200 CONSULAR agent's OFFICE AT HOBARTOWN. 



should he be guilty of gross personal abuse, or other- 

 wise injure any of his men, or by a system of petty 

 annoyances, render a situation under him unpleasant 

 and uncomfortable, who will say that the party so 

 injured or offended may not withdraw from the 

 sliip ? The captain, however, will not let him go. 

 "What, then, shall he do ? Life is a burden to him 

 whilst under the espionage of his tormentor. His 

 remedy, the superficial observer at once would say, 

 would be to throw himself and his complaints on the 

 consideration of the American consul, and demand 

 justice. I will merely relate a case that happened 

 at the American Consular Agent's Office in Hobar- 

 town, (the agent, by the way, was not an American,) 

 to wit : 



At Flores we received aboard a Portuguese, without 

 an agreement. He remained with us, as one of the 

 crew, up to the time of our arrival at Hobartown, 

 and had become a pretty good seaman. One liberty- 

 clay, as he was going ashore, the captain said to him 

 he wished that he would accompany him to the con- 

 sul's office, and have his name put upon the ship's 

 articles. The Portuguese assented ; but, previous to 

 this, the shipping agents of the town had conferred 

 with him, and, discovering that he was not bound 

 to the ship, had offered him a seaman's wages to sail 

 in their employ ; consequently, he imbibed a notion 

 of the real value of his services, and when taken to 

 the consul's office and offered a landsman's lay by 

 the captain, he demanded a greater proportion of the 

 vessel's earnings — one commensurate with his ser- 

 vices. His remonstrance was answered bv a box on 

 the ear; and he was taken to the wharf, put in a 



