IN PANAMA 



237 



the herbage with an air of unconcern that would have tempted many to 

 shoot. 



About five o'clock Chepo, the pig ranch, where we must spend the 

 night, was reached. We were tired out but happy, for in the memory 

 of the oldest inhabitant never had that journey been made without 

 encountering a heavy rain storm on the top of Montoso (over which 

 we came), and we had come through dry. Hammocks were swung in 

 a big half ruined pigshed, a chicken was cooked and eaten, and we turned 



WILD "CASTILLOA," SHOWING STUMP OF BIG TREE FROM WHICH SPROUTS 



HAD GROWN. 



in. The aneroid said two thousand nine* hundred and fifty feet for 

 altitude. It was quite cool, but deliciously dry as compared with Rio 

 Negro. 



Up at five the next morning, after a hasty breakfast of Pioneer's bread 

 and coffee, the climbing was continued. Here there was less forest and 

 the trail was centuries old. In places it was worn down in the red por- 

 phory until the sides rose above the rider' head, while at the bottom it 

 was barely wide enough for the mule to walk. It was also often cut 



