IN PANAMA 
237 
the herbage with an air of unconcern that would have tempted many to 
shoot. 
About five o'clock Chepo, the pig ranch, where we must spend the 
night, was reached. We were tired out but happy, for in the memory 
of the oldest inhabitant never had that journey been made without 
encountering a heavy rain storm on the top of Montoso (over which 
we came), and we had come through dry. Hammocks were swung in 
a big half ruined pigshed, a chicken was cooked and eaten, and we turned 
WILD “CASTILLOA." SHOWING STUMP OF BIG TREE FROM WHICH SPROUTS 
HAD GROWN. 
in. The aneroid said two thousand nine hundred and fifty feet for 
altitude. It was quite cool, but deliciously dry as compared with Rio 
Negro. 
Up at five the next morning, after a hasty breakfast of Pioneer's bread 
and coffee, the climbing was continued. Here there was less forest and 
the trail was centuries old. In places it was worn down in the red por- 
phorv until the sides rose above the rider’ head, while at the bottom it 
was barely wide enough for the mule to walk. It was also often cut 
