organs are numerous. Thus are
the practical and the poetical,
and while the Flooding mules are drag
ging the heavily freighted boats, with
their loads of apples, coal, grain OF -four, |
along the placid Erie Canal, the echoes
the Mohawk hills are awakened, and
possibly the tired mules are cheered, by
sweet melodies from the cabins.
Weather-beaten and tarry-fsted sailor
men, with the spray of the salt sea still |
to their clothes, throng South
all day. They lounge under the
bowsprits like turtles summing them
selves, spinning wonderful yarns of life
the forecastle, or comparing the fine
points of the many craft before them.
They are q picturesque and unique fea-
lure of the city's myriad population, as
varied in attire, language and appearance
IS their floating homes are different in
Jig, size and shape.-New York Tribune.
G E.. II