I left New York by mail train for Philadelphia, spent a day there,
and then went on to Baltimore and Washington; Congress in session;
called upon some of the members: took the train for Aquia Creek, thence
by rail to Fredericksburg and Richmond; visited a few friends, and
started for Wilmington, North Carolina, all by rail, without any of the
inconveniences of corduroy roads as in former days. The steamer took
us to Charleston; rough night; second cabin filled with negroes going
south, fresh from Virginia plantations; they experienced the horrors of
sea-sickness. Left Charleston the first of January, by steamer Jasper,
outside passage for Savannah, and Georgia Central Railroad to Macon;
passed Sunday, attended divine service there, and continued by rail to
Montgomery, in comfortable cars, where more than once before I had made
the same journey in open wagons, drawn through the mire by six horses;
where the stage could not stand erect; broke the pole at midnight;
up to knees in mud, carrying rails on the shoulder to pry out the
wheels, and borrowing planters’ wagons; carrying lighted pine knots in
hand, in the obscurity of the night; lying before a camp fire, upon a
buffalo skin; and riding upon an iron-bound trunk, over the hind axle,
for one hundred miles. Such, in winter, were Georgia pine-woods roads
for travelling, before the railway was completed. Took steamer Daniel
Pratt at Montgomery, capital of Alabama, for Mobile, receiving cotton
at all the landings. Weather foggy and rainy--made it slippery work.
An animated sight in a dark night (the steamer tied up to some tall
tree on the river bank) is the sliding down of cotton bales from a high
bluff, while camp fires are lighted on the banks, and the five or six
furnace doors on the main deck are thrown open, and the red glare of
light throws its lurid beams upon the gangs of negroes, singing sailor
songs.
An amusing incident once occurred, coming down the river. The excessive
rains had made the roads almost impassable. The boats were anxious
to fill up with cotton freight, until the guards were under water,
and the bales were piled half the height of the smoke stack; and
wherever the eye rested, it was on cotton. This valuable freight could
not be resisted; but the bales lay some distance up a little bayou.
So all hands and a number of passengers started for the point. Each
man mounted a bale and came floating down. I selected a large square
one, and with two poles came paddling along safely; while some of my
neighbors made poor selections, and round went the bales, and they got
a good ducking, to the amusement of the bystanders.
Sunday, attended church in Mobile, and left with steamer J. L. Day for
New Orleans. Among our passengers were Madame Le Vert, of Mobile, and
Miss Fredrika Bremer, the Swedish authoress, who, like myself, were
bound for Cuba. We were laden with cotton, mules, and other freight for
New Orleans. Our steamer grounded at midnight on Cat Island, and was
so belated we could not arrive in time for the departure for Havana,
the next day. I took the ladies under my charge, and escorted them to
the St. Charles hotel, where my friends Mr. Brown (late Consul General
of Turkey) and his wife, whom I had known in Constantinople, were
stopping, with the Turkish Envoy, Amin Bey and suite. Our hotel took
fire on Saturday morning, the 18th, and was consumed in two hours. I
had just breakfasted with the party, stepped out a half hour, when
it was announced that the hotel was on fire. I rushed to the scene,
and ascertained that our friends’ luggage was saved, made an effort
to secure my own, and succeeded in saving the greatest proportion of
it. The conflagration extended to the neighboring church and other
buildings, and was terrific. Madame Le Vert requested me to telegraph
to her husband, and take her to the railway, and she would return home.
