THE VOYAGE. 9 



fruits, strings of beads, vegetables, bunches of 

 bananas, and cocoanuts all shrieking at the 

 very top of their voices, but what they said no 

 livino- soul could tell. Soon the deck forward 



o 



was filled with its live and dead freight. The 

 first turn of the paddlewheel sent the queer- 

 looking assemblage scudding out of the way, to 

 ply back again, with their unsold wares, to dingy 

 old Carthagena. 



As we steamed quietly along, I had time to 

 examine the new arrivals. Squatted in little 

 groups or families, each group had all its 

 property, piled or stowed in some fashion, amidst 

 them, consisting of bundles of all shapes and 

 sizes, crockery, parrots and parroquets, quan- 

 tities of eggs and live poultry, fruits such as 

 are usually consumed in tropical countries ; ba- 

 nanas, mangoes, cocoanuts, water-melons, bad 

 oranges, and vegetables ; but what was most 

 valued and cared for, clearly the grand object 

 of the visit, were numbers of gamecocks, all 

 trimmed, according to the most approved fashion, 

 and tied by the leg, either to the bedding or, 

 failing anything else, to the person of the owner. 

 These Carthagenian blacks are evidently of 

 mixed descent ; most likely a sprinkling of 

 Spanish blood flows through their veins. The 



