FIRST LETTER. 



To PANAMA IN THE RAINY SEASON FORTUNE ISLAND COLON ALONG THE PAN- 

 AMA CANAL PANAMA CITY THE ALMIRANTE TOBOGA ISLAND QUEER FISH 

 SLEEPING IN THE RAIN THE QUEBRO OUTLAWS EL CAPITAN'S FEARS ALMOST 

 WRECKED IN THE LEE OF GUBERNADOR THE "PIONEER" COMES ABOARD ASHORE 

 AT LAST. 



IT was decidedly against my better judgment that I found myself 

 en route for Central America in May, due to reach the infant 

 Republic of Panama during the rainy season, and when the 

 yellow fever might be too easy of acquisition. Nevertheless, there I 

 was, a passenger on the Allianca, with two fellow adventurers, while 

 a third was waiting our arrival in Panama City. The exploring party 

 consisted of four the "Prospector," a well known mining engineer; the 

 "Scout," then in Panama, getting together supplies, engaging guides, 

 and chartering a schooner ; the ''Commodore," and the writer. My 

 task was the examination of some eight hundred square miles of wild 

 lands, privately owned and long forgotten. 



The voyage to Colon was uneventful, but enjoyable, although it 

 grew warmer each day, and side awnings and wind scoops told of 

 increasing nearness to the tropics. In due time Bird Island Rock was 

 sighted, where is a lighthouse, flagstaff, and thirteen cocoanut palms, 

 but no sign of life on the dazzling white beaches. Later came Fortune 

 Island, and stopping far off shore, the one white resident came to us in 

 a jolly boat rowed by a half dozen husky negroes, and got his mail. 

 Although the sea was as smooth as glass, of a wonderful, indescribable 

 blue, and the little cluster of houses in the distance, in a setting of 

 graceful palms with foreground of snowwhite beaches, was -most 

 beautiful, the heat was killing, and we were glad when the steamer left 

 it all behind. Later the light on Cape Maisi, Cuba, was raised, and 

 then came the boisterous and lonely Caribbean Sea. Heavy thunder 

 storms were soon frequent, and the heat during the day was intense, 

 but the nights, as the moon was full, were glorious. Finally, on the 

 last day of May, at eleven in the morning, we sighted the rugged coast 

 of Colombia, shadowed by masses of deep cloud, and not long after we 

 were in Colon. 



Although soon transferred to the train that crosses the Isthmus, we 

 had a chance to see the building where twenty-four United States 



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