50 Travels and Adventures 



cabins on each side and a large saloon in the middle, 

 whilst the prow is reserved as a space for recreation. 

 On the roof of this acrain are built the cabins 

 of the captain and officers. The three sections 

 carry the construction up to a great height, con- 

 sidering the little depth below the water. The 

 whole being built as light and airy as possible, 

 and gaudily painted red and white, has somewhat 

 the appearance of a travelling menagerie to' Europeans, 

 although very pretty and admirably adapted to the 

 situation. 



About mid-day everybody on board seemed to 

 have got all they required, so we started down 

 the narrow arm of the Macrdalena which leads from 

 Barranquilla into the main river. Here we passed 

 the majority of the other river-boats, lying either 

 waiting to be despatched or to be repaired. Here, 

 too, we came in sight of what appeared to me to 

 be the public baths and wash-houses of the town. 

 For a distance of about a quarter of a mile along 

 the side of the canal larcre trunks of trees are 

 placed at intervals of a few yards from one another, 

 and at a depth of three or four feet in the water. 

 Here at least a hundred or a hundred and fifty 

 half-naked women and children, lau^hintr and talking, 

 splashing and screaming, were engaged in washing 

 the linen for the more wealthy people of the town. 



