HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 187 



when tliej are prevailed upon to go to work, they will 

 exhibit an endurance and perseverance almost aston- 

 ishing. They have been frequently known to work 

 at the poles, pushing the boat along, for twenty-four 

 hours, without rest. The diflBculty of ascending the 

 Chagres river, may be appreciated, when it is stated, 

 that although Gorgona is only fifty miles from the 

 town of Chagres, it frequently occupies as high as 

 forty hours for the canoes to reach that place. Stop- 

 •pages are, of course, numerous, both on account of 

 the tirincr of the boatmen and for refreshment. 



" Gorgona is located upon a bend of the river, 

 from which a fine view of the river and valley is ob- 

 tained. The valley is here about five miles wide, the 

 mountains rising from it in successive ranges, and 

 with increasing: elevations. It is an admirable loca- 

 tion for a town, and must become one of considerable 

 importance — especially should it be on the route of 

 the proposed railroad across the Isthmus. It has a 

 far better appearance than Chagres ; the streets are 

 laid out with some pretensions to regularity. It is 

 the head of canoe navigation, and steamboats of light 

 draft can approach it. The dwellings or huts are of a 

 better class than those at Chagres ; they have an un- 

 finished Catholic chin-ch that looks rude and ragged, 

 but nevertheless, it is a church. The carrying trade 

 is now almost the only business pursued by its inha- 

 bitants ; what they did before the gold of California 

 began to invite a swarm of adventurers across the 

 Isthmus, to the town is more than can be divined. 

 Theirs must have been as near a pastoral or primitive 

 life, as any that can be seen in our day. The soil is 

 teeming with the evidences of its richness — inviting 

 the hand of man to its cultivation, by showing what 



