PANAMA. 103 



when describing that miserable hole. My point of depar- 

 ture, the port and town of Panama, is one of the oldest, 

 quaintest, most picturesque of all Spanish- American cities ; 

 a place full of medieval-looking convents and monasteries, 

 having a most unique and handsome cathedral, a fine old 

 college, a hospital, and many curiously constructed and 

 decorated churches. Surrounded with a city wall, built as a 

 defence against the piratical sea-rovers of those old days 

 when it was the emporium for the precious merchandise of 

 Peru and Chili, and Spanish galleons carried the treasures of 

 the world, it has also an ancient fort, whose crumbling walls 

 are laved by the bright waters of a bay yielding the pearl of 

 price. 



The run from Panama to Colon is only forty-seven miles, 

 and the highest point surmounted by the railroad two 

 hundred and forty feet above the sea-level; but the gradients 

 are occasionally rather steep, and the trains run quite 

 slowly. 



Soon after leaving Panama, the railway follows for some 

 miles the course of the river Chagres, a slow muddy stream 

 (about twice the size of the Usk at Brecon), abounding 

 with alligators, through dense forests, with only occasional 

 clearances near the villages or collections of huts at the 

 various stations. During the last eight miles, before 

 reaching Colon, the railway passes through a swamp 

 covered with a rank growth of coarse grass, brushwood, 

 and sedge, and which at most seasons is under water. At 

 both ends of the line there are expansive sidings, and large 

 warehouses for sheltering goods awaiting for transit. The 

 railway works, taken throughout, are very heavy in cuttings, 