Miss Bremer, who fortunately was visiting friends, lost nothing, and
went over to Havana in company with us. Here we found Jenny Lind, to
whom Miss Bremer presented me. She had not seen her since a child, in
Sweden. I had attended her concerts in New York. The steamer Ohio,
Captain Porter, was present, bound for Chagres, and I embarked in
her. The first day, at dinner at the captain’s table, a lady seated
at my right heard my name, and asked if I was the friend of a cousin
of hers, who had stated I was on my way south. I replied that I was,
and was pleased to meet with her, and should be happy if I could be of
service. What was my surprise, when, on going in the ladies’ saloon,
I found her with her nurse and four children, the youngest sixteen
months old, on her way to California; she had missed her friends, a
gentleman and lady, whose boat was detained by ice in the Mississippi,
and could not connect at Havana. She had paid a through passage to San
Francisco, and was in great distress whether to return or proceed. I
was not well myself. I had heard much of the horrors of the Isthmus;
my sympathies were with the party, my reputation as an American was
at stake, for courtesy towards ladies; the regard I entertained for
her friend, induced me to say, “You shall proceed, and I will assume
the responsibility.” With travelling experience, and a knowledge of
Spanish, and such assistance as gentleman passengers could render
throughout, there would be no difficulty. On our arrival in the
roadstead of the dirty, filthy place, with low huts on both sides of
the Chagres river, the sea was rolling in heavily, and we landed with
difficulty. The children were lowered in crockery crates, and, the
infant in my arms, I was suspended in a chair. I procured supplies from
the steamer and purchased some ashore. We were the last to leave the
ship. I chartered a dug-out, or canoe covered with palm-leaf top and
tarpaulin; made my contract in Spanish with some Maracaibo natives to
pole us up the stream as far as Gorgona, the price sixty dollars, half
down, and half on arrival. I would not suffer them to stop at Gatoon,
where the boatmen have their fandangos, but, as we were the last to
leave, I insisted on beating the party and arriving ahead. We kept
straight on and reached los dos Hermanos, and arrived that night at
eleven P.M.; I went ashore and purchased sugar, and strolled
through the small street of the village where they were slung up in
hammocks, half naked. We waited at San Pablo until early break of day;
I kept watch in a sitting posture in the stern of the boat, as I did
not like the looks of the natives. We started in advance of the others;
a beautiful morning after a rainy night in this hot climate; the
scenery lovely; tropical vegetation, foliage of the trees, beautiful
flowers, parrots and other birds of plumage of charming character.
Difficult poling up the rapids; our men were liberally supplied and
stimulated to action, and I was determined to beat the party, in
consequence of their want of politeness in not assisting an unprotected
family. I arrived at Gorgona in advance, made arrangements for four
mules at fourteen dollars each, and three children to be carried on
the shoulders of natives to Panama at ten dollars each; the luggage at
nine cents per pound. We were all mounted and in the act of departure
when the other boats came in sight, and up went the price of mules to
sixteen dollars.
The paths were of the worst possible description--deep ravines worn
down by the tread of animals, and at certain seasons impassable. The
mule of the lady fell, and as I sprang to assist her the branch of a
tree caught me by the neck and made an abrasion; while in the act of
getting her up down came the Irish nurse spraining her wrist; she was
unwilling to re-mount, and declared she was kilt intirely; by great
persuasion I got her on again. Then the children separated in the woods
from the mother, upon the backs of these half-naked dark-skins, and
sadly distressed her. Passing over rugged roads, crossing ravines,
deep gorges, the remains of dead animals and bones of mules lying by
the way, we came to the tents or shanties of supplies; the occupants
looked sepulchral from fever. Piles of empty bottles, were round, and
disappointed Californians were returning. The natives did not want to
go on, but I pushed them up to the work, anxious for my charge, and a
little after sunset entered the gates of the old, desolate-looking city
of Panama, and stopped at a filthy hotel. I was never more rejoiced; I
had left the last from Chagres, and arrived the first at Panama with
all the incumbrance, and the gentlemen voted me a leather medal. The
ship Columbus, Capt. McGowan, was in port. I put the family under his
protection, feeling satisfied then I had done my duty. The town was
infested with gamblers who quarrelled. I heard pistol shots in the room
adjoining mine at four A.M. and presently a negro policeman in
pursuit of some one, pistol in hand, marched through my room, from a
balcony and down the stairs.
The transit of passengers to and from California had already
changed the appearance of the decayed city. The American signs were
a distinguishable feature, and the movements of animals with freight
and passengers, on the arrival of steamers, gave some tokens of life.
