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    baggage , and call himself to embark with me , he stept lightly away , and rejoined his friends . To-morrow came , and so said bo done . I bade adieu to the friendly Monsieur B ., and accompanied Captain Jose to the bay , with three or four men , who carried fowls , vegetables , &e ., and a guitar-case ; about which Jose was especially solicitous . I was surmising who was the musi *

    cian on board ; or was it for some bright-eyed damsel of his many admirers , for whom he was giving it a passage to San Juan ? We stood on the clumsy dilapidated wharf , waiting for the boat from the Scintilla , when one of the sailors spoke to Jose , who looked up the road towards the town , and said something which sounded like pity , in allusion to * Dallada , ' and presentl y a feminine and most plaintive voice was heard repeating the word

    ' Dallada , Dallada . ' The speaker was a young- negro-eirl , about sixteen , of the most perfect and delicate symmetry and beautiful face I ever saw among the thousands and tens of thousands of the daughters of Africa in the West Indies . Glossy she was as a bright coal ; and her eyes , which like two beads of fire flickered under her brow , were free from that unpleasing yellow which is

    almost universal in negro eyes . Except the handkerchief , Frenchly fashioned , on her head , she wore nothing but a spotted cotton skirt , which descended to a little below her knees , and was fastened round her waist by twisting its upper end into a kind of bandage . ' Dallada , ' said Captain Jose , and the beautiful creature threw out a scream , and fell on her knees ; not in entreaty of pity , not in supplication , but with a look of delight , while she clapped her hands and laughed hysterically , as her

    eyes pierced into his , in a delirium of joy ; some bubbling moans trickled from her throat , and died away as she bowed her head on her bosom , while her hands , clasped in each other , fell upon her knees . Rude , perhaps half savage as we may be apt to consider some who formed the group of gazers on this scene , not a word was spoken ; all seemed to be touched with sympathy and

    pity ; and while she was thus bowed down in attitude so graceful , yet so replete with pathos , Captain Jose stooped towards ner , and with one hand took her by the wrist , gently disengaging her hands , and said * Dallada , Dallada , ' signaling at the same time to one of the men to hand him the guitar-case : it was opened for him ; he touched a string , and again said , as if 1

    awakening her attention , < Dallada , tink , tink , and the poor creature sprang to her feet , repeating the words ' Dallada , tink , tink , and then stood fixed as a statue , with her palms crossed upon her bosom , her eyes twinkling , her lips quivering , and her throat vibrating as it sent forth the inarticulate bubblings of a spirt that seemed drowning in a flood of delicious joy ; fascinated so * waa , as he with exquisite skill played an air , so sad , so soft * & mery soft , that the whispering of a bird was loudnesfi to it ; «* instrument juat breathed the notes , and no more . At its don >

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    « T 0 Dallada .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1834, page 670, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2637/page/66/