PANAMA. 



199 



tion, together with the numerous decayed plants 

 and shrubs^ infect the atmosphere with bad 

 and putrid smells. All this Avould cease, if the 

 country were cleared of wood, and more inha- 

 bited. Old Panama, built by Pizarro, is further 

 up the coast ; but the situation being thought 

 not so eligible, it was afterwards abandoned for 

 that of the present city, which took the same 

 name. 



The gate out of the town, on the land-side, 

 opens to a suburb of some extent, where there 

 is a good church and a plaza, and also a market 

 for fruit and vegetables. The road thence winds 

 along the eastern shore, from which it is sepa^ 

 rated by negro huts, and a long grove of palm 

 and cocoa-nut trees, which terminate in exten- 

 sive prairies, or meadows, stretching beyond 

 the peninsula, and forming the foreground to 

 the high forests, and the mountains which 

 divide the isthmus longitudinally. 



