You were thinking, of rivers literal and figurative

PIERRE (1852)

"They lock and bar out, then, when they rest, do they, Pierre?" said Isabel.

"Yes, and you were thinking that does not bode well for the welcome I spoke of."

"Thou read'st all my soul; yes, I was thinking of that. But whither lead these long, narrow, dismal side-glooms we pass every now and then? What are they? They seem terribly still. I see scarce any body in them;—there's another, now. See how haggardly look its criss-cross, far-separate lamps.—What are these side-glooms, dear Pierre; whither lead they?"

"They are the thin tributaries, sweet Isabel, to the great Oronoco thoroughfare we are in; and like true tributaries, they come from the far-hidden places; from under dark beetling secrecies of mortar and stone; through the long marsh-grasses of villainy, and by many a transplanted bough-beam, where the wretched have hung."

 https://archive.org/details/pierreorambigui00melvgoog/page/n324/mode/2up

SCENES BEYOND THE WESTERN BORDER (MAY 1853)

F. — "You are wonderfully given to personification; particularly of rivers. I suppose you were thinking of the desolate flatness, the choking sands, and the profitless end, the now fair and promising river comes to?"

C. — "Exactly — and it led to melancholy thoughts. Well, these dreary steppes, where the mountain streams,— fresh from springs and snow, are the chief objects of interest, must account for it; they have at least the motion and music of life; — if they are not persons, there are none other, and I believe they answer me about as well."

-- Scenes Beyond the Western Border May 1853; and Scenes and Adventures in the Army page 405

https://archive.org/details/scenesadventures00cook/page/404/mode/2up

Buoyant added and subtracted in revision

Among other significant changes the word buoyant was added in revision of the August 1852 dialogue in Scenes Beyond the Western Border between the narrating Captain of U. S. Dragoons and "Frank," his imaginary friend. As revised in Part II of Scenes and Adventures in the Army (1857), the narrator feels "buoyant and bitter," elevated in spirit by the "wild mountain air" near Devil's Gate and the South Pass of the Rockies.

"I am only in a mood; buoyant and bitter; tameless as the Arab coursing his native desert; free as yonder soaring eagle! it's this wild mountain air!"

Scenes and Adventures in the Army (1857) page 355

The 1852 passage had "wild mountain air" but not buoyant:

Southern Literary Messenger
August 1852

F. “When I have you committed, fairly pinned in contradiction, you fly off into a maze of extravagant fancies, where I should be lost as well, if I followed.”

C. “And get the best of it! Ah! my good friend, let this wild mountain air have fair play; let us with the desert's freedom joyously flout convention and opinion—upstart usurpers!—let us make mocking sport of the prosaic solemnity of ignorant prejudice;—let us shoot popguns at least, against the solid bulwarks where folly and selfishness sit enthroned!" 

F. “Then fire away!—though hang me if I know what you mean.”

Scenes Beyond the Western Border - August 1852 

https://books.google.com/books?id=-AkNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA508&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false

In the original version of Melville's short story "Benito Cereno," buoyant occurs in the November 1855 issue of Putnam's Monthly Magazine:

"Possibly, the vexation might have been something different, were it not for the buoyant confidence inspired by the breeze."

https://books.google.com/books?id=i_FIAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA472&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false

But the book version in The Piazza Tales (1856) replaces buoyant with brisk, thus:

"Possibly, the vexation might have been something different, were it not for the brisk confidence inspired by the breeze."

https://archive.org/details/piazztales00melvrich/page/222/mode/2up

Both usages link the elevated, "buoyant" mood to an experience of fresh air: sea "breeze" in the magazine version of "Benito Cereno"; and "wild mountain air" in Scenes and Adventures in the Army. 

Related posts:

• Why can't you forget the past?
  https://dragooned.blogspot.com/2012/06/why-cant-you-forget-past.html 

• the mind gets morbid
  https://dragooned.blogspot.com/2011/06/mind-gets-morbid.html

• Human fiends
  https://dragooned.blogspot.com/2019/02/human-fiends.html
  
  
• Deleted in revision
  https://dragooned.blogspot.com/2014/04/deleted-in-revision.html

Coolly done

Different things "coolly done": "that" by Queegueg according to Ishmael; "this" by G. P. R. James according to the narrating Captain of U. S. Dragoons in conversation with "I. F." his Imaginary Friend in in the January 1852 installment of Scenes Beyond the Western Border. Later reprinted in Part II of the book version, Scenes and Adventures in the Army (Philadelphia, 1857). Queequeg takes his harpoon to breakfast, and James slanders Americans as unrefined. Coolly.

MOBY-DICK (October-November 1851):

But as for Queequeg—why, Queequeg sat there among them—at the head of the table, too, it so chanced; as cool as an icicle. To be sure I cannot say much for his breeding. His greatest admirer could not have cordially justified his bringing his harpoon in to breakfast with him, and using it there without ceremony; reaching over the table with it. to the imminent jeopardy of many heads, and grappling the beefsteaks towards him. But that was certainly very coolly done by him, and every one knows that in most people's estimation, to do anything coolly is to do it genteelly. -- Chapter 5 - Breakfast

 https://archive.org/details/mobydickorwhale01melv/page/34/mode/2up

SCENES BEYOND THE WESTERN BORDER (January 1852):

"...But this is coolly and deliberately done." 

I. F. — "And what is it?"

—“I say Americanism advisedly; for republicanism is a very different thing, and does not imply rejection of refinement in the higher classes of society."  

James's "coolly done" distinction between Americanism and republicanism is quoted from Chapter 5 of The False Heir (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1843).

Related posts:

• Criticism of G. P. R. James
  https://dragooned.blogspot.com/2014/05/criticism-of-g-p-r-james.html

• riddle, cypher, mask
  https://dragooned.blogspot.com/search?q=james+riddle+cypher

• G. P. R. James, again
  https://dragooned.blogspot.com/2015/12/g-p-r-james-again.html

• Has a problem with artificial plot twists
  https://dragooned.blogspot.com/2012/06/has-problem-with-artifical-plot-twists.html