land was made by filling in as occasion required. The
result in this soft soil of filth and vegetable putridity
may be hnagined. The very ground on which one
trod was pregnant with disease, and death was dis-
tilled in every breath of air. The rain-fall at Aspin-
wall is very heavy. During the rainy season, which is
from May to January, the windows of heaven are
opened, and in October and November there is a
quick succession of deluges. Glued furniture falls in
pieces ; leather moulds, and iron oxidizes in twenty-
four hours.
Quite a contrast between the old and the new ! In making the transit by rail, the day before reaching Aspinwall every one descended into the hold of the steamer, either in person or by proxy, selected his baggage, had it weighed and checked, and paid ten cents a pound for all over fifty pounds if a holder of a steerage ticket, and all over one hundred pounds if a holder of a cabin ticket. BaCTcrao-e was then trans- ferred to the steamer on the other side without fur- ther trouble to the owner. No sooner was the plank out than the closely penned passengers, with a rush, squeezed and stampeded — the American style of dis- embarking— hastened ashore, scattered themselves among the hotels, shops, and fruit venders, and were soon lost in present gratification of appetite, and in laying in a store of comforts and disease for the future. The pleasure of placing foot on shore after a long voyage, even though it be the soft spongy shore of Aspinwall, is exquisite. To a cramped sea-rolled landsman any spot of earth looks lovely, especially when viewed from the sea. To tread on solid ground, and feel mother earth beneath your feet again, seems like a return from supernatural regions. Thus to land and thus to cross the Isthmus is a pleasant change from the tiresome life on board the steamers. Railway passengers wish the ride was longer, wish they could so ride all the way to San Francisco. Seated by an open window, the face fanned by the
