terrible force. Our idea--perhaps an unfounded one--was, that a steamer
from New Orleans was the means of introducing it into the island.
Anyhow, they sent some clothes on shore to be washed, and poor Dolly
Johnson, the washerwoman, whom we all knew, sickened and died of
the terrible disease. While the cholera raged, I had but too many
opportunities of watching its nature, and from a Dr. B----, who was
then lodging in my house, received many hints as to its treatment which
I afterwards found invaluable.
Early in the same year my brother had left Kingston for the Isthmus of
Panama, then the great high-road to and from golden California, where
he had established a considerable store and hotel. Ever since he had
done so, I had found some difficulty in checking my reviving
disposition to roam, and at last persuading myself that I might be of use
to him (he was far from strong), I resigned my house into the hands of a
cousin, and made arrangements to journey to Chagres. Having come to
this conclusion, I allowed no grass to grow beneath my feet, but set to
work busily, for I was not going to him empty-handed. My house was
full for weeks, of tailors, making up rough coats, trousers, etc., and
sempstresses cutting out and making shirts. In addition to these, my
kitchen was filled with busy people, manufacturing preserves, guava
jelly, and other delicacies, while a considerable sum was invested in the
purchase of preserved meats, vegetables, and eggs. It will be as well,
perhaps, if I explain, in as few words as possible, the then condition of
the Isthmus of Panama.
All my readers must know--a glance at the map will show it to those
who do not--that between North America and the envied shores of
California stretches a little neck of land, insignificant-looking enough
on the map, dividing the Atlantic from the Pacific. By crossing this, the
travellers from America avoided a long, weary, and dangerous sea
voyage round Cape Horn, or an almost impossible journey by land.
But that journey across the Isthmus, insignificant in distance as it was,
was by no means an easy one. It seemed as if nature had determined to
throw every conceivable obstacle in the way of those who should seek
to join the two great oceans of the world. I have read and heard many
accounts of old endeavours to effect this important and gigantic work,
and how miserably they failed. It was reserved for the men of our age
to accomplish what so many had died in attempting, and iron and steam,
twin giants, subdued to man's will, have put a girdle over rocks and
rivers, so that travellers can glide as smoothly, if not as inexpensively,
over the once terrible Isthmus of Darien, as they can from London to
Brighton. Not yet, however, does civilization, rule at Panama. The
weak sway of the New Granada Republic, despised by lawless men,
and respected by none, is powerless to control the refuse of every
nation which meet together upon its soil. Whenever they feel inclined
now they overpower the law easily; but seven years ago, when I visited
the Isthmus of Panama, things were much worse, and a licence existed,
compared to which the present lawless state of affairs is enviable.
When, after passing Chagres, an old-world, tumble-down town, for
about seven miles, the steamer reached Navy Bay, I thought I had never
seen a more luckless, dreary spot. Three sides of the place were a mere
swamp, and the town itself stood upon a sand-reef, the houses being
built upon piles, which some one told me rotted regularly every three
years. The railway, which now connects the bay with Panama, was then
building, and ran, as far as we could see, on piles, connected with the
town by a wooden jetty. It seemed as capital a nursery for ague and
fever as Death could hit upon anywhere, and those on board the
steamer who knew it confirmed my opinion. As we arrived a steady
down-pour of rain was falling from an inky sky; the white men who
met us on the wharf appeared ghostly and wraith-like, and the very
negroes seemed pale and wan. The news which met us did not tempt
me to lose any time in getting up the country to my brother. According
to all accounts, fever and ague, with some minor diseases, especially
dropsy, were having it all their own way at Navy Bay, and, although I
only stayed one night in the place, my medicine chest was called into
requisition. But the sufferers wanted remedies which I could not give
them--warmth, nourishment, and fresh air. Beneath leaky tents, damp
huts, and even under broken railway waggons, I saw men dying from
sheer
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