Chap. I. TILLAGE OF THE XATIVES. 9 
wide-spread umbrella-shaped crowns high over the rest. 
The inhabitants were a mixed race of Indian, African and 
Spanish origin, using the Spanish language as a common 
medium, though some of the negroes or mulattoes living 
there were from Jamaica; they, too, having been attracted 
by the expectation of extraordinary gain. I had a conversa- 
tion with one of these men, an intelligent and fine-looking 
mulatto, who told me that, indeed, he could make a good 
deal of money here, but that the climate was too sickly, so 
that whatever he gained he had to pay to the doctor. It 
is not without interest to know how such a climate as that 
of Chagres is looked upon by a coloured native of Jamaica, 
and at the same time I am touching here upon a fact, 
unnoticed, as far as I know, in Europe, — the fact of the 
existence of a moving coloured population, congregating 
here and there as circumstances may invite them, on the 
coasts around the Caribbean sea. I shall have to speak 
more of this fact, which promises to become of importance 
in the future history of the West Indies, and of Central 
America, as well as in the development of the coloured 
races of the new world. Of this class of the coloured 
population of Chagres, the greater number were from 
Curacao and Cartagena. The natives of the place itself 
seemed to be more of a Hispano-Indian caste, extremely 
strong and well formed, some of them with very intelligent 
and pleasing countenances. I found that personal cleanli- 
ness and neatness were marked traits in their character, by 
which they were most favourably distinguished from the 
inhabitants, and the travelling crowd on the other side of 
the river. On every morning during the eight days of our 
stay, men and women, as they passed the river in their 
small canoes, appeared in a clean suit, although the whole 
dress of the former consisted only in a straw hat and a pair 