I waited for the steamer Panama, Capt. Watkins, which was to stop at
many points on the coast, en route for San Francisco, coasting along
Costa Rica, San Salvador, and Nicaragua, thereby breaking the monotony
of the voyage. We had a passage of seven days to Acapulco, where we
obtained coals, fruits, and such supplies as were necessary. The heat
in the Isthmus was oppressive. Fever cases not numerous, though we
had several on board. It was a relief to get ashore for a day at this
Mexican town, and ramble over the hills looking down upon its beautiful
bowl-formed harbor, surrounded by high volcanic country; I strolled
through the poor bazaars, and under the big tree where the natives were
selling their fruits and wares; it looked neat, clean, and refreshing
in comparison with Panama. A short walk here in an orange grove, with
the sight of a few cocoa-nut trees, is a happy change from a crowded
ship.
The next point was San Blas en route to Tepic; much annoyed with
sand-flies. Stopped next at Mazatlan, a rather pleasant town, pretty
well built; called upon some Spanish Senoritas, who occupied a pretty
house and garden, and regaled us with fruits, accompanied with good
music upon the piano. Dined tolerably well at a French restaurant, at
California prices. Our next landing-place was San Diego. After passing
Cape St. Lucas and the Gulf of California, the Pacific Ocean is no
more entitled to its name. Cold winds and heavy sea, and we suffered
from the effects; all the way up to Mazatlan you could see the upper
deck covered with hammocks and mattresses; I counted fifty persons
stretched upon deck, but afterwards went below; there was scarcely
room for the three hundred and fifty passengers. The Panama fever
disappeared. We were getting short of coals on the passage, and took
in thirty tons at the price of fifty dollars per ton, fifteen hundred
dollars. Were obliged to pay three hundred dollars for three thousand
pounds of potatoes, at ten cents per pound. I strolled up the mountain
which separates the bay from the ocean, and procured wild flowers for
the ladies on shipboard. The hills, covered with low undergrowths of
bushes, reminded me of the heather of Scotland, with an abundance of
quail. The mountain torrents have produced extraordinary formations.
We next entered the harbor of Monterey, California, as the sun rose,
and for the first time descried the mountains of the Sierra Nevada
covered with snow. The contrast between the deep blue water, and the
green woodlands, and verdant lawns in the distance, struck us with
delight in the first rays of morning sun. We reached the harbor of San
Francisco in twenty days from Panama. I was struck with the forest of
masts, which exceeded my expectation. Went ashore in small boats; all
life, bustle, and activity; city growing rapidly beyond all estimate;
stopped at the Union Hotel, a large brick substantial building, the
best hotel in the city. Charges, boat ashore, each two dollars; baggage
porter, two dollars; hotel bill, board, daily seven dollars; wine, five
dollars per bottle; blacking boots, twenty-five cents; refreshments,
fifty cents per glass; cigars, twenty-five cents; washing, five dollars
per dozen. You will perceive they are gold-dust prices.
At the first breakfast a lady passenger sat beside me whose husband was
unwell. I saw a gentleman eating eggs, and ordered a couple; the lady
concluded she would try them also. Presently the servant came with a
card, saying that eggs were extra; of course politeness induced me to
write for four; on inquiring afterwards I was told the price was fifty
cents each; the landlord paid six dollars per dozen to accommodate
travellers, and if any of the eggs were bad it was a dead-loss. A
soirée was given by the boarders, and well attended by gentlemen; the
few ladies in the city were present; a band of music was engaged;
a magnificent supper provided, with fruits, ices, and champagne in
profusion. While the party was engaged in the waltzes I stepped aside
for reflection, and asked myself, “Is it actual or magical, when I am
told where this house now stands two years since were only seen tents;
and that now a large city is rising up where recently were fisher-huts,
and all through the magical power of gold!”
It now appears that my suspicions of the natives on the Chagres river
are verified, for I have learned that a boat’s company of six men, two
women, and two children, who were on their way up with us, and whom
we passed in the night, were murdered while asleep, and their bodies
secreted in the bushes.