Aspinwall, which point was reached by our other boat,
after a rough experience; the waves having capsized her during the
passage, and swallowed up the provisions and nautical instruments.

It was then decided that all the company should be taken to Aspinwall by
the United States vessels, and their boats and ours were at once put to
service in transferring the people from the island; who, as they
gathered up such fragments of their property as had been rescued from
the wreck, and tied it up in bedquilts or blankets, shouldered their
bundles, and moved slowly down to the point of departure,--their
garments weather-stained and crab-eaten, some of them without shoes or
hats, and all with much-bronzed faces,--presented a picturesque and
beggarly appearance, in striking contrast to their aspect before the
wreck.

We were treated with the greatest kindness by every one connected with
the gunboats. They took us in their arms, and carried us into the boats,
and stood all night beside us, offering ice-water and wine. They greatly
bewailed our misfortunes, and told us, that, when they heard of our
condition, they put on every pound of steam the vessels would bear, in
order to reach us as speedily as possible, fearing that some greater
calamity might befall us,--that our supply of water might entirely fail,
or that the trade-wind might change, and a storm bring the sea over the
island. They told us, too, that we were very far off the track of
vessels; and, if our boats had failed to bring succor, in all
probability no one would ever have come there in search of us.

The two schooners decided to remain a while, and wreck the vessel. As we
steamed away from the reef, we passed her huge skeleton upon the rocks,
the bell still hanging to the iron part of the frame.

On the second day we reached Aspinwall, and disembarked. As we sat on
the wharf, in little groups, on pieces of lumber or on our bundles,
waiting for arrangements to be made for our transportation across the
Isthmus, a black man, employed there, fixed his eye upon our
dark-skinned Julia, and, approaching, asked if she "got free in the
Linkum war." I told him that she did, and asked him where he came from.
He said he was from Jamaica; and I said, "I suppose you have been free a
long time?" to which he, replied, with great energy, "Before I was
born, I was free," and repeated it again and again,--"before I was
born."

We found that Julia, to whom all things were new in t