The steamers at present engaged in passenger traffic between New York and Boston, are magnificent vessels; they are indeed “floating palaces;” and it is a fine sight to witness their departure every evening from New York. They run in connection with the railway at Allen Point, their course being about 140 miles by the East River and Long Island Sound, a distance generally accomplished in about seven hours and a half, including the delay in calling at New London.[158] Yet these magnificent vessels were (if they are not now) surpassed in speed by the steamers on the River Hudson, while they were equalled in the beauty of their lines and the splendour of their accommodation. An illustration of one of these, the _New World_, will be found on the preceding page. [Sidenote: Steamer _New World_.] This graceful and magnificent vessel is 380 feet in length. Her breadth of beam is 50 feet, or 85 feet over all, including the sponsons and paddle-boxes, while the diameter of her paddle-wheel is no less than 45 feet, and that of her cylinder 76 inches, the length of stroke being 15 feet. The _New World_ has 347 state rooms or cabins, and 600 sleeping-berths. In her construction and equipment may be traced, to the most minute details, the natural mechanical ingenuity so characteristic of the Americans; every corner that would otherwise be vacant is adapted either to the necessities of the trade or to the comfort of the passengers. From the colossal beam engine with which she is propelled, down to the minutest fittings of her saloons, cabins, restaurant, bar, lavatories, smoking-room, and barber’s shop, there is, combined with the system and order generally prevalent, almost everything to admire and nothing the most fastidious could honestly condemn. No doubt much of this perfection arises from the complete subdivision of labour to be found throughout most of the great American establishments, so apparent in many of their manufactories and workshops and in their large hotels as well as in their ships, but, more especially, in their river and coasting steamers. For instance, the construction, fitting, and equipment of the latter is carried on throughout by a class of people who devote themselves entirely to such work, and make it a study to attain perfection in it. Whatever may be the case in the “Far West,” where labour is scarce, and, whatever may be the facility with which the Americans can adapt themselves to circumstances (developed as this was remarkably during the late civil war), a “Jack of all Trades” receives no encouragement in the equipment or in the manning of their steamers. Their ship-owners require, in both cases, if they can be obtained, regardless of cost, men who thoroughly understand their respective duties, and in this, as well as in various other matters, England has much to learn from the Americans.