possible for them to eat, was gobbled up very quickly.
They were as tame as chickens, and walked around as fearless and lordly
as tame turkeys. In consideration of their cleaning up the streets
without pay, they were protected by law. One of the passengers could not
resist the temptation to shoot one, and a small squad of soldiers were
soon after him, and came into a room where there were fifty of us, but
could not find their man. He would have been sent to jail if he had been
caught. We had to pay one dollar a night for beds in these rooms, and
they counted money at the rate of eight dimes to the dollar.

The old town of Panama lies a little south in the edge of the sea, and
was destroyed by an earthquake long ago I was told. To me, raised in the
north, everything was very new and strange in way of living, style of
building and kind of produce. There were donkeys, parrots and all kinds
of monkeys in plenty. Most of the women were of very dark complexion,
and not dressed very stylishly, while the younger population did not
have even a fig leaf, or anything to take its place. The adults dressed
very economically, for the days are summer days all the year round, and
the clothing is scanty and cheap for either sex.

The cattle were small, pale red creatures, and not inclined to be very
fat, and the birds mostly of the parrot kind. The market plaza is
outside the walls, and a small stream runs through it, with the banks
pretty thickly occupied by washerwomen. All the washing was done without
the aid of a fire.

On the plaza there were plenty of donkeys loaded with truck of all
sorts, from wood, green grass, cocoa-nuts and sugar-cane to parrots,
monkeys and all kinds of tropical fruits. Outside the walls the houses
were made of stakes interwoven with palm leaves, and everything was
green as well as the grass and trees. Very little of the ground seemed
to be cultivated, and the people were lazy and idle, for they could live
so easily on the wild products of the country. A white man here would
soon sweat out all his ambition and enterprise, and would be almost
certain to catch the Panama yellow fever. The common class of the people
here, I should say, were Spanish and negro mixed, and they seem to get
along pretty well; but the country is not suitable for white people. It
seems to have been made on purpose for donkeys, parrots and long-heeled
negroes.

The cabin passengers engaged all the horses and mules the country
affor