Town of Chagres—Its inhabitants—Trip to New Orleans—Thence up the
Mississippi to St. Louis—Arrival home.
Chagres is a town of some over 150 houses, situated on the South
American side, at the mouth of the Chagres river. The houses are like
those of Gorgona and Cruses, many of which appear to be of considerably
ancient date. The ground upon which the town stands, is of but little
elevation above the waters of the river, and it seems that it must
inevitably become inundated, should a strong wind continue to blow a
considerable time from off the Caribbean sea. This town, as also
Gorgona, Cruses and Panama, belongs to the republic of New Grenada.
Bogota is the capital of this republic, and is situated interior,
several hundred miles to the south of Chagres. An entrance to the mouth
of the Chagres river, by sail ships, is often attended with the danger
of being wreckd on the beach. Hence, a steamer is kept at the harbor for
the conveyance of passengers from them, at a distance of 2 miles, where
they are obligd to anchor.
At the entrance of the river and contiguous to the town, upon a
projecting eminence, is an old, dilapidated fort, with a large number of
brass cannon scatterd about upon the walls. There appear to be a few
soldiers strolling about the fort, but with a total indifference to the
attention which a fort requires for its requisite abilities, in an
emergency.
The inhabitants of Chagres have more of negroes and negro blood in them
than the citizens of Panama, Cruses or Gorgona, but they are of similar
stamp with their neighbors in that part of America, and speak the same
language. The females dress much in lawns and other light clothing, as
is most suitable for the climate. The religion here, and mostly
throughout this part of the country, is Roman Catholic.
The bells of the churches are generally hung in the windows, or outside,
near the ground, at their entrances. The cross-bar on which they are
hung, often contains two bells, so that the ringing of them is
frequently done by two persons, in quite a ludicrous manner. The mode of
ringing is performd by each person’s taking a small hammer or stick, and
striking upon the outside of the bells, keeping time with each other,
similar to the beating of two drummers.
* * * * * * * *
_Saturday, Dec. 8th._—Embarkd on board brig Major Eastland, bound to New
Orleans, and arrivd there, Thursday, December 20th. Our trip was a
tolerably short and pleasant one, for the season of the year. We
experiencd no storm upon the Caribbean sea, nor any through the Gulf of
Mexico. Nothing of importance was experiencd on the way, to change the
monotony.
On the 21st, I left New Orleans by steamboat, for St Louis, a distance
of 1200 miles by water, though probably not much exceeding 600 direct.
The old towns of Natchez and Vicksburg are in a decayd condition.
Memphis appears to be the most thriving town between New Orleans and St.
Louis.
_Monday, Dec. 31st_, I found myself at the St. Louis levee, after
struggling with floating ice for a day or two, the latter part of the
distance. I left St. Louis, Jan. 2d, 1850, and arrivd at Knox co., Ill.,
Jan. 8th, having been gone from home, one year, nine months and five
days.
On my arrival at home, I found my friends in a state of health, though
many deaths in town had occurd during my absence, and the place had
exceedingly improvd.
* * * * * * * *
A few remarks appendant to the foregoing, in relation to traveling
expenses, may be of use to those desirous to go to California, by the
way of the oceans and the isthmus. At present, the arrangement for
running steamers between San Francisco and Panama, is, to leave each
place for the other, but twice each month, which is on the 1st and 20th.
Sail ships are also running between the two places with frequency.
Prices of passage, the fall of 1849, between the two places, were $300
cabin, $150 steerage. On board sail ships, $150 cabin, and $75 steerage.
An arrangement from Chagres to New York, by the way of New Orleans and
Havana, is made by the U. S. Mail Ship Company, for carrying passengers,
so that passengers can leave Chagres on the 28th of each month, at $150
cabin, $125 forward, and $80 steerage. This state of things will not
last long, before there will be a sufficient amount of competition for
the speedy accommodation of all who wish to go to California.
Transcriber’s Notes
—Silently corrected a few typos; retained the author’s idiosyncratic and
inconsistent spelling.
—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.
—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.