THE VOYAGE. g, 
fruits, strings- of beads, vegetables, bunches of 
bananas, and cocoanuts—all, shrieking at the 
very top of their voices, but what they said no 
living soul could tell. Soon the deck forward 
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 
