222 



THE ISTHMUS. 



weight. In this opinion^ however, I did him 

 injustice ; for the execrable road to Cruces 

 afforded me too much opportunity of proving 

 the extraordinary activity and patience of this 

 httle undersized animal. 



The shopkeepers in the' street where I 

 lodged had been for a long time watching 

 our preparations through the smoke of their 

 cigars, and 1 thought I could almost calculate 

 the time of day by the length of their faces. 

 These were becoming evidently more serious 

 and sleepy. The little excitement which the 

 commencement of my departure had occa- 

 sioned was subsiding. Perhaps many of them 

 thought me rather unreasonable to vary the 

 daylight monotony of Panama at a time when 

 most people, taking refuge within doors, muse 

 away the sunny hours, in smoking cigars, or doze 

 them away in a hammock, unless they happen 

 to prefer drinking gin-and-bitters. 



On entering the suburbs, one mule stag- 

 gered so much, from his inabihty to carry the 



