52 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



was said that all four vessels were well crowded, not only 

 with German people, but with large numbers of Slavoni- 

 ans, Austrians and Scandinavians in their picturesque at- 

 tire. 



During the first days of this week, there embarked a 

 large number of Schleswig-Holstein soldiers, who had 

 been enlisted for Brazil; they sailed for Rio de Janeiro 

 on the Hamburg bark "The Colonist." What a tribe! 

 I would not have trusted my corpse to be shipped with 

 them. Such specimens of humanity !— ragged, drunk, day 

 after day, with but a very few honorable exceptions. 

 With two hundred and ten of these fellows on board of 

 the "Colonist," which, at the most, can hold but three 

 hundred tons of cargo (sixty English tons), you may 

 fancy how those poor fellows were crowded together. 

 This first expedition is soon to be followed by another 

 one from Altona on Godefroy's "Caesar," a vessel of 

 about twice the capacity of the "Colonist," and which 

 is to take four hundred ' ' impressed soldiers. " It is said 

 that the government has put a stop to foreign enlistments 

 and, indeed, one does not see quite as many of these fel- 

 lows, who are easily recognized by their ragged appear- 

 ance, with the Brazilian colors, red, yellow and green, 

 displayed on their straw hats, and the loud noise they 

 make in roaming about the streets. 



I have just returned from a walk along the harbor. 

 At the "Baumthor" I witnessed the departure of a bark, 

 which was likewise filled with the same class of "Brazil- 

 ians." All were joyful and apparently contented, while 

 I felt overcome by sadness. When the sails began to fill 

 the vessel slowly glided down the river; all joined in the 

 familiar German folksong: " When I come, when I come, 

 when I come home again, I shall call, sweetheart, on 

 thee!" Poor fellows, will any of you ever return to see 

 your sweethearts? True, nobody who goes out in search 

 of a new home, can answer that question. Happy he who 

 does it in a joyful frame of mind. Toward evening there 

 arrived the German man-of-war "Ernest August" from 

 Bremen, a magnificent vessel of unusual size. Both 



