As I returned to town the streets seemed to be deserted, and I saw one man come out on an adjoining street, and after running a few steps, fall down on his face.  Hearing the report of a gun at the same time, I hurried on to get out of danger, but I afterward learned that the man was a travelling gambler who had come across the country from Mexico, and that he was killed as he fell.  No one seemed to care for him.

Near the beach were some large trees, and under them dancing was going on to the music of the guitar.  There were plenty of pretty Spanish girls for partners, and these and our boys made up an interesting party.  The girls did not seem at all bashful or afraid of the boys, and though they could not talk together very much they got along with the sign language, and the ladies seemed very fond of the Americanos.

There was a fort here, a regular moss-backed old concern, and the soldiers were bare footed and did not need much clothing.

The cattle that were taken on board here were made to swim out to the ship, and then, with a rope around their horns, hoisted on deck, a distance of perhaps forty feet above the water.  The maddened brutes were put into a secure stall ready for the ship’s butcher.  The small boys came around the ship in canoes, and begged the passengers to throw them out a dime, and when the coin struck the water they would dive for it, never losing a single one.  One man dropped a bright bullet and the boy who dove for it was so enraged that he called him a d——­d Gringo (Englishman.) None of these boys wore any clothes.

This town, like all Spanish towns, was composed of one-story houses, with dry mud, fire-proof walls.  The country around looked very mountainous and barren, and comfortably warm.

After two days we were called on board, and soon set sail for sea again; and now, as we approached the equator, it became uncomfortably warm and an awning was put over the upper deck.  All heavy clothing was laid aside, and anyone who had any amount of money on his person was unable to conceal it; but no one seemed to have any fear of theft, for a thief could not conceal anything he should steal, and no one reported anything lost.  There was occasionally a dead body to be consigned to a watery grave.

A few days out from here and we were again mustered as before to show our tickets, which were carefully examined.

It seemed strange to me that the water was the poorest fare we had.  It was sickish tasting stuff, and so warm it would do very well for dish-water.

There were many interesting things to see.  Sometimes it would be spouting whales; sometimes great black masses rolling on the water, looking like a ship bottom upward, which some said were black-fish.  Some fish seemed to be at play, and would jump ten feet or more out of the water.  The flying fish would skim over the waves as the ship’s wheels seemed to frighten them; and we went through a hundred acres of porpoises, all going the same way.  The ship plowed right through them, but none seemed to get hurt by the wheels.  Perhaps they were emigrants like ourselves in search of a better place.