As soon as the brig came to anchor, the passengers got ready to go up the river to the town which lies four or five miles from the harbor. Several bungos were secured for the purpose; and a little past noon the native boatmen pulled away from the brig, the Americans taking with them their clothes and blankets as well as their arms and ammunition. Each of them carried a rifle, and many of them had revolvers. The bungos entered the river, and silence was rarely broken save by the plashing of the oars in the water, or the harsh cry of a macaw screaming its discordant note from the boughs overhanging the stream. The deep gloom of the tropical forests was more impressive from the ocean of sunshine which surrounded it; and the stillness of all nature affected the beholder with an awe which commanded silence and reflection. After pulling a short distance, however, the native boatmen, whose senses long use had blunted to the peculiar impressions of the scenery, began to talk about the different objects they passed; nor did they fail to point out the stones used by Morgan as ballast, and which he threw from his vessel in order to receive the precious freight he pillaged from Realejo. The distance of the present town from the harbor is due in fact to the dread the Spaniards had of the buccaneers of the seventeenth century. It was near 4 o’clock in the afternoon when the Americans drew up at the wharf of Realejo and leaped ashore for the first time in Nicaragua. The guard-house was near the landing-place, and as Walker passed, the officer, a light, active young fellow, with a bright red short-cloak thrown gracefully over his left shoulder, turned out the guard, and saluted. The soldiers all wore the red ribbon with the words “Ejercito Democratico” printed on it; and although without uniform or any music except that made by a very indifferent drum, they had a good military carriage, and their step, unimpeded by shoe or sandal, was excellent. As the Americans passed up the street to the quarters assigned them, the women, with their best dresses and most pleasing smiles, stood at the doors and windows saluting with much natural grace the strangers who had come to find a home in their midst, and to share the fortunes of the party with which their husbands and lovers, and fathers and brothers, were identified.