282

LIFE tf-V THE MISSISSIPPI.

{Fearful evil! In the briefest space it struck down and swept away even
the most vigorous victim. A slight indisposition, then an hour of fever,
then the hideous delirium, then—the Yellow Death! On the street corners,
and in the squares, lay sick men, suddenly overtaken by the disease: and
even corpses, distorted and rigid. Food failed. Meat spoiled in a few
hours in the fetid and pestiferous air, and turned black.

" Fearful clamours issue from many houses; then after a season they
cease, and all is still: noble, self-sacrificing men come with the coffin, nail it

up, and carry
it away, to
the grave-
yard. In the
night stillness
reigns. Only
the physi-
cians and the

hurry through the streets; and out of the distance, at intervals,
tie muffied thunder of the railway train, which with the speed of
wind, and as if hunted by furies, flies by the pest-ridden city without

MEMPHIS: A LANDING STAGE,

But there is life enough there now. The population exceeds forty
and is aragmentlng, and trade is in a flourishing condition.