112 STEAM-BOAT ACCIDENTS. [CHAP. XXIX. 



naturally conclude (although this is by no means an improbable 

 result of your voyage), but it merely signifies going down the 

 river. &quot; Another offered this piece of advice, &quot; When you are 

 racing with an opposition steam-boat, or chasing her, and the 

 other passengers are cheering the captain, who is sitting on the 

 safety valve to keep it down with his weight, go as far as you 

 can from the engine, and lose no time, especially if you hear the 

 captain exclaim, Fire up boys, put on the resin ! Should a 

 servant call out, Those gentlemen who have not paid their 

 passage will please to go to the ladies cabin, obey the summons 

 without a moment s delay, for then an explosion may be appre 

 hended.&quot; &quot; Why to the ladies s cabin ?&quot; said I. &quot; Because it 

 is the safe end of the boat, and they are getting anxious for the 

 personal security of those who have not yet paid their dollars, 

 being, of course, indifferent about the rest. Therefore never pay 

 in advance, for should you fall overboard during a race, and the 

 watch cries out to the captain, A passenger overboard, he will 

 ask, Has he paid his passage ? and if he receives an answer in 

 the affirmative, he will call out, Go ahead ! &quot; 



I shall explain in the sequel why the danger of accidents, in 

 the present state of the navigation, is by no means so great as 

 statistical tables make it appear at a distance ; but certainly my 

 first day s experience was not of a character to dispose me to 

 regard the warnings I had received as idle or uncalled for. 

 After we had been seated for half an hour on the deck of the 

 &quot; Wave&quot; steamer, Dr. Carpenter was recommended by a friend 

 to go by preference in a rival boat, just ready to start for the 

 Balize, which he said was safer. We accordingly went into 

 her, and she sailed first. Eight hours afterward, while we were 

 waiting, as I thought, an unconscionable time, at a landing, while 

 a Creole proprietor, who was by no means inclined to be in a 

 hurry, was embarking himself and some black servants, we saw 

 the rival steamer come up very slowly. No sooner had she 

 joined us, than all her passengers poured into our steamer, and 

 told us they had been in the greatest alarm, their steam-pipe 

 having burst ; but, most providentially, they had all escaped 

 without serious injury. If I had not already sailed about 1500 



