IN THE PACIFIC. 219 



and then washed it in the stream. It was most 

 interesting to watch how little by little he got 

 rid of the superfluous rubbish, until nothing 

 remained but fine black sand interspersed with 

 tiny specks of gold. The miner washed several 

 pans of earth, and all contained more or less of 

 the precious metal ; we also washed a pan or 

 two ourselves, but should certainly have lost 

 the gold at the last moment had not the man 

 saved it by a clever turn of the pan. We 

 returned soon afterwards to the station, and 

 caught the train for Panama, taking with us 

 some gold dust as a memento of our visit. 



We saw no game on this occasion, but we 

 found traces of deer, pig, and jaguars, which 

 the impenetrable nature of the bush made 

 impossible to follow up. 



There can be no doubt that gold exists in 

 considerable quantities on the Isthmus of 

 Panama, although probably it would not pay 

 for working it ; besides which, there is so much 

 trickery practised that one cannot believe half 

 what one hears, and not always what one sees. 



