134: THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 



from the bottom of the sea, a foundation upon which 

 man was ultimately to erect his habitation, is a fact 

 here fully demonstrated, and one that impresses the 

 mind with a deep sense of the inscrutable operations 

 of Infinite Wisdom. When this stupendous w T ork was 

 commenced or finished, if it is yet complete, by this 

 great family of mites, we, of course, have no 'means 

 of knowing; but the large growth of trees upon its 

 surface, and the broad levee or embankment throw T n 

 up, of broken coral, upon ihe north shore, indicates 

 great age ; and the occasional discovery of a can- 

 non ball would seem to suggest that active operations 

 had at some day been carried on here ; but no fur- 

 ther traces are to be discovered, although it is known 

 to have been the favorite rendezvous of the bucca- 

 neers, about two hundred years ago. 



With everything so strangely new about me, the 

 sun appearing so out of place, and vegetable life pre- 

 senting such unusual forms, while the very air I 

 breathed seemed unlike any I had ever before in- 

 haled, with the strange consciousness that the surface 

 on which I stood could not have been a part of the 

 original formation of the earth, I should have been 

 half inclined to consider whether, in reality, I had 

 not landed upon the shores of another existence, 

 were it not that the unmistakable evidences of mor- 

 tality were about me. 



The morning was most truly delightful, and, as 

 I walked along the beach, the gently stirring air was 

 fresh and pleasant, while the sea had scarcely a ripple 

 upon its surface; the sky was clear, and the birds 



