Note 96 — REMINISCENCES OF VILLAGE LIFE AND OF PANAMA AND CALIFORNIA. 1840-1850.

Mr. Pratt, who sailed aboard the Humboldt, in a Century article describes the class of passengers with whom he associated. “We found,” he says, “a promiscuous crowd from every nation under heaven, the predominating type being that of the American rough. The deck was so densely packed with men from stem to stern that we could scarcely move. Many were prostrate with sickness or supported by friends or lying in hammocks swung along the side rigging. All day long this crowd of men were scathing, swaying, quarrelling and cursing. No food was provided, and hunger and thirst gave an edge to the bad passions of the mob.”