Rovings On Land And Sea
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: XOTES OF A JOEMEY ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA, We left New York on the 17th of July; and on the 28th of the same month cast anchor before Chagres, one of the eastern ports of the Isthmus of Panama. A leaden sky, a humid and oppressive atmosphere, and peals of thunder, that were echoed from the depths of the close woods, contributed not a little to give a melancholy aspect to a port whose reputation for unhealthiness has eclipsed even that of Senegal. Though Chagres is so conveniently situated between the two oceans, and the two lines of steam navigation that connect the United States with California, it is but a miserable village, composed of a few Indian huts, which arc constructed of wood and stubble, and stand on each side of the river. The streets are complete puddles during the rainy season, which oc
...curs in winter. This season is most fatal to health, because of the humid heat that prevails, and the deleterious miasma which is disengaged from all parts of the soil. Serious maladies may be contracted within a few hours; and strangers arc eager to leave this inhospitable place. The boatmen of the river Chagres, who were formerly hard put to it to earn a miserable subsistence, now gain very considerably by the American emigration to California, and the haste of travellers to leave this noxious coast and get up the river to Panama. In order to secure their own price from the poor strangers at their mercy, they take care only to exhibit a small number of boats while there are plenty more out of sight along the opposite bank of the river. We left Chagres on the 30th July. The entrance of the river presented a most rich and beautiful aspect. Palms and cocoa-nut trees, and other gigantic productions of the climate, made two barriers on either side the stream of impenetrable...
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