264 
SKETCHES AT THE NlCOBARS. 
the bird’s nest. Well, after this who will make use of a carpet 
bag or a portmanteau, when a man can stow away all this in 
the crown of his hat! Jim Booth was a remarkably acute 
character, his quickness in catching up the meaning of words 
and learning them off was truly extraordinary, A remark 
was made after the inspection of John Bull’s hat that he was 
very cunning. Jim Booth immediately asked what the mean¬ 
ing of cunning was, which he could not understand as being 
different from cheating, at last Captain H,, who was sitting 
at table said “ Well, you agree to give me 200 pair of cocoa- 
nuts, and you give me one half bad, that is cunning’ ,c< —No”, 
replied Jim Booth immediately, without a moments hesitation, 
“that is cheating”. Jim Booth’s acuteness is most wonderful, 
and he only requires a little education to make him a superior 
man, but he is false hearted, and incapable of friendship—John 
Bull is really a sterling character, and I would place the great¬ 
est confidence in him Their desire to learn new English 
words is unbounded, and their aptitude at seizing the sounds 
and the facility with which they retain them is astonishing. 
Our two heroes eat and drank considerably,—nothing appear¬ 
ed to satiate them John Bull after eating a fearful quantity 
of beef and biscuit, asked for rice, and two or three platesfuil 
being as nothing, and seeing him still like Oliver Twist ask¬ 
ing for more, I determined to polish him off with a mixture of 
the most incongruous materials—butter, mustard, pickles, 
pounded beef, sugar, sardines, tea leaves, anchovy sauce and 
cayenne pepper;—but the Heathen smacked his lips, and 
said it was very good, and asked for a little more wine. I had 
already helped him very largely to wine, a sour acid stuff 
bought under the name of sauterne, that tasted like vinegar 
which had been kept in a Hock cask, and John Bull express¬ 
ed his sincere admiration thereof, but observing me sticking 
to Port, he startled me by asking for some. I assured 
him the nastiness he was imbibing was the best of the two, 
but, as he said very justly, what 1 liked he liked all the same 
me, with a heavy heart and a reluctant hand I poured him 
out half a tumbler which he swallowed with infinite gusto, 
smacking his lips, and striking his insatiable paunch, remark¬ 
ed, “ yes, good”, then heaving a sigh <£ very good, two all the 
san e”, pointing to the scraggy necked bottle of wishy washy 
which I had had opened for his especial benefit, I could have 
killed the wretch for instituting such an odious comparison. 
I went afterwards to one of their houses for a few minutes, 
and found three gentlemen with arrack and tobacco keeping 
it up at a very fast rate. The singing is harsh but not un- 
