116 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
shocks human forbearance ! But to be killed by inches, to 
be sent to the arms of death by the long agonies of thirst and 
famine, for no crime save that of being an American or 
Briton, is a sacrifice at which malice itself in its soberer mo¬ 
ments shudders and turns pale. So was this man dying. He 
breathed heavily. One of Castro’s officers came in, and re¬ 
marking that he was undoubtedly a feeble man, kissed his 
hand gallantly to the ladies and retired. 
The evening was spent with Mrs. J. A. Jones, the Califor¬ 
nian spouse of the former American Consul at the Hawaian 
Islands, and her sisters. A stroll, a tete-a-tete, and the sweet 
guitar ! The air was balmy ; the smiles were deeply sympathiz¬ 
ing ; the laugh savored richly of the dearest impulses of the 
soul; the music was the warm breath of the great living 
principle of the best affections. All beyond was barbarism 
and wilderness ! The vast pampas, the unexplored streams, 
the unpruned forests, the growling hosts of beasts that war 
with life and gnaw each other’s bones; the roaring seas; the 
wild men, women and children, unlocated; homeless,—the 
untamed fields of earth and the deserts of the human heart lay 
outside ; within was our little company. Will the reader tarry 
here awhile and listen to tales of olden times ? They tell of 
heroic deeds, of martyrdoms, and glorious conquests. They 
will bring back the events of buried years; will showthe deeds of 
those who acted here and died; and as the scene moves on, 
this charming land, with all its countless beauties and its grey 
and noiseless wastes, will appear. 
