BUILDINGS. Among the secular buildings of New Orleans, the most interesting is the Cabildo (now the Supreme Court building). It was built at the expense of the Government near the close of the eighteenth century, during the Span ish regime. in it the formal transfer of the Province of Louisiana from Spain to France and from France to the United Stales took place with elaborate ceremonies in 1803. Other notable structures are the Custom House and Post Office building (cost $5.000,000), which is of massive granite, but not beautiful as to archi tecture; the City Hall, of Ionic order, and mod eled after a Greek temple: the new Court House; the New Saint Charles Hotel, one of the most famous hostelries in the South; the 1-Toward Me morial Library; Gibson Hall (a part of Tulane University) ; the Charity Hospital; the Medical College; the Milliken Memorial Hospital ; the Harmony Club (an aristocratic Jewish associa tion) ; the Cotton Exchange; the Sugar Ex change; the Athenauun; the Jewish Orphans' Home; and the new Tilton Memorial Library (also a portion of Tulane University). Among the splendid Mike buildings that are rapidly ris ing in the business centre of the city may be mentioned the Ilennen building, the Liverpool and London and Globe, the Morris, the Masonic Temple, and the Tame-Newcomb. Of the cede sia stical edifices the most prominent are the Saint Louis Cathedral (Catholic), in which Gen eral Jackson attended services after his great victory at Chalmette in 1815; the Archiepiscopal Palace (1730), the oldest building in the 'Alissis sippi Valley; the Church of the Immaculate Con ception, Saint Joseph's Church, the First Pres byterian, Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal), Trinity Church, Saint Paul's, Temple Sinai and Touro synagogues, the Prytania Street (Presby terian) Church, and the Coliseum Place (Bap tist) Church.
PARKs. The total park area of the city is 742..66 acres. The two largest and most interest ing parks are the City Park and Audubon Park, which are both being rapidly improved. City Park, which is situated on I\ letairie road. between
the city and the lake, contains 160 acres. It was formerly a plantation. and beneath its ancestral oaks, draped with festoons of Spanish moss, oc curred nearly all the famous duels which were a marked feature of Creole life before the Civil War. Dueling has now passed away. In this park young men find amusement in golf and polo. Portions of it arc still wild. Audubon Park, in the upper portion of the city, contains 249 acres, and was also a plantation in days gone by. it was here that in 1796 the first suc cessful attempt was made to granulate sugar— marking an epoch in the industrial history of the State. Its superb live oaks, its miniature lakes, and its great greenhouse, 300 feet long, and full of rare tropical plants, make this park a favorite resort. It also contains an interesting sugar experiment station, supported by the State. Be sides these parks, there are two squares that at tract attention on account of historical associa tions. These are Congo Square (now lleauregard Square) and Jackson Square. The former was in old times the resort of the slaves, and here they assembled for their wild dances to the sound of bones and drums. Jackson Square was not only associated with the exciting events that occurred in connection with the two transfers of the province in 1803, hut was also the scene of the triumphal entry into the city of General Jackson after the Battle of New Orleans. The square contains a fine equestrian statue of Gen eral Jackson, by Clark Mills. Flanked by the old cathedral and the court buildings on one side and by the fine Pontalba rows on the other two sides, this square is regarded as one of the most symmetrical and beautiful public places in the United States. Near the square is the French market. which is one of the 'sights' of New Or leans. Visitors crowd to it early Sunday morn ings to listen to the babel of tongues—French, Spanish, Italian. Creole patois, and English—to drink `cafe noir,' and to buy 9ombo file (pounded sassafras) and baskets of the Choctaw Indians, who still frequent it.