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��Captain George Haniiltoji Perkins, U.S.N.
��[April,
��and the Cyane went over to Greytown to bring the sick and wounded of his deluded followers to Aspinwall for pas- sage to New York. Some hundred and twenty officers and men found in the hands of tlie Costa Ricans were taken on board, most of them in a deplorable condition. Some died before weighing anchor for Aspinwall, and as midship- men have no definable duties except to obey orders, whatever they may be, Midshipman Perkins was sent in a boat one day to take a chaplain's part in the burial of one of the victims. " When we got out to sea," he wrote, " I read some prayers over him, and then he was thrown over the side, the sailors saying ' God bless you ! ' as the body sunk." This sad duty made him feel solemn and reflective, but more than likely as not he was called upon immediately on arrival on board, as "master's mate of the spirit-room," to attend the serving out of grog to the ship's company ! Extremes meet on board a man-of-war, and the times for moralizing are short and scant.
So time sped, Midshipman Perkins performing his multifarious duties with alacrity and approval, and having some perilous adventures by flood and field in pursuit of wild game, until July, 1857, when the monotony of the cruise was broken by a trip to the banks of Newfoundland for the protection of our fishing interests, and including visits at Boston, St. John's, and Halifax.
The people of the Provinces were very hospitable, and the contrast be- tween the dusky damsels of the isth- mus and the ruddy-cheeked belles of St. John's and Halifax was brightening in the extreme ; and young Perkins, ever gallant in his intercourse with the sex, and a good dancer, found much favor with the Provincial beauties, and doubtless made up for past depriva-
��tions, in the alluring contact with their charms.
Returning southward in the fall, the ship cruised among the West Indies^ visiting, among other ports, Cape Haytien, the old capital of the island of Hayti, to inquire into the imprison- ment of an American merchant cap- tain. This place, before the French Revolution, had been a city of great magnificence and beauty — the Paris of the Isles ; and the old French nobility, possessing enormous landed estates and large numbers of slaves, lived in a state of almost fabled grandeur and luxury ; but negro rule, the removal of the seat of government to Port- au-Prince, and the great earthquake of 1842, have destroyed all but a semblance of its former glory and importance.
Among other sights visited by the officers was the old home of Count Cristoff, a castle of great size and strength, built on one of the highest hills, some twelve miles back of the town. It was told of the old Count that he used every year to bury large sums of money from his revenues, and then shoot the slave who did the work, that the secret of the spot might be known only to himself.
In January, 1858, Midshipman. Perkins was detached from the Cyane, and he bade adieu forever to her dark,, cramped-up, tallow-candle lighted steer- age, baggy hammock, and hard fare, where the occasional dessert to a salt dinner had been dried apples, mixed with bread and flavored with whiskey !' There were no eleven-o'clock break- fasts for midshipmen in those days, and canned meats, condensed milk, pre- served fruits, and other luxuries now common on shipboard, were almost unknown.
A few brief davs at home and orders.
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