Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1859-05-26

BY a gentleman engaged in the survey of rail-
road route across the Isthmus of Tebuantepec,
and published in the Salem Register, give a
vivid impression of the " delights of camp
life in that tropical region:
CAMP ON Rio VERDE.
lsthmus of Tehuantepec, March %, SO.
l find the burden Of my song is only home
home--home. can write only in the most de-
spending strain, for an sick and weary of
this life in the wilderness, deprived of every
comfort, subject to every possible annoyance,
almost nothing that hearty man can cat,
nothing at all that an invalid can relish, warm
water from half dried up brook to drink, dry
parching heat, for it is tho hight of the ten
months dry season, and no relief in anticipation
for don't know when. have been for weeks
almost cripple, with ulcers all over my legs,
not able to wear shoe or stocking, nor even a
bandage, but they are now nearly healed.
have had the intermittent fever but am conva
lescent. You may try to imagine how Jared
in the camp. Half of my party have been in
camp at once, disabled from field duty. pine
for home. am wasted and thin, more SO than
ever in my life. The wild beasts are nothing.
We are more anxious to see them than they us
and occasionally we are gratfed at the sight
of tiger, puma or American lion, taplr, &C.,
crossing the path and hastily retreatlng, or re-
posing in his lair in the wild recesses of the
rocks, whittier our line of survey takes us.
But the insects are Observation-Disclosures, scor-
pons, tarantulas, garripatos, nijuas, moya-
quils, feas, &c. could fill page with their
names. They give us no peace day nor night
The party come in from the woods covered with
tlckS. They fasten themselves to the skin,
bury their heads and when pulled off often
leave their heads in. The chigos insinuate
themselves under the skin, generally about the
toes, under the roots of the nails lay their eggs
and ere you are aware of it there is a sack full
Of eggs as large as pea, which must be care
fully extracted or you have an ulcer. 1t is nee
essary daily to examine the feet with great mi
nuteness, and you never see native or group
OF them but they are picking out chigos. The
moyaquil is u worm which eats its way in--in
to the bone-into the bone, and if not discov-
cred grows to the size of your little finger, and
you lose a leg perhaps. But the heas are the
worst enemies to peace You fight them in
vain-you scratch and irrtate and tear your
fesh-you go to bed and get up again-all
night in bed and out again-you are distracted
-crazy. Can human nature stand it long?
/ must confess my very great disappointment.
Every thing was msrepresented. We heard
about the profuson and delights of tropical
fruits, and find almost barren desclation. We
see see rcely any fruit-now and then an orange
or plantain they are cultivated on some parts
of the Isthmus, but it is not our fortune to
find them. 1t is wild, scraggy vegetation, i'm
penetrable thickets, of thorns or some useless
growth, and is in parts, and about here, almost
the only country know of, OF ever heard, that
does not produce something useful. But have
said enough on this score. | would like to pre-
sent pleasanter side of the picture. The eli
mate is not unhealthy, nor is the heat excessive.
The natives are lazy, dirty, thieving. The
country is distracted in its politics, and local
feuds disturb the quiet of even this secluded
district.