The Whole View Is Panoramic, The Bending Of
The River Shuts Out The Channel By Which You Have Made Your
Approach,
giving the semblance of a lake, on whose surface vessels of every
nation lie at anchor, some with the
Sails hung out to dry, gracefully
drooping from the taper spars; others refitting again for sea, and
loading the huge pine-trunks moored as vast rafts to the stern. There
were people everywhere, all was motion, life and activity. Jolly-boats
with twenty oars, man-of-war gigs bounding rapidly past them with
eight; canoes skimming by without a ripple, and seemingly without
impulse, till you caught sight of the lounging figure, who lay at full
length in the stern, and whose red features were scarce
distinguishable from the copper-coloured bark of his boat. Some moved
upon the rafts, and even upon single trunks of trees, as, separated
from the mass, they floated down on the swift current, boat-hook in
hand to catch at the first object chance might offer them. The quays
and the streets leading down to them were all thronged, and as you
cast your eye upwards, here and there above the tall roofs might be
seen the winding of stairs that lead to the Upper Town, alike dark
with the moving tide of men. On every embrasure and gallery, on every
terrace and platform, it was the same. Never did I behold such a human
tide.
"Now there was something amazingly inspiriting in all this,
particularly when coming from the solitude and monotony of a long
voyage.
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