CHAPTER IV. 



The Royal Victoria Hotel. Scenes daily witnessed in its Court. Sacred 

 Songs of the Negroes. 



" Whoe'er has traveled life's dull round, 

 Where'er his stages may have been, 

 May sigh to think he still has found 

 The warmest welcome at an mn." — Shenstone. 



The words above quoted need to be qualified, for a landlord's 

 welcome is i)urchased by his guest's money, and. disappears the 

 moment tiiat gives out. The destitute traveler is not presumed 

 to be a disguised angel, and the doors of few public or private 

 houses swing open at his approach, except for the purpose of 

 lotting the dogs loose on him. Hotels are not kept for tramps, 

 and the latter receive but a cold welcome even in jioor houses 

 which the public maintain in part for their benefit. 



We were much pleased with the Royal Victoria Hotel, and re- 

 ceived, many little attentions and kindnesses at the hands of its 

 proprietor, (Mr. J. M. Morton), which it is a pleasure to ac- 

 knowledge, but the visitors from the states must remember that 

 Nassau's jnstly celebrated hostelry is conducted on business prin- 

 ciples, and that plenty of money or a good letter of credit is an 

 essential requisite of '•the warmest welcome" of which the poet 

 Shenstone sung. 



In a subsequent cliaj)ter, reference is made to the object for 

 which this hotel was built by the Bahama government, and to 

 the important part it played in the blockade running business 



