Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/165



and went  on  board — settling  the  export  duties,  under direction of  the  seller,  by  giving  a  half  dollar  to  the official stationed  on  board,  who  pocketed  it  amidst vehemently gesticulated  protestations,  which  I  took to be  a  sort  of  mock  battle  between  conscience  and duty; or  it  may  be  he  deemed  the  bribe  insufficient  to satisfy  virtue  so  august. Leaving him  to  reconcile matters as  best  he  might  I  hurried  to  bed,  and  when I awoke  in  the  morning  the  lovely  isle  had  vanished like a  dream,  and  we  were  far  on  our  way  toward Jamaica, that  is  to  say,  the  Land  of  Wood  and Water.

Kingston, where  we  touched  for  coals,  should  be the  black  man's  paradise. A negro  pilot  pretended to guide  our  vessel  into  the  harbor,  a  negro  port- master pompously  manipulated  the  mails,  black  shop- keepers importuned passers  by,  black  hackmen clamored for  a  fare,  black  prostitutes  smiled  for  cus- tomers, black fruit-venders  and  parrot-sellers  crow^led the avenues  leading  from  the  wharf,  dashing  black dandies flourished  their  white-headed  canes,  squads  of olack  soldiers  swelled  in  the  Britisher's  red  coat,  the regimental band  which  played  in  the  park  was  com- posed of some  fifty  fine  performers — black  ;  black women, about  fifty  in  number,  some  of  them  young girls, did  the  coaling,  carrying  on  their  heads  a  tub  or half  barrel  holding  sixty  pounds  of  coals,  marching up and  down  the  gang-plank  with  ease  and  alacrity, accompanying their  apparently  laborious  duty  with loud laughter,  song,  and  dancing,  while  the  men  sat by and  smoked  and  smiled  approval. Swarms of polished  ebony  bipeds,  male  and  female,  perambulated the streets,  smoking  their  long  cigars,  and  familiarly cracking their  rude  jokes  with  the  passengers. Race distinction, if  there  be  any  but  such  as  is  merely  phy- sical, seems to  be  here  reversed,  the  Avhite  man,  as  a class,  occupying  about  the  position  of  the  black  man in other  parts. Literally, a   white    man  here