SOUTH AND NORTH. CHAPTER I. THE VOYAGE. Thursday, Dec. 1, 1859.-The steamer De Soto, on her regular trip, should have sailed at three o'clock, yesterday P.M., for New-Orleans via Havana; but, in consequence of some necessary repairs in the machinery, we were delayed a day. As the advertised hour was three o'clock, we took a carriage at one o'clock P.M., that we might avoid the great crowd ever assembling at the departure of one of these ocean steam-ships. At half-past one we reached the dock. The throng was already immense, and it took a long time before we could worm our way through the mass of carriages, carts, horses, men and piles of freight which encumbered the wharf. At length the carriage arrived at the foot of the stairs, by which we were to ascend the side of the ship. The deck of the steamer was about as high above the wharf as the eaves of an ordinary two-story house; and an incessant crowd was passing up and down. We threaded our way through the multitude to seats at the stern of the ship, and sat down to contemplate the scene which, however familiar, is always interesting. The ship was crowded to its utmost capacity, with passengers and their friends, while two opposing currents were flowing incessantly in and out. A steam-engine was at work, raising immense piles of freight, a dozen boxes at a time, and lowering them into the capacious hold. The trunks also, similarly grouped, were rising high into the air and then sinking to unknown depths below. At the same time scores of men were at work upon the paddle-wheels and the engine, hammering with a deafening noise. The whole aspect of the ship and of the wharf was that of chaotic uproar and confusion; for there were other ships and steamers all around in the closest possible proximity: some coming, some going, some getting up steam, some letting it off; while the whole harbor was alive with sailing vessels of every rig, and steamers of every pattern and size, in numbers which I in vain endeavored to count. Hour after hour thus passed away, and we seemed to be approaching no nearer the end of noise and confusion. The sun went down; darkness and the stars came, and lamps were lighted. Every ship in the harbor had lanterns in the shrouds ; the streets of New-York were in a blaze of illumination. The opposite shores of Jersey City, Hoboken, and, far down the harbor, the hights of Staten Island, glittered like terrestrial constellations, actually out-rivaling the celestial clusters which the bright moon paled. At seven o'clock, the ship still moored to the wharf, we were summoned to tea. Capacious as were the accommodations of the ship, it was soon evident that there were many more passengers than could be seated at the tables. It was found necessary to spread them twice, though there were two tables extending along the diningsaloon, about fifty feet in length. At ten o'clock, the steamer left the wharf. The night was calm and brilliant, and the light of a waxing moon illumined the harbor. The sail down the bay and out of the narrows, the canopy above twinkling with stars, and the expanse below still more brilliant with the myriads of gas lights beaming from Long Island, Staten Island, Manhattan and the Jersey shore, presented a scene which wakes up the responses of the soul. It is now twelve o'clock at night. The land has entirely disappeared. A few light-houses glimmer in the distance with their intermittent or party-colored rays, and nothing else is to be seen but the sky above and the ocean around. Every state-room is filled, and the floor of the cabin is covered with sleepers upon mattresses. I have a pleasant room on deck, which is usually the smoking-room. It is |