Across the Ferry First Impressions of America And Its People

time we sighted the point of Sandy Hook, from which the arrival of ships is telegraphed to New York. Opposite Sandy Hook, with its lighthouse, is the outer bar of the bay or harbour, still eighteen miles from Battery Point, the southern extremity of Manhattan Island, on which New York City is built. There are two ship channels, which admit at high water vessels of the greatest draught, the "Great Eastern" having repeatedly crossed the bar. We steamed slowly up for Sandy Hook, towards "The Narrows," about two- thirds of a mile in width, where the bay or harbour ends, and we enter the inner harA NIGHT ON THE HUDSON RIVER. 23 hour. The bay is alive with steamers and sailing vessels, and surrounded by villa-crowned heights, with strong forts at all hands. Off Staten Island the quarantine officer boarded us, after repeated signal guns had been fired. It was too late to pass the Custom House that night, so the " Scotia " anchored in the Hudson River, off the Cunard dock in Jersey City. Some of the passengers, whose homes were near, went ashore, but the majority spent the night on board. My first impression of America was the result of the late watch that night in the Hudson River. The glancing lights on the water, and the distant illuminations on the shores all round, with brilliant lime-lights on the heights over the ferries, gave proof of our being near a busy hive of life. These Americans know how to use steam, was my first mental remark. Steamers of all... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.