IN PREPARATION. FLORIDA ORANGES. W. p. TALBOYS, AUTHOR OF ''West India Pickles y ill J^I!»!1|i|llll!l!!IIIil!l?ill>i' '" Jfa; '' WEST INDIA PICKLES. ' DIARY OF A CRnSE TIIROUGII THE WEST INDIES IN THE YACHT JOSEPHINE. [New York Yacht Club.] By W. p. TALBOYS. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATLONS. ^. NEW YORK: G. IV. Car let on &^ Co., Publishers. LONDON : S. LO\V, SON & CO. MDCCCLXXVI. Copyright, 1S75, bt G. W. CARLETON it CO. John F. Trow & Son, Printers and Stereotypers, 205-213 East \-ztli Si., NEW YORK. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA ^0 M. E. W. S., ONE OF MY EARLIEST FRIENDS IN AMERICA, THESE PAGES ARE AFFECTIOXA TEL Y INSCRIBED. {t^^^W^\^ We left behind the painted biioy That tosses at the harbor-mouth ; And madly danced our hearts with joy, As fast we fleeted to the South : How fresh was every sight and sound On open main or winding shore ! We knew the merry world was round, And we might sail for evermore. By peaks that flamed, or, all in shade, Gloom'd the low coast and quivering brine With ashy rains, that spreading made Fantastic plume or sable pine ; By sands and steaming flats, and floods Of mighty mouth, we scudded fast. And hills and scarlet-mingled woods Glow'd for a moment as we past. O hundred shores of happy climes, How swiftly stream'd ye by the bark ! At times the whole sea burned, at times With wakes of fire we tore the dark ; At times a carven craft would shoot From havens hid in fairy bowers. With naked limbs and flowers and fruit, But we nor paused for fruit nor flowers." Tennyson, OOlTTEl^TS. ?AGB Preface 11 Introduction 15 Leaving- New York 19 At Sea 22 Porto Rico 31 Aguadella 33 Santa Cruz 41 St. Thomas 48 Saba Island 56 Guadaloupe 61 Basse Terre 63 Martinique 67 St. Lucia 78 Barbadoes 81 Tobago 91 Trinidad 93 Port of Spain 95 Pitch Lake 103 San Fernando 107 South America 120 Laguayra 122 Caracas 133 Life in Caracas 138 10 CONTENTS. PAGE The Caribbean Sea 153 San Domingo 152 Santiago de Cuba 155 Southern Coast of Cuba 173 Cape San Antonio 174 Havana 175 Life in Havana 183 Departure from Havana 195 Heavy Weather 197 Charleston 201 Beaufort — a Storm 204 End of the Cruise 208 Farewell 209 PEEFACE. HE following pages pretend to no liter- ary merit. They are merely the tran- script of a daily jotting down of the scenes and occurrences of onr cruise, and were in- tended, not for publication, but to serve as an aid to those pleasures of memory which are truly the very best part of a traveller's enjoy- ment. My friend, Mr. Carleton, having waded through the original smudgy pencilled notes, in an unguarded moment expressed a desire to publish them, and I only hope he will not regret his generous imprudence. We sailed from the harbor of New York in the first days of November, and having deter- 12 PREFACE. mined to visit as many of the West India Islands as possible, our stay in each place was neces- sarily very short : — my notes, therefore, have no geographical or scientific statistics — indeed I rather hope that the gentle reader will favor- ably appreciate my abstinence in this respect. I ask indulgence for the details and descrip- tions of the sailing and yachting part of the journal, which I have retained in the hope that they will convey some information to yachts- men who may visit those waters ; and also be- cause I desire to record faithfully the admira- ble sea-going qualities and behavior of the " Jo- sephine." Although a centre-board schooner, she draws 8 ft. 2 in., and hence her great steadiness in heavy sea-ways, as her board was practically little used, except in smooth water. Her tomiage (in old measurement) is 143 tons, and her length 95-|- feet over all. She carried a crew of two mates and four sea- men, exclusive of the cook, mate, and steward, but was entirely commanded and navigated by PREFACE. 13 her owner, and by his admirable seamanship our comfort and enjoyment were well secured. A journal, after all, is but a scrap of autobi- ography, and like Charles I., in Mr. Dick's Kite, the objectionable pronoun "I" will get in, so I make no apology in this respect — all I can say is, " Vive, vale — ei quid novisti rectitis istis," " Candidus imperii : si non, his utere mecum." Union Club, August^ 1875. INTRODUCTION. T was last sainmer, while i^eiitly heav- ing on the long blue swell, along the pleasant shores of Massachusetts, and off the lovely harbor of Beverley, we were cruising about in the little "Josephine," whose portrait adorns the frontispiece. Far from the madding crowd, it was bliss just to breathe the soft Atlantic air, and lazily watch the lieet of fish- ing schooners pursuing the mackerel. Xot a word had been spoken for an hour, when suddenly our skip])er, dear old L . beloved of gods and men (also of women), waking from a long dream of peace, broke the silence with: "Will you go with me to the West Indies in her, for a cruise, next winter 1 " To which I responded : " Won't Vi Like a bird ! " This was, perhaps, a hasty decision ; but what clever creature was it who said : "Always 16 INTRODUCTION. act on 3'oiir first impulses, for tliey Tnay be good ! " And, indeed, who could stop to con- sider duties or weigh possibilities, even with the duris itrgens in rebus egestas forever gnawing at his heart, when such a glorious prospect Avas suddenly unfolded ; for this was not to be a mere trip to the Cockney tropics, such as Nassau or Havana have become, but a long cruise through the Windward Islands, a certain Odys- sean coasting of cape, promontory, rock and hill ; dropping the anchor in places of wdiich the names alone stirred in one vague, spicy ideas of nodding palms, luscious fruits, perpetual ver- dure, golden weather, "gems and gem-like eyes " — all the languid, passionate fancies that hang round the Tropics, and have a wild fasci- nation for those who know them only by hear- say. But it was not until the tall golden rods had burned themselves to death on Beverley's parched hill-sides, and every autumn-tinted leaf was fluttering down, that on one auspicious hazy afternoon L told us to be ready to sail the following morning. And I was ready — yet, with every pulse beating with the prospect of enjoy- INTRODUCTION. 17 ment, I felt, as Eniersoii so cleverly points out, that compensations lie on both sides of happi- ness, and it was not without a wrench that I said good-bj to the kid who stood waving his fare- wells with a big complimentary tear in each blue eye. As I stepped into the cab that was to take me to the wharf, I recognized that no man who leaves home, whether for pleasure or in the pursuit of profit, can sever, even for a few months, all the silken fetters of his life without feeling that he must " drag at each re- move a lengtheniug chain." The chain, however, seemed light and WH'apped in velvet when I first caught sight of the pretty schooner, riding at anchor, bright with fresh paint — her white decks glittering in the morning sun, her foretopmast sent ashore, and the mainsail reduced from the great racing canvas of the summer cruise, to fitting propor- tions, gently flapping in the light Indian-sum- mer breeze. A moment's bustle, a W'Ord or two here and there, with the friends who had come to bid us God-speed, and we were in tow of a tug. Opposite Fort Columbus — where our other sails being hoisted, we clasped hands and 18 INTUODUGTION. parted with a cheer — one dear fellow, as he stepped over the side to the tug's deck, cried out, " Tal, keep a journal ! " I have done so ■ — and here it is. THE JOURNAL. Noveinber ^dh, 1874. — Not long after the tug left us, just half drifting down the Bay, we mus- tered in the cabin for our first repast, L hav- ing ordered lunch as quickly as possible, on the principle, I fancy, that in England they always butter a cat's paws on bringing it to a sti'ange house : at any rate, emotii^ns of the mind are very favorable to tlie appetite. We mustered five: L (the captain), C and myself, who had shipped for the whole cruise, and II ■ and AV , who had joined us for the run to St. Thomas. The discussion of our destination and a little gentle scandal wore off the novelty of our situation, and the breeze freshened a little; but before we reached Sandy Hook, C went to 20 THE LAST LAND. sleep — alas, he snored ! — and the wind instantly chans^ed and came out ahead. •&^ Novemljer St/i. — Wind aliead all night, smooth sea, and gorgeous morning. I was wakened at dawn l)y the earhest pipe of half -awakened birds in the shape of a horrid row made by the live ducks on deck — wretched creatures, upon whom a future liver complaint is beginning to dawn. Tlie w^ind remained ahead, C having ad- hered to his practices through the night ; but at 2 p.M=, off Barnegat Light " We looked our last on sa?id and plain, As what we ne'er might see again," L having tacked ship, and with a fine whole sail breeze we head S.E. bound for St. Thomas, turning our backs upon the long reach of sand glittering in the sun, which I am told is Bar- negat. Everything hitherto has been delight- ful, except that, early this morning, the de- mon mal-de-iner boarded us, and the young and imaginative Harry became his first victim. Nobly he bears up, but his eye is fishy, and very sickly his smile ; reclining on deck, he steadily MAL-DE-MEB. 21 refused cocktails and all consolation, until, in despair, he has turned in. Reguiescat in j>ace. M^ Inconsolable, In the afternoon, the fine breeze and ap- proaching diinier cheer everybody, and the day ends very pleasantly. I observe, however, that C plays bezique far t<)0 well for private life. 3Io)i'Iaf/, JVovefnberdth. — The sun shines into the cabin this morning, alike upon tlie just and the unjust, in tlic loveHest way, and the very de- cided change in the temperature shows the pro- gress we have made during the night. Yestei'day Ulsters were pleasant on deck; this morning tubs are in season. Just at noon, a little cross-bill bird flew aboai'd, perclied on our heads, enjoyed a slight repast, took a short nap, and after most intimate conduct flew awav to leeward. 22 THE VOYAGE. It was quite a superstitions event, and indeed within an honi* or two we got into the Gulf Stream, with a smart "W.S.W. breeze ; double reefed foresail and mainsail, with maintopmast and flying jibboom both housed ; and I venture to say that no yachtsman can ever know to what extent a schooner can roll, pitcli, jump, dive and genei-ally waltz about, until he has tried the Gulf Stream under the same circumstances. Dinner is perhaps, on board a yacht, the most pleasing event in the day's natural sequence, but to-day heavy rain-squalls and the beam- endinessof the lively " Josephine" make us take but a languid interest in that repast, although her behavior in a very trying sea is gratifying. L reads aloud from Maury's "Theory of Storms " that we must expect heavy gales about every six days above N. latitude 30°. With such cheerful tales do we beguile the way ! As I turn in I imagine, from the sounds that issue from C 's berth, that we shall have a change of wind. Novemher 10. — We had a baddish night, but the wind has changed to a moderate N.E. breeze, and joy cometh with the morning. The sea is ANTICIPATION. 23 still verv heavy ; " all up in haycocks," the mate calls it, and the water is of the wonderful blue china color peculiar to the Gulf Stream, and great fields of floating Sargasso weed lie all round us. The sun breaks through and touches everything, including our spirits, with his mag- ical wand. The heat becomes really oj^pressive, and like the traveller in the fable of the Wind and the Sun, we recognize the power of the latter. C -, down in the cabin, has already beofun to I'ead about Creoles and dark Southern o beauties ! As I descend the companion-way he asks me what I should call " expressive feet and ankles?" lie says he is only reading travels, but tins is a bad sign. In the afternoon we pass out of the eastern limit of the Gulf Sti-eaui into smoother water, although the masses of floating weed still show themselves. About midnight, after making- eight knots for hours under full sail, with a smooth sea, the breeze fi'eshens, and we roll and pitch about in a heavy cross sea under forestay- sail, double reefed foresail and maintrysail. " Desirdt injpiscem mulier formosa super ne '' • -which means that a fine day ends very fishily 24 VOYAGE CONTINUED. Noveniber Wtli. — The head sea continues, but the wind is nearer abeam, and the weather is exquisite. Of course the decks are wet, and the rolling and jumping goes on as the wind blows half a gale, but we are under light canvas, and the gentle Josephine behaves like a cork with brains. We all show a certain devotion to our repasts, but at other times a gentle lan- guor pervades, and berths are silently sought. One of the privileges of yachting is undoubted- ly the pleasure of i-emaining silent in each other's company without discomfort, and days like these glide by almost without incident, but with a great deal of re2)ose. November Vltli. — The sea has been subsid- ing all night, and we have made good way under easy sail. I came on deck to see a most magnificent sunrise. Our second mate, who is a typical Yankee, clever, confident, most collo- quial, and tlie possessor of strangely amorphous legs, nodded his head towards the resplendent horizon, observing that it was " mighty pooty,"^ wdiich obliged me to admit that it was a neat thino^ in sunrises. VOYAGE CONTIXUED. 25 I was amused too, on walking down into the cabin again, to ol)serve all tliree of my fellow- pilgrims lying asleep — each in his berth, also )n liis back, and each with his nose in the air at a different angle. This adds an expression of innocence to "the rapture of repose that's there " that may not be all undeserved. " Ma- his jpastor dorniit sujnnus'''' is all stuff. The afternoon finds ns with light bafiliiig winds and calms, a smooth sea, and exquisite weather, in the calm belt of Cancer. Noveiriber ISth. — A smooth sea, wind ahead, but lio^ht and refreshino*. The mornino- is o-or- geous, and it is pleasant to be moving along, although we are four points off our com^se. Decks are dry and available for exercise. The wretched wave- worn ducks and hens in their coop, forward, salute the sun with faint cack- lings and quackings, as they absorb their ma- tutinal corn, shedding a fragrance impossible to describe, and almost impossible to bear. At 12:30 p. M. we spoke the first vessel we have seen since leaving Sandy Hook, the barque " Yolunteer," bound for Xew York. She was 26 A MEETING. lumbering along before the wind at a speed of about three knots an hour and it really was quite piratical, the saucy way in which our little schooner danced down to her, ran across her bows, tacked, and bore up under her stern, and L hailed her with a request to report us. At any rate, it was an event to break the monotony of such summer sailing ; and it is a monotony, and beats lotos eating. Wliile we hope, looking over the blue expanse, " This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon," the languid air swoons all around us, and it would appear to be always afternoon to us, only that it seems alwa3^s just before dinner, as John (the steward) perpetually seems to be laying the cloth for some repast or other. Now let the merciful trade-winds breathe gently in our favor, and we shall soon hope " To watch the crisping ripples on the beach, And tender curving lines of creamy spray." November Wtli. — " Les jours se suivent et ne se ressemhlent jpasP Yesterday was a long, hot, languid day of calms or light baffling winds • but shortly after midnight, rain-squalls TEE TRADE-WINDS. 27 and alarums ushered us into the trade-winds, and after running before the fresh north-east breezo for hours, with all sail set, and making twelve knots, about noon down came our kites, and we took two reefs in the mainsail. This is the first day, since leaving Sandy Hook, that we have really a fair wind, and now w^e have got one with a vengeance. The sun has devour- ed the clouds that have hid his face all the morning, and he is giving wonderful trans- lucent effects to the crests of the great waves that are chasing us. 8 P.M. — The great waves have increased to hissing monsters that wish to devour us. We are in the tail of a north-east gale, and are tear- ing along before a succession of squalls, under staysail, close reefed foresail, and reefed main- trysail — the mainsail furled and secured amid- ships. The handy little boat avails herself of the opportunity to show her admirable qualities, skipping in the easiest manner up and down the watery mountains. As we sat round the cabin table after dinner, a more than usually malignant sea broke through the skylight and deluged us, and we scattered in the most absurd 28 . TOTAL DEPRAVITY. and rapid manner to the various lounges. With that total depravity which distinguishes inani- mate things, the water at once sought and tilled the chart-drawer which stood invitingly open, and reduced those valuahle articles to a pulpy condition. There is a general tacit determination among us to take Mr. Greeley's advice, and move AYest — if we es'er get back. November \^th. — The ^.E. gale blows stronger than ever, and we really feel a little swindled. We had longed for the trade- winds, having read tliat as soon as we reached their latitudes a gentle, equal breeze would waft us to our destination, under pleasant skies, with smooth seas and flying hsh playing about ; and here we are, pitching about in the heaviest sea I ever saw — washed fore and aft all the time, with occasional visitations through the skylight. At night it seems rougher still, and it is a great pleasure to see daylight again. A large flying fish mistook his way and flew on board. He was instantly cooked. N'ovember 16th. — Heavy seas and hard squalls CHANGmG OUR COURSE. 