CRUISING OFF PORTO RICO.

A ball on board--Fishing with a seine--Ordered to cruise off Porto
Rico--News of the battle of Camperdown--The boasts of Napoleon--Views
on matrimony--A sailor's courtship--Futile boat attack on a Spanish
war vessel at St. Domingo--Author loses hearing of his left ear
from effect of a wound.

The officers gave a dance to the inhabitants of the town of Donna Maria,
which was attended by the Governor, who was a well-bred, gentlemanly old
Frenchman, his wife and sister-in-law (whom I had seen dressed as men when
we first arrived). The quarter-deck was filled with mustiphenas, mustees,
mulattos, Sambos, and delicate, flat-nosed, large-mouthed and thick-lipped
black ladies. Had Vestris been present, she might have taken some new
hints in dancing. The waltzing was kept up with so much spirit that four
couples were hurled to the deck one over the other, and it was truly
laughable to see the melange of blacks and whites struggling to be the
first on their legs. At one o'clock in the morning they took their
departure, highly pleased with their entertainment.

The following day I was sent with another midshipman with two boats to
haul the seine in a bay about a mile to the westward. On the first haul we
caught about four bucketsful of rays, parrot-fish, snappers, groupers, red
and white mullet, John-dories, some crabs and two electric eels. One of
the boat's crew hooked one of the latter by the gills with the boat-hook,
when his arm was immediately paralysed, and he let it fall, calling out
that someone had struck him. The man near him laid hold of the fish again
as it was making for the shore, and the shock he received threw him on his
knees. I ran up to him, for he appeared in great pain. However, he soon
recovered, and before the ill-fated eel could reach its element, he caught
up a large stone and made it dearly atone for the pain it had inflicted.
We made another haul, but were not so successful, as we only caught some
ray, crabs, and an alligator three feet long, which had torn the net. We
stunned him by a blow with one of the boat's stretchers, threw him into
the boat, and after taking in the net, repaired to the ship.

In one of my excursions at this place I found a large manchineel tree. The
fruit is nearly the size of a pippin, of a light yellow colour blushed
with red; it looked very tempting. This tree expands its dead