his generosity. Alexander Isaacs and Asher Philips were also among the arrivals at New Orleans early in the last century. Morris Jacobs and Aaron Daniels were the Senior Wardens, and Abraham Plotz, Asher Philips and Abraham Green, the Junior Wardens of a benevolent society named Shaare Chesed. In that capacity they bought the first Jewish cemetery in New Orleans, which was located just beyond the suburb of Lafayette, in the Parish of Jefferson, fronting on Jackson street, where the first interment, that of ♦Haym Harris, took place on June 28, 1828. The first congregation adopted the name of the benevolent society, and worshipped in a room on the top floor of a building in St. Louis street. The oldest existing synagogue, the Shaare Chesed Nefuzot Judah, commonly known as the Touro synagogue, was organized in its present form in 1854. The other congregations belong to a later period, which will be described in a subsequent part. Another prominent Jew, the greatest in American public life――Judah P. Benjamin――also lived in New Orleans in this period. But he took no interest in Jewish affairs, and his career belongs to the chapters in which the participation of Jews in the dispute about slavery and in the Civil War will be described. CHAPTER XIX. NEW SETTLEMENTS IN THE MIDDLE WEST AND ON THE PACIFIC COAST. Increase in general immigration――Estimated increase in the number of Jews――The natural dispersion of small traders over the country――Chicago――First congregations and other communal institutions――Indiana――Iowa: Polish Jews settle in Keokuk and German Jews in Davenport――Minnesota――Wisconsin――Congregation “Bet El” of Detroit, Mich.――The first “minyan” of gold seekers in San Francisco――“Mining congregations”――Solomon Heydenfeldt―― Portland, Ore.