PANAMA AND ITS PEOPLE—BELL. 609 
low-lying coast and shut-in valley districts where, especially during 
the rainy season, when the climate is far from healthy for the un- 
acclimated and where the enervation occasioned by the excessive 
humidity with a comparatively high temperature produces much dis- 
comfort and endangers health. The whole north coast, with the ex- 
ception of Bocas and Colon, has never proved a suitable place of 
habitation for the white man, though it was first settled by them, 
and many successive attempts at colonization along the shore have 
been made. 
Much of the scenery in Panama, aside from the “ beaten track,” 
is extremely and, unexpectedly beautiful. In the bush, as it is called, 
far from human dwellings, where complete solitude reigns, the won- 
derful charm can best be appreciated. Lovely effects of light and 
shade are produced as the everpresent rain squall sweeps over the 
scene, changing, in a moment, a brilliant green savanna or fringe of 
jungle covered with waving vines and many colored parasites into a 
soft yellow gray. Toward evening, when the sky glows with violet 
and golden lights, just before the curtain of night falls, the air is 
filled with the thrilling songs of birds as they seek shelter, and the 
hum of millions of insects, till suddenly, as the last sun’s ray disap- 
pears, all is hushed and still and utter darkness envelops everything. 
There is, indeed, a mysterious beauty and nearness to nature, the 
intensity of which can nowhere be appreciated as in the Tropics. 
Through dark overgrown stretches of the trails, where the instinct of 
the native horses alone must be trusted, and the sky is obscured by 
masses of low-hanging branches, new wonders appear at every step. 
By little pools and brooks swarm numbers of those gorgeous blue- 
green butterflies (Aforpho), resting in the cool shade, and the mar- 
velous tropical ants, marching, each with a bit of flower or leaf, in 
ordered file, like soldiers on parade, give the appearance at a distance 
that the ground itself is actually moving. The jungle and marshes 
are the home of the armadillo, sloth, monkey,’ anolis, iguana, and 
snakes; among the latter are many of the pitviper family and also the 
boa constrictor. The coral snake is feared, as is the fer de lance of 
Martinique, and is a beautiful though rather small snake with alter- 
nating red and black bands. Among the larger game on the 
Isthmus are the tiger, puma, jaguar, cougar, ant-eating bear, tapir, 
fox, peccary, hedge hog, wild-cat, and deer. Living on the banks of 
the rivers and in the streams of many sections are innumerable 
caimans and water fowl, brilliant flamingos and the valuable egret 
being frequently found. Of the birds common to the Isthmus there 
are the eagle, toucan, maccaw, parrot, parrakeet, ete. 
“The Chrysothrix monkey is found only in the Department of Chiriqui in 
Panama (44). 
