385 
CHAPTER XXIV, 
THE START UP RIVER.—TRAVELLING BY NIGHT.—AN ARCTIC 
NEGRO.-BRACKISH WATER.—A CARIB BREAKFAST.-MOSQUI- 
TIAN VILLAS.—HIEROGLYPHICS.-WOOLWA INDIANS.-KISI- 
LALA.-MUSH-LA.—A LIVE CANDLESTICK.—MAHOGANY.—ITS 
GREAT VALUE--INDIAN MANNERS.-CHOCOLATE.-THE SPANISH 
HAMMOCK. 
Having now given some idea of the preparations 
necessary for canoe travelling, it is high time we em¬ 
barked and set off on the journey. Accordingly, the 
men were summoned, and in due course (not very 
quickly, it must be owned, for there is always some¬ 
thing to be done at the last moment) made their ap¬ 
pearance at the little pier belonging to the Moravian 
missionaries. 
One man carried the mast, spreets, sails, etc., another 
the paddles, a third the rudder, iron pot, and what a 
Yankee would call the fixings; while the others di¬ 
vided between them their own provisions, well wrapped 
in plantain leaves, and the personal luggage of the 
crew, packed in a Carib trunk or basket, so closely 
woven of split cane that it is impervious to the 
heaviest rain. It is simply made, in the form of two 
2 c 
