ng back who should we see but one of
our countrymen, the most gladdening sight to us. We felt saved at once.
We asked him if he had any provision. He said he thought not. Then he
said one of his companions might have a little piece of ham left and
some crackers. He said there were three of them, and they would soon be
there, and when they came one of them had some bacon and a few crackers,
which he gave to us. The eating of it soon refreshed us. As I had some
of the brandy left in the bottle, I extended it to them, which they were
very glad to receive. Explanations ensued. We, by chance, had struck the
Crusos road, and were but ten miles from Panama. They had come from
Philadelphia in a brig, and had started across from Crusos, the head of
boating on the Chagres river, and had been from two to three weeks
getting so far across the Isthmus, and were perfectly astonished at the
rapidity with which we had come. So we joined them and arrived in Panama
that evening. Lieutenant M. and myself were the first of the one
thousand passengers of the _Georgia_ to enter the city. The office of
the agents of the Pacific steamers was closed. I went, the first thing
in the morning, to purchase the five tickets for our party. Alas for
human expectation! I was informed it would be several weeks before the
steamer would sail. She had not yet returned from the first trip to San
Francisco. They said there were but sixty tickets for sale, and they
would not be offered until a few days before the departure of the
steamer. Of course, all we could do was to abide our chances of getting
them. The city was walled around and dyked like those of the Middle
Ages. Toward the bay the wall was one hundred feet high by twenty broad.
The city had been on the decline for most a hundred years. We could see
the ruins of what it once had been. At one time Spain owned all South
America, Mexico, California, Louisiana and Florida. Panama was the only
port of entry on the Pacific coast, and controlled its commerce. As you
enter the gates of the walled city there is a chapel just inside, where
the lights are always burning on its altars. The first thing on entering
all good Catholics enter, kneel and make their devotions, seeking the
protection of the patron saint of the city. The head alcalder of the
city was a Castilian Spaniard, a venerable-looking gentleman, white as
any Northern man, evidently of Scandinavian descent, who ages back
conquered Spain and divided t