River Traffic

Hearn rhapsodizes Mississippi River traffic along New Orleans's miles and miles of levee, a spectacle "so picturesquely attractive and so varied in its attraction": Begrimed tugs "like ugly water goblins... brightly-painted luggers from the lower coasts... bearing fragrant freight of golden oranges, and pomegranates, and bananas richly ripe; some bringing fishy dainties from the sea. Ocean steamers... deep-sea [square-masted] ships... barks and brigs, schooners and brigantines, frigates and merchantmen..."