£ <*• ^alajum^vv, 4 Y l \s »T tin 
Miscellaneous Collections, Volume 69, no, 5, 1920. 
»i 
On the morning of March 17 we left Panama by launch for 
Chepo, about 40 miles to the east, en route to the mountains 
near the headwaters of the Chagres River* Early in the afternoon 
we entered the broad mouth of the Bayano River and ascended for 
about 12 miles between lines of low tidal forest to Hato Bayano at 
the mouth of the Mamoni where we were landed,a nd the launch con¬ 
tinued on up the Bayano to the property of the Bayano Lumber Com¬ 
pany. The Bayano is here a large, deep stream with low, but usually 
rather steep, muddy banks left exposed at low tide. Many alligators, 
sunning themselves in places where the bank receded, slid slowly 
into the water as we approached. A dugout canoe was secured and 
late in the evening our outfit was taken on the high tide to the head of 
navigation about three miles up the Mamoni River* Leaving our 
outfit for the night we continued on foot about three miles farther to 
Chepo, a rambling native village of about 1,000 inhabitants. Chepo 
is situated on the west bank of the Mamoni River, and near the edge 
of the most easterly of the open savannas which extend at intervals 
along the Pacific coast to beyond the Costa Rican frontier* Six or 
eight miles north of the town a wooded ridge, rising rather steeply 
from the costal plain, extends eastward from the main range of the 
interior, and maintains a general height of about 1,000 feet to the 
point where it ends rather abruptly in an elbow of the Mamoni. Our 
objective point was the Cerro Azul, a dominant peak about 3,000 feet 
high near the continental divide, northwest of Chepo. Two days were 
spent in outfitting. Small ponies were secured for use as far as the 
base of the mountains, and native packers for work on the steep, 
forested slopes* 
On March 20 we left Chepo and traveled about 20 miles, mainly 
in a westerly course over the “sabanas,” crossing the Rio Pacora and 
turning northward into the forest which forms here a heavy, unbroken 
cover from the basal slopes of the mountains to their summits and 
across the Isthmus to the Atlantic coast* The line of demarcation is 
sharply drawn and we passed almost at a single stride from the broad 
expanse of brilliantly sunlit savanna into the somber deaths of the 
forest. The pack animals were sent back, and the following day our 
porters moved the camp equipment about three miles up stream courses 
through rough, rocky country to a p^ace called “Cabobre,” at 800 feet 
altitude, on a branch of the Rio Pacora. 
A palm-leaf shelter was erected and a comfortable permanent 
camp established for work on the mountains. Myriads of tiny ticks 
and innumerable larger ones were, however, found somewhat trouble¬ 
some at this locality. 
Taking two porters, provided with machetes for clearing a trail, 
and a native hunter, I ascended from camp to the summit of Cerro 
