Travels in the United States, etc.,: during 1849 and 1850./ By the Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley.

TRAVELS IN AMIERICA.
such a pitch of preternatural stupidity. To some it was useless
protesting we had not been, and had not intended to go. I convinced one at last; and he said he supposed then we really had
not been; we wust have got frightened, or "sickl," at Panama,
and that made us turn back. Another, who civilly refrained from
contradicting, soon after asked: "And pray, ma'am, did you bring
much gold dust? or perhaps you didn't stay long enough in California."
We found it pretty rough getting to the steamer, on the morning of our departure from Chagres, and with considerable difficulty
got on board. A yellowish-brown long line of demarkation shows
where the Chagres is lost in the clear waters of the Carribbean
Sea. We had delightful cabins, with a sitting-room, sofas, tables,
every thing charmingly commodious and comfortable. The Captain, who was as obliging as possible, sent us word we should not
start till night, as he had learned many other passengers were on
their way down the river.
In the evening after it was dark, there was a sudden alarm.
We heard a great scuffling, running, and shouting on deck; and
presently, in extreme haste, a boat was lowered and pushed off.
We remained watching in much anxiety, fearing that some boat,
in attempting to reach the steamer through the heavy surf, had
been upset. After some time we were much relieved to learn
that no lives had been lost. A canoe coming out to the " Crescent City" had been in the greatest danger of being carried out to
the open sea, from the boatmen having unfortunately broken their
oars, and the boat thereby becoming unmanageable, and at the
mercy of the waves. Had not their cries for assistance (which
was so promptly rendered) been heard, they must doubtless have
perished.
There were a number of returned Californians on board. From
the glimpses I had of them, I should say none looked particularly
happy or thoroughly satisfied with their expedition; one can not
always judge from outward appearances. There were two very
melancholy cases on board. An elderly gentleman, who had gone
mad, after losing nearly all he possessed through some ill-fated
speculation in California. His nephew was accompanying hiin
home, and talking care of him as well as he could; but from exposure,
I believe, and over severe labor in the mines, he was in the last
stage of consumption, and reduced almost to a skeleton. In this
miserable condition of hopeless suffering, he was doomed to have
his last days embittered by the melancholy spectacle of his afflict
452