29 all night. Every wash that broke into the cabin would cause four anxious faces to pro- trude from four uneasy berths. At dawn the sun rose in almost a clear sky and the strength of a genuine old-fashioned gale. After tlie noon observations, we found that we were con- siderably to leeward of the Virgin Pass, and 198 miles from the Mona Pass ; and in view of the gale, and the necessity of heaving to and riding it out before we could lay our course for St. Thomas, L proposed to run to the southward for Mona Pass, so as to get under the lee of Porto E-ico. This will ease the schooner, and the decision is hailed with general applause. It is acted upon at once, a reef turned out of the foresail and trysail, and we bowl along merrily and much more comfortably in our new course S. by E. ; still the great white-maned sea-horses rush up astern, and menace us from a great height. Occasionally the wash from the crest of a wave wets somebody's shirt, but the sun shines out so cheerily over all, his brightness seems to dispel half the discomforts, and to moderate the natural anxieties of a landsman. It 30 LAND, HO! doesn't seem as if anything could happen with such a bright sunliglit, and such a delicious, soft, wai^ni air. I can't help fancying that the sailors, who in turn take their trick at the wheel, have an amused expression, as who should say, " / get §35 a month for slipping about and getting w^et through — but where can your fun be?" And Andrew, observing a sea come over her quarter and souse me, remarked with quite a sardonic grin : " I hope you be a enjoying of yourself, sir ! " But he could not shake my faith that I was having a good time. By midnight the gale has moderated to a good breeze, the sea is smoother, the moon is up, and we are looking forward to the welcome sound of " Land, ho ! " to-morrow mornini 'to* Novemher Vlth. — The night has been smooth and agreeable, and the sun rises very warm, with a moderate breeze. The winter is past and gone, the time of the singing birds is come, and the voice of the turtle ought to be heard, as we have seen several. At 10 a.m. we welcome the cry, " Land, ho ! " dead ahead, thirty miles away. It rises in high misty hills, PORTO RICO. 31 like a great cloud on the horizon, and is the beautiful island of Porto Rico. We set the mainsail with two reefs, and our valued friend the trysail disappears. AV^e recognize fully to-day that we are in the tropics. The thermometer stands at 8^° in the companion-way, and 95° on deck, and the flying fish skip round us in a livel}^ manner. As we run full before the wind, with all sail made, the sun beats down on our heads as it never -seems to at home, even in the dog days, and the cabin is a grateful retreat, especially as it is the home of lemonade and other refreshments. From one great purple roller to another we rapidly approach the island, but unfortunately a bank of heavy clouds rests upon the mountain ranges, and partially veils the great El Yunque ( the anvil), the highest peak of the Sierra Luquillo, 3,750 feet high. lie is forty miles away, but we can make out the broad square outline from which he is named. After rounding the north-western point of the island, we enter Mona Pass, which is the strait dividing Porto Rico from San Domingo. It is sixty miles broad, and the water, instead of the unvarying 32 AGUADILLA. blue, softens to the most exquisite silvery green color. At 3 P.M. we run into a little bay on the west coast called Aguadilla, and anchor near two or three other small vessels, opposite a very pretty little village of that name. The village is built close to the water, with a background of beautifully wooded clifPs, and reminds one of Torquay. The church is an edifice of some pretension, but dwarfed in its towers, on ac- count of hurricanes and earthquakes. There is also a fort, mounting two or three aged guns, and a colored sentinel, but no landing-place to be seen, and we observe the natives landing through the surf in large dorys. We had hardly dropped our anchor, when a boat, with an innnense Spanish Hag and a very small man in the stern, came alongside with such a rush as to call for an expostulation. " Cuidado you negronis ne scratckez pas the jpainto^ " was the phrase which appealed to their consid- eration. The small one was the collector of the port, and finding we had no bill of health from Kew York, he refused us permission to land, and placed us under quarantine, for twenty-four hours. TROUBLE. 33 Onr conversation was poor work, as the sample of Spanish quoted above is about as good as we could muster, and, of course, the small Don was above knowinc: our heretical language; but as far as one could judge, he was severely troubled in his mind because we had no cargo and, above all, no " TnanifiestoP The little man left us with the gravest doubts of our respectability, which were height- ened by a pretense he made of reading L 's commission from tlie Treasury Department, and of Avhicli of course he didn't understand one word. lie carried this ashore with him, also a letter from us to the U. S. Consular Agent, of an appealing nature. But all the blazing afternoon we swung disregarded, ta- booed, and grumbling awfully, although a quiet night will be a good thing for ourselves and the crew. Novei7\her IS^A. — We get a letter from the Consular Agent, telling us in substance what the collector has just told us, as he ran along- side in his nigger manned boat — that our quar- antine will be up at 1 p. m. and then we can 1* 34 SHARKS. go ashore, which we are all loni»'iiig to do. We are out of cigars, and the skipper of a Yankee schooner anchored near us, as he passed under our stern in his boat, tried to throw one on boai-d as a sample of what they had asliore ; but miss- ing us it fell in the water. W. K , who is a splendid swimmer threw off his clothes, took a "header" off the taff rail and secured it. We were immediately hailed from the Yankee schooner, " I guess you'd better get your man back, this here bay is full of ground shirks!" I need not say how delighted we were when he got safe aboard. 1 quite sickened with the ex- pectation of a catastrophe. At half-past one o'clock two or three or three officers, with a rath- er uTicertain interpreter (for whose services, by- the-bye, they charged $S,) came off to us, and after searching and examining the boat, gracious- ly raised the " taboo," but politely informed ns that w^e must remain under the guns (!) of the fort until they could receive instructions from the Captain General of the island, to whom they had telegraphed at St. Juan, the capital. The w^ise men of Aguadilla seem to be in a dreadful way about us ; they cannot be per- FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS. 35 siiaded tliat anybody would go yachting for pleasure, and besides the ingenious collector has an idea of" collecting a line of i^M)() from us, for not having the indis])en5ible '^ manifesto j''' They have also received intelligence that, " a chiel's among us taking notes," in the shape of a reporter for the " N. Y. Herald," who is making drawings, etc. for some dangerous purpose, and to crown all, another schooner flying the U. S. flag has just run in, having mistaken the harbor for that of Maynaguez whither she is bound. This scares them terribly, and they have gone ashore to review the troops, and strengthen the defences. It is quite evident that the "Yir- fi^inius" matter is not forgotten. At last we prepared to land, but this is an undertaking. We have observed the landing of several passengers from a coasting steamer that ran in an hour ago, and, with all their care, a boatman succeeded in upsetting one of the dories, and turning a stout old Don and his Lares into the surf, to the great delight of a crowd of colored nudities on the beach. At last we reached the shore, and proceeded with a long following of curious niggers, to visit 36 FIRST LANDING. Mr. Koppisch, the consular agent for everywhere, who entertained ns very pleasantly, and pre- sented us to his charming family. Having been educated in New York, they at least un- derstood the object of a yacht, and by exhibiting our letters the consul was able to soothe in some deorree, the alarms of the authorities. We vis- ited the quaint little town and entered the queerly decorated church, without disturbing the devout worshippers, kneeling here and there before the tawdry coloi-ed images and pictures. Church at Aguadilla. In the centre of the open space in front of the church, stands a time worn sundial still faithfully marking the creeping hours. It had a ruined, AT ANCHOR. 37 forlorn look, as if tired of preaching the terrible legend. " Vulnerant onmes, ultima necat ! " They all wound — the last kills ! — it is the sentiment of a Trappist. The question of slavery on tliis island is de- finitely set at rest; the slaves have been lib- erated by a sliding scale of age, and only seven or eight individuals remain in a state of servi- tude. The free colored popul[\tion is very large, of different shades of mulatto, and it is amusing to see how the arrogant gravity of the Spaniard is grafted on the indolence of the African. They lounge about with strange expressionless faces, like the musicians in Gerome's picture of the Almee. The sea has been smooth all. day, so that we returned on board without any diffi- culty, and even brought some ladies off in tlie brilliant moonlight to see the yacht. Noveml)er \S)th. — At dawn, a dug-out came alongside rowed by the dirtiest of darkies, who had a quantity of small red mullets for sale. For twenty-five cents we secured about twenty of them; and the rosy beauties flipped about 38 UNDER WAY. the deck until they met their fate in the pan ; and they proved to be perfectly delicious. We went ashore to see the market-place, which was filled with oabblins:, chatterino* neo^resses selling: fruit, fish, eggs and corn, but there were no vegetables at all. We took the opportunity to lay in a supply of delicious oranges and lemons, (about five cents a dozen). I have not seen one even good-looking woman in the 2:)lace. On re- turning on board we got under way, but drifted about the bay for some hours, victims of a dead calm interspersed with rain storms, and every rain drop is a " douche," as if a string had to be pulled to produce each one. The day was dis- agreeable till sundown ; we attempted fishing and had several bites. II. It landed an odd, eruptive-looking snapper, white with red spots all over him, but the breeze springing up, we hauled in our lines and headed down the Mona Pass bound to Santa Ciniz, 140 miles of dead beating to windward. Wovemher ^l^th. — We have fairly entered the Carribean sea, and enjoy the excpiisitely clear, light blue waters, so different from the heavy PORTO RICO. tuinljliiig waves of the Atlantic, on the north coast of the island, and which were characterized most appropriately by a schooner captain, at Agnadilla, as "perfectly scandalous,^'' As we glide along several miles from shore, in twelve fathom water, the sand and coral l)()ttom gives the surface a wonderful sheen, as if we were sailing over satin ; but we are too far from the land to see any of its beauties, except the lofty outlines of the mountains. November 2Ls'^. — Another glorious day! " Like the waves of the summer, as one dies away, Another as bright and as shining comes on." We have made about sixty miles along the southern shore, and about five miles from it. The land and sea together have a fanciful re- semblance to Mediterranean scenes, and a remarkably good imitation of the Cornici road, so that one can almost see Monaco, or Ventimig- lia as we smoothly glide along. A cloudless sky ! smooth sea ! good breeze ! exquisite land- scapes ! pleasant companions ! a certainty of superior repasts in their due seasons ! and the hope of a letter from one's true love at St. 40 SANTA CRUZ. Thomas what is wanting to the perfection of yachting, or even t)io smn of human happiness? In the afternoon, after standing ck)se in shore on the port tack, we at Last take leave of the beautiful, picturesque shores of Porto Rico, and of the momitains overhanging them, where " Like clouds suspended in an emerald sky. The ash and the acacia floating hang Tremulous and pale. Like restless serpents, clothed In rainbow and in fire, the parasites Starr'd with ten thousand blossoms, flow around The gray trunks. Soft mossy lawns Beneath these canopies extend their swells, Fragrant with perfumed herbs, and eyed with blooms Minute yet beautiful. " A most brilliant moonliHit finds us flvino: along eight knots an hour, and laying our course for the island of Santa Cruz, which already looms on the horizon. Noveinber 22<^. — I came on deck at day- light to find that we are hove-to off Christian- stedt, the small capital of the small island, and waiting for a pilot who is beating out to ns through an opening in the coral reef which extends along the whole shore. As we ap- proach the island from the sea, its soft undulat- SANTA URUZ. 41 ing lines of cane- fields coming close down to the shore, and the avenues and chisters of co- coa and palms, surrounding the emerald green with a darker fringe, are all bathed in the glory of the rising sun, as well as the Ijack-ground of wooded hills, which in the half-light looked like a number of coal heaps, but now glitter out, dotted with sugar plantations and resi- dences. These hills are a little like those we saw in Porto Hico, but neither so grand, or so beautiful, the highest being only about a thou- sand feet high. The island itself though very small, (only about eighteen miles long, and six in breadth) seems only cultivated in the western and northern parts ; the eastern end still lo(jks as wild and as waste as wdien Columbus first anchored here in 1493, and appears to be given over to deer and wild jackasses, which form the "game" of the island. Christianstedt itself has a very picturesque appearance, rising in an amphitheatre from the shore ; but while we are observing these things, the pilot has anchored us very cleverly close into a stone quay, which is packed with colored faces, gaping at the yacht, and jabbering fearfully. We are rid 42 SANTA CRUZ. ino; in smooth water, tlie color of malachite, Avliile beyond lis the bi'eakers we have passed through, are booming away upon tlie coral reef. We at once receive a visit from the Danish officials, who are as polite and amiable as the Aguadilla fellows were unpleasant. On landing, we were delighted to find a very handsome little town, regularly laid out in squares, clean, well built, and inhabited by an English speaking people of various shades of color, which latter, however, is not surprising, when we remember that there are only 4,000 w^hites in the whole population of the island, which is 24,000. Our first object ashore was to present letters of introduction to Mr. M , who is the chief planter and merchant of Santa Cruz ; but we were rather dismayed, with the mercury at 90°, on finding that he lived at Fred- richstadt, 15 miles oif at the west end, where most of his plantations lie : however, after wait- ing a tropical length of time, we succeeded in procuring a carriage and a light wagon, in w4iich we had a most delightful excursion through the country, over splendid, hard, smooth, level roads, broad avenues bordered by cocoa SANTA CRUZ. 43 palms, and rolling away through mile after mile of rich waving fields of sugar cane. Here and there we met with grou2)S of colored youths offering, for the absurdly small sum of ten cents, The Cocoa Palm. a basket full of green cocoa nuts with which we quenched our thirst. The results of a too copious draft suggested the value of a sketch of brandy in the milk experto crede ! 44 A PLANTATION. At every turn we came to a handsome resi- dence, each with its windmill, sugar Iionses and laborer's hnts all built of stone, — from one end of our ride to the other were evidences of the most industrious cultivation, while the fal- low lands were one carpet of exquisite flowers : Euphorbia?, convolvuli, and the lovely scarlet hibiscus. Everybody we met, whether walking or riding, saluted us in the must polite manner, and this happens also when we walk in the town. When we arrived at the residence of our friend, it seemed as if all the traditions of planter's Iiospitality were verified and exalted, so charming Avas our reception by Mr. M and his family. It certainly was delightful to sit in a cool veranda, with a splendid view of the ocean, and enjoy a regular gossip about home, with the lovely chatelaine, who also came from New York. It was delightful to mount horses, and scamper off through the woods and over the hills for eight or ten miles, with distant glimp- ses of the sea at the ends of long ravines of densest verdure, while the hills are carefully cul- tivated from the very summits. Indeed Mr. SANTA CRUZ. 45 ]\I told me tliat the smooth, rounded ap- pearance of these summits was owing to the fact that the tops had heen cultivated off- — tliis sounds like the tale of a traveller. We found out host's horses small but easy paced and very sure- footed in trying places. After dinner, resist- ing with difficulty the kindly invitations of our host, we drove back through the cool dark, with occasional drenching rains, to Christian- stedt and the small '' Josephine." I took the opportunity of testing the effects of genuine Santa Cruz rum, made on the plantation, — it is very agreeable, but [)erhaps insidious. Novemher 23d. — C • and I ■ landed in tlie cool of the morning, and took a walk about the town. Colored women of every size, shape, hue and feature imaginable, blackest ebony, orange tawney, or cafe-au-lait, walked al)Out the streets, or hung from the queer wooden balconies that extend from house to house. Some of them were ridiculous resemblances of friends at home, we certainly saw uncle D • and Mdme. . The pretty little Protestant church near the middle of the town possesses an 46 SANTA CRUZ. ideal cemetery. How deliglitful to know that wlien one has " shuffled off this mortal coil " A Dazzler. perpetual repose awaits under a shade of cocoa palms, and tamarind trees, with a car- MUSqUITOES. 47 pet of exquisite flowers variegating the " long and pleasant grass." Eupliorbiie, passion flow- ers and great scarlet cacti, seem out of place though, in the quiet God's-acre where one has been accustomed to see " the violets of his native land," but the sleepers here have a further glory, their graves being banked up with hugh conch shells, each with its pink grimiing mouth turned outwards, which has a sufticiently fantastic effect. During the morning, we ])aid a visit to the harmless fort which acropolizes the town. It is mounted with wonderful old cannon, and commanded by a most agreeable and witty major, who received us with great politeness, I regret very much not having been to " Bu- lowsminde," an old Governor's residence on the heights, so prettily described by M. E. W. S. in one of her stories ; but some little repairs being needed for the scliooner, we must hasten to St. Thomas. Horror ! hoi-ror ! musquitoes ! ! — they sing as loud as bull frogs, bite like serpents, and have appeared among us with the suddenness of one of Pharoah's plagues. 