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Show 3.88 PERSONAL ADVENTURES the eyes of a stranger. They all bear, on their hard and wrinkled faces, the stamp of overtaxed strength ; but they seemed content with their lot, and will, doubtless, regret the formation of a better route, as tenrling to depreciate the value of their serviees. Notwithstanding the toilsome and laborious nature of their occupations, ho,vever, the carriers of Panama are the hardiest and most muscular race to be seen here; for the rest of the population, both white and black, are of comparatively sickly and diminutive appearance. 1\'Ioving some,vhat like a ship in a storm, rising and sinking alternately at stern and bow, surmountino· first one huo·e stone, then a deep 0 0 tnud hole, then another stone, and then a small lake, my mule and myself at last reached Crucis in the evening, the whole distance traversed not being above t\venty rniles. Here, although half dead with fatiO'ne, I could not get a place to sleep ; and the 0 prices demanded for every thing in the shape of refreshment was quite on the scale of Californian charges-a couple of dollars being asked for a plate of meat, and two dollat~s more for cooking it. The good people of this place, being on the high 'vay to the land of gold, doubtless think it but right that those who travel on it should pay toll for the privilege. . The houses here are also built of cane, with IN CALIFORNIA. 389 mud plastered over to keep out the air. They are scattered about without any attempt at arrangement, only a very small portion of th~ to,vn bearing any resemblance to a street. The population does not consist of more than eight hundred persons, the climate being unhealthy, and the heat and humidity of the atmosphere such as to injuriously affect every American who happens to pass through at this season of the year. As I arrived too late to secure a bed, I passed the night without sleeping, in a small hotel. I had not been long seated in this place, when I heard some one groaning heavily in the next apartment; and, entering it to see what was the matter, found a gentleman frotn New York, suffering dreadfully from illness, c~used, he told me, by the influence of the chmate. Being unable to afford him any relief, I retur~ed to my seat, \vhere I remained wit~out closing tny eyes until morning, the suffe.nngs of. my neighbour in the adjoining room being sufficient to drive away all disposition to sleep. Next 1norning, I joined a small party about . to start and we hired a canoe for fifty dollars, or about fi've dollars each, to convey us down the river. We were informed that the current ran \Vith extraordinary swiftness towards Gorgona and that we should, therefore, have no diffi;ulty in rowing. The canoes are similar to |