CHAPTER VIII.
MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA.
New Orleans.—The steamboat by which I made the passage
along the north shore of the Mexican Gulf to New Orleans,
was New York built, and owned by a New-Yorker; and the
Northern usage of selling passage tickets, to be returned on
leaving the boat, was retained upon it. I was sitting near a
group of Texans and emigrating planters, when a waiter
passed along, crying the usual request, that passengers who
had not obtained tickets would call at the captain's office for
that purpose. "What's that? What's that?" they shouted;
"What did he mean? What is it?" "Why, it's a dun,"
said one. "He is dunnin' on us, sure," continued one and
another; and some started from the seats, as if they thought
it insulting. "Well, it's the first time I ever was dunned by
a nigger, I'll swar," said one. This seemed to place it in a
humorous aspect; and, after a hearty laugh, they resumed
their discussion of the advantages offered to emigrants in
different parts of Texas, and elsewhere.
There was a young man on the boat who had been a passenger with me on the boat from Montgomery. He was bound for Texas; and while on board the Fashion I had heard him saying that he had met with "a right smart bad streak of luck" on his way, having lost a valuable negro.
"I thought you were going on with those men to Texas, the other day," said I.
"No," he replied; "I left my sister in Mobile, when I
