The usual method of performing it, is on horse or on mule-back, with
another mule to carry the baggage and a muleteer who acts as guide. The
road is a mere bridle path, and as the rains on the Isthmus are very
heavy, and there is more or less of them all the year round, the
mud-holes and swampy places to be crossed are very numerous. Those who,
at the North, talk gaily of a walk across the Isthmus, as if the road
were as plain and easy as some of our macadamized turnpikes, would
alter their tone a little, could they see the road as it is. As for
walking from Cruces to Panama, in case mules are scarce, the feat is by
no means impossible, provided the traveler arrives in Cruces in good
health, and has but little baggage. It might easily be done with the
assistance of a guide; but let no stranger, unacquainted with the
language and new to such countries, attempt it without a guide. Having,
then, fairly started from Cruces, either on horse or on foot, after a
toilsome journey of some eight or ten hours, the Savanna of Panama is
at last reached, and the sight of the broad and glittering Pacific
Ocean, and the white towers of the Cathedral of Panama, which are seen
at the distance of about four miles from the city, give the now weary
traveler assurance that his journey will shortly end; and another
hour's toil brings him to the suburbs of the famed