A RUN TO NICARAGUA. 337 



mediately became the object of much ardent gazing 

 through telescopes, and many wistful eyes were 

 turned upon its wooded hills, and sighs drawn over 

 the two last fruitless expeditions, while the chances 

 of success of another were discussed, all tending to 

 the one inevitable conclusion, that some day or other 

 Uncle Sam " is bound to have .Cuba." We glided 

 prosperously over the smooth sea, no event of im- 

 portance disturbing the even tenor of our voyage. 

 On the fourth day we passed Big and Little Corn 

 Island. These islands are inhabited chiefly by free 

 negroes from Jamaica, who rear pigs, poultry, and 

 grow corn, which they take to Greytown. The 

 population of the largest is about five thousand ; it 

 is eight miles long by five broad, hilly, but fertile 

 and well cultivated. In the calm moonlight evenings 

 the men used to collect in groups forward to sing. 

 In the German company there were some excellent 

 voices, and their natural taste for music enabled them 

 to sing beautifully in parts. On the opposite side 

 of the deck a group of Americans were similarly en- 

 gaged, and as some piece from Handel was being 

 executed with exquisite taste and feeling by the 

 Germans, the boisterous "right tooral lal looral," 

 &c., so dear to the Anglo-Saxon, would strike 

 harshly in, a characteristic indication of our mixed 

 company. Upon such occasions the aspect of our 

 crowded deck was highly suggestive. It was strange 

 to look upon this handful of men, who, confident in 



VOL. II. T 



