8 THE VOYAGE. 



harbour was very brief ; the mails and a passenger 

 or two landed, away we steamed again. 



At Carthagena we only lay-off a short time, to 

 land the mails, and take on board the strangest as- 

 semblage of natives I ever saw. They were bound 

 for Colon, to sell the various products of their 

 farms, gardens, and native forests. We were about 

 half a mile from the beach ; a good rolling swell 

 broke, in small waves, against the ship's sides, and 

 spread its foam far up the shingle inshore. Up 

 to their waists might be seen the dusky forms of 

 the natives, launching long, ugly, shallow canoes, 

 dug from out the solid wood. Soon a perfect 

 fleet of them neared us, each striving to be first 

 alongside ; as they converged, and steadily 

 packed together, into a confused mass, the yelling, 

 screaming, and swearing in bad Spanish, mixed 

 with some unknown tongue, baffled all description. 

 Bad as the hubbub was when some distance 

 from the steamer, it was ten times worse as they 

 literally fought and struggled to get on board. 

 Those who were to be passengers, in dread of 

 being left behind, dashed from canoe to canoe, 

 reckless of the rage of those intent only on 

 selling their wares. Here one held up a poor 

 little drenched and shivering monkey, another a 

 screaming parroquet, a third a squirrel; others 



