338 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



I did not wonder that Jemmy was discontented ; I left 

 him on board in a bad condition, but, unfortunately, I 

 afterward heard of him in a worse. 



A few strokes of the oar brought me on board our ves- 

 sel, and, as before, with the evening breeze we got under 

 way. The vessel in which I embarked was called La 

 Cosmopolita. She was a goelette brig, and the only 

 vessel that bore on the Pacific the Central American 

 flag. She was built in England for a collier, and call- 

 ed the Britannia. By some accident she reached the 

 Pacific Ocean, was bought by the State of San Salva- 

 dor when at war with Guatimala, and called by that 

 state's Indian name of Cuscatlan. Afterward she was 

 sold to an Englishman, who called her Eugenia ; and 

 by him to Captain D'Yriarte, who called her La Cos- 

 mopolita. 



My first night on board was not particularly agreea- 

 ble. I was the ojily cabin passenger ; but, besides the 

 bugs that always infest an old vessel, I had in my 

 berth moschetoes, spiders, ants, and cockroaches. Yet 

 there is no part of my tour upon which I look back 

 with so much quiet satisfaction as this voyage on the 

 Pacific. I had on board Gil Bias and Don Quixote in 

 the original, and all day I sat under an awning, my at- 

 tention divided between them and the great range of 

 gigantic volcanoes which stud the coast. Before this 

 became tedious we reached the Gulf of Papajayo, the 

 only outlet by which the winds of the Atlantic pass 

 over to the Pacific. The dolphin, the most beautiful 

 fish that swims, played under our bows and stern, and 

 accompanied us slowly alongside. But the sailors had 

 no respect for his golden back. The mate, a murder- 

 ous young Frenchman, stood for hours with a harpoon 

 in his hand, drove it into several, and at length brought 



