404 NEW YORK TO PANAMA. 



its propulsion, besides himself; and that he should land us at Cruces, 49 miles above, in 28 

 hours. We were to travel all of both nights, and to pay $80 if we arrived at the time agreed 

 upon ; $5 per hour less for every hour that he exceeded twenty-eight. Punctual to the time,, 

 the "dug-out" came alongside. It was 35 feet long, nearly 4 feet wide, and made from a single 

 log, resembling mahogany in texture, though scarcely of half its weight. About twelve feet 

 of it was covered with an arched thatch roof, barely high enough to crawl under, yet affording 

 good protection from the sun and rain. Under this our luggage, provisions, and bed, were 

 arranged. Having crossed the Isthmus twice before, my companion was provided with a pallet, 

 made by sewing a "comfortable" together, and a pair of blankets, as well as several minor 

 articles experience had taught him the utility of. Spread on strips of bark overlying a ballast 

 of cocoanuts in the bottom of the canoe, the comfortable and blankets made us a very excellent 

 bed, its only objection being the proximity of the canopy to our nasal extremities. 



Lighting the lantern, and bidding good-bye to the captain of the Orus, we crept to our cesting- 

 place, and with carpet-bags as pillows, disposed for sleep our light-hearted boatmen starting 

 cheerily with their paddles. These canoes afforded the only means of travel between Chagres 

 and the hamlets on the upper waters of the river, until the arrival of the Orus and General 

 Herran (another small steamer), sent out by the Pacific Mail Company since January. Some 

 of them are nearly 50 feet in length, and as much as five feet wide. The bow and stern are 

 curved upwards, so that a section in the direction of the length somewhat resembles a crescent. 

 They are light, flexible, and strong, and are managed with incomparable skill. Of course, 

 the boatmen look with jealousy on the intruding steamers, foreseeing the loss of their own occu- 

 pation at no distant day ; and when one of them ran aground only a little while before, they 

 positively refused to convey coal to her on any terms. No doubt they hoped the heavy freshets 

 of the river would soon break her in pieces. 



Sleep was out of the question. The novel mode of locomotion ; the shrill songs of our boat- 

 men as they dashed their paddles into the stream, or their gay salutations as we passed de- 

 scending canoes ; the rush of waters within an inch of my ear ; and a knowledge that a cap- 

 size would prove inevitable death, long prevented even drowsiness. Memory had just parted 

 with consciousness when we stopped at G-atun, a little hamlet some seven miles above Chagres ; 

 the crew reminding us that we had promised to obtain a bottle of "strong waters" here 

 wherewith to keep their spirits up. This was a famous stopping-place with all boatmen ; and 

 some of our countrymen whom we found there seemed to think it quite funny that we should 

 expect ours to return before daylight. They had come from New Orleans in a schooner, and had 

 left Chagres ten hours before us ; stopped here at sunset on the same plea as ourselves ; and 

 once landed, their crew told them it was not customary to travel at night. Ours did not deceive 

 us, and in a few minutes we were again en route. 



The earliest beams of the morning caught us both napping ;. and it was not until his solar 

 majesty had attained an elevation of some 15 that we looked abroad on the new creation, or 

 critically examined the arrangements of our bark. At home, but little additional information 

 was obtainable. Before us stood four dusky-hued, small, but athletic men their only garments 

 a hat and narrow cloth about the loins wielding, with quick and regular strokes, broad- bladed 

 paddles of moderate length. The patron sat at the stern occasionally plying a similar paddle, 

 but more frequently using it as a rudder. He had a whole shirt. But abroad ! one could 

 scarcely imagine scenery more picturesque or beautiful ; indeed, so extraordinary had been the 

 changes of twenty-four hours, that little more was required to impress at least momentary belief 

 that the whole was a curious dream. We were dashing through the waters of a stream not 

 more than 80 yards wide at the rate of nearly nine miles per hour. More tortuous in its course 

 than a serpent, each instant brought new objects into view ; and before they had been fully 

 seen, an intervening point obstructed the vision. Where we first saw them, the river banks 

 generally were rolling varying from 10 to 30 feet above its surface, and carpeted to the very 

 edge of the waters with dense verdure. Here and there a pebbly beach bounded an evergreen 



