One morning at breakfast, when the table was full and the waiters scarce, some of these fellows swore and talked pretty rough, and as a waiter was passing a blue-blood from New Orleans rose in his seat and called for sugar, holding the empty bowl in his hand, but the waiter passed on and paid no attention, and when a mulatto waiter came along behind him the angry man damned him the worst he could, ordering him to bring a bowl of sugar, quick.  This waiter did not stop and the Louisiana man threw the bowl at the waiter’s head, but missed it, and the bowl went crashing against the side of the ship.  I expected surely the Captain and his men would come and put the unruly fellow in irons, and there might be a fight or a riot, so I cut my meal short and went on deck about as soon as I could do so, thinking that would be a safer place.  But the Captain seemed to know about how to manage such fellows, and never left his stateroom, which I think was a wise move.  The darky did not make his appearance at table afterwards, and the man who threw the bowl said that colored folks had to mind a gentleman when he spoke to them, or fare worse.

The Captain now got out his passenger list, and we all had to pass through a narrow space near the wheel-house and every one answer to his name and show his ticket.  This made work for about one day.  Some stowaways were found and put down into the hole to heave coal.  One day the Captain and mate were out taking an observation on the sun when a young Missourian stepped up to see what was being done, and said to the Captain:—­“Captain, don’t you think I could learn how to do that kind of business?” The Captain took the young man’s hand and looked at his nails which were very rough and dirty and said:—­“No my lad; boys with such finger nails can’t learn navigation.”  This made a big laugh at the brave lubber’s expense.

Many of the sea-sick ones did not get up so soon, and some died of that, or something else, and their bodies were sewed up in blankets with a bushel of coal at their feet to sink them, and thrown overboard.  The bodies were laid out on a plank at the ship’s side, the Captain would read a very brief service, and the sailors would, at the appropriate time, raise the end of the plank so that the body slid off and went down out of sight in a moment.

In due time we went into the harbor of Acapulco for water and coal.  Here nearly every one went on shore, and as there was no wharf for the vessel to lie to, the native canoes had many passengers at a dollar apiece for passage money.  Out back of town there was a small stream of clear water which was warm and nice to bathe in, and some places three or four feet deep, so that a great many stripped off for a good wash which was said to be very healthful in this climate.  Many native women were on hand with soap and towels ready to give any one a good scrubbing for dos reales, (twenty-five cents) and those who employed them said they did a good, satisfactory job.