th, or concealed beneath a cloak of
arrogance and self-esteem, among the higher classes, and of ignorance,
superstition, incivility, and knavery among the lower, that it is
difficult to appreciate it. Of their courtesy to strangers, a little
incident, which occurred to Captain Page while in Maranham, will furnish
an illustration.

Passing, one day, by a large cathedral, he found many persons entering
the edifice or standing near the doorway, an indication that some holy
rites were about to be celebrated. Wishing to view the ceremony, he
joined the throng and entered the church, which was already crowded by
persons of all ranks. Pressing forward he found a vacant spot on the
floor of the cathedral, in full view of the altar. Here he took his
stand, and gazed with interest on the proceedings.

He soon perceived that he was the observed of all observers; that he was
stared at as an object of interest and no little amusement by persons
in his immediate vicinity, who, notwithstanding their saturnine
temperaments, could not suppress their smiles, and winked and nodded to
each other, at the same time pointing slyly towards him, as if there
was some capital joke on hand in which he bore a conspicuous part. His
indignation may be imagined when he discovered that he had been standing
directly beneath a huge chandelier, which was well supplied with lighted
wax candles, and the drops of melted wax were continually falling,
from a considerable height, upon his new dress coat, and the drops
congealing, his coat looked as if covered with spangles! Not one of the
spectators of this scene was courteous enough to give him a hint of his
misfortune, but all seemed to relish, with infinite gusto, the mishap of
the stranger.

Captain Page found in Maranham a dull market for his East India goods.
His provisions and his flour, however, bought a good price, but the
greatest per centum of profit was made on cigars. One of the owners of
the Clarissa stepped into an auction store in State Street one day, when
a lot of fifty thousand cigars, imported in an English vessel from St.
Jago de Cuba, were put up for sale. The duty on foreign cigars, at that
time, was three dollars and a half a thousand. These cigars had been
regularly entered at the custom house, and were entitled to debenture,
that is, to a return of the duties, on sufficient proof being furnished
that they had been exported and landed in a foreign port. As there were
few bidders, and