48 ST. THOMAS. Novemhev ^^tli. — After warping out past the fort, we pass through the great coral barrier and its pensive pelicans, who hardly take the trouble to lift their absurd, over-grown heads as we run by. The pilot steps into his boat, and we are once more in blue Avater, heeling over to the fresh easterly breeze, and bound for St. Thomas. AVe made tlie run of forty miles in four hoTirs and a half, notwithstanding tliree unpleasant rain squalls, and now lie at anchor in the harbor of Charlotte-Amalia, the capital of the islan.d, which, how^ever, is only iifteen miles long, and is a mass of rocks, without forests or much low ground. The approach to the island reminds one of Marblehead, and the entrance to the harbor is exceedingly beautiful and picturesque. It is narrow, but as we rushed in, regardless of pilots, it widened into a lovely bay, surrounded by a range of high hills sloping to the w^ater, and with their dome-like summits rising 700 to 1,400 feet. The towTi lies at their feet, built on three spurs of the hills, and is a very gay looking place, the streets rising in terraces, one above the other, ST. THOMAS. 49 while the red-tiled roofs glitter in the clear atmosphere. The harbor is filled with ship- Tuwn and Harbor of St. Thomas. piiif;, the wharves are crowded with l)oats, and the streets with nijxgers of every hue and ex- pression, all chattering and leaping about surprisingly. I don't wonder the old bucca- neers made this place the base of their piratical operations. It is full of neat little hiding places for vessels, and I looked with interest on the two towers, or rather their remains — - 50 ST. THOMAS. one called Bluebeard's Tower, and the other Blackbeard's Tower — where tliese miUl-iuan- iiered gentlemen used to lark and carouse after a successful expedition, and also " stow their swag." Bluebeard I only remember as a fanatical matrimonialist, but Blackbeard's cruel exploits are celebrated all through the islands. His mantle appears to have degener- ately fallen upon the shopkeepers of the town. The cool land breeze enjoyed on the deck of the tidy little " Josephine," is pleasanter than strolling about tlie njvand-down, sun-baked streets of the town ; and then one gets so tired of the inevitable nigger. In this ])lace, the females largely predominate in every hue and form of hideousness — yet they seem to have a patron or " touter," the vilest of niggers, who, though possessing the virtuous name of Snowball, haunted us in the streets with a wish to be our guide, philosopher, and friend. Nor could he be entirely got rid of. ]Vove7nher 2Dth. — Thank Heaven! the nu^squi- toes, or moschettos, as Humboldt calls them, (I wonder which is right,) have been killed or ST. TnOMAS. 51 blown away, and we are anchored just far enoujj^h from land to prevent their getting off to us. Their visit seems like a " dem'd horrid dream." I visited Mr. Palgrave, the British Consul, a veiy good fellow, who appears to have got himself into a scrape by writing a clever article in the Coriihill about St. Thomas, in consequence of which he is execrated by the inhabitants, on the principle, I fancy, of *' c^ lib est que la verlte qui offense^'' The said inhabitants (there are no natives) are composed of every race under the sun, and largely flav- ored with the Hebrew of Germany. IS"o one seems to be settled. As each makes a com- petence or a fortune, he shakes off the dust of St. Thomas, and returns to his native land. AVe were inscribed at the Club, and found it a very comfortable place, on a high terrace above the port, the windows and cool balcony commanding a wonderful view of the harbor, bay, and surrounding islands. This is a very busy port. Shipping and steamers, large and small, are constantly arriving or departing, while multitudes of small nigger-propelled boats are always to be seen darting about. 62 ST. THOMAS. We have been carefully warned about bath- ing, as the harbor is full of sharks, and we have two large shark-hooks baited, consequently, over the taffrail. The beasts float gently up, swallow the lump of beef, and then, finding the hook inconvenient, bend it out straight, and depart in peace — with the beef — so that we have not yet captured one. We get daily supplies, however, of delicious little fish, either mullet or snappers, of all colors of the rain- bow — red or spotted, or striped witJi gold — and costing a mere trifle. Novemher 26M. — We have lovely days, with a very hot vertical sun, but tempered by the cool breath of the trade wind, until 4 o'clock, when the breeze dies out, and till six the air is very sultry and trying. The nights are filled with music in the shape of rain-squalls, which come down with violent regularity, splashing through the skylights, and clattering down the wind- sails, and either wet us all below, or oblige us to take a Turkish bath by shutting up the cabin tightly; however, the planters say that it is magnificent weather for the cane. King Cane ST. THOMAS. 53 reigns as paramount in the West Indies as King Cotton in the Southern States ; he regulates the wealth of all, and what is worse, he rules the conversation. Where two or three are gathered together I can be sure they are talking '* Cane," and I carefully pass by on the other side. There has been a great excitement in the town to-day over a species of " phillikx >," or Irish warfare, among the niggers, numbers of whom have been c(mveyed kicking to the Fort, and the row had to be suppressed by a party of the Danish cfarrison. I discovered that it was an annual occurrence. Christmas is approaching, and it seems that the colored population have a little way of beginning to keep it earlf/. These same colored people seem, at any rate in the Danish islands, to have a higher range of intel- liirence than with us. Clerks in the custom house and government offices, book-keepers, store-keepers, bank clerks, are all niggers, and to-day we were " interviewed " on board, by two bright l(X)king darkies, reporters for the newspaper. To-night the Governor holds his weekly reception, but the inclination to go is wanting, as we were naively informed by an 64 ST. THOMAS. official that the element of ladies was very de- ficient indeed, at these entertainments, owing to the fact that nearly all of these charmers ai-e either having babies, or attending to their nur- sery duties. This is a growing colony ! Novemher 2^th. — To- day is almost a dies non. We swing lazily at our anchor, watching the incoming and outgoing vessels, and anxiously hoping for the arrival of a tardy hla?icMssei\se, that we may once more try the bounding billows to-morrow. Novemher 2^th. — This morning we took in provisions, water, and ice, (the latter four cents per lb.,) preparatory to sailing ; we had previ- ously supplied ourselves with thin ready-made clothing, wdiich St. Thomas supplies very cheaply to all the other islands, being a free port of entry, and L procured a wonderful tropi- cal hat which made him look like an animated mushroom. AYitli " a madness of farewells," Iv and V\, ■ dej^arted on shore with all their belongings, as they leave us here to i^e- turn to New York. The mainsail is once more A FAREWELL. 65 hoisted, the anchor comes home, and at noon we sail out of the harbor bound for Guadaloupe. , to coni- C- and I still remain with L- Our Blanchisseuse. plete the cruise, of which the most enjoyable part is vet to come. 56 SABA ISLAND. As soon as we clear the islands, we bounce in- to a heavy sea with the wind dead ahead, so that we may be some time making the 240 miles that sej^arate us from our destination. I cannot say that diving into a head sea, nnder double reefs and bonnet off the staysail, with water flying all over us, is quite the most comfortable condition for the quiet enjoyment of dinner. Hovemher %^th. — AVe have weathered the shoals off the east end of Santa Cruz during the night, and are now speeding along w^ithin two points of our course, under full canvas, with a strong current against us. About 8 A. M., we sighted the singular island of Saba, and kept it in sight until nearly sundown, although we were averaj^ino; seven knots. This remarkable island is simply a volcano, rising abruptly out of the sea to a sugar-loaf elevation of about 3,000 feet ; it is nearly round and about two miles across. It is inhabited by about 800 Dutch- men and their emancipated slaves. It is rather a difficult place to visit, as the tourist has to be hauled up the face of the rock in a basket, the inhabited spot beino^ nearly a thousand feet SABA ISLAND. 57 up, and luGus d nonluceiido it is called, "The Bottom;" siiigulai-ly enough, the inhabitants are celebrated as the best l)oat builders and sailors in the West Indies ; while in conse hland of Saba. quence of their lofty positii)n they have a tem- perate cliuiateand grow all European fruits and vegetables. As we passed this strange moun- tain, we ran across Saba Bank, a bed of living coral, in about ten fathoms of water, and we could plainly see the beautiful bottom and the fish darting about, while the water had the same sheeny satFn effects that we noticed off Porto Rico. To-dav has been our most beautiful 58 POETRY. tropical day yet, a moderate sea and a fine even breeze made sailing delightful, and the sunset was a marvel of splendor, — it ilhistrated Sir AValter Scott. " And now my gnilty course is run, Mine be the eve of tropic sun No pale gradations quench his ray, No twilight dews his wrath allay; With disc like battle-target red He rushes to his fiery bed, Dyes the wild wave with bloody light — Then sinks at once — and all is night." N'oveniber SOth. — At daylight, with a smooth sea and very little wind, we make land right ahead to the S. E., and by noon we were a])out thirty miles from Basse Terre, the capital of Guadaloupe. We have, also, to feast our curi- ous eyes, on the horizon, the twin mountains of Montserrat, a cluster of islands and rocky peaks called "les Saintes," just south of Gua- daloupe and farther to the southward the great mountain of Dominica, called Morne Diablotin, 4,Y47 feet high, rears his dai'k head in the dis- tance — but alas ! ' ' The best laid plots of mice and men Gang aft agloy." A CALM. 59 At this time a stark flat calm fell upon us ; all day our sails flapped in the heavy ocean swell, the sun shot down his very hottest and most vertical rays, and it was evidently all up with the wonderfully short run which we were going to make to Guadaloupe. "We possessed our souls with patience, refreshed our bodies with " cabin stores," and amused ourselves with the performances of a shark, which darted round the boat, making l)eautiful rays in the clear blue water. I threw over a hook weighted with a pound of l)eef, and it lay far below the sur- face, glittering like a living malachite, until the clever beastie ate ofl" all the beef and retir- ed. A. squall of wind and rain coming up, we lost siirht of him, and about dark the rei!:ular sea breeze set in again, so that we are approach- ing the coast under easy sail. Decemher 1st. — This has been a day of dis- appointment and yawning. All day we have been roj[>rietaire\\\\h whom we shared our Pommeraye sec, and discoursed of many things during the hour or two of gentle languor and cigars, that came like the reward of a good action. Altogether it was an enchant- ing excursion, but our last one here, for to my regret, L decided to get under weigh for Barbadoes, with the land breeze this evening, so we bid a sad farewell to the enchantments and attractions of this loveliest of the Antilles. Good-bye, dear Martinique, I don't think we shall meet with anything better. " The cloud may stoop from heaven and take the shape. With fold to fold, of mountain or of cape," but cannot surpass my Martinique. I have tried, but not very successfully, to UNDER WAY AOAIK collogue witli the natives in. their \\OYYidi patois. It seems to be a jargon based on the French, and composed of sounds and corruptions of words, that fit most naturally to the nigger organs of speech. It is a very undignified, toothless sort of dialect, soft, but silly in the extreme. The natives love it best thouirh, and althougli they will speak French if you insist, the rascals will always try to draw yon into tlieir ridiculous gabble. December Sth. — After baflflinir about under short sail all night, we found ourselves this morning at the southern end of Martinique, and close to the celebrated Diamond Rock, which rises six hundred feet clean out of the water, is only about a mile round, and was considered unclimbable until Admiral Hood, in ISO-I, made a hawser fast to the top from his ship, " The Centaur," and succeeded in hauling up five guns, which were placed in position, and defended by 120 men with four months' pro- visions. The rock was actually rated on the admiralty books as H. M. S. Diamond Rock, and the position was held for a year and a ST. LUCIA. half, until for want of powder, it was sur- rendered to the French squadron. It is aston- islnng to think c>f the tremendous fights that have taken place over these West India Islands, and the quantity of lives that have heen spent in the various changes of ownership that each has undero^one. On our starboard hand is the beautiful but snaky island of St. Lucia, also the scene of some very hard fighting. It is towered over by the singular twin mountains at its western end, called the Pitons, which, about_ a mile apart, rush sheer out of the sea up about 3,000 feet, are covered w^ith heavy woods, and quite inaccessible. There is a story of some sailors trying to climb one of them, and being all killed by the for de lance. Behind them is a lovely little bay, bathing the foot of the fantastic Souffriere, now of rather diminished loftiness, having blown his own crater all to pieces in the last eruption. As we catch a favoring breeze, we soon leave these beautiful islands behind us, getting, however, a distant view of St. Yincent and his big volcanic peak. All the evening we bowl along about nine knots an hour towards Barbadoes. One among us POESY. 79 had been observed violently sucking a stump of black lead pencil during the day, and asking the steward for note paper. So no one was surprised when, the cloth being removed and cigars lighted, our conversation took this kind of form : T. — " Look here ! the buccaneerishness of tliese latitudes has awakened the deep well of poetry I have always thought was hidden within me. I yearn for the unattainable. I have burst into song. Kow just give me, both of you, your opinion on this little thing. I call it rather neat — but mind, it's copyrighted. You are not to go sending it to the girl 3'ou left behind you as a tenderness of your own." (Z ■ dlsajpj)ears hastily itjp the Gomjpan ioiiway.) " Never mind. C you have a soul for this sort of thing, just listen and be thrilled ! *' Far 'neath the tropic sky, our wandering barque Rises upon the rolling purple wave, The sun, low on the confines of the dark, Seems in the deep his burning disc to lave. As flies the white foam o'er the crested sea, So fly my burning thoughts, Love, to thee ! " so poEsr. L. {on decJc.) — " Clew down tlie inaintopsail, and furl it. Stand by foresail halliards/' C. — " There ! I knew such rot would l)rinnr a 8(|uall ! Oh dear, I thought one might have 'list one quiet night too — everything acts just ike the devil!" T. — " Vex not thou the poet's mind With thy shallow wit, hut listen to the splendid effect of the next stanza." C. — '' Patience is a virtue. Steward! some brandy and water." T. — "A speck upon the heaving ocean's breast, The compass guides our trackless path aright, But my unquiet heart, in wild unrest. Yearns with its weight of love throughout the night ! The perfumed south wind speeds us o'er the sea. And all my soul is full, O Lore, of thee ! " L. {on decl\) — "Lower away foresail, hand- somely now ! Call starboard watch, and reef mainsail." C. — " Serves us right ! your perfumed south wind is going to give us fits, and while they are reefiing I should like to know how your what's- BARB ADO ES. 81 liis-naiiie lieart, in wild thiiii^aiiimy, is like our 8teady-goiii<^ old compass. Shut up and tako some of tliis." T. — " You liave no poetry in your soul. 1 shall turn in." Decemher ^th. — We made such ixd time in the nii^^ht, that we had to heave-to off the coast and wait till dayliij^ht. The morning sun was just tuniiiig the Iiill pahns to gold, as we tilled away and sailed into the harbor of Bridgetown, the capital of Barbadoes. This island, as seen from the sea, is quite different from any other ot" the islands we have visited, the difference is that of a quiet respectable citizen from a wild and dazzling pirate. Here in Barbadoes are no volcanoes or S(Miffrieres to hold the island in awe, no wild forests, or savage peaks with deep azure glens and ravines ; all is smooth, quiet, snug, highly cultivated and densely populated; even nature seems controlled by the spirit of British respectability, and at a distance, were it not for the palm-trees, one might imagine one's self sailing up to the Isle of Wight. The pop- ulation is remarkable, being over 162,000 for 82 VEIiY FREE NIGGERS. an island eighteen miles long by twelve miles broad, and we saw very unfavorable specimens of it as we ran into the harbor, in the shape of immense numbers of most persevering and re- pulsive darkies who flocked round us in small boats, keeping up with us as we shortened sail, offering quite unnecessary pilotage and scream- ing out most injurious statements about each other and each other's family relations. We had absolutely to obtain the assistance of the harbor police to clear them off, having with the great- est difficulty prevented them from swarming all over the schooner, until we finally dropped anchor some distance from the wharf landing, outside the mole, and near an English corvette, the " Druid." As soon as we handed we were assailed by a cloud of pestiferous niggers des deux sems, who hovered round us like musquitos, except that the sense they offended was not that of touch, and while endeavoring to drive them off, we were reinforced by a New Yorker whom I had known under less trying circumstances, and eventually succeeded in reaching the Ice House, which is the cafe and general supply store oi BARBADOES. 