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 afforded on which to ride across the Chagres River, so it fell to the lot of myself and companion to transfer ourselves on foot, which was pretty hard work in the hot and sultry weather.  My gold dust began to grow pretty heavy as I went along, and though I had only about two thousand dollars, weighing about ten pounds, it seemed to me that it weighed fifty pounds by the way that it bore down upon my shoulders and wore sore places on them.  It really was burdensome.  I had worn it on my person night and day ever since leaving the mines, and I had some little fear of being robbed when off the ship.

Our road had been some day paved with cobble stones.  At the outskirts of the town we met a native coming in with a big green lizard, about two feet long, which he was hauling and driving along with a string around its neck.  I wondered if this was not a Panama butcher bringing in a fresh supply of meat.