building, where a sort of outdoor gathering was formed of all those
who had come as escorts to the ladies, and where they would remain
until the service was over. The crowd in the street grew and grew
until there were about four or five hundred gentlemen, mostly young,
in the gathering, all standing in small groups, conversing in an
animated way, so that the street was filled with the loud humming
sound of their blended voices. These men were all natives, all of the
good or upper class of the native society, and all dressed exactly
alike in the fashion of that time. It was their dress and the uniform
appearance of so large a number of persons, most of them with young,
handsome, animated faces, that fascinated me and kept me on the spot
gazing at them until the big bells began to thunder at the conclusion
of the service and the immense concourse of gaily-dressed ladies
swarmed out, and immediately the meeting broke up, the gentlemen
hurrying back to meet them.

They all wore silk hats and the glossiest black broadcloth, not even a
pair of trousers of any other shade was seen; and all wore the scarlet
silk or fine cloth waistcoat which, at that period, was considered the
right thing for every citizen of the republic to wear; also, in lieu
of buttonhole, a scarlet ribbon pinned to the lapel of the coat. It
was a pretty sight, and the concourse reminded me of a flock of
military starlings, a black or dark-plumaged bird with a scarlet
breast, one of my feathered favourites.

My rambles were almost always on the front, since I could walk there a
mile or two from home, north or south, without getting lost, always
with the vast expanse of water on one hand, with many big ships
looking dim in the distance, and numerous lighters or belanders coming
from them with cargoes of merchandise which they unloaded into carts,