132 



COLOMBIA. 



I might, perhaps, have yielded, had I not fore- 

 seen that these good and merry people would have 

 discovered means to render our departure more 

 and more difficult every day. On going on board, 

 I found the pilot had deferred moving the ship 

 till eleven o'clock, by which time, he said, the 

 ebb tide would be running strongly down. 



When I came upon deck, accordingly, at that 

 hour, the night was pitch dark, and the damp 

 land breeze was sighing mournfully among the 

 ropes. On turning towards the town, we saw a 

 blaze of light from the ball-room windows ; and, 

 on looking attentively, could detect the dancers 

 crossing between us and the lamps ; and now and 

 then a solitary high note was heard along the wa- 

 ter. Far off in the south-eastern quarter, a great 

 fire in the forest cast a bright glare upon the 

 clouds above, though the flames themselves were 

 sunk by the distance below the horizon. This 

 partial and faint illumination served only to make 

 the sky in every other direction look more cold 

 and dismal. 



The manner in which we proceeded down the 

 river is so curious, and, as far as I know, so rare, 