83 the town. Here we met the U. S. consul and went thronojh a liberal course of introductions, (6 ill BrUlgttoicn. making the acijuaintance also of a voluminoua but enticing: drink known as "swizzle." Our 84 VISITING. friend very kindly lent ns his carriage, in which we proceeded to pay our respects to the Gover- nor of the Windward Islands, lion. Rawson W. Rawson, to whom we had a letter of introduc- tion. Government House is about a mile out of town, and stands in the midst of a perfect paradise of most beautiful gardens. The Gov- ernor, whose scientific tastes are well known, showed us his collecticm of shells and marine curiosities, which Mr. Agassiz pronounced to be the most perfect he had seen, and after a plea- sant conchological hour we visited the gardens where my ignorance, I hope, was less conspicu- ous. The botanical collection was admirable, and it seemed charming to have a greenhouse without the northern appliances of glass and stoves. I forbear a list of nomenclatures of the lovely things I saw, feeling that the splendid tree fern is not more admirable when called Polypodium arhoreum. We wound up at the very nice club in the town, so that we may be said to be free of the city, and the hospitable people seem to think they can't do enough to make it pleasant for us. The town itself is very British and substantial, and the environs are BARBAD0E8. 85 rows of pretty houses and gardens reminding one, mutatis mutandis^ of St. John's Wood. With a little more breeze and a good many less niggers, it would be delightful. Deceinher \Oth. — We have been lying quietly at anchor all day, enjoying a repose heighten- ed by the certainty that everybody must be very hot ashore. The weather is too trying until nearly sundown. We went ashore in the evening, and drove round tlie pleasant outskirts of the town to a suburb called Hastings, w^hich is 251'ettily situated on a coral point, and con- tains the houses of most of the European resi- dents, also the barracks, parade ground, and an ominous monument erected to the victims of the hurricane of 1831, which seems to have been very destructive, over 2000 people having lost their lives. December 11th. — To-day has very much re- sembled yesterday, the same visits from hopeful hlanchiseuses (badly named, for they all vie with the ace of spades) and bumboat wom.en, and a great many friendly visitations from residents 86 TURTLE AND PUNCH. of the place. One gentleman lent ns his car- riage for a very pleasant drive among the cane- fields and by the sea shore ; another gave us a charming evening at his house, where we made the acquaintance of a bowl of Barbadian punch, the ingredients of which I here give to a grate- ful world : Holland gin, sugar, limes, fresh cocoanut milk, and ice. I have no expression strong enough to describe my entire respect for it. While Ave were in Martinique we bought a brace of green turtles for four dollars, and these succulent creatures, each with a hole through his shell and a long painter, enjoy themselves in their native element awaiting their final des- tiny. Their lives have been prolonged from the fact that the Ice House supplies us with perfect turtle soup, composed really of turtle, and not strengthened with beef and veal stock, such as we know of in the North. L has some cases of Sercial Madeira, too, wdiich that clever old connoisseur Coleridge, who visited the islands forty years ago, says is the true wine for turtle — and how right he is ! BARBAD0E8. 87 December 12th. — We landed tliis nioniino^ to take breakfast with Mr. P , a merchant of the phice. Ilis pretty residence surrounded by mahogany trees, was at some distance from the town, as indeed everybody's appears to be, and I enjoyed the siglit of a collection of tropical ferns, such as coukl liardly be assembled in tem- perate zones. We met with a singularly good plat at this entertainment, being the roes of fly- ins^ iitfh scrambled with ei^fo^s. How nice it sounds ! and it tastes even better. The flying- lisli is quite an article of food here, as immense quantities are netted round the island by the trim, cranky-looking little boats with large sails that one sees cruising about in the offing. After a siesta we went ashore again to a dinner-party at Governujent House. Every man was in uni- form but ourselves, and our black cosits Juisai- ent tdche in the general effect. The charming presence of the ladies was, if possible, the more agreeable to us after a long absence from home, and the perpetual haranguing of blackies, and I was sorry when the " governess " gave that mysterious signal for departure that always ends the very best of dimiers. Everybody seemed so 88 THE DREADFUL BIM. kind, friendly and hospitable, that a winter passed here could not but be very pleasant. The only great objection to Barbadoes is the tre- mendous cheeh and insolence of the " Bini " as the nigger of the island is called. Ko one could believe it possible, or appreciate it unless he had suffered and endeavored to endure it. The Book of Job would never have been written, had that interesting sufferer lived in Barbadoes. December IZth. — A delightful day of far niente, AYe literally did nothing, with the ex- ception of a visit to the ofhcers of the 97th in barracks, who were as hospitable as everybody else. December \^th. — A very busy, happy day in deed. AVe w^ere ashore by seven o'clock, to enjoy an excursion which had been arranged for us by some of our polite entertainers to the east or windward side of the island. We found their carriao;es waitino; for us and off we started over the capital coral roads, (the entire island being nothing but a coral formation) glittering and white, through endless plantations BARBADOES. 89 of the now rather wearisome sugar-cane for about sixteen miles, wlien we halted on the edire ■^f a long abrupt cliff, about seven lumdred feet ligh, and suddenly beheld one of the most ex- quisite views the eye ever rested on. Beneath us was unrolled a wide panorama of cultivated fields, avenues of palms, houses, huts, a church or two, a lighthouse, and on the verge the white surf of the Atlantic restlessly rolling upon the coral beach. I believe this part of the island is called Scotland, perhaps from a fancied re- semblance to the Trosachs. After enjoying the view to the utmost, we drove about a mile further to St. John's church, the oldest on the island, where, after moralizing in the old church- yard, we partook of a slight repast in the vestry. We got back to Bridgetown shortly after noon, rather exhausted with the hot sun, but found that our entertainers had prepared another gor- geous repast at the club, to which we did what honor we could. We spent our afternoon in receiving visits until it was time for us to go on board the Prussian brig of war " Undine," where we were invited to dine. The officers were a capital set of fellows, and gave us an 90 A LITTLE DINNER. excellent dinner in the ward room. I was put next the chaplain, as he couldn't speak a word of Englisli and the other officers all could more or less, and a very jolly companion he was. The chief ornaments of the ward room ^vere a cask of Itudesheimer and one of Steinberger neatly stowed in different corners. It was like Mrs. Chickenstalker's '' notion of a little flip," and it was pleasant to know that we had so much to fall back upon, for never was the generous growth of the Rliine more thoroughly appreci- ated ; indeed we subsequently restored one young guest to his family, of whom it could be said, ahilt, excessit, erujpit^ evasit, — in Englisli — he went out to dinner, he took more hock than was good for him — he had a tremendous spree — he said it ivas the salmon. The " Undine " being a school ship, had lots of boys on board, and after dinner they all sang quantities of German songs, very prettily indeed. Still, it was not disagreeable at last to step into the gig and return to our own quarters and repose, for no one can deny that the two most fatiguing exertions in life are sight- seeing and dinner-parties. TOD AGO. 91 December Vdtli. — Chastened but not dis- couraged, the morning sun finds us after yesterday's exercises. We paid a quantity of ''farewellers" and regretfully declined many invitations, L having decided to get under- way this afternoon for Trinidad, as it is desirable to sight the island of Tobago, which lies directly in our route, at daylight to-morrow. We left all the Barbadians preparing for a grand ball at the barracks, and stood gallantly out of the harljor. About midnight 1 saw the wonderful phosphorescence of the water described by Humboldt, as we rapidly slii)ped through it with a fair wind. The moon had just set and the crest of every wave was aflame ; the lines towing astern with the patent logs, were ser- pents of living fire, and all the sea where we cleft it with our prow or left it seething in our wake, seemed boiling flames. December l^th. — xVt daylight we sighted the island of Tobago, and gradually as we drew nearer, its lofty peaks and deep chasm — like valleys covered with forest, became distinct, but not even the glow of morning sun could 92 POOR ROBINSON CRUSOE. destroy the dismal, iiiiinliabited look of the island. The appearance of the lofty, gloomy momitains and black precipices, descending abruptly to the sea, have caused it to be most appropriately called " The Melancholy Isle." It has a peculiar interest as the island on Avhicli "poor Robinson Crusoe " was cast away, and as we passed its southern point and saw the Burf rolling upon its desolate sands, one could imagine the startling footprint and the Caribs landing; from the nei^chborini^ island of Trini- dad : in fact we beheld the little " cove running np inland and the heavy swell on the beach." As we run past, the lofty range of mountains on the north coast of Trinidad comes in sight on the horizon, shrouded in mist and rain-squalls, and at sundown we heave-to, being unable to pass the rough entrance to the Gulf of Paria till day- light. December 17 t/i. — With a fresh breeze we filled away at daylight for the Bocas de Dragone — the Dragon's Mouths — which ai-e the narrow entrances by the north to the beautiful Gulf of Paria, tlie great embouchure of the TRINIDAD. 93 Oronoco, whose mighty waters tinge the gulf a muddy bottle-green color, very different from the delightful Mediterranean-blue of the Carib- bean Sea. The gulf is a great harbor, affording The Dragons Houtfis. anchorage in every part, ninety miles long, and forty-five miles wide, completely land-locked, the only other issue but that we are approaching be- ing the entrance at the southern point of Trini- dad, and agreeal>ly named Boca del Sierpe — the Serpent's Moutli — where C(jlumbus had a very serious scare. The water nuiy be called fresh, to distinojuish it from the salt of the sea, but it 94 THE DRAG ON '8 MOUTH. is not nice for drinkiiiiii;, and rather niiproiiiis- ing for bathing- purposes. The bay is a " dolo- rous inland sea," land-locked by the island of Trinidad on the east, and the main land of Venezuela on the other. The main land ! Tierra firma ! This was the goal of the hopes of Columbus, of Raleigh and his great Eliza- bethan co-adventurers. Here were the scenes of the matchless history of Amyas Lee. We are now n^errily slidinjj: throuij^h the lauirhinir sea where nearly four hundred years ago the little caravels of the discoverer for the first time bore him towards '* a fair and beautiful coast, covered with stately forests," just as it is now. AVe pass between the lofty wooded cliffs, which, rising sheer from the sea, form the three " mouths " the Dragon affords to the navigator, and, finding ourselves almost becalmed under the great mountains, had a long opportunity of thoroughly enjoying the rich, luxuriant, w^ild and varied scenery that surrounded us. On one hand the mountains, valleys, and cultivated plains of Trinidad; on the other the high mountains of Cumana, crowned with vaporous fleecy clouds ; savage, mysterious, and impene- PORT OF SPAIN. 05 trablc ; clothed from top to bottom with immense trees; the end of the great chain, according to Humboldt {A/i^ic/ite/i der Natur)^ of the Andes of Peru. Tliese mountains end in a long cape, which is met by the mountains of Trinidad, the Bocas de Dragone lying between, and seem to prove Humboldt's belief that the island l^elongs to the shore of the con- tinent, rather than to the system of the AVest India Islands. It is im])ossible to ade(puitely describe the enchanting land and water views that Qj:>ened before us as we slowly sailed along under tlie mountain's shadow, until late in the afternoon, when we cast anchor in the harbor of Port of Spain, the capital of the island, l)uilt at the foot of the mountains, on the ugly, Ihit, muddy shores of the gulf. The river Caroni pours out its lilthy, crocodile-haunted waters just below the town, and forms a low, uidiealthy delta of alluvium, covered with the dismistino: mani^rove trees. The site of the O O o town is decidedly unprepossessing as seen from the harbor. As we sit in the cool moonliglit, on deck, I can't help thinking that hundreds of years be- 96 NIGGERS AGAIN. fore the Englishman came, scaring the Don into burning his great fleet, and took possession of this, the largest of the islands, a very lively kind of warfare was kept up by the savage aborigines. Notwithstanding the holy name given it by the Spanish explorers, Columljus had a very naive method of bestowin«* the blessino-s of Chistian- ity upon his discoveries, lie landed, planted a cross, called the place after some saint, pei-hajis said a mass, and then went on his way rejoic- ing. The new discovery had thus become Christian, w^hich did not, however, seem to pre- vent them from killing and eating each other, just as before. December ISt/i. — AYe landed eai-ly this morn- ing to visit the town, which, though large, spa- cious, and busy, still retains the cpiaint Span- ish appearance, which denotes its original own- ership. We walked about under the guidance of the consul, staring at the shops, and noticing the squalor and semi -nudity of the negro popu- lation. The British character never seems to amalgamate well with the African race, it ap- pears to render them cross grained and hideous THE GENTLE COOLIE. 97 of aspect, while the combination of the French and the negro makes a delightful mixture — this I noticed particularly at Martinique. But the labor of this island is mostly carried on by Hin- doo coolies, who form a very gi-eat and advan- tageous contrast to the indigenous darkey. Coolies at Work. They are a thin, lithe, long-haired, copper-color- ed people, very cleanly, with handsome delicate features, great deportment, and carefully pre- serving their Hindoo costume, if such slender D8 ORNAMENTS. siii:;gestioiis can be digiiilicd by that name. The women, when not adorned with rings in tlieir noses, ai-e i)rettj, and wear gold and sil- Coolie and ITegro. ver bangles, necklaces and anklets, and brace- lets above the elbow : thev also indnl£:e in ecemher l^th. — A quiet morning on board with few visitors. In the afternoon we went up to the reservc'ir, a drive of four or five miles beyond the Savanna, through the most beauti- ful ravine densely wooded, and bordering the road with orange groves and plantations of cacao, interspersed with great copses of the " king of grasses," the graceful bamboo. The cacao, of which chocolate is made bears the gracious name of Theobroma^ God's food, and is a very singular tree. Planted in rows, it bears a dense dark foliage through which glisten the long red and yellow pods of fruit, which also shoot out of the trunk or root, with- out the pretense of a twig or leaf near them. As the tree recpiires sun in winter and shade in sunnner, each row is alternated with a row of the Bol^ Immortelle^ a beautiful lofty tree which conveniently leaves in the summer, and in winter is covered wnth large red blossoms only. These plantations which form the chief industry of the ishmd, consequently add a rich- ness and beauty indescribable, to the landscape. The town is surrounded by dreadful back slums wdiere the colored people live, but the squalor LIBRARY UNIVERSTTY OF CATTFORNTA 102 TUB OALLINAZO. and filth are so palliated by the beautiful pal ins, plantains, or tamarind trees that start up every- where among them, that the nastiness of it all does not strike one like the grim hoiTors of Mackerel ville or little Dublin. The streets are liaunted, too, by evil spirits, shrouded in the form of the corleait^ a kind of turkey-buzzard, only i^"C Fowl JProceediiigs. more so ; they have a perj)etual contract for the offal of the town, and are allowed to roost all over the houses; they are black, hideous and as impudent as a Bim. C came back later from an excursion in the mountains with the Doctor, bi-imful of en- thusiasm at the beauty of the scenery and the PITCH LAKE. 103 beauty of the coolinas — especially the latter. This, then, is tlie result of those deleterious readings on the voyage down ! December %Hh. — Early this morning we got under way, and, accompanied by the most obliging of consuls, Mr. Fulton Paul, sailed about tliirty miles down the coast to Point la Brea, a long promontory on the west shore, where the celebrated Pitch Lake is situated. As we glided along through the smooth but foul water, we had a capital view of the detached cliffs of the Dragon's Mouths, where the ocean first broke the rocky bulwark aud made an island of Trinidad. About noon we landed by beaching the boat in a heavy surf, which tumbled us all out in a ridiculous man- ner, and wetted us completely through. The instant one lands, pitch prevails. The pebbles even on the beach are pitch, and the few inhabitants who came down to meet us were pitchy, and of the color of that defiling substance. We had about a mile to walk, ac- companied by a guide and two niggers bearing a pitchy plank, which was shortly to come into 104 PITCH LAKE. play. I also carried my gun. Our road lay between great banks of lovely flowers, roseaux, and groo-groo palms. The day was perfectly delightful, a fresh sea breeze tempering the heat, and we went in for a regular school-boy scamper. The black surface of this extraordinary lake is seamed in every direction with pools of water and crevasses, some of great depth. The shallow ones we waded through, and at the deep ones the plank came into requisition. Here and there from the black bosom of the pitch rise small islets, covered with beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers, tufts of wild pine- apple and aloes, the trees ornamented with bizarre orchids, and everywhere radiant buttei'- flies, and birds of exquisite plumage, some of which I shot, with wild ideas of taxidermy, and afterwards greatly regretted the useless de- struction of such brilliant creatures — the only nsef ul deaths were those of some plover — while absurd birds like robins flew about us, shout- ing " Qic'est qiCil dit^ qii^est quHl dit^^'^ from which they are named. L became imbued with a sportsman's A REGULAR SCAMPER. 