aloon most
politely.

A Brazilian Slaver.

In the year 1851 I was on a voyage to Melbourne, Australia, on the
sailing ship "Severn." This was shortly after the opening of the gold
mines. We left Southampton with about one hundred passengers, and had a
very fine run with fair weather. There was no incident to mar the
enjoyment of the trip until we neared the coast of Brazil, when one
morning we saw a smart-looking brig hove to, waiting for us to come up,
and when we came near our passengers became very much excited, as we
could see there was an unusual number of men on her deck; the idea was
that it was a pirate vessel.

When we came very near to her, a boat was put off from her, and an
officer brought a letter from her captain asking for provisions and
water, saying that the vessel was bound for the port of Santos, and had
been blown off the coast in a pampero. Neither the officer nor the
boat's crew could or would speak English. They could only ask in Spanish
for "tabac." Some of our sailors protested that they were either British
or--Americans. Well, they were supplied with salt beef and pork, canned
meats, water, etc. Several trips were made by the boat, and when all was
finished, and the boat was at some distance from us, these marauders
stood up and gave us three rousing cheers in good plain English, and
called out "Good-bye boys, and good luck to you for feeding the
blackbirds." The brig was full of slaves.

This "slave" business was then near its end in Brazil, and, probably
this vessel had been chased off the coast by a British war-vessel, as
every possible effort was being made by the British Government to
suppress the slave trade.

Mary Ann Gander.

On this voyage we had a Mr. and Mrs. Gander and their eight children.
Poor Mrs. Gander used to suffer terribly from seasickness, and was
totally unfitted to do anything but scold, whilst poor unfortunate
Gander used to promenade the deck with a child on each arm and a couple
of others tagging on to his coat-tails. He was a wonderfully
good-natured fellow, was Gander; otherwise I do believe he would have
jumped overboard, for whenever he came near to where Mrs. Gander was,
she used to call to him to go to the captain and tell him to put her on
shore immediately; she would not go any further in that ship,--no, that
she wouldn't. "Now, Mary Ann, what's the use your talking that way; you
know that we are a thousand miles from any land and the ca