THE BREMEN LIGHTER. 3 



that it would not start till the following morning. 

 Most of the passengers went on shore in the evening. 

 H. and I remained on board with our baggage. Next 

 morning we cast off from the shore and made sail with 

 the ebb; the wind was unfavorable. No one who has 

 not made such a passage, in a similar boat, with a like 

 number of passengers, can imagine the scene. It is 

 necessary to give a short description of it, as these 

 boats are still in use, and may yet carry thousands of 

 emigrants from their native land. The lighter was 

 cutter-rigged, about forty-five feet long, and some 

 fifteen broad, with a little hole in the after part called 

 a cabin, with two sleeping places on one side and some 

 rows of shelves on the other ; it was about large enough 

 to contain six people closely packed. Imagine sixty 

 passengers in the other part of the boat ! (for the cabin 

 was only for the master, or captain, as he liked to be 

 called). Sixty live passengers, with their chests, trunks, 

 hat and other boxes, handkerchiefs of provisions, 

 cloaks, mattresses, coverlets, &c. &c. ; and not young 

 men only, but old and young women, old men and 

 boys, children and old maids, sitting, lying, standing, 

 and leaning about. If any one hud told me beforehand 

 that such a number of people could have been packed 

 in such a space, I would not have believed him. 



When all had settled themselves, and I was firmly 

 persuaded that it was quite impossible to find room lor 

 OIK- more, without hanging him up under the deck, a 

 pair of legs poked themselves down the hatchway; over 

 I hem was a blue jacket, topped bv the rubicund virago 

 of our faithful captain. After trying lor some time 

 with his feet to find a solid foundation to .-land on, ho 



