104 ON THE FEONTIEE, 



banks, and works of art on streams and dingles. All 

 the bridges are of stone or iron, or a combination of both. 

 The line is laid throughout with longitudinal sleepers of 

 hard wood ; but the destruction by white ants is a very 

 serious item in the renewal. A plan has been adopted 

 (and I believe successfully) for concreting the telegraph 

 poles that is, covering the poles entirely with a coating of 

 cement concrete, so as to prevent the ants getting at the 

 timber. At all the stations there are commodious houses 

 built for the employes of the company, which are in 

 grounds in most instances very tastefully laid out and 

 neatly kept. The first train each morning carries the 

 supply of meat for the employe's along the line, and it is 

 left at the various stations as they pass. The summit of 

 the line is at thirty-two miles from Colon so that the 

 gradients between Panama and the summit are steeper 

 than on the other side though there is probably no 

 gradient steeper than about 1 in 100. The western slope 

 is far more beautiful and varied than the eastern, and the 

 line winds about in a remarkable manner, to secure an 

 even descent to the plains about Panama. We started 

 early on a lovely morning, towards the termination of the 

 rainy season, and vegetation was in its fullest luxuriance. 

 We passed through fern and bamboo swamps, amongst low 

 accidented hills, along a river's winding banks ; a recent 

 shower had cooled the air that is to say, made it cool for 

 that place ; and rain globules, glistening in the sun, gemmed 

 the surrounding foliage. Over hill and dale, in swamp 

 and fen, crowning the distant eminences, opening in 

 glades and savannas, to our right and left, their branches 