105 ardor, and taking the gun, with his eyes fixed on his pre}', waded into a crevasse, and suddeji- \y disapj3eared under water, waving the gun alx)ve the surface. Ten minutes on the hot pitch, however, dried his clothes. In the mid- dle of the lake we found a large space, perhaps half an acre, of pitch, boiling and bubbling as if hot from the infernal cauldron, and at an- other spot we found the surface so hot as to be very uncomfortable even through our shoes, while the barefooted niggers were kept ]"idiculouslj leaping up and down like the cele- brated dancing turkeys. Treatises have been written and theories form- ed on the origin of this strange freak oi nature,, l)ut it still remains an unexplained plienonienon. Humboldt says {Ansichten der Natur^ that it is " an aggregating mass formed from a cosmical gaseous fluid." This is a very good thing to start with, but a scientific description would lead to awful language, with such an axiom as a leader — "oscillating," "upheaved," "fissur- ed " are a few of the scientific plums one could bring in — but this is not a treatise. We walked back tired and hunirrv 106 SNAKES. a bright look-out for snakes, with which the place is infested. The coral snake, a beautiful poisoner, and the boa-constrictor are all about here, and I found the niggei-s knew of the fabled amphisboena, the double-en der, and one of the plank carriers had run away from one, very ingeniously fleeing from him at right angles, gaining time by puzzling his snakeship as to which end to run at him with. I didn't quite believe the nigger though. Plenty of alligators reside in these pleasant regions too, and as we traced our way back along the beach, our guide pointed to tracks of this creature — but I knew in my heai't they were dog tracks ! On reaching the schooner we at once got nnder way and beat np to San Fernando, the second largest town of the island, situated near a large and fertile plain covered with sugar cane. It is apparently a central market for parrots as every individual inhabitant has a " polly " to sell — each supposed to possess super- natural talent. The streets are quaint, tumble- down houses like this, the homes of the centi- pede, and the gentle tarantula. SAJV FERNANDO. 107 At San Fernando. Deceinber ^Ist. — AYe received a very early visit from Mr. Bourne, the manager of the usine and siio^ar estates belono-inor to it at San Fernando. This, which is known as the Usine Centrale, is the largest in the AVest Indies, even larger than those at Martinique or Barbadoes, and grinds the sugar for all the surrounding estates, besides those belonging to it. It is, of course, ownod by a joint sto^k company. We were very desirous of inspecting it, and although unfortunately the grinding season had not begun, Mr. Bourne came to conduct us over 108 THE IND USTMIO US ANT. it, with planter's hospitality inviting its to breakfast at his charming house half-way between tlie town and the tcsine. After a very agreeable morning we visited the works, and from tlie passive boilers, flywheels, pumps and paraphernalia tried to gain an idea of the form and manner of making sugar, molasses and rum. I was more amused though, with the perr formance of a flourishing colony of ants, known as parasol ants, from the fact that each individ- ual carries a leaf in his mouth which shades his back. These luxurious insects on being dis- turl)ed, rush into tlieir holes and bring out a lot of very large chaps with big heads and tremen- dous nippers, who at once assume an attitude of self-defense, being in fact the bullies of the establishment; while the gentle parasol bearer stands aside to watch the fun. This is almost as surprising as Sir John Lubbock's statement that some tribes keep milch cows and also an old beetle whom they worship as an idol. On our return to San Fernando we spent an hour or two at the hospital with the resident surgeon, and inspected some singular cases among the negroes, mostly caused by stai'vation THE CHIGOE. 109 or neglect. I saw among them a boy whose toes were almost destroyed by ulceration, caused by neglect of that insufferable pest, the chigoe. This almost microscopical little wretch burrows into the flesh and deposits a bag of eggs, which then have to be very carefiilly picked out with a needle, as breakage would ensure another batch. The niggers are very expert at this small surgery. What with chigoes and ants, scorpions, centi- pedes, tarantulas and other tropical pests, I Centipede. would be quite willing to compromise on the mosquito. I extract the following from the Edinburgh Review to sliow that I at any rate don't exaggerate, and if it looks like it, Sydney Smith is to blame ; no DOMESTIC AMMALS. " The hcte rouge lays tlie foundation of a trciiiciKloiis ulcer. In a nioinunt you are coxcred witli ticks; Hies i;ct entry intu y(»ur mouth, your nose ; you eat Hies, drink ilies, and breathe Hies; lizards, eoekroaehes and snakes get into your bed; ant;? eat up tlie books; Beorpions St'cyrj/inn, Btin:^ you (tii the foot. Everythini^ l)ites, Ptini^s or bruises: every second you arc wounde John Chinaman. side, and fed by a feathery waterfall coming down fifty feet from its stony furrow worn throucrh the heart of the hio-h woods. 114 A BATH. I wish I could fairly describe the luxuriance of lofty trees, aud clin2:inf is that by a true and devout lover of nature — Charles Kingsley. We sat down to breakfast alfresco, surrounded on all sides by mountains clothed as 1 have tried to picture forth, but I previously took a '•header" into the deliciously cold spring watei of the basin and had a good swim, though it was disas^reeable to dress while eno-afred in a vigorous dispute with a populous colony of ants, which had discovered my shirt and established aggressive outposts. Our ride back was perhaps a little fatiguing, not to mention a certain loss of cuticle which impedes graceful motion, but this did not pro- vent us from going ashore at night to keep Christmas eve. As we rode through the stj-eets at night to our friend's house, we were met by innumerable and pressing solicitations from the more than joyous coffee-colored population to assist them in a Merry Christmas. This season CimiSTMAS DA Y. 115 seciiis to remove all the mild restraints of civili- zation from the dark skinned races. Deceinber 25^/l — Christmas Day — we do not liear ' ' The clear churcli bells ring in the Christmas morn ; " but the nif^irei's ashore have been makin t en go mas ^'^'^ so, after pay- ing a tremendous price for our entertainment, ^waput on our overcoats, so cold had it become, and topping the last steep peak, commenced descending towards the capital. All along the road which, in its windings, is always open on one side to a sheer precipitous fall into the ravine — in fact, as remarked by Humboldt, it is very much like crossing the St. Gothard — 1 had noticed little piles of stones with AT THE BARRIER. 131 a rude cross on the top. Now I understood that they marked the spot wliere a cache had tumbled over with its occupants. There are a good many crosses, and our burly conductor had a Avoodeu leg, the result of a minor tumble. It lias been said, that in every individual lurks a vein of true c^enius. The ij^olden thread in our driver was a capability of driving at full speed down the steep inclines, and so near to the unprotected edge as to cause the most sickly smiles to appear on all our faces, hiding the dread apprehension that after all, nothing would be left of us but a little pile of stones and a cross. Yehement expostulations produced a tor- rent of language most reassuring but quite in- comj)rehensible to his victims. AVe pass queer outlying huts of adobe, and land half enclosed by tumble-down mud walls. At last the path becomes smoother, more level, and by ten o'clock we rattle up to the ban-ier and halt to show our ^asctporta, about which the authorities are very strict, as civil war is progressing in a very lively man- ner. The guard that turned out to receive us seemed good-looking soldierly men, but 132 THE OUARD. armed with guns and rifles of every variety and leni^th. Tfie Guard House. Passing tlic ban-ier we drove through quaint CJMACAS. 133 narrow streets, catching glimpses of residences sombre enough on the front, but with beautiful interiors and with lovely gardens, tlirongh the great Plaza, and at last pulled up at the hotel, where we secured very nice apartments on the Jie3 de Ohaussee and looking into the street. AVe were early enough to have a long time to wait for the table (Thote^ breakfast, so a siesta was declared at once — and I can sit down and reflect that we have reached the capital of a great South American republic. Venezuela means "little Yenice," and obtained this name from Columl)us, who first sailed into the great gulf of Maracaibo, and discovered in its waters and islands a fanciful resemblance to the Yene- zia of his native land. From the time that the South A.merican col- onies first shook off the yoke of Spain in 1S12, and disheartened by the terrible effects of the earthquake, were again all but subdued, a long and terrible struggle for independence ensued, in which, if a parallel may be allowed, Bolivar was the Washington, and Jose Paez the Putnam of the battles, ambuscades, hair-breadth escapes, and deeds of valor, which still form the topics 134 GENERAL PAEZ. of conversation round tlie camp-fires of the JJaneros. Paez was a special favorite witli tliese plucky fighters and hardy riders, and the song has not been forgotten, " De todos los Generales ciial es el valiente ? Mi General Paez con toda su gente ! De todos los Generales cual es el mejor ? Es mi General Jose con su guardia de honor ! " Under a rough form of provisional govern- ment, this determined people fought against tremendous odds, patiently enduring all forms of hardship and suffering till, in 1S23, Puerto Cabello was captured and Venezuela was pro- claimed a fi-ee republic. It is natural to sup- pose that after such a long struggle the people would have had enough of fightiug, but in fact the country has been more or less in hot water up to a very late period, and revolutions and rel)ellions have succeeded each other wn'th short interruptions. As soon as an officer attains a a certain rank, if he can only reckon upon the adherenceof a respectable following of soldiers, he begins to think of deposing the President and stepping into his most uneasy shoes. It THE PRESIDENT OF VENEZULA. 135 lias seemed as if they were actuated by avarice rather than ambition, as they nsnally levied large contributions and invariably pocketed the Custom Houses. Of course their rallying cries were always liberty or lihertad^ frequently two quite different ideas. I think libertad has never been a jprincijyal so much as a dissa- tisfaction. Of a very different character is the President of to-day, Don Antonio Guzman Blanco. He is a man of noble qualities and lofty aspirations, and notwithstanding the fetters imposed on his acstions by the prejudices and bigotry of parties, he has purified the govermnent, pacified the country, and beautified the principal cities. A man of high education, and a natural statesman, he has been the first to surround the presiden- tial office with stability and respect. It has not been without trouble though, and even while we were in Caracas he was in Barsi- quimieto (a western state) with 14,000 men, giving the final blow to the last insurrection, which at one time was quite formidable, being fomented by the exasperated priesthood, Avhose reliirious houses Blanco had abolished and who 136 AREA AND POPULATION. brouiiht niucli inoiiev and strong]: influences to bear aijains-t liini. The neiichl^orinfj island of Cura9oa was tlie headquarters of the " Bhies," as tlie insurgents were called, and in that phice were niannfactured the surprising pieces of news wdiicli found their way into the news- papers of the United States. This great country of vast resources, producing sugar, cot- ton, coffee, cacao, indigo, tobacco and othei spicy things in fertile profusion, is formed of twenty states, three territories and one federal district. Each state is ruled by a Governor, who is nn wisely styled " President." The whole geographical area is 400,000 squai'c miles, or about twice the size of France, while the population amounts only to 1,785,000 souls. The maimer of taking the census, however, is necessarily imperfect, but the scantiness of the population can l)e traced to the political condi- tion of the country, the constant struggle for lihertad^ and the terribly destructive earth- quakes; banishment and epidemics, too, have done their share. Under the present improved condition, the introduction of draina^re to the cities, and A GOOD noTEn. 137 the possibility of commercial as well as })()liticiil tranquillity, the cumitry must grow up to be a republic of the greatest conimercial importance. Kailroads are projected and other signs of approaching prosperity are not want- ing, including a national coinage, which, when perfected, will I ho[XJ put a stop to the most dreadful confusion of pesos sencillos, pesos Venesolccfios, pesos ftcertes and all manner of inventions to bother and harass the weary traveller. As I make an end of recording these things, a w^elcome bell announces break- fast, and I must say that the hotel is the most ])erfect in its api)ointments and table that I have come across for a long time. "We were delighted with a repast where the plats were novelties, cooked with refinement, and which ending with ji celestial cup of ciioc- olate, enabled us to receive with fortitude the visits of a number of people brought by that indefatigable introducer, the consul. We strolled about the town, fl/t /led round the sh()i)S, and found our way to the Plaza, a very pretty square planted with pahnas reales and the ''Jlamhot/ant^^'' and adorned in the centre with 13S IN THE ENVIRONS. a very artistic and beautiful bronze eqnesti-ian statue of Bolivar, presented to the country by the President Antonio Guzman Bhmco. The weather was simply delicious : the climate of .Caracas has been justly called a perj)etual spring. Standing as the city does on an elevat- ed plateau surrounded by still higher mountains, it partakes of the tropic and temperate zones, and would produce wheat or peaches, but that the inhabitants seem to prefer planting coffee. The U. S. Minister, Judge Russell, took us ont for a long drive in the afternoon, through a queer little Spanish village or two, past many coffee plantations, one of which we visited, pass- ing up to the residence through beautiful grounds, when I again enjoyed the sight of wonderful orchids, recognizing particularly the splendid Flo7' de VEsjpiritu Santo {Peristcria elata) — the flower representing a heavenly dove with outspread wings. We 2)assed alorig the borders of the great fertile plains or llanos^ which extend away through rich provinces, al- most to the borders of Brazil, and of which Ire- member reading, with so mnch pleasure, Paez's '' Wild Scenes in South America," all tales THE SILL A MOUNTAIN. 139 of adventure in these great plains, where the coffee harvest is now going on, aUhougli the other staple prodiietions — tobacco, indigo, sugar, and cacao are of equal importance. The in- habitants of these llanos, or, as they are called, llaneros, are both riders and fighters, but with Hibernian indifference they will esjwuse any cause that will give them the arms they covet so much. We returned by the road we came, always under the now deepening shadows of the Silla mountain, and skirting his buttress-like spurs. The mountain ascends abruptly from the pla- ,teau 8,500 feet — the -first half covered with short grass, then a zone of evergreen trees, re- flecting a purple light in the sunset, then crowning all, two bare i-ocky domes, which in temperate countries would be covered with snow. These domes and the hollow between them give the mountain its name (The Sad- dle). The buttressed hills and spurs at its foot, re- minded me of the method employed by Colum- bus to giv^e Queen Isabella an idea of Jamaica; be crumpled a sheet of paper in his hand, and J 40 THE BE A UTIES. partly spreading it out, the hills, valleys, water- courses, etc., were well portrayed. Humboldt's delightful account of his ascent of the Silla in 1801, to be found in his " Per- sonal Narrative," gives one a sort of familiar interest in this mountain, whose great domes tower over the city into which we are return- In the evening, after an admirable dinner, we had an opportunity of seeing some of the lovely women for whicli the city is so justly cele- brated. Even the old Conquistadores tenderly related the beauty and grace of the savages they met with here, but tanto^ the aborigines quantd, the goddesses of to-day, whose clear olive pallor, tender coffee-colored eyes, and lithe graceful forms, surpass all the traditions ; think then ! that they speak several languages, play classical music, wear Worth's dresses, and that in their hands the fan is a revealed language — • and all ideas fall short of the dazzling reality ! - — " ask me no more ! " The men too, are handsome, and have beauti- ful, large, spaniel-like, sad eyes, and what Balzac calls " cet air de tristesse dont les femmes sont FLEAS. 