nderbilt Company, and during
the time the "rush" lasted they took over two or three thousand per
month. The Company had steamers on the lake to meet the throng of
diggers as they arrived, and they passed through at regular intervals
like a tide. The overland part of the route presented a strange
spectacle, with their pack mules and horses. Men of all nationalities,
armed with pistols and knives, which they were prepared to use on the
Greasers (natives) at the slightest provocation, put these altogether in
the background. A traveller has spoken of them as a string of romantic
figures that could not be matched in any other part of the world. Some
glowed with fervent passion, as if on fire, others were hard, cold, and
rugged as the rocky passes they traversed, while a few were worn, old,
and decaying, under the effects of the hardships and reverses of their
stormy existence. Every line in their faces had a meaning, if it could
only have been interpreted, telling of sin and suffering--of adventures
more terrible than were ever portrayed by the pen of the romantic
writer, and of experiences as fascinating as they had been dangerous.

Among the results of this rush through Nicaragua was the expedition of
William Walker, the great filibuster of this century. With fifty-five
men he went forth from California to conquer Central America, and in the
end nearly succeeded. He got himself elected President of Nicaragua, but
ultimately raised such a storm that he was brought to bay by some forces
from Honduras and Costa Rica, and had to surrender to the captain of a
British man-of-war, by whom he was handed over to his enemies to be
shot.

With this wonderful traffic across the isthmus arose the old canal
schemes, as well as a new one for a railway. Easy and rapid transit must
be obtained in some way or other, and this time being in the age of
steam, it naturally followed that the project for a railway gained
immediate support. It was commenced in 1850, at which time the terminus
on the Gulf side was settled, and the foundations of the new town of
Aspinwall or Colon laid a few miles east of Chagres. The difficulties
were enormous, on account of the marshy ground and the number of rivers
to be crossed. The wooden bridges were almost immediately attacked by
wood ants, floods carried away the timbers, but more distressing than
all was the loss of life through sickness. Chinese labourers were
imported in great numbers, only to fall victi