ertheless satisfied with their treatment.
The officers and the crew were on pleasant terms with each other; and
grumbling without cause, which is often indulged in on shipboard,
was seldom known in the forecastle of the Clarissa. But it happened,
unfortunately for our peace and happiness, that Captain Page added two
men to his crew in Maranham. One of them was an Englishman, one of the
poor fellows, who, when shipwrecked on the coast, were nearly eaten up
by the mosquitoes, and who in turn banqueted on turkey buzzards, as the
greatest of luxuries! He was a stout, ablebodied sailor, but ignorant,
obstinate, insolent, and quarrelsome one of those men who, always
dissatisfied and uncomfortable, seem to take pains to make others
unhappy also.

The other was a native of New England. He had met with various strange
adventures and been impressed on board an English man-of-war, where he
had served a couple of years, and, according to his own statement, been
twice flogged at the gangway. He was a shrewd fellow, impatient under
the restraints of discipline; always complaining of "the usage" in the
Clarissa, and being something of a sea lawyer, and liberally endowed
with the gift of speech, exercised a controlling influence over the
crew, and in conjunction with the Englishman, kept the ship's company
in that unpleasant state of tumult and rebellion, known as "hot water,"
until the end of the voyage.

One or two men, of a character similar to those I have described, are
to be found in almost every vessel, and are always the cause of more or
less trouble; of discontent and insolence on the part of the crew, and
of corresponding harsh treatment on the part of the officers; and the
ship which is destined to be the home, for months, of men who, under
other circumstances, would be brave, manly, and obedient, and which
SHOULD be the abode of kindness, comfort, and harmony, becomes a
Pandemonium, where cruelty and oppression are practised a gladiatorial
arena, where quarrels, revolts, and perhaps murders, are enacted. When
such men, determined promoters of strife, are found among a ship's
company, they should be got rid of at any cost, with the earliest
opportunity.

When our cargo was disposed of at Maranham we proceeded down the
coast to the city of Para, on one of the mouths of the Amazon. Here
we received a cargo of cacao for the United States. There was, at that
time, a vast quantity of wild, uncultivated forest land in the inter