141 si souvent les dupesP It was not quite safe to be out late, thougli, for the half savage soldiers wlio patrol the streets are quite pre- pared to shoot unless oue can rapidly shoul, '^ Patria y federales,^^ whicli is the cumbrous watchword the harmless citizen is expected to be more than ready with. I shudder to think what might might hap^^en to a confirmed stutterer. December SOth. — ^yllat a niirht ! Fleas I f . ^ tm Quia non Jlebit. they came as the winds come when forests are 142 PROTECTION FROM EARTHQUAKES. rended, " not in single spies, but in battalions ; " tliej feasted on ns, they dwelt in our tents and tliey accompany us in our walks regardless of ammonia, which we have used in profusion, as well as camphor, with w^hich I am drenched till I remind myself of a country funeral. I need hardly say that we got up very early, and walked out into the delicious morning air, and round the balconied streets, w^here I observed that the inhabitants build their houses as high as if there were no hereafter of earthquakes ; they seem to take no lessons from the fearful past, and yet the market-place, some large convents and other buildings still stand in dilapidated, warning ruins. The only notice they take of their calamities, as I observed in our drive yesterday, in the suburbs particularly, is to place each house under the patronage of the Virgin, " Impecado concebida^'' or a saint, and the names of these holy ones are painted in large lettei-s on the front, as " nostra Madrc del Socorro, San Josef, San Vicente de Paula, San Dimas (the penitent thief) and lots of others. Some houses are copper-fastened with the names of two or three reliable ones EARTHQUAKES. 143 all supposed to have these edifices under their particular care in case of a " treinblador It is charming to read on the spot Humboldt's simj)le and beautiful narrative of the great earthquake of 1S12, which laid the city in ruins and destroyed 20,000 people. In de- scribing the universal terror that fell upon the inhabitants he says : " A number of marriages were contracted between persons who had neg- lected for many years to sanction their union by the sacerdotal benediction. Children found parents by whom they had never till then been acknowledged ; restitutions were promised by persons who had never been accused of fraud ; and families who had long been enemies were drawn together by the tie of one common calamity." So that it seems that even earth- quakes have their approj)riate moral and pu- rifying influences. We visited the churches this morning, and found services going on in them all, generally in one of the side chapels ; the decorations are tawdry, and the pictures dauby ; each chapel has its painted wooden saint, or ballet-dancing Virgin made up of dirty muslin, tinsel crown 144 cnuRcnES. and spangles. The church of " Merced " still has its entire fccgade riddled with bullets and canister shot, quite unrepaired and left just as Guzman Blanco's troops defaced it, when lie took Caracas in April, 1870. In the cathedral, we found a picture which, though in a shocking light and quite neglected, shone out like a moon among the dismal works of ai-t beside it. It was a mother and child signed Yelasquez in every brush-mark; although it is difficult to imagine how a picture of the heaven-tauglit court painter could have reached here. High mass was being celebrated, very nasal- ly intoned by a negro priest with a very white tonsure and a wall of black wool all around it, and a feeble organ accompanied his wobbly chanting. This instrument was supplemented in important passages by a tremendous trom- bone blown by another rather breathless nigger. We strolled about the narrow streets till breakfast time, at short intervals going through the process of introduction to a part of tlie population. I had a set phrase concocted with great difficulty and a dictionary — '' Es TYiuy triste que nosotros no hablar Esj^anol — Ilabla RETURN TO LAG U AYR A. 145 usted Francese f This led to a rush of lan- guage " as when a river level with its dam,'* etc., to which it was only necessary to say ''' imicho "^"^ at intervals, and everything was lovely. Among others we met a colored gentle- man, a near relative of the ace of spades, who was presented as General , with a whis- pered statement that he was high in command, and at the same moment a white be2:o:ar be- sought ahns of him and us. This seems to do away with the old Spanish laconic : " Todohkm- co es caballeroy After breakfast and a siesta, L , with the restlessness of the element he loves, and dreading the more introductions in store for us, began to collect the various documents and passports to enable us to leave. And in the afternoon, with a tender farewell to every- body, and an awful sum in equations before the hotel bill could be adjusted, we got into the corpulent carriage with the three liorses and started back to Laguayra. Once more the exquisite scenery enchanted us, wliile the level rays of the setting sun were gilding clouds and peaks far below us. On the upper heights the 14G OIL AND OARLIC. eveiiiiig silence was intense, and as we stopped for a moment to enjoy tlie scene, I caught the echo of the horns of Elfland faintly blowing from cliff and scanr in the already shadowy distance. It took ns two hours less to return, as after the highest peak is crossed, we had only to go full speed down hill all the way. AVe got back to tlie Don Quixote's hostehy by 7 o'clock, and after more oil and garlick sought the society of our fleas. I could not sleep — the memory of beauti- ful women, gorgeous scenery. Amy as Lee, the Rose of Salterne, and some one at home lovelier than she, ruined monasteries, the Inquisition — all manner of incongruous thoughts stirred in my busy brain, while througli the casement came the grand monotone of the sea, moaning out tlic great settled sorrow at its mighty heart, the aw- ful dream of the Deluge. Deceiriber ZYst. — Cots, musical and otherwise, also the ingenious French captain overhead, were our portion last night, supplemented by a visit from musquitoes. AVe spent tlie morn- ing in a series of introductions — in offices and in the street — to shopkeepers and strangers, to OUR BILL OF HEALTH. 147 ofKcials, to an old colored woman, to a young ditto, to any and everybody that our guide, philosopher and friend chose to select. Our interviews were extremely flat, as our Spanish is very meagre. We came across a number of emigrants from the United States who had been induced to come by the promise of high wages ; the poor fellows could get no work, couldn't speak a word of the language, hadn't a cent among them, or any hope but that of getting to the mines, which is not a cheerful prospect. I believe they would have starved to death but for the humane exertions of Mr. Henry Kingan, the very admirable United States consul in Laguayra. He did us a very good turn too, for after waiting for hours to see the Spanish consul who was to endorse our bill of health, wc at last discovered him in the shape of a very ngly brown little man with the dirtiest face I ever saw. lie demanded such a tremendous fee for his endorsement, that we did not want it at that price, whereupon he tore our document in half, and danced about with rage. Mr. Kingan got us another one, 148 FAREWELL TO VENEZUELA. while the little man was trying to have ns ar- rested, and we got off to the schooner without molestation. We soon hove np the anchor and hoisted the sails, and with a breeze tliat enabled ns to defy a barrel of Spanish consuls, we departed from enchanting Yenczuela, and as a farewell I wdll record a little story they tell in Caracas. " You must know, then, that a few years ago Adam obtained permission to revisit the globe. He first alighted in Europe, and was quite lost, everything w^as so changed. His bewilderment continued until he readied Venezuela, then at last he clapped his hands : ^ Ah ! ah ! here I am quite at home, this is exactly like tlie gar- den of Eden I was turned out of in such a hurry.' " January 1st, 1875. — The happy new year sets in with a flat glary calm. We are only about twenty miles from the coast, and the mountains loom dai'k on the brassy- hot horizon. The schooner curtseys lazily to the long oily swell that reflects back every rope and spar, and plenty of great crafty-eyed sharks glide round AT SEA. 149 about us, occasionally floating up to the surface. One of them about as long as the gig, has such a strange i-eseniblance to an ennnent Massa- chusetts lawyer and politician, that we determine if possible to capture him ; but, like his great prototype, he is too wary to take any notice of our bait, perhaps we ought to have trolled with a spoon ! In the afternoon, a pleasant breeze springs up, and nightfall finds us making good way to- wards San Domingo, our next ()l)jective point. We have been compelled to abandon our visit to Jamaica, as the small-pox is raging there, and quarantine is abhorrent to our souls. January ^d. — Tearing into a heavy sea, reefed down fore and aft, we had a day in all respects the 0]>posite of yesterday. A7e are rolling and waltzing about, and the water flies over us rii-ep(>sterous mail system of the West Indies. This morning at dawn we found ourselves well under the land about fifteen miles from the Morro Castle, and had to endure a season of calm before the sea breeze at last came to cool us and gently waft us to our haven. The Cobre mountains which form the southern coast bar- rier, do not seem so imposing after those of Venezuela, and are very bare and scant of vege- tation. The Morro Castle and liofhthouse s^lit- tereaniards have not a good record here for taking care of their sick Tvounded. The headquarters of the mawMs or (insur- gents) are not more than three leagues or so from the city, in the mountains, but it is very difficult to get any information about them, or even to get people to talk about them at all. They are either flourishing and always advanc- ing w^ith decided success, or else they are a handful of bandits on their last legs, according to the sentiments of the speaker, or the office he holds under the crow^n. CLUB LIFE. 163 Introductions and interviews have done their work, and not even the prospect of music in the Plaza can attract us from the cool, quiet deck of the schooner. January Sth. — We had a long quiet morning on board, with a few visitors. We wished very much to pay a votive visit to the slaughter-house abreast of which we were anchored, the ap- propriate scene of the butchery of the wretched prisoners from the " Yirginius." But the consul dissuaded us, on the score that it might give umbrage to the authorities, who must be very sore on the subject of Americans. So we went ashore to the Club de San Carlos, a very hand- some building on the Plaza, where we went through the usual course of introductions. The club rules here are more elastic than those which obtain at home, for on music nights at the Plaza, after the band has played through its programme, the members capture it and convey it to the club where, having invited the ladies of their acquaintance they find upon the Plaza, they have a dance and a regular lark. It is an idea to be followed. 164 HARD TIMES. Underneath all this gaiety on the surface, however, is concealed a great deal of misery, many good families being reduced completely to want by the loss of their plantations, or by the enormous taxes imposed upon capital and income both, {five per cent, on the former, and te7i jper cent, on the latter,) besides other exac- tions which sometimes I fear take the form of forced loans, in reality forced robberies, for the government pays no one. Even the troops have been unpaid for many months, yet the repinings are as yet only feebly whisjiered or left un- uttered. AVe learn that the Captain-General has sent a telegram with instructions to place the ^' Josephine " on the same footing as an English yacht in Spanish waters. This ends the cotnedi- etta, which nevertheless gave us some uneasy moments. After walking through the city a few times, although it is the ancient capital of the island, there is nothing to attract one ashore, and the smells are so repulsive that one can hardly stand it. There is a new one at the corner of every street lying in w^ait to knock you dow^n. There SWEET FOOD. 165 are plenty of pretty faces, to be sure ; but then it is " only a face at the window " and nothing more. The streets are in a wretched condition, as the noney extorted from the inhabitants all goes to Family Provisions. Spain, and none of it is spent upon the city. The colored population feed chieliy on sugar- cane if one may judge by their dilapidated front teeth, and groups like these which are constant- ly to be seen in the streets. I went into a pleasant galleried, clean-looking hotel kept by 166 LA FILLE DE MADAME ANQOT. a stout old colored auntie known as Madame Adele, wlio had been a Martinique slave in her Sweet Content, yonth. She became quite chatty over the mis- fortunes of Cuba. ^''C^est un pays tout d fait vedu, peclu, pedu, oui monsieiir^ peduf'^ she said, reminding me of La Fille de Madame An- got, as she turned away to scold some cofPee-col- ored yonng women in the same delectable J9<^^fc»^>. On our way back we encountered a large funeral train of volantes, drawn by very hand- some mules, accompanied by a long tail of slaves who seemed to consider it rather a game. It was the funeral of a young girl, and the A FUNERAL. 167 coffin was borne into the church covered with beauteous flowers, which were strewn round in profusion. It made me think of Chateaubriand's "Elise:" " Ah ! ne les rends jamais a ce monde profane, A ce monde — rempli d'angoisses et de douleur, Le vent brise et tletrit, le soleil briile et fane Jeune fille et jeuno fleur. " Tu dors, pauvre Elise si legere d'annees Tu ne sens plus du jour ni le poids ni la chaleur Elles ont acheve es leurs fraiches matinees Jeune filie et jeune fleur ! " The service w^as very fine, but all solemnity was destroyed by the dulcet tones of fiddle and horn which were employed to fortify the organ, especially as immediatel}^ after the ser- vice we met the big fiddle scurrying out in the arms of its ebony performer. We stayed on board after dinner and dis- cussed spiritualism in our shirt sleeves — mus- quitoes. January 9th. — We went ashore to flciner at the club, but after once seeing the cpiaint old town, there is nothing to interest one, and it is 168 AT THE CATHEDRAL. sacl to see the abandoned houses, the decayed families and homes, caused bj the insurrection and its results. The ruin is sure, and although slower than an earthquake's ravages, is less mer- ciful. The Spanish part of the population merely shake their heads, but are unwilling to speak of it in any way. January 10th. — "We went to the cathedral this morning and heard the celebration of High Mass ; the organ was excellent, but the singing nasal and below mediocritj'. The aisle was filled with pretty women in long rows, each with her private rug to kneel upon, and the men sauntered about between the pillars, cast- ing tender glances at the kneeling objects of their devotion. As soon as Mass was over the band struck up in the Plaza, and the fair Avor- shippers paraded about to be worshipped in turn. But there was no display of costume, as it seems to be de rigiieur for the ladies in church to wear black with a very becominor black vail. In the afternoon we got a couple of volantes, and guided by the consul visited an estan- AN ESTANCIA. 169 cia (wliicli is a sort of large garden-farm) be- longing to M. Ducoureau, a Frenchman, who has just received summary notice to leave the sland within twenty-four hours. His banish- nent, which is quite arbitrary, w^ithout trial of any kind, is not easy to understand unless it be his intimacy with the U. S. consul, as the only reason given by the authorities for his banish- ment is " intimacy with the enemies of Spain." The estancia is a very pretty place with ex- quisite gardens, a large dwelling, fountains, baths, etc., but all with a sort of lezarde half ruined air, fitting the misfortunes of its owner, who seemed a bright, polite, intelligent little man, with nothing of the conspirator about him unless it was a " collet noir.^^ His farewell to his bereaved family took place while we were there, much to our confusion, but it did not seem to be an overwhelming separation — indeed our attention was at once turned to a tarantula of about the circumference of a soup-plate, whose hairy life I ruthlessly took — and the departure of the " banished lord," in a volante^ surrounded with his trunks, excited scarcely a ripple. We soon took our leave and drove about four ITO HIGH- JINKS. miles further to a village called Caney, where they were having Sunday high-jinks in celebra- tion of the proclamation of the young king. The sports consisted of a greasy pole, of course so greasy that none of the little bronze statues swarming at its foot could get very high, and the atmosphere was full of cries of what I should take to be the Spanish for "boost me, Billy." There was a goose, too, tied by the legs in the centre of a rope, and the thing to do was, being blindfolded, to knock the wretched bird's head off with a club — in fact the fair was full of sprees dating from the cruelties of the barbar- ous Dark Ages. We wandered i-ound the village, half desert- ed and half in ruins, surrounding a little church embedded in brick fortifications, built round it like red-bath tubs ; for the mamhis or insur- gents, who are hiding about on the other side of the mountain, are always threatening it. As we returned along the road, which is never re- paired, and in the most break-neck disorder, we we couldn't help noticing the hopeless look of the old plantations, and once lovely estancias^ all grown over and full of weeds running riot. TOM GRINOLE'S LOG. 171 and this within five miles of tlie second city and the old capital of the island. We were glad to hasten home — for associa- tion and long occupation makes a home of the dear old " Josephine " — to enjoy the cool fresh- ness of the harbor. Jamiary 11th. — Our excursions outside the city being quite limited, by the advice of the resi- dents, on account of the proximity of the mam- his who appear to behave to everybody like the beggar in Gil Bias, we decided to depart to day, and early in the afternoon our pilot came aboard. Once more we hoisted sail to a nice breeze and ran merrily out of the harbor, but close to the Morro the wind entirely deserted us, and we had nothing to do but to anchor and wait for the terral or land breeze, which is very uncertain in its visits. The waters about here and the town itself recall vividly that charm- ing book " Tom Cringle's Log," having been the scene of many of the adventures and descrip- tions it contains, and we certainly were an- chored in a most piratical looking place, full of little nooks and corners for a small vessel to 172 UNDER WAY. hide awav in. We met in Santias^o a j^entle- man named Mr. Thomas Bell, who is the grand- son of the Don liicardo Campanero of Tom Cringle, and who had returned to the original Scotch appellation. The land breeze cometh not, and we turn in in perfect quiet, although out beyond we