and stowing a cargo of this description is a
peculiar one; and as I shall recur to this subject hereafter, I avail
myself of this opportunity to describe, briefly, the mode of operation.

The empty casks are carefully stowed in the hold, with small pieces of
board between the quarter-hoops of each cask, so that the bilge of a
cask shall touch no other substance whatever. The bungholes must also
be uppermost; thus, in the brief but expressive language of commerce,
"every cask must be bung up and bilge free." A "molasses hose" is then
procured, consisting of a half barrel with a hole in the bottom, to
which is attached a leathern hose an inch and a half in diameter, and
long enough to reach to the most distant part of the hold. A hogshead
filled with molasses is then hoisted over the hatchway, hung down, and
the hose-tub is placed directly beneath; the bung is taken out, and the
molasses passes through the hose to any cask in the hold that may be
wished. When the cask is filled the hose is shifted to another, and in
this way the casks are all filled and the cargo stowed. The process
is tedious; and although a sweet, by no means a pleasant one, to those
engaged in it.

It may be imagined that the crew, after working all day among molasses
in that hot climate, should wish to bathe in the evening; and the
river alongside, although the element was neither pure nor transparent,
offered, at high or low water, a tempting opportunity. To the very
natural and proper inquiry whether the harbor of Demarara was infested
with sharks a man-eating shark not being the most desirable "companion
of the bath" we were told that a shark had never been seen in the harbor;
that the river water, being turbid and fresher than the ocean water,
was offensive to that much dreaded animal, which delights in the clear
waters of the salt sea. We were further told that up the river, in the
creeks and pools which abound in that region, alligators were met with
in large numbers; some of them of large size, and had been known to
attack a man in the water; but they never ventured down the river among
the shipping.

The reports being thus favorable, the crew of the Dolphin, being good
swimmers, were indeed, whenever it was "slack water" of an evening,
to take a swim in the river; and the crews of other American vessels
followed the example. One evening, at twilight, there were swimming
about and sporting in the water, deriving the highest enjoyment from