y in a foreign
port, two thousand miles from home, and in a tropical climate.

The following day being Sunday, I accompanied Mr. Thompson on a visit
to the market, in order to obtain a supply of fresh provisions and
vegetables. I was surprised to find the public market open on the
Sabbath. The very idea of such a custom conflicted with my pre-conceived
notions of propriety and religion. But Sunday was a great holiday in
Demarara indeed the only day which the slaves on the plantations could
call their own. On Sunday they were allowed to visit each other, frolic
as they pleased, cultivate their little gardens, make their purchases
at the shops which were open on that day, and carry their produce to
market.

Hence the spacious market square, in the midst of the town, was covered
with articles of traffic. The venders were chiefly negro women, who
exposed for sale immense quantities of yams, tomatoes, cassava bread,
sugar-cane, plantains, water-cresses, oranges, bananas, avocado pears,
etc., with fancy articles of almost every description.

The scene was a novel and interesting one. The market women were habited
in garments of a marvelously scanty pattern, better adapted to the
sultry character of the climate than to the notions of delicacy which
prevail among civilized people in a more northern clime. The head-dress
consisted, in almost every instance, of a calico kerchief, of gaudy
colors, fantastically wreathed around the head. They were respectful in
their deportment, exhibited their wares to the best advantage, and with
cheerful countenances and occasional jokes, accompanied with peals of
merry laughter, seemed happier than millionaires or kings! Their dialect
was a strange jumble of Dutch, English, and African. All were fond of
talking, and, like aspiring politicians in happy New England, neglected
no chance to display their extraordinary power of language. And such
a jabbering, such a confusion of tongues, as I listened to that Sunday
morning in the market-place of Demarara, overwhelmed me with wonder, and
days elapsed before I could get the buzz out of my head!

In answer to inquiries relative to the health of the place, it was
gratifying to learn that the province had not been so free from yellow
fever at that season for several years. While the Dolphin remained in
port but few fatal cases occurred in the harbor, and the origin of those
could be traced to intemperance or other imprudent conduct. There was
no ser