"Everywhere in Old Panama you can see evidences of this great force of nature. Much of the stonework of the city has been thrown down by the roots of the trees and plants, and in several places we saw stones of great weight resting entirely upon the roots of the trees that had lifted them up. Evidently the city was built to last, and it is a sad commentary upon the work of its founders that it was so soon destroyed. The walls were massive, and the stones carefully cut. The old Spaniards came to America to plant colonies, and make a permanent home, if we may judge by the way they constructed this important city, which was intended to command the commerce of the Pacific seas.
WATCH-TOWER OF SAN JEROME.
"One of the most interesting relics of Old Panama is the watch-tower of San Jerome, which is said to have been built only six years before the city's capture and destruction. It is a square tower, and we estimated its height to be about eighty feet; it is covered with mosses and vines, and there are trees and bushes growing on its top. The staircase on the inside has been thrown down by the roots of the trees, as far as we could judge from the position of the stones, though it may have been destroyed by the famous buccaneer. The whole of the inside space was full of roots, and we could not have climbed to the top even if the stairs had remained.
"The tower was intended as a signal-station, from which vessels approaching Panama could be descried, and tradition says a light was burned there at night. It is now the only visible part of the old city as you look from the beach or from a boat on the water; everything else is covered up with the tropical forest, which has been undisturbed for two hundred years. The only way to see the ruins is by clambering through the mass of vegetation; we did so, and were thoroughly wearied with our exertions, though amply repaid for them.
"Not the least interesting part of the sights were the fantastic shapes which the trees and vines had taken; in some places the trees were on the tops of walls thirty or forty feet high, and had thrown down roots on each side reaching into the ground. At every crevice in the walls little twigs were thrown off to hold the roots in place, and it almost seemed as though these vegetable growths had been endowed with human intelligence. Two or three times we were deceived by the appearance of the roots, and mistook them for snakes. Even when assured of their harmless character, Frank paused and deliberated before moving nearer, and I'm free to confess that I followed his example.
A HERMIT AT HOME.