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

From LNew Orleans to San Frzancisco in'49.
If the natives looked strange to us,
we children seemed to be perfect curiosities to them. They appeared to have
great compassion for us, offering some
of their fruit, and calling us "pouria los
picaninies Americanos." An American who was in business in the town
told my mother that we were the first
American children that had ever landed
there.
We all ate breakfast on board the
steamer, which was our last meal there,
as well as the last good meal that we
were to have for many a long day. The
crew were already busy unloading the
freight; and the passengers who were
anxious to get their baggage were helping. One of the first articles to be unloaded was the cask that contained the
body of the woman who had died of
the cholera. So many of the crew had
died that some of the officers were
obliged to help in removing the cask to
the shore. The second engineer who
was helping was seized with the cholera,
and fell dead just as he had put his foot
on shore. As the cholera was still with
us, everyone was anxious to get away
from the steamer, hoping to leave that
dreadful disease behind.
Poor father was carried ashore in a
cot, and put down in the burning hot
sun. Mother made me stand by him and
hold an umbrella over him, while she and
my brother were looking after our
freight and baggage. She wanted to
return with the steamer to New Orleans
but father would not consent. Mother
had never attended to any business before, but now she was obliged to leave
father, who was so near death's door,
take her little sick baby in her arms, and
look after everything, with no one to
help her but my brother.
She found that most of the freight
we had brought with us could go no
farther, so she sold what she could.
Those to whom she sold, knowing that
she would be compelled to leave it,
would give only their own price, a very
small one, for it. Mother spoke both
French and Spanish as well as English,
and I do not know how she could have
managed if such had not been the case.
But her knowledge of Spanish enabled
her to get along without hiring an interpreter, who charged a high fee for his
services.
It was the rainy season on the Isthmus, and though it was clear when we
landed it soon began to rain in torrents.
As our tent had not yet been taken out
of the ship, we did not know what to do.
But mother having found that the old
Frenchwoman and her husband were
going to remain at Chagres and open a
restaurant, where they had already
pitched their tent, made arrangements
with them to shelter father and us little ones until our own tent could be put
up.
The route across the Isthmus from
Chagres was by canoe up the Chagres
River as far as Gorgona, then by trail
either on mule-back or on foot to Panama. Mother decided to start for Gorgona the next morning. So having selected what articles she thought she
could get across the Isthmus, she hired
three canoes, with enough native boatmen to row them up the river. She
left my brother and old Duncan to load
the canoe~, while she prepared some
provisions for our use while on the journey up the river. The articles that she
had decided to take were bedding for the
family, our clothing, two tents,our camping outfit, mining tools, the chest of
carpenter tools, all the provisions that
we could carry, and a small medicine
chest.
She decided not to pitch our tent that
night,but to stay with the Frenchwoman,
so she gave us our supper and sent us
early to bed. Our beds were some quilts
spread on the ground. She said that
she wanted to get a good night's sleep,
for while going up the river we should
have to sleep the best we could on top
of the baggage in the canoes. But,
194
[Aug.