rent.
And yet I was glad to take possession of it; and in a few days had
hung its rude walls with calico of gayest colour in stripes, with an
exuberance of fringes, frills, and bows (the Americans love show
dearly), and prepared it to accommodate fifty dinner guests. I had
determined that it should be simply a _table d'hote_, and that I would
receive no lodgers. Once, and once only, I relaxed this rule in favour
of two American women, who sent me to sleep by a lengthy quarrel of
words, woke me in the night to witness its crisis in a fisticuff
_duello_, and left in the morning, after having taken a fancy to some
of my moveables which were most easily removeable. I had on my staff
my black servant Mac, the little girl I have before alluded to, and a
native cook. I had had many opportunities of seeing how my brother
conducted his business; and adopted his tariff of charges. For an
ordinary dinner my charge was four shillings; eggs and chickens were,
as I have before said, distinct luxuries, and fetched high prices.

Four crowds generally passed through Cruces every month. In these were
to be found passengers to and from Chili, Peru, and Lima, as well as
California and America. The distance from Cruces to Panama was not
great--only twenty miles, in fact; but the journey, from the want of
roads and the roughness of the country, was a most fatiguing one. In
some parts--as I found when I made the journey, in company with my
brother--it was almost impassable; and for more than half the
distance, three miles an hour was considered splendid progress. The
great majority of the travellers were rough, rude men, of dirty,
quarrelsome habits; the others were more civilized and more dangerous.
And it was not long before I grew very tired of life in Cruces,
although I made money rapidly, and pressed my brother to return to
Kingston. Poor fellow! it would have been well for him had he done so;
for he stayed only to find a grave on the Isthmus of Panama.

The company at my _table d'hote_ was not over select; and it was often
very difficult for an unprotected female to manage them, although I
always did my best to put them in good humour. Among other comforts, I
used to hire a black barber, for the rather large consideration of two
pounds, to shave my male guests. You can scarcely conceive the
pleasure and comfort an American feels in a clean chin; and I believe
my barber attracted considerable custom to the British Hotel at
Cruces. I ha