260 DESCENT TO CHAGRES. 



bringing with them two soldiers, who were 

 going down to the fort at Chagres, and who 

 took their passage in the fore part of the canoe 

 without asking my leave^ but I made no 

 objection to their company down the stream^ as 

 T should certainly have done had the voyage 

 been in the contrary direction. The canoe, 

 which I had selected with care and consider- 

 ation, full of the unpleasant recollections of the 

 one that brought me from Tobogo, was both 

 broader and longer than the former, and had 

 an awning of slight cane covered with plantain 

 leaves, in such a way as to keep off both sun 

 and rain. The latter had caused the stream 

 to be unusually swollen and muddy, and rowed 

 by four strong mulattoes, who perfectly under- 

 stood the art of pulling together, the progress of 

 the canoe was too rapid to allow a very minute 

 examination of the scene through which I was 

 passing. There was scarcely room to stand up 

 between the awning and steersman, to view the 

 banks of the river, and I yielded to the advice 

 of the steersman, and a caution given to me 

 before by Mr. Russell, to abstain from perching 



