| Title: | Robb, Alexander to a sister, 1862 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4566 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration and Canadian Settlement [C.J. Houston & W.J. Smyth] |
| File | houston/4 |
| Year | 1862 |
| Sender | Robb, Alexander |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | emigrant |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | near Panama |
| Destination | Dundonald, Co. Down, Northern Ireland |
| Recipient | a sister |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | siblings |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 470 |
| Genre | account of passage |
| Note | |
| Transcript | [1862, probably April, near Panama; to a sister] ... Tell Uncle Crickard that I bought as good a pineapple as ever he grew (and that is saying a good deal) for ten cents. Cocoa nuts at 5 cents each and other fruits in proportion. We changed vessels there and the next morning sailed for Aspinwal. We had a beautiful run [ ] of four days down to the latter place and on Sunday March 20th arrived there. There is no third class on the steamboats that run from St Thomas to Aspinwal so we got second cabin berths and were in every way a[s] comfortable as we could have wished to be. We stopped on board the steamboat all Sunday afternoon and night and on the next day took the railway cars for Panama. I wish I could give you the faintest idea of what we saw on that ride of 48 miles. The whole way it is as beautiful as an Eden but it is an Eden turned into ... ... Were just about entering that port. Well we got in the next morning about five o'clock. I will try and give you an idea of what the place is like. Imagine yourself then entering Belfast from the Queen's Island and fancy yourself surrounded by high hills rising very nearly perpendicularly from the sea with the town stretched out right before you on the only level bit of land in the Island and this will give you an idea of what it is like. We stopped there for about 24 hours. Most of the passengers went on shore myself among the rest. But such a place and such a heat. Why you would literally [have] thought you were breathing fire. Up on the mountains it is not so bad but in town where the heat of the sun is reflected back from the hills that tower almost above the city (?) it would almost roast one ... ... and write me a long letter about everything and you can direct it to the care of Mr Kyle who has promised to forward it to me by his me[n], a letter two or three months sooner than I [ ] and I am very anxious to hear from home. Perhaps [you] would enclose a litde bit telling me how [ ] is getting on. The post starts for New York [ ] time so I must now quit. Give my love to [ ] Aunt Ellen, Uncle Crickard, Frank, son (?) and B[ ].., know who I mean and all the rest of my fr[iends] believe me dear [ ] you affectionate brother] [Signed] Alexander Robb p.s. The whole of us are in health and as the accounts from ... are very good of course we are [in] good spirits. |
