HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 189 



day. This is the best mode of proceeding, if the 

 fatigue is found to be endurable ; for it is above all 

 things important that in such a climate too great 

 fatigue should be avoided. The following account of 

 a journey to Panama by way of the Gorgona road, 

 and descriptions of the road is from a recently pub 

 lished narrative : 



"We arose from cot and hammock, flea-bitten, and 

 but little refreshed, though ready to start on what we 

 deemed our perilous journey across the Isthmus. 

 Hour after hour elapsed, till the most pleasant part 

 of the day was gone, and the sun shone with torrid 

 fervor ; but still our mules were not ready, our host 

 keeping them back, as we afterwards learned, to obtain 

 a higher rate. Annoyed beyond endurance at the 

 delay, and the tardy movements of the worthless set 

 around us, we scoured the town, and at length suc 

 ceeded in obtaining four miserable-looking little ani 

 mals at eight dollars a-piece. Another was still 

 wanting, and, by an offer of ten dollars, I at length 

 succeeded in getting a tolerably good one. Though 

 so wretched in appearance, we found these animals 

 capable of great endurance. 



" Glad that the vexatious and irritating events of 

 the morning, which the cupidity and dogged laziness 

 of these slothful mongrels had produced, were happily 

 ended, we hastily swallowed a cup of bad coffee, handed 

 by a damsel nearly nude, and mounting our Rosinantes, 

 we started at a brisk canter, beneath a broiling sun, 

 while our guido, all stripped and on foot, trotted off 

 in advance. 



" For the first mile, the way was very pleasant over 

 a nearly level plain, at the termination of which there 

 were stronger indications of rougher riding, for we 