can see the white surf dashing up on the cliffs. January l^th,—A.i dawn we slipped out from the cool gray shadows of the land into a smooth sea and a favoring breeze, which latter, however, soon dwindled to a faint breath, so that all day long we just fanned along the shore very slowly, opening point after point of the Cobre mountains. Although well wooded they are more pretty than picturesque ; but perhaps we have seen so many line ^'^ay sages accidentes " that our eyes are fatigued as one's are after doing a room or two at the JLouvre. It does not require much imagination to-night, lookino; over the hills with the soft moonlio^ht silvering their outlines, to convert a fire we observed in one of the darker valleys, into a wild maiiibi camp and bivouac, as we know CAPE CRUZ. 1T3 tliat they are hidden somewhere in the vicinity. Towards midnight a large war steamer pass- ed about a mile from us, close into the land, and. we expected fully to be brought-to and overhauled ; but she made no sign as she glid- ed past us, and left us to turn in, in peace. January ISth. — " All night no ruder airs perplex lier sliding keel," but a very light breeze brought us at dawn abreast of Mount Turquino, a noble mountain rising 8,400 feet, and an important landmark. Throughout the day we loitered along till we passed Cape Cruz in the afternoon, and stretched away towards Cape Antonio, 450 miles distant, which we must round to reach Havana, our next port. At night we had a sudden and violent squall, which brought in our kites pretty quickly, and when it subsided, left us with a pleasant breeze ; a very agreeable change from the sultry saun- tering of the last two days. It was very plea- sant, too, to see a cloud in the perfectly uniform blue arch overhead. They have been so rare 174 SAUNTERmO. lately that the sudden shadow of one OA^er tlie dark unfathomable blue water, falls dramatic- ally, like an event. January IHh. — Out of sight of land — plea- sant breeze — smooth sea — complete and happy repose. January 16 th. — Just the same as yesterday — both days being the perfection of sailing wea- ther ; we are nearing the land, and are looking out for the light on the cape. January X'otK. — At three a. m. we sighted the light on Cape San Antonio, and thence pass- ed through the strait between that point and the main land of Yucatan, out into the Gulf of Mexico, having still 180 miles to beat to windward against the trades, before we can make Havana — a somewhat disagreeable pros- pect after such delightful smooth and dry sail- ing. January 17th. — All day we have been mak- ing long tacks, occasionally catching a shadowy RA VAN A. 175 glimpse of tlie land, and we hope to reach our destination to-morrow. January 18th. — We sighted the Morro Cas- tle at daylight, but beating against a light wind were unable to pass that splendid old fortress until afternoon, when we anchored amidst a fleet composed of shipping of all nations. The beautiful rock-bound entrance to this port is familiar to almost every one, but one can never approach it without renewed admira- tion, and a remembrance of all the old legends and stories of pirates and buccaneers, of bloody battles and cutting-out slavers, that in the read- ings of one's childhood were connected with " The Ilavannah." Even Burns has written : — " I served out my trade Where the bloody game was played, And the Morro low was laid At the sound of the drum ! " As we lower our sails and shoot up to our anchorage in the upper part of the harbor, I am astonished at the great apparent increase to the trade of tlie place since I was here in 1861, as shown by the shipping crowded together all around us. 176 FORTS AND HARBOR OF HAVANNA. r^\ IllllllllllllllllllliJillil THE OLD CITY. 177 On laiiclinor I find that the same c^reat change has been effected in the old town. The ancient fortifications have ahnost disappeared, and " extra Muros " has lost its signification ; the beantifnl old private dwellings, in the chief streets, are converted into stores, thus effacing the fourteenth centnry. And even the Plaza de Armas, where tlie band nsed to play the lletreta every night, is very shabby, and the fonr royal palms round the monument in the centre, look droopy and ashamed of their humbled condition. As for the Dominica, the swell cafe of old, it has sunk to a shabby old coffee-house, lurked in by men with blue chins, who consume greasy pastry and repel the assaults of ragged venders of lottery tickets. Yolantes, too, have disappeared, except at funer- als, though what their particular appropriate- ness to that ceremony consists of is past finding out, to any one who remembers their ancient splendors ; their places are filled by herds of nasty little victorias, which are wonderful lurk- ing places for the most vicious fleas. All the gaiety, clubs, and wealthy people have moved beyond the old walls, where a large city has NE W8 FROM HOME. 1 79 sprung up, with handsome wide streets, squares, etc., almost European in appearance. Here, at last, we find all our letters from home, accumulated from different ports wiiere they missed us. It is a delightful thing to open, one after another, the filmy enveh^pes, and while re-assured of the well being of one's own Penates, to exchange the scraps of cfiromc[ue sccmdaleuse with the other letter-readers, who both, I observed, opened their last-dated letter first, as indeed I did too. Think of three months' scandal and gossip all at once ! Add to this all the magazines and new novels, well selected by Brentano, and devise a pleasanter afternoon for three wanderers, if you can. Thank goodness ! the one crumpled rose leaf is gone that made my couch uneasy. Of course, in the long dearth of news all manner of misgivings assailed me, especially in those sad wakeful small hours of the darkness " when my light is low." J^ow they are exor- cised and gone. There are a number of Spanish men-of-war in the harbor, among others the "Arapiles," whose infelicitous experiences in New York 180 THE LITTLE PILOT BOAT. ma}^ be still remembered. She has just mount- ed a gorgeous gold crown over her figure-head, in honor of the new reghne. Indeed, it is sur- prising the rapidity with which, down to the merest tub of a gun-boat, they have all replaced the crown in the national colors, which had dis- appeared with the Bourbon. What with the heavily armed Morro Castle and the fortress of tlie Cabanas on the one side, the powerful fort at the Punta on the other, and the Qiany war ships round us, it looks as if the Spaniards had taken every precaution against losing possession. Here, however, we had no sort of trouble in getting settled. The custom- house visit was a polite form, and at last they understood the possibility of a goeleta de recreo, although the boatmen who ply about the har- bor w^ill insist on callino- the dear little schooner " El Pilot Bote Americano,^^ to L 's intense disgust. January V^th. — If any man having partaken of the many larks of Havana, till the " wee sma' hours," wishes to borrow a few hours' rest from the day, let him not hope for it within earshot THE PASEO. 181 of the harbor, for at five a. m., long before dawn, the flag-ship "Arapiles" fires off a tremen- dous gun which, as we are lying alongside of lier, shakes us from stem to stern. Then to prevent our going to sleep again, from every other man-of-war in the place, one or more trumpeters, the tootelary guardians of the port, commence a fearful brazen howlino; which lasts till long after sunrise. I think it must be in- tended to strike terror into the hearts of the Englishmen on a pretty corvette called the " Eclipse," which ran in here yesterday from Jamaica, and gave rise to a vast deal of noisy saluting. We took a drive on the Paseo, but it was not. a very gay one. The insurrection seems to have destroyed all the fashionable life of the place. The old race of Spanish residents who made the glories and the gaieties for which the city is so renowned, are gone, either ruined or retired to Spain, and their places are filled by a new and totally different class, who are not residents but sojourners, to make money as fast as possi- ble and leave. I believe that the Spanish population even, in theii* hearts look upon the 182 STATE OF SOCIETY. island as lost to 8])ain. It seems now to be only a question of time and holding out. The tyiamhis have been at it since 1868, and although they never venture their fortunes in a pitched battle, they are always on the alert, harassing the columns of the troops sent against them, and kill a fearful number of them, almost in security, from their knowledge of the forests and mountain passes, which precludes the pos- sibility of active or effectual pursuit. Then the Emperor of Russia's old brutal boast of his two greatest generals, Janvier and Fevrier., is quite paralleled here, for disease and ex]3osure deci- mate the poor unacclimated boys, who compose the Spanish rank and file. The prices of everything are very high, and they seem enormous at first, but as they are given in ^'^ pajpel^^ of which a good deal can be got for a very little gold, it is not so bad as it seems. January 20th. — Ashore all day, making one visit and another, in the midst of tremendous preparations that are being made on all sides for a grand '^Jlesta,''^ to last three days, in honor A STREET 8CENE. 183 of the coronation (this time) of King Alfonso. To-morrow is the first day of the trouble, and Street Scene in Havana. strings of mules pervade the street, laden with 184 VISITS. all manner of green stuff to decorate doorways ; the nmles are completely invisible, so that they look like a procession of the whole of Birnam's W'Oods. In the evening w^e w^ent to a ball at Mrs. Almy's hotel, near the Punta. It was a very jolly dance, w^ith plenty of old friends there, and I had a pleasant remembrance and greeting from the hostess, who was just as nice as ever, and went about the room looking like a dear old smiling wax-work in gold spectacles. AYe looked in, too, at the Casino club opposite the Tacon theatre, the most gorgeous concern I ever saw, as to size and gilding. It is a political in- stitution, and the head-quarters of the Spanish or anti-home rule party. Zulueta, the chief slave owner of the island, is the President of it, and all the volunteers and city tradesmen are fierce members. Notwithstanding a very jolly day, I do feel that Havana is greatly changed for the w^orse, and everybody seems to go about deploring the sad fact. Januai'y '^\st. — Again does the great gun TOMB OF COLUMBUS. 185 shake us from our slumbers, and the beastly bugler " pours through the mellow horn his pensive soul." Yet, after all, Havana is a very jolly place indeed, when you get extra muros; especially is it nice to saunter about the large sort of a Champs Elysees that lies in front of the Tacon, and observe the manners and customs of the Serlors^ not to mention the Senoras and Itds. While pottering about the streets this morn- ing, visiting and shopping, we strolled into the Cathedral, and an obliging little Melchisedec, with a big tonsure, bore us up to the chancel to see the tomb and monument of Christopher Cohimbus. So after following in his steps and enjoying his discoveries, we stand before his last resting-place, " Two handfuls of white dust shut in an urn of brass," in the island that he discovered, and where he fii'st planted the standard of the Cross. The monument, however, is only an insig- nificant mural tablet in the hideous taste of tlie early part of tliis century, and the nose is dam- aged besides, while the glorious old mariner's bones appear to be stuffed into a sort of safe 186 GENERAL CONCHA. let into tlie wall. But it is a curious instance of " Time's revenf^es " that liis mortal remains should have been transferred from San Do- mingo, and deposited with reverential pomp in the very place where, three hundred years be- fore, he had been cast into prison and loaded with chains ! In the evening we had an invitation from the Captain-General (to whom we had presented a letter of introduction), to a reception at the Quinta de los Molinos, his country-house on the Paseo. We found a lot of men, mostly in uni- form, sitting on a splendid large marble piazza, smoking, chatting, and listening to the music of an admirable band stationed among the trees. Both the house and grounds are re- markable for their beauty and the order in which they are kept. General Concha received us very civilly, and fortunately for us spoke French very well. The dignity of our arrival was, j)erhaps, marred by the fact that, worse than Kawdon Crawley, we actually did enter the presence of the " sovei'eign " in a hack-cab, which was of the worst and most flea-haunted description ; and as a climax, the wretched EAMBLING. 187 brute that drew it, after many stumblings, broke down right in front of the brilliant assemblage, and mildly but firmly declined to get up again, or do anything but twiddle his ears in a hopeless manner. General Concha, who is a well preserved man about sixty, has that sort of family look of Louis Napoleon that I have seen so often in Cuba — he had a red silk belt round his stomach as a distino^uishinor mark. I cono-ratulated him on the accession of the young Bourbon, but I don't think he really cared two pence about it. That Champs Elysees place is really delight- ful bv moonlii>:ht ! January ^2d. — Is but a chronicle of gastron- omy. We had breakfast on the " City of Kew York," one of the fine steamers of the Alexan- dre line, and I only wish some of the transat- lantic lines would study their menu. In the evening we dined with the British vice-consul (Mr. Crawford), who lives in a great rambling Creole kind of edifice, very cool and comfortable, a long way up the Cerro, and from the boat landinij until we reached his 188 FESTIVAL TIMES. house, we drove under one long arcade of san- guinary looking bunting ; the fronts of the houses and shops were all festooned too, with the gaudy national colors. There was a grand display of fireworks at ] ight, but who would desert a pleasant dinner to see fireworks ? and so ended the first dia de festa. January 23d. — We were aroused from our peaceful slumbers this morning by a fearful cannonading from the men-of-war in the harbor, which proved to be a most untimely salute of twenty-one guns from every fort and every blessed war vessel in the place. May the devil fly away with J^l Rey Don Alfonso Xll. for making his coronation so early ' From this moment I am a Carlist, heart and soul ! The shipping are all splendidly dressed out and decorated with flags, and it is a beau- tiful sight. Unfortunately we have not sufii- cient bunting to put the Josephine in gorgeous array, so w^e remain in republican simplicit} with the old " Stars and Stripes " only at the peak. UNFUBLTNO THE STANDARD. 189 We went ashore to see the grand unfurling of the royal standard of Spain, which glo- rious event was to come off at nine o'clock in the Parque de Isabella II., and thither we repaired. There was a great deal of dust and heat, and a mild display of voluntarios with a shaky band or two, crowds of people per- spiring about the square, and lining the balconies and tops of the houses. In the mid- dle of the square was a raised platform stand, like those used at political meetings in Union Square, but profusely adorned with yellow and red flags. About ten o'clock, after a grand flourish of trumpets, a number of carriages drove up, and set down a lot of splendid beings. They all ascended the tribune, with the Captain- General conspicuous in their midst ; he taking from the hands of a trustworthy attendant the royal standard, and gracefully waving its heavy silken folds toward the crowd, shouted in a voice trembling with emotion (was it a bitter pill ?) : " Ciiodadanos ! El EtaiKlarte Real ! Viva el Bey Alfonso Doce ! " A moment of thrilling silence, and then three niggers in the crowd shouted : " Viva el 190 ISABELLA II. Hey ! " after wliicli they loolved at each other with a shame-faced kind of a grin, for not another soul responded, and the great cere- mony fell flatter than a buckwheat cake. I only hope that poor Alfonso finds more encour- agement at home. We were very glad to get out of the sun and dust and back to the schooner, to coolness and breakfast, but even while resting from the pleasant labors of that repast, the forts and frigates all made it noon with twenty-one guns apiece, close to us ; and they did it all over again at sundown. At night the city was ilhiminated in all sorts of waj'S, but chiefly with a highly smelly gas. I was out of sorts and declined to go to the ball at the Casino, which was to be a miraculously splendid con- cern. C and L , went but soon came back with the concise statement that the whole thing was " beastly rot.'' To-morrow, however, is to be the last sublimation of delirious joy and loyalty ; and as a final preparation, in the silent watches of the night tlie statue (long since deposed) of Isabella Segunda was restored to its base in the jyarque which bears her BOAT-RACING. 