gar Loaf with its smooth surface of rocks, and on the other side the
Slaver's Bay--palmettos swinging their finger-like branches to and fro;
and beyond, the fortress of Santa Cruz, with the sickly yellow diamond
of Brazil, waving above; indeed, when the long speaking trumpet was
shoved through an embrasure, I knew the old soldier's melancholy howl by
intuition. At last the harbor's mouth was passed, we rolled up our sails
and sank peacefully to rest on the quiet bosom of the bay.

A mob of us tumbled into the boats; the ashen sails, plied by sinewy
arms, soon bumped us against what was once to me the Palace Stairs, but
either the water had receded, or land encroached upon the bay, for where
the waves once washed the sea wall, and where many a time I have sat
kicking my heels in the surf, sucking oranges the while, is now forty
feet from the beach, and the wall itself stands in the silliest manner
imaginable, quite in the middle of the square. To the left is a tall
modern range of warehouses and the hotel Pharou. Swarms of cigar-smoking
bipeds were lounging edgeways from the cafes and billiard rooms. I
recognized many old familiar faces of the boatmen, and among other rare
birds, the overgrown eunich organist, who used to be the wonder of my
boyhood--there he stood as of yore, exercising his curiosity in
scrutinizing the new comers.

The tenth of a century makes vast strides towards changing the
appearance of things in these electrical times, and although I
discovered no difference in beauties of dale, hill or mountain, for the
Organos still shot their needle-like peaks as high up into heaven, the
weather was quite as calm and hot in the mornings, and as breezy in the
afternoons, the same bells were heard ringing the most confused of
chimes, squares were as crowded, streets no wider, and negroes as
numerous and spicy as ever; yet what I mean is, the animus of the town
itself had been transmogrified. The beautiful bay was traversed by
hateful little beetles of steamers, drawing long lines of sooty black
smoke through the pure air, instead of multitudes of picturesque lateen
craft, with the musical chants and cadences of the negro oarsmen,
skimming and singing over the water. Then, too, streets were filled with
omnibii, cabs, gigs, gondolas, and all other conceivable inventions for
locomotion, serving to make one uncomfortable from the very strivings to
avoid it: I forgive the entire African races for whistling the latest