The aspect of a crowd in a large American city differs from that of the passers-by in the street of an English town, most of all in the appearance of such a large proportion of coloured people. Here it may be said, however, that they are colourless, as the prevailing hue of the foreign population is that of the Chinaman. In Canada the number of negroes, or of persons of negro descent, of varying gradations of colour, is remarkable, considering the circumstances, but they probably may be accounted for by the emigration in the olden times of those who were escaping from slavery, or who went with their masters and employers into the Dominion. In the cities on the Lakes I was very much struck by the persons of undoubted African descent who are to be met with in the streets in great numbers; and in Chicago there is a quarter nearly exclusively occupied by them--honest, industrious, hard-working people seemingly, given to stand about at the street corners, however, a good deal on Sundays, and cultivating a bright attire, especially on the part of the ladies, whose bonnets and shawls were things to wonder at. There are loafers amongst them, as there are amongst their betters; but, taking them all in all, in the Northern, Western, and Atlantic States, they are a decidedly useful element in the population, easing the burden of labour to the white man, and following many occupations, such as those of waiters, barbers, bricklayers, and labourers in the less skilled sort of work, for which it would be difficult to find American substitutes. One peculiarity, which may be accounted for by some wiser person than myself, seems to be their recklessness as to what they put on their heads. Whether it is merely a compliance with the custom of the white man, which impels them to cover the highly effective protection against sun and cold which Nature has given them, or not; or whether it is that the canons of taste in such matters have not yet settled down to those accepted by people in civilised life in the Western world, the male negro has the most extraordinary indifference as to the quality and shape of the thing which he calls a hat or cap, and it would not be easy to find out of the gutters of some Irish country town anything more dilapidated, battered, and utterly incoherent than some of the hats which one may see on the heads of people of colour, especially down South. Whatever other virtues they may have, neatness is not amongst them; for, with all their affectation of finery, their clothes are generally ill-kept, their houses are unkempt, and, where they are cultivators of the soil, the operations are performed in a slovenly manner. The traditions of the old plantation have descended upon them, and influence them.