noon
It was half-past seven before any of our passengers came on deck . We were passing a little village that seemed to be struggling for existence , for the high water was crowding hard upon its houses and other buildings . By eleven o'clock we saw several villages , and some very handsome and romantic estates , though they were mostly covered with water . At noon the city was in plain sight , and soon we had New Orleans on one side and Algiers on the other . The water was almost up to the top of the levees . The shores were crowded with steamboats and sailing-vessels . The former were entirely different from any I had ever seen before , though for some time after I saw them every day .