Weekly miners' express. (DuBuque, Iowa) 184?-1849, 1849-03-13

Woe it bcareth--chains it wea roth
Soul twill ruin -h9art twill break. ,
OrThe following intelligence from
California was put in type for the Ex-
press some three weeks since, has been
unavoidably crowded out each succeed
ing week until the present time. Many
Of our readers, no doubt, have seen it,
whilst others, probably, have not. /
Arrival Of the Crescent City.
Nine days later from Chagres-Sickness and
death among the California Emigrants.
The steamship Crescent City, Captain
Stoddard, arrived at New York on Sat
urday afternoon from Chagres, with ad-
vices to the 9th; Kingston, Jamaica, with
to the 18th; and Havana,
with accounts to the 22d inst; but nothing
at all from California. 1t appears that
the emigrants to California suffer very
much on the route from Chagres to Pa
mama, and at both of,hose places, before
they get to the gold region. A CORES
pondent OF the New York Herald, writ
ing from Panama on the 7th inst, says:
"No urgency short Of life and death |
should bring man on this route; for
female it IS utterly out of the question.
1t has taken most Of our passengers eight
days to get from Chagres 10 this city, and
many Of those by the John Benson and
the Falcon are still on the road. The
canoes from Chagres to Cruces cost 1925
for each person, and $l2 for mule,
bringing single trunk from the latter
place, have been paid by many. In fact,
there are not half mules enough in the
whole isthmus to supply the demand.
He gives the following account Of Cha
gres, and the route:
Chagres is a collection Of 100 negro
huts, with walls (when they have amy
and roofs matched with palm. A few
turkey buzzards ornament each roof;
and when it ceases to rain, they hold
themselves out in humble imitation Of
spread eagle, to dry. Low and swampy,
it looks the abode Of pestilsDce, as it is.
Now, ia the dry season, it rains ten times
day, and the earth is filled to sa'uration.
In the eight wet months Of the year, it
must be decidedly moist We left the
place with all convenen: speed-some in
large beats, which could make but little
progress against the strong current; 9TH
ers in small ones, which could hold but
two persons besides the two boa:men, and
which made good prog ress up the stream.
All had to sleep one night between Cha
gres and Cruces; the greater number
were two nights on the way-some were
three or four. The naked boutmen are
generally efficient, tolerably honest, and
civil. The sleeping places are the same
rs the Chagres huts, with mud floors, and
nothing to eat. If hen be found, the
price is a dollar, and seventyfve cents
for cooking. No bread, no sugar, no tea,
no milk, no meat. Even these huts are
few and far between, though the river
banks are beautiful in their tropical We
getalion, and seem capable Of producing
everything which the heart can desire.
But the curse of floods is on the land and
it is difficult to imagine that good Can ev-
or come out of it.
Cruces is nearly as low and quite as
disagreeable as Chagres. We we're COM
PEELED to remain there some days, in con-
sequence Of the impossibiity Of obtaining
transportation. Ofthe road from Cruces
TO Panama, it is impossible to give an
idea. The liveliest imagination cannot
picture it. Mud holes, in which the mules
mire up to their bellies: cart loads Of
boulder stones, which, in the time Of the
Spanish galeons, may have formed a
pavement; ravines worn deep in the So
lid rock, and only wide enough for mules
feet below, and for the riders legs above,
with every possible ACTIVITY and decliv-
ty, from forty five degrees to perpendcu-
lar, all combine to make up the most i'm
passable road now in actual use on the
face Of the globe. The mules, stepping
in the same footprints, have worn NOR
tar holes deep in the rock of the deep and
steep ravines; and saw boulder stone,
eighteen inches in diameter, with such a
hole drilled half way through it. How
the ladies OF the party ever got across,
am yet unable to decide. This much is
certain, that most Of them practically as
sumed the pantaloons, and rode CALAMITY
like the cavaliers around them.
But the saddest part Of our story re-
mains to be told. At Cruces, several ca
ses Of virulent cholera morbus, some
think it cholera, appeared among US.
Mr.. Luckett, from New Orleans, was
the first victim; then Capt. Elliott, of the
qartermaster's department, and after
wards Mr. Birn, Of New Orleans, ane
Mr.. George w. Taylor, of Providence
The disease was Of great violence, aue
Terminated in less than twenty hours.
is believed that all these gentlemen hat
been imprudent. Poor Elliott, who wa
beloved and admired, had certainly beer
50. He had pitched his tent in low ant
wet place; he had eaten fruit, had taker
violent exercise, and then removed hi
flannel. He lies in consecrated ground
at Cruces.
At Panama we think ourselves safe
since the climate, the provisions ana &C
Communications are all very we'll.
The California has not arrived, ane
We are waiting for her with great impa
tience. &f@..s-