Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 2.djvu/263

 to the jet-black "Day and Martin" of Ethiopia; from the loveliest form of Nature's mould, to the disgusting squaw, whose flaccid mammæ hung like inverted bottles to her girdle, or are extended over her shoulder to give nourishment to the little imp perched on her back; and here the urchin sits the live long day, while the mother performs all the drudgery of the field, the house, or the market.

The confusion of Babel did not surpass the present gabble of a West India market. The loud and everlasting chatter of the black women, old and young (for black ladies can talk as well as white ones); the screams of children, parrots, and monkeys; black boys and girls, clad ala Venus, white teeth, red lips, black skins, and elephant legs, formed altogether a scene well worth looking at; and now, since the steamers have acquired so much velocity, I should think would not be an unpleasant lounge for the fastidious ennuyeé of France or England. The beauty and coolness of the morning, the lovely sky, and the