plexion, and of more pretentious costume, for he was both capped and shod. This system of military impressment to supply the wants of the army, I was informed, was the frequent and favorite one of the authorities; certainly it is an inconsistent example of free negroism of one of the young Republics, whose universal liberty and equality are much boasted of. If an undesirable element of Central American population in other respects, the negro seems here to be considered at least fit "food for gunpowder."

At the several "way-stations" along the line of the road native villages are seen, the huts of which are built mostly of bamboo, with steep pitched palm-leaf thatched roof. Sometimes four posts support the roof, the space below being unenclosed, while a notched upright post in the middle serves the purpose of a ladder or rude stairway to ascend to the garret above, the dormitory of the whole family. At some of these stations variegated women presented themselves with the fruits of the country for sale. They wore heavily-flounced thin muslin dresses, hanging slatternly off the shoulder, and close to the unshapely person; not uncommonly with a child astride the hip and clinging to the mother's neck, while she had both hands and head supporting baskets. Most of the inhabitants, however, not engaged in traffic with the "señors" and "señoras," presented a near approach to nudity; a simple cotton skirt (crinoline is a myth) hung from the hip of the women, and with men pants similarly supported, being the almost universal costume, except where nature, always with children, repudiated even the artificiality of a palm leaf. But whatever the style, material, use, or freedom from dress, two customs were always observed, the wearing of plaid kerchiefs or straw hats by the women, and the retention of a filthy and knotty apology of a beard by the men. A razor would be regarded as a sign of modern civilization, and a barber's pole a harbinger of cleanliness and decency, along this highway of nations. Hurrying along the winding way, thinking of our own disturbing and dangerous doctrine of "squatter sovereignty," exemplified, too, by the pseudo-Spaniard and half-breed, the Indian and African, who occupy and hold as much land as seems to them good, without let or hindrance-and who, from attach

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RAILROAD TRIP ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA.

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ing no value to what cost them nothing, are correspondingly lazy and negligent of cultivation, merely living as benificiaries of a bountiful nature, we finally reached the "summit," two hundred and fifty-eight feet above the Atlantic level, and thence descending rapidly a grade of sixty feet to the mile, the surrounding scenery becoming bolder and more picturesque than that already passed, we came to a singular basaltic cliff, the huge crystals of which were scattered round, disjointed, broken, and jagged, proofs of the utilitarian spirit which has cast down and crushed its massive columns; the pillars of earth's great archi tecture, perhaps, in ages past, but degraded now to the baser use of ballasting a railroad. Mountain peaks here become striking features in the scenery, and the little babbling brook of Rio Grande leads the way hence to the valley of Paraiso; beyond which is seen, lifting its bold brow above the Pacific Ocean, the proud Mount Ancon, which, long before the generations of man, looked haughtily and unabashed upon the great sea that humbly washes its graceful foot, on which now sits the historic city of Panama. We approached this through a fine undulating country, showing better cultivation, adorned with groves of cocoanut and palm trees, through which were revealed, near at hand, the quaint tiled roofs, dilapidated fortifications, and pearl shell towers of the cathedral. Landed at the depot my companions of voyage proceeded forthwith aboard of the California steamer awaiting them in the bay, while I sought the omnibus, and soon found myself trundled over narrow streets familiar with ancient paving stones, and dumped out, without pity for person or purse, at the entrance of the "Aspinwall Hotel" of Panama.

CHAPTER III.

THE CITY OF PANAMA, AND ENVIRONS.

THE city of Panama, the capital of the State of the same name, one of eight confederated States forming the Republic of New Granada, has been for ten years the focus of California emigration from the United States and Europe, directing it to the golden North; as formerly the tide of adventure sought its sunny strand, ere sweeping on to found new colonies in the South, as well as North Pacific, to levy the jewelled tribute which Spanish avarice extorted of the simple and unsuspecting natives. It has been so long the subject of history, so often the theme of the traveller, and even of daily journalism, that if my story of it be stale, it will be excused because the dish is so common that the spice of novelty can no longer be found to season it.

This city is built on a small rocky peninsula, by some considered of volcanic origin, water-washed on three sides, stretching eastward into the Bay of Panama, from the Pacific shore of the Isthmus of the same name; in latitude 8° 56′ N. and longitude 79° 31' W. It stands on the foot of a somewhat elongated hill of five hundred and forty feet height called "Cerro Ancon," which commands the town and defences, and being unfortified, would be quickly occupied by an observing enemy. The city proper, embracing the parish of San Felipe, confined strictly to the tongue of land before spoken of, covers about ninety or one hundred acres, and consists of two and threestory houses, of dingy and antiquated appearance, built of stone, mixed occasionally with bricks, stuccoed; roofed with large heavy concavo-convex tiles, so arranged as to present an undu