The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1868-11-04
Fos ruE CENTRAL PREsBYrERlAN.
A Trip Across the Isthmus of Panama.

A Trip Across the Isthmus of Panama.
1t was about noon.
the eighth day after leaving New York,
that We came in sight of Panama coast,
off our larboard bow. Thus far our voy-
age had been so calm, that those who had
travelled the route often said they had
never known the sea so smooth the whole
way. Not even off HatteraS, where peo-
pie generally look for tossing about,
was there enough motion in the vessel to
jOstle dish on the table. We humbly
recognized the kind hand of God in this.
May He mercifully favor our Southern
Church in all her missions as ne favored
the Church of Denmark. 1t is recorded,
ON the landing of Swartz at Tranquebar,
that during century in which the DAN
ism Church was engaged in sending mis-
sionaries TO India, no vessel containing
any of them perished. More than 80
were sent, and the perils of navigation
were of course greater then, than now.
After getting sight of land, we We're
about three hours in running down the
coast to AspinwaI. The shore along
which We passed was picturesque; line
of hills, or rather low mountains, thickly
wooded, running parallel to the coast,
and occasionally large rocks standing
out of the water near the shore. We
could distinguish clumps of cocoa-nut
trees in the forest on the lower land.
On reaching Aspinwall, our passengers,
about 800 in number, were soon landed,
and it was not long before the trains were
in readiness to take us TO Panama. This
gave us no opportunity of walking
through Aspinwall. We could see from
the steamer that it was small town,
combining features which we have asSO-
ciated with tropical seclusion, and those
which belong to more bustling latitudes.
The cocoa-nut trees at the landing, with
their clusters Of fruit, were blackened
with the smoke from the locomotive; and
the palm thatched huts of the natives
surrounded by their gardens of bananas,
were only few hundred yards distant
from a modern-loOking depot. The chief
buildings in the town belong to the rail
road company; and among them we Ob
served neat looking church, which we
we're told was Episcopal, built for the
railroad employees. A number of the
natives were about the landing and the
depot, importuning passengers TO be al
lowed to carry their baggage, and offer
ing fruits, &c, for sale. There seemed
to be considerable variety among them
Negroes, Indians, Mexicans, Mulat-
toes, and other shades and types. They
were offering for sale oranges, bananas,
lemons, lines, mango-apples, pine-apples,
melons, Panama hats, fruit-baskets, &c.
A colored man, who sat behind a table
covered with piles of silver, exchanging
specie for greeubacks, seemed to act as
chief broker in the lively traffic which
sprung up between the passengers and
the fruit-sellers. We got started from
Aspinwall about 1 o'clock. The rolling
stock of the railroad is very light, owing
to the marshy soil over which great
part of the track is laid The lOcomo,
tives are small things, and all the engi-
neers and 6remen that We saw were na-
tives. The distance from Aspinwall to
Panama is AZ miles, which we passed
over in three hours. The pleasures o.
this ride to us, who had never been il
the tropics, We can hardly describe. L
was like being in d new world. Ill
nightfall we had a succession of move
and interesting sights, in plants, trees
birds, animals, men and houses. Tn,
luxuriance of the vegetation far exceeded
anything We had ever seen before. L
looked as if plants and trees and vine
were struggling which should have tn
ground. Again and again we thought
truly this earth is full of the riches o
our Lord. Nothing looked familiar
We saw the palm, calabash, lime, cocoa
nut, orange, banana, papaya, and
thousand other trees and plants of which