PANAMA. 



193 



cocoa-nut groves, the distant mountains and 

 forests, and the blue ocean roUing its white 

 surf high up on the rocky shore ; all conspire 

 to render this scene one of the grandest and 

 loveUest in 'the world. Then the foliage is so 

 rich and the verdure so universal, from the 

 moisture of the climate, that green Ireland itself 

 is not so green. 



The city is not large, but there are more 

 specimens in it of architectural beauty than in 

 any other I have seen in South America, 

 The convent, in the Plaza, is ornamented 

 by handsome pillars with Corinthian ca- 

 pitals, and in one of the half-ruined monas- 

 teries I was taken to see a high and graceful 

 eliptical arch, forty-five feet in span. As a 

 fortress, the town is ill placed ; for though the 

 walls are of very solid structure, it is com- 

 manded entirely by an accessible hill near it, 



VOL. II. K 



