IN THE PACIFIC. 5 



During our stay at Rio I accepted the offer of 



Dr. G to visit his bungalow, accompanied 



by some of the officers of the ship. The house 

 was situated several leagues by rail from the 

 city. The scenery alon^ the line is magnificent, 

 as the train winds among the mountains, ascend- 

 ing the most wonderful grades, and affording 

 lovely views at every turn. 



Having enjoyed the hospitality of our worthy 

 host for a couple of days, and inspected his 

 coffee plantations, of which he was justly proud, 

 we returned to the ship, prepared for a start; 

 but our departure was delayed by an unfortunate 

 collision between some of our marines and two 

 native boatmen, resulting in the death of the 

 latter. 



This affair caused great excitement at the 

 time, and was not settled for more than a year 

 afterwards. The rights of the story can never 

 be known, the darkies not being in a position 

 to give evidence, whilst the account given by 

 the marines, whether true or false, was a 

 plausible one, and no amount of cross-cxami- 



