"As to myself, I floundered on as well as I could with a mule tottering beneath me from sheer exhaustion, and sinking every minute up to his knees in mud. It seemed to me that we were making little or no progress; and I became thoroughly tired and disheartened. I do not know any temptation, however powerful, that would again induce me to encounter the never-ending series of difficulties and annoyances that laid in wait for me at every step; and I must candidly own, that even the force of female example, of which I had so merry a specimen before me, did not at all shame me into a less impatient endurance of them.
"The negroes whom I met on their way to and from Panama excited my astonishment, from the amount of physical exertion which they seemed capable of undergoing. With their legs and feet bare, and nothing but a cloth around their loins, they carried enormous burdens on their backs, stepping from stone to stone with wonderful strength and dexterity. These poor creatures must lead the most wretched and laborious of all the painful modes of existence to which their race is condemned; and not even long habit, or their peculiar physical construction, can divest it of its distressing character in the eyes of a stranger. They all bear, on their hard and wrinkled faces, the stamp of overtaxed strength; but they seemed content with their lot, and will, doubtless, regret the formation of a better route, as tending to depreciate the value of their services. Notwithstanding the toilsome and laborious nature of their occupations, however, the carriers of Panama are the hardiest and most muscular race to be seen here; for the rest of the population, both white and black, are of comparatively sickly and diminutive appearance.
"Moving somewhat like a ship in a storm, rising and sinking alternately at stern and bow, surmounting first one huge stone, then a deep mud hole, then another stone, and then a small lake, my mule and myself at last reached Crucis in the evening, the whole distance traversed not being above twenty miles."[16]
The town of Crucis is a place very similar to Gorgona, but not so large. The houses are built of cane and plastered with mud. No attention is given to arrangement, and but a small portion is so constructed as to bear any resemblance to a street. The climate is unhealthy, and travellers from the United States make as short a stay there as possible. Doubtless, with the increase of travel, the character of the town and its accommodations will improve; but the heat and humidity of the atmosphere, particularly just after the rainy season, cause a great deal of injury to the health of people from the United States, and will prevent any considerable settlement of Anglo-Saxons in the town.