BILL AND RECEIPT — GOVERNOR'S HOUSE. 305 



US to resort to the bazaar, and inquire for an article 

 whicli they, from their inadequate knowledge of 

 English, could not comprehend, and then watch their 

 anxiety in displaying every article they had for sale, 

 in hopes of hitting upon the right one. No sooner 

 had you been given up in despair by the occupant 

 of one stall than 3'ou were seized ou by his neighbor; 

 and if, attracted by the quaintness of any particular 

 article, you should make a purchase, however small, 

 your former attendant would show his chagrin in a 

 garrulous and amusing manner. 



One day whilst thus perambulating in Yankee 

 fashion, with our hands deep in our pockets, as a 

 protection from the wonderful sleight-of-hand pos- 

 sessed by this people, one of these merchants, at- 

 tracted by a whalebone stick our steward carried, 

 offered a pound sterling for it. The steward agreed 

 to take it, but then the native would not purchase, 

 without a bill and receipt. Being penman and 

 amanuensis for all hands, I was desired to make out 

 the necessary document. After writing it, I was 

 requested by the steward to sign his name ; but it 

 was no go. The native, albeit he could not read a 

 single word of English, knew that this was not the 

 proper mode of doing business, and obliged the 

 steward to sign his name himself; when, after call- 

 ing an English policeman, and submitting it to his 

 inspection, he was satisfied of its validity, and paid 

 down the dust. 



The Governor's House has no pretensions to beauty. 



It looks like an old-fashioned farmer's homestead, 



and no one would think it had a claim to aristocracy, 



were it not for the presence of the red-coated 



26* u 



