290 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



On the 14th we entered the Gulf of Tehuantepec, and in 

 crossing it we had a rough passage. As we proceeded, 

 on account of the curve of the coast, we often saw land, some- 

 times in mountain sides, thickly covered with tangled vegeta- 

 tion coming abruptly to the water's edge. The air grew 

 warmer and more oppressive, and the sun as we neared the 

 isthmus was directly overhead at noon, so we stood on our 

 shadows. Heavy showers sometimes kept us below deck. 



On the 18th we entered Panama Bay, the shores and islands 

 of which were clothed in the most vivid green. Late in the 

 afternoon we anchored within three miles of Panama. 



This old town is in the Republic of Colombia, and occupies 

 a tongue of land reaching out into a bay so shallow that 

 vessels of eighty tons can only come within two miles, while 

 passenger steamers must anchor a mile further out, near an 

 island called Perico. This, like the other islands which make 

 the harbor, was green with rank vegetation to the water's 

 edge; a tangle of vines and mammoth-leaved plants and 

 parasite-clad trees which seemed rife with disease. The little 

 steamer commonly used to carry passengers ashore was out of 

 repair, so we were obliged to make use of small boats, a whole 

 fleet of which put off from shore to meet us. When they 

 came alongside a rush was made for them by the passengers, 

 who looked like a human cataract, as laughing, cursing and 

 yelling they poured down the stairway into the boats which, 

 as fast as loaded, pulled ashore. The boat I was in was one 

 of the first, and was so full that it nearly swamped more 

 than once in the three miles row. When we reached the 

 shore, there being no wharf, we had to ride " pig-a-back " on 

 the shoulders of men in waiting, whom we had to pay. It 

 seemed to me that the boatmen purposely stopped at parts 

 of the shore which would require the services of these marine 

 porters, and thus the thousand, more or less, of humanity 

 which for two weeks had made the " Orizaba " their home got 

 to shore. 



