4 July: At the time of our arrival, the heat in India Wharf, a longish, rectangular harbor surrounded by imposing supply buildings for the navy, was very great. Therefore we soon left the ship and went to the Commercial Coffeehouse, where we took lodging. My baggage had to remain on board the ship today until it was released by the customhouse officials.

In general Boston made the impression of an English city on me, yet there are some differences. The city is very nice looking, spread out, and large. It has nice long streets, often rather broad but occasionally somewhat narrow, provided with very good sidewalks. There are very pleasing houses, mostly constructed of brick, some also made of square stone, and, in the oldest sections, also wooden houses with rather tall chimneys (though not with the same shape or as tall as in England). They are covered for the most part with slate or wooden shingles and thus have an ash-gray or blackish color, something that lends them a rather somber appearance. There is no lack of impressive buildings. Many churches are built in a graceful style, one of them Gothic, and there are several public buildings about which information can be found in various works (that of Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, among others). As in English cities, one frequently finds here also a small parterre or an enclosed, elegantly fenced-in lawn or front yard planted with ornamental plants or tall, shady trees in front of the fine buildings along the street. This contributes not a little to the adornment and pleasantness of the houses. I found that all these plants were not of American but [rather] European origin. Horse chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum), weeping willows, Lombardy and other poplars, elms, as well as a few catalpa trees, whose flower buds were just now opening, and a lone tulip tree caught my attention. I scarcely ever saw maple, acacia (Robinia), and other American trees. In addition to these small green yards at several houses, Boston has various parks and avenues with very tall, shady elms (Ulmus), which here grow very tall with branches spread wide, like the tall trees in England. In particular, there is the promenade, called the Commons, about which more will be said later.

Boston has several very attractive streets, of which Washington Street, which runs almost the length of the city, is regarded as the most beautiful. Here, as in the largest European cities, one finds a significant number of very fine and diverse shops, and nowhere have I seen a more complete selection of products from the West Indies. I found, for example, Brazilian bananas in tolerably good condition, coconuts, oranges, and other fruits in large quantities. Because of the big Independence Day celebration, most shops were closed today. On the other hand, however, the entire population of the city was seen strolling on the streets and in public squares, and one could become very well acquainted with the colorful crowd.

Although the Americans on the whole have many characteristics of the English, they nevertheless differ very significantly from them. They are mostly tall, often lean, and in large part have less expressive physiognomies than the English. Straw hats with black or green bands and clothing made of summer materials were generally worn, but also clothing of heavier material made completely according to European fashions. Their frock coats had rather long coattails; their straw hats often had broad rims.

Generally one does not see very many Negroes, and all of them are free, whereas in the southern states some are still slaves. Not far from the public promenade there is a small street that, for the most part, is entirely inhabited by Negroes and their mulatto or freed descendants. Here we saw the strange variations of color and hair as well as transitional stages of the Negro race, and many comical little black children, all of which vividly reminded me of my Brazilian journey, [Page 1:26]completed fifteen years ago. In Boston I looked in vain for the original American race, the Indians; they have disappeared from this region.

In Boston the female sex did not seem to differ significantly from English women, although I must add that I saw few really beautiful features. Their costume was rather English and French. During their walks in the heat, they wore a kind of green silk hat (called calèche), which is very unflattering and really does closely resemble the top of one of the vehicles so named. After we had made our observations in the very lively streets of Boston for a long while, we proceeded to the inn where, in a long room, we found a table set for sixty to seventy persons. On the door a sign was fastened stating that no one may enter the dining room until a bell is rung, and this rule is closely observed, for scarcely had the bell rung than a crowd of hungry gentlemen stormed in, hurled themselves at the table, and immediately helped themselves. The food consisted of roast beef, potatoes, and green peas, salmon, and a few additional vegetables, which were devoured one after another in very short time. Then there were strawberries with cream and sugar, everything served very quickly and in meager quantities. The knife is primarily used for eating, because the fork had only two tines and was thus merely a stabbing weapon. Cider and water, which one mixed, were served as the beverage. Wine had to be ordered. There was strong brandy on the table. The guests scattered very quickly, and later one saw some of them in the lower, cool passages of the house, lounging about, smoking their cigars, and making themselves more than comfortable on the benches.

As the cool of the evening approached, the streets of Boston were empty, for the entire population surged to the promenade that one calls the Commons. This sight was really most interesting. From a slight elevation of the city, a large, wide area covered with grass descends toward the water, and it is bordered by avenues of tall, very shady elms along the row of houses. In the middle of the green square are various intersecting paths and lanes; a small, oblong depression with a similarly shaped small pond; and, not far from it, a huge, old elm with a very thick, tall trunk and a spreading crown, the diameter of which measured thirty-eight to forty of my paces. It was a pity that the mass of people made this beautiful, lofty tree, at least on this lively evening, quite inaccessible for us and our olfactory organs. On the broad square mentioned, all of Boston, rich and poor, in their most elegant Sunday finery, were now assembled. Indeed, people carried large numbers of small children around on their arms. Groups lay in the grass. Rows of tables and small booths were set up where a nauseating smell announced a veritable oyster carnage; the crowd ate these mussels in such quantities that the sight of the slime flowing on the tables was anything but inviting.

When darkness fell, a very mediocre fireworks display was set up on the elevation beyond the small pond. The rockets were numerous and very good. Apart from these, pinwheels were practically the only fireworks and poor. This fireworks display to celebrate Independence Day was furnished by a society through subscriptions. Even earlier we had seen the citizen “militia” companies marching through the streets. One company had red uniforms with dark-blue, goldembroidered collars, narrow shakos, white shirts. The officers had golden epaulets, stars on their chests, and dark-red silk sashes. The band played with all its might, [Page 1:27]but unfortunately some of the men wore civilian clothes, something that strangely contrasted with the gold-and-red uniforms. Another company consisted of artillery with very small fieldpieces drawn by two horses. The men wore blue-and-red uniforms, their jackets blue, their collars embroidered with gold, the officers with golden epaulets. They lacked military bearing and carried sabers in their hands. We did not return until late from this interesting spectacle of the large crowd, illuminated by the fire, in which blacks and whites jostled each other in a colorful, bustling throng. The evening table, or rather, tea table, in the inn was illuminated by nothing but small long lamps. During the evening a whole row of these lamps (‘a’) stands on the table; they are twelve inches high.M2The short lamps (‘b’) are available in the rooms; they are not more than 4 to 5 inches high..