THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 123 



time for them to begin to note down the sad items 

 which were to make up the price of Gold. 



On the morning of the sixth day, after a delight- 

 ful voyage, we made the highlands of Cuba, and in 

 a few hours afterwards, we turned in beneath the 

 towering Moro and anchored in the harbor of Ha- 

 vana. The arrival in port is always a source of 

 great delight, especially to those not accustomed to 

 the sea, and it is usually improved in replenishing 

 the stomach of its lost contents ; but Havana pre- 

 sents too many objects of interest to be neglected, 

 and particularly so to those who have never visited a 

 Spanish Town. The city, with its quaint edifices, is 

 situated on low ground, at the right hand as the har- 

 bor is entered, and on the left are the high walls of 

 the Moro Castle, extending back a great distance, 

 and so elevated that the sentinels, as they pace to 

 and fro on its ramparts, look like pigmies. The 

 American who is accustomed to make the most of 

 everything, looks with astonishment at the unim- 

 proved borders of this beautiful harbor, which em- 

 brace more than half of its circumference, and imme- 

 diately begins to calculate the various purposes for 

 w T hich they could be occupied. 



There being no appropriate piers or docks, steam- 

 ships, consequently, lie out in the bay, and passen- 

 gers pass to and from the ship in little boats, many 

 of which are rigged with sails and an awning over 

 the after-part, to keep off the rajs of the sun, which 

 are intensely hot here. 



We had scarcely come to anchor, when a Span- 



