Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/200



ble, had  been  regularly  practised  by  men  appearing to be  New  Englanders  and  New  Yorkers  from  the  es- tablishment of the  steamship  line. Passengers as  a rule  were  helpless ;  for  when  the  steamer  was  ready, they were  obliged  to  go  on  board,  and  their  baggage was not  worth  the  cost  of  hunting  it. From the first appearance  of  foreign  travellers  in  these  parts,  it has  been  a  notorious  fact,  and  of  current  remark,  that of all  robbers  and  swindlers  on  the  Isthmus  white men were  the  worst,  and  compared  to  them  the  na- tives were humane,  faithful,  and  honest. •

The steamers  here  took  in  coal  and  provisions,  beef, fowl, and  swine,  flour  and  general  groceries,  oranges, pineapples, citrons  and  bananas,  and  liquors  of  all  sorts. Quite a  trafhc  was  sometimes  done  here  in  tickets  by brokers;  some,  to  save,  would  sell  their  steamer ticket and  take  passage  on  a  sailing  vessel,  which  they afterward too  often  found  of  that  class  whose  captain and officers  were  accustomed  to  take  in  so  much  wine and spirits  that  they  would  forget  to  take  in  any water.

After a  week's  detention  the  steamer  Panama  an- nounced her readiness  to  receive  passengers,  of  which opportunity we  all  made  quick  avail. With our  ef- fects shrunken to  the  easy  compass  of  our  hands,  we left  our  hotel,  walked  down  the  street,  and  out  through the great  gate,  to  the  shore  of  the  bay. There we found  stationed  just  beyond  the  surf  that  broke  upon the white  beach,  a  row  of  boats  ready  to  convey  pas- sengers to the  steamer,  with  porters  and  boatmen  to carry  us  through  the  foam  to  the  boat. Wading to the  edge  of  the  water  the  boatmen  would  stoop  their ebony shoulders  and  back  up  to  us  invitingly. Women were picked  up  in  their  arms,  and  handled  most  ten- derly for such  sooty  savages. Sometimes stepping  on a  slippery  stone,  down  man  and  rider  would  both  go into  the  brine,  amidst  the  shouts  of  the  lookers-on. But this  happened  very  seldom ;  the  wide,  bare, leathery feet  of  the  carriers  were  usually  quit