191 name. It was done almost suiTeptitiouslv, tliough by niggers who, I am afraid, were a little undignified in their proceedings. She was hoisted up by a rope round her marble neck, with a nigger astride on her — (let us say crupper), and there she remains "a joy of beauty and a thing forever." January ^Hh. — The festivities to-day begin with a boat race in the harbor, and we are in- vaded by many citizens who come to partici- pate in and witness the coming events. The agent of the Alexandre line, Mr. Todd, brought out a new and untried sail boat for the occa- sion, the " Adela," and he came oif, too, to in- duce L to sail her for him in the race. After a couple of very good gig races, the great match came off, with six sail boats enter- ed, and we followed it about in the " City of Todd" — (the steam tender to the Alexandre line). After a very clever and close eight mile race, the " Adela " won by a few feet, to the delirious joy of her owner ; the race was only secured by L 's skilful handling of the boat. 192 PBOCESSION OF PROVINCES. The moment this great event was decided we had to hasten ashore to witness the grand § procession, representing all the provinces and possessions of Spain, which was to parade through the streets. Every balcony, doorway, and housetop, on the line of march, was crammed with people, mostly women in gor- geous array, and the house fronts decorated with palms and the broad leaves of the banana. The procession was extraordinary^ — it was very pretty, and very funny. Porto Rico and Cuba were represented by Indians in a chariot loaded with growing tobacco and sugar cane. Castile, by ferocious Hidalgos in the costume of the period, and a total absence of the cele- brated soap. And so they came on, an endless line of morrice dancers, sword players, knights, Don Pelayo, the Cid, Columbus, band of music, drummers, choral societies, each province ac- companied by a chariot full of pretty and almost un attired young persons. Each pro- vince halted in the Plaza de Armas in front of the palace, and kicked up, played, danced, sang or whatever w^as the particular amusement of THE CAN-CAN. 193 that province, and then passed on. It became so bewilderincy that we got tired of it long before the end — indeed, I think it lasted all night. At the back of the Casino we discovered a theatre called the " Cervantes^'' which seemed attractive, so many were crowding in ; so after paying for admission to one act only, we entered too, and found a good sized salle filled to over- flowing w^th nothing but men. One act of an aw^f ully dull play was yawned through, and then the crowd was accounted for. An entre acte was given, just the most atrocious can-can I ever saw in my life, and the more dreadful things the performers did, the more vociferous were the yells and shrieks of delight from the pit. I thought of Moliere : " JJn hallet ne sau- rait etre troj) long, pourvu que la morale soit honne et la metaphysiqne hien entendue^ In this aspect it w^as a very long ballet, and yet I don't usually moralize out of place. January ^oth. — Living on board a yacht is very much like living in the suburbs of a city. There is a vis inertice to overcome, especially 194 CIOARETTES. in a liot climate, befoi-e the effort can be made to go ashore. I did go though, and found the town reposing in peace after the events of the last three days. I went over the Ilonradez cigarette factory, whicli is well worth seeing, especially the show workman wlio counts, rolls np and pastes a bundle, literally, while you are saying " Jack Robinson ! " The usual daily supply required for the trade of the house is about two million cigarettes, and many of these are made by a very clever little machine, which being fed at the top with tobacco, and at the bottom with a lot of cut papers, fills the cigar- ette, rolls it tight, turn in the ends and throws it out into a basket; but a great many are made outside, and this explains why every porter or servant that one sees in the shops or dwelling, is always rolling cigarettes in his unemployed moments. It is the staple product next to cigars, and I suppose that there is no minute in the whole twenty-four hours, that some one is not either rolling, lighting, or smoking a cigarette. January 2Qth. — We dined on board the DEPARTURE. 195 English corvette with a very pleasant party, and after dinner we were conducted on deck, and found a laro^e assemblas-e to witness a minstrel performance by some of the crew. The theatrical arrangements were very good, the performance amusing; and how funny it was to hear from the sable actors, the good honest Lancashire dialect or the London cock- ney twang. The audience part of the crew were convulsed with laughter all the time, and were a capital part of the programme. It was a very pleasant finale to our stay here, for we hope to leave to-morrow. January '^Ith. — We had to send one of our crew ashore to the hospital, with fever, and it is very difficult to replace him, so that we are detained one more day in port. January 28th. — We passed the Morro Castle this morning with a fine breeze, close hauled and heading for the Gulf of Florida ; we can almost lay our course, though the sea is heavy. How nice it is to be at sea again, and getting towards home too. 196 GULF OF FLORIDA. January 2dfh. — About dawn we sighted tlie light on the Double Ileadshot Keys, on Ba- liamas Banks, and stood on all da}' witli a fair wind, bnt a "high norther" has been long ex- pected, and the weather has given every warn- ing of its approach. A nice time we shall have if it catches us in this narrow gulf. Vivid lightning in the N. W. this evening is looked upon as the immediate precursor of our ex- pected visitor, and we make everything as snug as possible. One of the advantages of sea travel over locomotion on land, is the joy of anticipation. January ZOth. — We had a lively shaking up last night, but we have run far enough^ to the north, not only to escape the force of the norther, but to drop into a calm, and the sun shines out as bright as usual. January ^Ist. — Last night heavy squalls ushered in a strong breeze from S.W., which soon ripened into a gale of wind, and made us shorten sail down to a reefed trysail, close reefed foresail, and bonnet off staysail. It has HEAVr WEATHER. 197 caught us in the Gulf stream, and in conse- quence has knocked up a most awful sea, which breaks all over us, and we are battened down unpleasantly in the cabin, without the slightest hope of keeping our feet. It rains too, violently and incessantlv, and the sea seems prettinoc worse every minute. I don't believe even Mark Tap- ley could have extracted any jolliness from the situation. Towards eveninoj the wind hauled to the northward, and the consoling opinion is that it will be worse before it is any better. AVe are hove-to, and there is nothing to do but to pos- sess our souls w^ith patience, hear the wind howling, and ride it out. After three months of invariable sunshine and heat, it is an absolute phenomenon to wit- ness a wdiole day of dark, ragged, rolling, oily- looking clouds, without a patch of blue sky, or any evidence that the sun ever existed, and to experience a cold that shivers the marrow of one's bones. And this, then, is what we used to long for in Trinidad I C upset the salt cellar ! Absit omen ! 198 A SCANDALOUS SEA Fehruary \st. — The sun broke pai'tly tlirough the clouds this morning and his rays diffused a little comfort upon things, although it has been blowing hard all m'ght and keeps on doing so and more also. Tlie N.W. wind makes it very cold, and the China-blue sea is all confused and heaving about like extremely agile haystacks. We are still hove-to, and it looks as if a lunir future of hove-to were await- At 4 r.^r. the ^ea and the wind had both abated a little so tliat we could get some sail on her, and head out of the execrable Gulf stream, for which, as the mate truly j)uts it, " we've got no kind of use," and by dark we clear its well-delined boundaries to the west- ward, and find ourselves, almost by enchant- ment, free from the vile jumping and tumbling that made life a burden of holding on, and be- ing bruised. The sea is comparatively com- fortable and grows quieter every moment, so we joyfully shake out reefs, and although the wind is ahead, this is a minor evil, and enjoy- ment and content once more become our guests. ROLLING HOME. 199 I must here record tlie admirable qualities and beliavior of the "Josephine," under the quite tryini^ conditions to which she was sub- jected. While we rolled gunwale under on each side, we dipped up comparatively little water, took very few seas over the bows, and only one of any importance into the cockpit ; and after every roll, pitch and dive in the " scandalous " sea that was rmining and heaping together from every quarter of the compass, she would rise and give a buoyant little shake, like a fish-hawk after a dive for a mullet. We did not carry anything away, or part even the strand of a rope ! February ^Id. — The sun rose brightly and warmly, with a light fair breeze and smooth sea, but in the afternoon a heavy sea rolled in and destroyed the harmony of things a good deal. February Sd. — Last night was a beastly night. The " all-fired " sea, as the mate called it, rolled us about and shook the rigging so much, that although a good breeze was blowing, we tore the 200 CHARLESTON. mainsail from the gaff, split tlie foresail and chafed a hole in the fore staysail. The rain is incessant, the sky lowering with ragged oily clouds, the sea brutal and everything is unlove- ly. We are scudding before a gale of wind, fortunately fair, under close reefs, through dirty green waves, as we are near the shore and about thirty miles from Charleston. About noon we sighted the light-ship on Rattlesnake Shoals, and hauled our wind to beat up to the harbor, setting signal for a pilot, but it was blowing so hard that it looked as if we would have to remain at sea all night — not a cheerful prospect, with a rapidly falling barome- ter, and awfully cold weather. It is always the revocare gradum that is the labor and the sor- row, and the cold outs like a sword on our sun- burned and unaccustomed skins. At last we see a little pilot-schooner bearing down to us, and were not sorry to see her boat launched, and the welcome that pilot received was supernaturally warm. We did not get up to the city till after dark though, as the weather set in very thick — but then — a quiet niirlit! IN THE HARBOR. 201 February 4:th. — How pleasant, to be snugly at anchor here, and listen to the horrid wea- ther wreaking its vengeance outside. " A stiff nor westerns blowin', Bill ; oh, don't you hear it roar now." A dull, leaden, gloomy sky, and the ther- mometer at 42° are not pleasant accompani- ments, and they admonish us to make every- thing as comfortable as possible for the ending to our cruise, which cannot fail to be as cold and disagreeable as the beginning of it has been delightful. So we put up a stove in the cabin, to the great joy of the two polly parrots, who, for the last day or two, have been sliiver- ing on their perches, and who at once begin uttering improper things in Spanish. February 8th. — There is no need to describe Charleston. Almost ewery body knows all about it. L was stationed here in the blockading squadron during the war, and it is full of remi- niscences for him. I am very glad to see it for the first time, although so evidently fallen 202 A SHOOTING SCRAPE. from its high estate. The destruction of war is still traced in the many dilapidated buildings within the city, which has never recovered from its terrible effects. But whatever else it may have lost, the hospitality for which its citizens ai-e renowned, still flourishes in full force ; we certainly were charmingly received, and dined and wined " promiscuous." I shall never forget a day's shooting that we had at John's Island, nor the depth of the river mud. Tired from a long day's tramp, I arrived at the water side to And the boat far below me, and between us was stretched a smooth, jellyish, treacherous plain of the most liquid and odoriferous slime, which had to be traversed. While shuddering on the brink, I was accosted by a nigger boy, who agreed for the consideration of '' two bits " to carry me in safety on his back. In trepidation, mingled with a gentle hope, I mounted my sable steed, whose ivories showed from ear to ear as he took his first cautious step ; lower and lower he sank at each advance, till on reaching the deepest and blackest part, he slipped and over I went on my back ! What shrieks ! what yells of delight ! arose from the tug moored AWAT AGAIN. 203 safely out in the river ! my own pickle 1 leave entirely to the imagination, no words can de- scribe it. At length to-day our delightful visit comes to an end, and with the morning tide and a fair breeze we leave the jolly South Caro- linians. February ^th. — We had a very strong wester- ly breeze last night, and we are now enjoying a gale, cheerless, cold and revolting, with the usual accompaniment of a heavy rough sea. February 10th. — A beastly, stormy, tossy night, so vile that as the wind is getting round to the east with every prospect of a gale from the IST.E. we decide to run for Beaufort har- bor for shelter ; the cold was intense last night, and the decks and rigging are covered with ice, and the prospect of quiet anchorage under a lee is full of charms. We reached the entrance to the harbor about 2 o'clock, and setting signal for a pilot, stood off and on, outside the foaming bar, but as no pilot answered our signal, at dark we are 204 ON A LEE SHORE. obliged to anchor for the night, but we are dose in shore and the water is smooth. February Wtlu — Our anchorage outside the bar under the land as a shelter from tlie expect- ed northeaster, very nearly proved our destruc- tion. About midnight the weather changed, and the wind came on to blow a gale from the southeast, bringing us close on a lee shore and only a very little outside the breakers, with one of the crew sick and another totally useless. "We got all sail on her as rapidly as possible in hopes of " clawing off," but it soon became evident that we could not heave in one link of her cable, and that if we slipped it we could never wea- ther the fierce breakers on the bar. Meanwhile the whole sweep of the Atlantic was getting up a tremendous sea, and there was nothing left for us but to pay out sixty fathoms on the starboard anchor, which we did, also dropping the port anchor with forty-five fathoms, and then sat down to ride it out. All the remainder of the darkness, the fury and wrath of the gale in- creased, and the gallant little schooner was wildly plunging and tearing at her anchors^ DRAG G mo ANCHORS. 205 while the rolling and tossing was tremen- dous. When daylight broke, I never saw a wilder scene — the savage, frothing green seas came rolling past us, and breaking in thunder and foam just astern of us, sometimes very close alongside too, went tearing up on the beach, which, close as it was to us, was entirely con- cealed by the foam and misty spray — the scream- ing of the wind, and the wild roar of the waters were incessant and really awful, especially under the dead, leaden sky which I fancied I could almost touch — and we had to endure all this, because the pilot yesterday did not choose to respond to our signal ! About mid-day we had a bad scare; the wind, without abating, had begun to veer by the southw^ard, and the breakers were so close to us that it was evident the anchors had dragged — settled the mate called it. This meant going ashore and a swim for it, besides leaving the bones of the little darling on this inhospitable shore. We found on examination that the cables had fouled, and this made things look quite grim. We got the trysail on her, which 206 SMOOTH WEATHER. eased her somewhat, l)nt in the midst of our anxiety a furious squall came up from the westward, accompanied by a tremendous fall of douches, a sort of giant rain, and this, veer- ing the wind to the N.W., brouglit it right off shore to our great relief and joy. The barom- eter began to rise, so did our spirits, and though it blew as hard as evei*, and we tumbled about fearfully, it was all right and we could turn in comfortably. February l^th. — Though the swell is still considerable, the N.W. wind has knocked down the sea and the sun rises clear and fresh, while the cruel beach to which we were so perilously near yesterday, lies quietly basking like the crocodile in " Alice," " Who welcomes little fishes in With gently smiling jaws," and the wavelets ripple on it as if they were the most innocent little frisking things, with no thought of evil. With some trouble we got in the anchors, and again hoist signals for the tardy pilot, w^ho comes off in a row boat just as we are about to stand out to sea and desert BEAUFORT, N. C. 207 the unfriendly place. A schooner with her sails all split to pieces passes in ahead of us, and about noon we drop anchor in smooth water. The town of Beaufort is a miserable, shiftless looking place, with many signs of great poverty and some of unrequited labor : the shop-keepers louno^e at the street corners, and rush into their stores at sight of an infrequent customer. The most comfortable looking and neatest cottages belong to colored people, and they seem to pos- sess all the energy and most of the intelligence, although involuntary effects of the old slavery times still hang about them. I was much struck by the appearance of a district school, and the brio-htness as well as the neat cleanli- ness of the small colored scholars. On the other hand I was highly amused by a visit to tlie Court House, where a nigger was being tried for burglary accompanied with fracture of most of the Commandments. The judge, the jury, the counsel and all the spectators, were industriously using tobacco in its most unpleasant form, and I had no inclination to linger for the conclusion of the trial. We miderwent, ourselves, a most rigid ex- 208 END OF THE CRUISE. amination from the Collector of the Port, but we were innocent of cigars or any form of smuggling. Fehruavy ISt/i. — Short-handed as we are, the remainder of the crew have made a protest against proceeding farther north, without ad- tional hands. In vain have we tried to procure any ; not a man, colored or white, is willing to ship for the short trip round Ilatteras. It is a great disappointment to L , who was very anxious to return to the port we left, and com- plete the round cruise. But he yields to circum- stances, and has determined to lay the "Joseph- ine " up for the rest of the winter here, so that we shall proceed home by land. It is a ver}^ serious moment, this ending of a cruise which has now lasted over three delight- ful months, and has been one of great enjoyment, iniinite variety and unvaried good feeling. We part from the dear little schooner that has car- ried us so long and so well with deejjer feelings, I think, than any of us care to show, soon to be scattered again in our different avocations of pleasure or business. As we stand upon the shore, in the cold gray FAREWELL. 209 of the morning, and tnrn to take one last look at the poor little darling, sitting so gracefully on the smooth dark water, it is like leaving home. And I think of Dante's beauteous lines with their almost passionate repetition, the ten- der expression of lingering, back-looking regret — " Senza piu aspettar lasciai la riva Prendendo la campagna — lento lento ! " Finis. M. M.M.XJ M-l M. MJ X-\U^.JL-^ . UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Golcta, California THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST D^ STAMPED BELOW. ■ l.^j. x-^xX MAR 17 it^h. ^mu'ni'L INTERLIBRAaV LOAN UNIVES^S/nf (i|/cAL!FOR SANr.'i5\RS/V^~*A, CA 931 RET'DMAR0-ii9o3?i WIA 06 3 1205 02033 5251 B 000 019 665 9 I