OLD ROADS TO A NEW ISLAND 3 



is close to the equator, and in that part of the 

 world, which is shown as the rainy tropics on the 

 map, it is always warm and usually moist. Day 

 after day the vines and bushes of the jungle 

 stretched their fast-growing branches across the 



Photograph by Zetek 



Fig. I. Bank of the Chagres River 



trail, and some one was continually busy cutting 

 the tangle back so that the loaded pack trains 



could pass. 



When the narrow trails were kept open, still 

 the men and mules suffered. Runaway negroes, 

 brought over from Africa to take the place of the 

 unwilling Indian slaves, hid in the thick bush 

 and robbed the pack trains. . And the Spaniards 

 were afraid of the few Indians left in the forest, 

 as they had reason to be. To this day the Indians 

 of the Isthmus distrust white men so. heartily 



