XXI. 



Jfomecoarc^ Si)oua4— RortFicjoar^, 



NTERING the city by a picturesque though crum- 

 ■^ bling gateway which pierced the southern wall, I 

 ^^^^^^ passed the Grand Cathedral, and, wending my way 

 through some dark, narrow streets, stopped at the "American 

 Hotel," where for two dollars I bought a chance for breakfast 

 — supper being out of the question — and the privilege of sleep- 

 ing on the floor, which done I took a walk around the city. 

 The walled portion was a half mile square, and in it were 

 fifteen massive churches, besides schools and convents, many 

 of them in ruins. Panama was once the wealthiest city in the 

 New World, as through it passed the trade between Spain and 

 her South American Colonies ; but little business is done here 

 now, and many of the grand buildings are tumbling to ruins. 

 The population is but eleven thousand. 



The houses which lined the narrow streets in the best part 

 of the town were lofty and faced with balconies, on which 

 were seated the better class of people, chatting in quite a 

 lively sort of way. The soldiers I saw were uniformed gaily, 

 and strutted along as if responsible for much. Itinerant and 

 sedentary merchants of all manner of goods, from whisky to 

 Panama hats, were shrilly enumerating the merits and cheap- 

 ness of them, and sturdy little donkies, heavily laden with 

 wood, water- easks and vegetables, worked their way through 



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