Page:Letters from India Vol 1.djvu/37

 The harbour is full of shipping, and the English, French, and Brazilian admirals all hoisted His Excellency’s flag this morning; and they saluted and we replied, till I am nearly as deaf as the Admiral. George and Captain Grey glided gracefully about in the barge, paying visits to the authorities; and then George fetched us, and we walked about the town, which is flourishing, and though very dirty is much more amusing than Funchal; but there is not even a common café in it where they can cook a bad luncheon.

More than two-thirds of the population are slaves, and there is hardly a pure white left. It is odd how short a time surprise lasts. The streets swarm with slaves wearing the same quantity of clothing that Adam did when he left Paradise, and they are carrying weights and dragging carts, and making an odd hallooing noise, rather a cheerful one, and are totally unlike anything we are in the habit of seeing, and yet the sight of all these undressed creatures is not startling after the first moment. They have come out of the pictures in ‘Stedman’s Surinam,’ and I have seen them all before. The children are too monstrous. Tell your