40 LEWDNESS OF THE WOMEN. 



apparel that was exposed to their view being made 

 by them a price for which they were willing to pros- 

 titute themselves ; and so pertinacious were the}', that 

 it was with difficulty a sheath knife was wrested 

 from one of them by a blushing boy of onr party to 

 whom their immodest offers (having but three weeks 

 previously left the bosom of a virtuous family of 

 mother and sisters), sounded like sacrilege, and, as he 

 afterwards expressed himself, absolutely appalled 

 him. We saw little evidence of cultivation in the 

 town ; but upon inquiry were informed, as well as 

 their broken English could enlighten us, that the 

 produce grew higher up — in the mountains. To 

 scale these we were not adventurous enough ; so we 

 sat down, and, after some bargaining, procured boiled 

 eggs, fruit, bread, and sour wine, on which Ave made 

 a hearty repast. I observed about the town cows, 

 pigs, and dogs, but neither jackass nor donkey ; so I 

 do not think the aforesaid long-eared gentleman 

 possesses the right or title to claim the paternity of 

 the world-renowned jackass cheese ; although seamen, 

 ill a spirit of vagary, have given to it the appellation 

 of that intellectual animal. 



In the afternoon we went oif to the ship, got our 

 onions and potatoes aboard, and carried with us two 

 Portuguese boys, about seventeen years of age — one 

 of whom goes into the forecastle to do duty as a 

 foremast hand, the other, into the steerage as steer- 

 age boy. Great numbers of young men are carried 

 olf from these islands annually, by American Avhale- 

 ships, the government demanding of each young 

 man, born in the islands, a certain amount of military 

 duty in Europe. To emancipate themselves from this 



