From New Orleans to San Fransisco in '49 [pp. 189-205]

Fi8 Frm NAew Orleans to San F'auicisco in'4g9.
ous place if a storm should come up,
and they were encouraging the men to
hurry as much as possible. This was
my first view of a sunrise at sea, and it
was indeed a glorious one. The water
was so extremely clear that many beautiful fish could be seen swimming around
the vessel. Some of the men said that
they could see the reef on which we had
struck; but I could not. The little island on which we saw the palms did not
seem to be more than a foot above the
surface of the ocean, and was perfectly
level.
Late in the afternoon the carpenters
finished patching the hole in the bow of
the ship, and again we steamed on our
way. This incident happened in the
Carribean Sea, when everyone supposed
that we were near Chagres; but it was
three days more before we reached that
place.
Nothing more of importance happened
before we arrived at the Isthmus, except
that the cholera each day claimed its
victims. Mother said that she thought
my father would not live to see land;
he was so low that nothing seemed to
help him. My little sister, too, was very
feeble. But their time had not yet come,
and they both lived to reach land.
We arrived at Chagres on the night
of the 27th of March, having been eleven
days ill coming from New Orleans.
This trip was a much longer one than
it should have been; but the old ship
was somewhat disabled by the storm
and by striking on the reef, and had
made but slow progress. I do not know
at what hour of the night we arrived,
but when I awoke in the morning the
old Colonel Stanton lay at anchor, and
there seemed to be a great deal of hurry
and bustle on board.
It was a strange sight that met our
gaze. From the deck of the steamer we
had a good view of the town of Chagres.
I could not at first believe that it was a
town; it looked more like a collection
of hay or fodder stacks. The houses,
\VO 1. xx-IiS
or cabins, or whatever they called them,
were small conical structures, consisting of only a rude frame thatched with
palm leaves, which answered the purpose of both walls and roof. A small
opening was left for a doorway, and
there was no floor but the beaten earth.
The native inhabitants were negroes of
various shades, ranging from coal-black
to nearly white; but the majority were
very black. They spoke the Spanish
language.
The prevailing fashions there in the
spring of'49 were very simple, cool, and
airy. The dress suit for a native gentleman consisted of a piece of cotton cloth
about a yard square, fastened about his
loins. This, with a straw hat, completed
the costume. Some few, however, having found a dirty shirt which had been
discarded by some traveler, had adorned
their manly forms with that superfluous
garment. The fashion for ladies was
also very picturesque, and consisted of
a calico or muslin skirt of some light or
gay color; which. with a scarf or long
narrow shawl, thrown coquettishly over
the head and concealing a large portion
of the face, one end being thrown gracefully over the shoulder, made the toilet
of the most fastidious native belles.
The fashions for children under fourteen
years of age were even more simple and
followed the style in vogue in Eden before our first parents adopted the garments of fig leaves.
The confusion and noise that I had
heard on awakening was caused principally by the natives, who literally
swarmed about the vessel. They all
seemed to have something to sell,mainly tropical fruits, such as oranges,
lemons, bananas, plantains, cocoanuts
and pineapples, besides other fruits that
were unfamiliar to us. They did not
find ready sale for their stock in trade
among the passengers, although it looked
so tempting, for everyone was too much
afraid of cholera to indulge in eating
fruit.
1892.]
193