The next morning I rose early, so that I might see the entrance to Acapulco Harbor. This entrance is very narrow, and is surrounded by high wooded hills, forming one of the best harbors on the Pacific coast, south of San Francisco. I went on shore again; but I gave you a description of the place before.
August 27 found us at anchor off Panama. We were sorry to leave our good ship and her pleasant corps of officers. When we were in the cars, the natives brought a great many things to sell. One man would have ear-rings, the next wine, then "nice lomonard," or little ornaments of pearl-shell, while others brought fruit and cakes. After a tiresome hour, we started on our journey across the Isthmus.
One thing that attracted my attention was the telegraph-posts; they looked like stone, but were made of concrete.
"What is concrete?" asked Harry.
In this instance, I suppose it was a composition made of pounded stone and cement cast in a mold. The mold was filled in with concrete and left for several days. The reason of their having such posts was that the worms destroyed the wooden ones.
The natives brought into the cars some beautiful flowers. They were of alabaster whiteness, in shape not unlike a tulip, and having a strong perfume somewhat like the magnolia. Resting within the cup of the flower, lies the perfect image of a dove, with its beautifully formed wings spread out from its side, its head bent forward, and its tiny bill delicately tipped with red almost touching its snowy breast. No one who has seen the flower can wonder that the early Spanish Catholics believed the flowers to have had a miraculous origin, and named it "Flor del Espiritu Santo" or "The Flower of the Holy Ghost."
Matachin is the largest station on the Isthmus. There we procured oranges, which were unusually fine, also cakes tasting like macaroons, and some bottles of milk.
Over the Chagres River at Barbacoas, is a wrought-iron bridge six hundred and twenty-five feet long and eighteen broad, standing forty feet above the surface of the water; it is said to be one of the longest and finest bridges in the world. All along the road the sensitive plant, with its feathery pink blossoms, grew in wild profusion.
At half-past eight in the evening we were on board the steamer Champion. We soon commenced our last voyage, and such a voyage! The vessel rolled, and the ice in the hold gave out, and in consequence the meat was in no fit state to eat. Every body and every thing seemed uncomfortable. It was a great change from the clean and pleasant Golden Age. We saw the islands of San Domingo, Narvasa, Jamaica, Cuba, Santa Inagua, and Mayo Guano, of the West Indies.
On the morning of September 3, we were chased by a steamer. She was under sail when we first saw her, but commenced getting up steam. She lost time in that operation, and we outsailed her, much to our joy. Our captain said without doubt she was a privateer.