the kaleidoscope of unsanctified human nature and
Hberated passion turned back discomfited, and sought
his home by the steamer that brought him. If the
infernal regions were to be bombarded for this gold,
they would pause and consider the matter. Then
there were yet those fastened by fate in this magnifi-
cent cesspool of tropical putrescence who could get
neither way; who having taken their chances of
reaching California had lost. Happy indeed would
they have been if they could have gone forward in
any direction. And there were those, saffron- visaged
skeletons, stretched side by side on cots, in the heated
rooms of hotels, on whom death had set its seal, with
no loved one near to ease the achino; limb or wet the
parched tongue.
Passengers in India rubber and oilcloth suits, singly and in amalgamated groups of quondam friendships, armed with pistols, guns, knives, umbrellas, and life- preservers, mild-mannered as belted brigands, were on the qui vive lest assassination should add their car- casses to the many significant mounds in the vicinity. Equipped with drinking-cups, pots, kettles, forks, spoons, and air-beds, with stores of meat, bread, brandy, and pills, all were rushing about bargaining, swearing, and whooping, impatient to be off. Bam- boo-faced patrones ranting bad Spanish, in broad- bottomed pantaloons, colored muslin shirts, and broad- brimmed jipijapa hats, with huge cigars in their sensual mouths, having fleets or boats at their command, formed the central figure of excited groups. Canoes from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, dug from a single log of bay or mahogany, and capable of carrying from four to ten persons with their luggage, could be engaged to Gorgona for from thirty to fifty dollars and a bottle of brandy for the boatmen. The patron usually accompanied his fleet, steering one of the boats.
Our boat is engaged — it has an awning to protect
