OCR Text |
Show OUH FRENCH GUIANA LETTER. Gold Secliort Iroiu 8. IftU at C u.T ?""- Adrantagc.i nnI lintlvnn-tuaem lintlvnn-tuaem of ioll Ifitisztnc in Ihu Tropix." " Don't Sleep witiijonr Itoofs oil I" Stay at Homo unlns you nro wt'il ' Itoelort.' (SpocitU Corrs pond "coo ol tho liertild.) Cayenne, Feb., 5th, 1874. "We arrived here vesterday afternoon, after-noon, all 0 K, niter a trip on the ocean of thirty-two days, which was a remarkably slow yine. It appears our captain did nnfc run far enough easterly to strike the trade winds and the proper current. Our trip was very quiet and monotonous, with the exception of the first evening, and the lollowing morning, when thero was some grumbling among the passengers, pas-sengers, because there was not enough help on the vessel to properly ''sling the hash" to the boys. The " jimmigrants" in the " cellar of the boat" had rather a poor time of it after getting into the "tropix," on account of the closeness of the place, and tho bad air. I slept, the latter portion of the trip, oc the poop deck under one of ttho ship's boats. thunder, lightning and rain, when our beds were flooded and we took possession of the top story of the small boat and slept on the soft side of the oars. Knowing that it was a critical moment, in which I might bo allied upon to pass in my checks I commenced commenc-ed singing that piece of sacred music, "We'll stand the storm, ia won't be long, the Cayenne port ia nigh, ttc" The music from under those boats, combiued with the prayers on the occasion, oc-casion, was rather mixed. We were a pretty orderly crowd, and had no row of any kind among the pilgrims nn the voyage; which is a great deal better than was expected of the crowd when Bishop Elliott took his baggage collar box and tooth brush) on his back and started to the land whence he came; but I did not blame him & the prospects were rather discouraging dis-couraging the first evening. The fiuest view I ever saw was upon coming into Cayenne harbor. The first eight we had of land was the day before arriving in the harbor,and not having seen any of the bright green earth in so long a time thirty days it looked all the prettier; and comparing the luxuriant vegetation of the "tropicks" to the fine snow scenery scene-ry of some of the Utah mining camps, I must confess that to my eyes the extensive ex-tensive palm groves, Ac, in all the beauty ol their evergreen foliage, are preferable. But this country has its drawbacks which I suppose will overbalance its fine exterior. The harbor of Cayenne is au open one, but the mudbauks on the outside compel vosels to wait for Die tido to fbat them over the bars. Alter arriving, it took some time to float some of the pilgrims away from dome of the bars and tho female Cre ole pilots ol thc-gp Kirs. Am a mat:cr of connie, sme of the '-boys" got to feeling a little jolly over their arrival in this pl.tce, but all seemed to go quiet and orderly, knowing that an introduction to an otlicer in Cayenne' would be a great deal worse than an j introduction to Jeter. In regard to this part of the coun-1 fry it is 1 1 1 is, as near as I can learn ; 1 The country, for some distance up the rivera, is all "gobbled" up, but I think a'fellow can get somegood "lay ouLs" hero, and if the country is as rich as everybody here seems to think it is, it will be a good country for a man who can stand the chmalt;; but there is n here the rub cornea in. AU seem agreed ud one thing, that a white man can't stand this chmate and do any work; in fact, they gay it is impossible for a white man to lnlor at all in the mines. Another thing is that a man is euro to take the jungle fever whenever lie rocs to the mines. Smith ar.d Hpaf. E'y have hail several deals of the fever, Spaf Ely ia here sick at the present time, and Cri-mon and Aduum have both answered Gabriel's call; it is also reported re-ported that Murphy is wek, but I believe be-lieve it has not been confirmed. Xono of tiio boys have started to tve mines as yet. They want to get a little acclimated before skirting out. We were advised to stay here for about a week and get a liulo iwm-J u chniHt. - '"j wii t:uL I navo never s'en any lime too hot for me, and if it flocuii't gut, a prosit deal nottcr than it is now, 1 will cot fret as far as beat is concerned. But the 1 sun is pretty strong here. They never go out from about ten in the morning until four in the afternoon without an . umbrella, and our pilgrims sport around with a 6hade over them to ' keepthem cool. Tnia is a very old-fashioned town, . and it is laughable to nn American to see their styfeof moving merchandise, etc , in hand carts anu by oxen with the fixtures on their horns to haul the cart alter them. The carriages are few and far between; but one thing I like, and that is the style of the ladies' dresses, which aro very loose and plain. If I should ever happen hap-pen tn g.;t married I would bring my wifo down hero if she were extravagant extrava-gant in dress, the climate would compel her to deps cheaply, if not quite us funry as in a colder climate. One disadvantage of this place in thnt there is not a hotel in all tho whulo city, and tho "pilgrims" aro alt" lodged in privato houses. Xo doubt we worn the cause of a good den of fun fur the natives, in our effort to get rooms. FemioUy IC?etly and I roomed in she s;:me houpo, nnd on going up to our room the first evening the landlord land-lord requested that We wutild lake ofi our Loots, 'is he did not wish us to sleep with Mom on, which ws interpreted in-terpreted to us that as others worn living in u lower room, we would have lo tuk'Vfi' our bHU. Keelly immediately took his off mid went up stairs in his stockings, and in the morning, ho being tho first one to comedown, the landlord nuked him if lie was all O K, when Jack pulled out a $10 gold piece, handed it to tho proprietor, an. I departed, thinking lhat the landlord was dunning him fur the rout. It perms that some Ameri.-aiiri had at one limo staid aU his brother's place and slept with I their booM on ; antl be supposed that was the style of sleeping in America, Fnine of tl.o boys hern I am inclined to think, will return prrtly won to Lho United States, as they have not enough money to opcratu with, and it is no place for a man without money; in fact it is a hard country for a whito man, nnd it will gn roiiKh with a good runny of us, but still sDinc.will try their luck in a day nr two. I bcliuvn, ironi all I can learn, thit tboro nro IhhIiHh of inorif-y lo bo i undo ht-ro in mora witva than ono. We experience much diificulty in obtaining ob-taining uilormntiuii, on account of net being aWo to undentand the language. lan-guage. Fly seems wilinfiM tvith his proa1-pecl.-t. Unban ;;n,0'lO acres of land, Init has taken out but liltlo gold. kliIJ ho in confident of kiiccomh in tho end. Tibhits rnlurnod lo the United Stales on the same vessel wc came in. Homo I of the boys are going to have a hard time. Too many ef .'us came over on the last ship. I would advise all to stay at home, unless they aro well " heeled" with money, and are about ready to cross the river Styx. |