New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-06-22

tie judge AZ . east Of from thirty three cnts 70
two or three dollars according to the destination
The same il the ease in this bland AID 81. John.
From one Of these Danish islsnds to the other it
is the smallest sum named. Il seems angular
regulation to require passport from one part of
the same jurisdiction to another; but the policy is
readily understood when the motive u learned 70
be not protection but official revenue. Few how
ever will be found to find fault with regulation
mere amusing than anything else, which draws 90
modestly upon ones funds, and moreover secures
Government cognixance and sanction of ones
movements
Just before leaving my house, happened to
pass into the room where my child's nurse had
laid out her traps for the two weeks absence.
Beside the bundle comprising her wardrobe OBJ
served singular package which proved to be
huge vash-bowl tied up in cloth, and which on
inquiry learned was intended as provision against
the urgent emergencies Of
"A life on he ocean-wave."
was reminded of Willis's ludicrous description
of the French woman WHOM he voyaged with in
his cruise among the French Islands, who carried
similar vessel for the same purpose, along with
other uses perhaps. My servant beng from the
Dutch Island Of st. Martins, and having q toler-
able command of the French tongue, thought
she might have caught the custom from assoca-
ton with the people Of Guadalupe and Martin
igue. But found on board the schooner coming
over here that every Creole female, white OF
colored, had "a basin," as they call it, of her
own go that the custom seems West Indian and
not national or local.
1t was eight o'clock when our pretty little
craft weighed anchor, and slowly swung around
into the breeze, which was scarcely perceptible
on the smooth surface Of the bay, Illuminated in
the darkness Of o moOness night by countless
bright rays reflected from the lights of the various
shipping in the barb0r and the houses on shore.
The exceeding softness and balminess of the air,
the peculiar appearance of the town nestled upon
its triple hills, almost under dark, lofty mountains
towering behind, the careless laugh Of boatmen
and the measured beat of their oars propellng
their little shifts through the quiet water, easily
wrought on the imagination and surrounded one
with the romance of similar scenes beneath starry
Italian skies.
There were some notables among our fellow
voyagers First of all the Vigilant had been de-
tached from her ordinary destination. which is
Basin, for the special service of eflectng an ex-
change of the officers commanding the garrsons
of st. Thomas and West End-the commander OF
the former having fallen under the Government
ban for some reason not officially divulged,
yet of which there are very confident coDjec-
lures indulgedl That gentleman, who has attained
the rank of Major in the army, ano Kings Cham
berlain was, therefore, with his wife, children,
servants and gOyerness, on his way to take COM
maDd of a much inferior post, having only some
fifteen or sixteen men. Then there was an Amer
lean gentleman who reoices in the title Of Colonel,
and who is said to have been closely connected at
on earlier day Of fllbustering with that move
ment and even to have led one of the abortive at
tenpts TO liberate the Cubans. There were also
two FrenshmeD, one of whom my limited Observa-
ton of those people did not enable me to under
stand as to his relations and standng-the other
pale, sedate-lookiDg young man-his paleness ap-
Al Al Ell <cf1 sca,..a tta.t haxA
cessive meditation-who, those who said they
knew whispered, was a live Count" merchant,
a sailor boarding house master of St. Thomas,
and two or three canine household pets. CON-
pleted tho crowd huddled together upon and below
he deck Of that little schooner.
The trade between these islands is almost
wholly performed in small schOoners, five or six
in number, of from twenty to eighty tuns burden.
They perform two trips generally per week, and
require from FIVE to twenty four hours to make
the passage. Sometimes with Gains or head winds
they are even longer The distance is about forty
six miles. As the passage is more commonly made
at night, the appliances for sleeping naturally come
under observation. Beside the berths below
deck, of which there is liberal supply there are
On deck what are called /" dog houses." Of these
there are four, for as many persons. They consist
Of an enclosed stationary berth arranged along
tie bulwarks near the after part of the vessel,
just high enough to crawl into, and with sliding
jalousies ID front which you can close or leave
open at pleasure. They form very comfortable
seepng.places They look like q kennel it is
true al d the application Of the name doghouse
excites ludicrous associations in ones mind as he
thrusts or draws himself into one of them. If
there chance to be more passengers than these ac-
con modaiOns suffice for, as was the case on this
occasion, portable mattresses are brought up and
laid along the bulwarks, when the mildness and
dryness Of the climate render it safe for one to
sleep with little covering under the deep, starry
heavens. There is one exception to this: it is
that Of bright moonlight. On those nights when
Luna reigns in her most lustr0us sway, it is con-
sdered unsafe to sleep exposed to her rays, as she
has been known in these quarters to work by her
seemiI gly mild influences sad disasters to both
mind and body-derangng the mental faculties and
causing strange and uncouth distortions Of the
limbs and fscial muscles. 1t is credibly narrated
that such effects have been experienced on these
vessels and therefore persons cautioned against
sleep ping in the moonlight
AS the Vigilant crept noiselessly out of the har-
Dor, when opposite Fort Frederick which guards
it's entrance we were hailed in Danish through
trumpet The purpOrt of the question seemed to
be the name of our craft, as the man at the look.
out shouted Schooner NigiLant!" which was
responded to by another articulate blast, for
which / was none the wiser A chill of appre-
hension ran through my frame as those rude sounds
broke the stiffness of the night-not knowing it
was the invariable custom to hail vessels passing
out at night and remembering that only few
he A bac IN