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COLOMBIA. 



must of course have heard of that long ago and 

 so on with the rest, till at length we became com- 

 pletely confused and tired of asking questions ; 

 and were glad to relapse into our wonted abstrac- 

 tion from all that was distant, and turn again 

 cheerfully to take an exclusive interest in what 

 was passing immediately before us. 



As I had been kept out of bed for two nights, 

 attending to the pilotage of the ship, I was glad 

 to retire at an early hour ; but I could get no sleep 

 for the noise in the Plaza, or great square, before 

 the windows of my room. After some time spent 

 in vain endeavours to disregard the clamour, I 

 rose and sat at the window, to discover if I could 

 what was going on. It was a bright moon-light 

 night, and the grass which had been allowed to 

 grow up in the centre of the square was covered 

 with parties of negro slaves, some seated and 

 others dancing in great circles, to the sound of 

 rude music made by striking a cocoa-nut shell 

 with a short stick ; while the whole party, dancers 

 as well as sitters, joined in a song with very loud 

 but not discordant voices. It appeared to be 



