HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 193 



way, supporting a cupola, in which hangs the alarm 

 bell mounted by a cross."* 



Such is the character of the Gorgona road to Pana- 

 ma. With regard to the Crucis road, we may observe 

 that it is a common practice, for most of those who 

 take the Gorgona road in going to Panama, on their 

 return, to take the Crucis road, no doubt hoping that 

 the difficulties and toil to be encountered are less than 

 those they know are to be met with upon the other. 

 The following account of a return journey by way of 

 the Crucis road, with the full character of the route, 

 is given in the journal of a returned adventurer. 



"I had passed three days in Panama ; and, feeling 

 desirous of continuing my journey, I had no sooner 

 concluded this arrangement, than I got my mule sad- 

 dled, and my box and carpet-bag packed in the regular 

 Isthmus fashion. The mule I obtained, like most of 

 his fellows, was little better than a mere skeleton ; 

 but still it was the best I could procure, and I was 

 fain to content myself with it. Some of my friends 

 endeavored to persuade me that it was better to pro- 

 ceed on foot ; but I knew the muddy and stony nature 

 of the road, and thought it infinitely more comfortable 

 to ride a slow animal than subject myself to the suffer- 

 ings that I must experience from these inconveniences, 



" The negro, I had hired, brought to my hotel a 

 long frame of bamboo, with a sort of basket at the 

 end, into which he crammed my luggage. This frame 

 had two straps fastened to the upper part of it, 

 through one of which he slipped his arm, whilst he 

 passed the other over his left shoulder, and attached 

 it under the latter to the frame which was now on 

 his back. This contrivance not only effectually 



* Diary of a Physician in California, by James L. Tyson, M. D. 



17 



