98 THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 



ters open, which they would always insist upon do- 

 ing, it is more a matter of wonder than otherwise 

 that they endure the climate as well as they do. The 

 Railroad Company make the most liberal provisions 

 for their comfort, but it was always impossible to 

 make them understand that there were any reasons 

 for closing a house, other than to keep out the cold. 

 The native, on the approach of a shower, strips off 

 his shirt, which is probably the only garment he 

 wears ; securing it in a dry place, he lets the rain 

 fall upon his bare back, and then resumes his cover- 

 ing after it is over. 



This is truly a primitive mode of protection from 

 rain, yet from what I have seen, I judge it to be the 

 best. The perspiration may be checked for the time 

 and the system receive a shock from so plentiful a 

 shower bath ; but the function of the skin is imme- 

 diately restored by the dry covering, and on the 

 whole, upon hydropathic principles, I am not sure 

 but the subject has received a tonic after nature's 

 purest method, and without interfering with his time 

 or business. But when a native gets the fever, he 

 repudiates this practice altogether, so much so, that 

 it is exceedingly difficult oftentimes to get them to 

 take any remedy combined with water ; and they 

 most scrupulously avoid the application of water 

 externally, even in quantity sufficient to keep them- 

 selves clean. The natives' remedy for fever is limes, 

 the juice of which they suck from them while the 

 fever is on, with slices of the same placed upon the 

 forehead and temples, and with this simple treatment, 



