and a half from the wharf, while at high tide the top
of the wharf is nearly awash. Later, toward the six-
ties, the railway company arranged the arrival of
trains so that there might be no detention ; passengers
then stepped from the cars to the tender, and were
soon on board the steamer. This arrangement was
adopted in consequence of the riots which broke out
on the 15th of April, 1856-, during which the negroes
of the arrabal assailed 250 or 300 passengers from the
steamship Illinois, while they were procuring their
tickets at the Panama depot, a number of persons
on both sides being killed or wounded. Much prop-
erty was also plundered by the rabble. To avert a
recurrence of such scenes, passengers to and from
California in future traversed the Isthmus without
detention. Usually some time elapsed after the pas-
sengers were settled in their rooms before the sailing
of the steamer, as the baggage, fast freight, and mails
came aft* r the passengers, so that there was time to
enjoy another view of the surroundings, under that
sense of satisfaction and rest which always attended
the establishing of one's self in the new quarter.
There is now no more change; the horrors of the
Isthmus are past; a fortnight's home is found, and
the traveller feels almost at the end of his journey.
Much pleasanter on the Pacific is the voyage usually than on the Atlantic. As I have said, the steamers are larger and more comfortable. The temper of the passengers, like the Pacific, is smoother. In one re- spect it seems almost like beginning the journey anew, this reembarkation at Panama, there is such a general shaking up and repartitioning that one wonders where: so many new faces came from.
Lounging inert and listless under the awning on the upper deck, with the bay spread out before you in all its glorious beauties like a breathing panorama, with the everg^reen isles rising^ from the mirror-like surface of the water, and the old-time city in the distance, the authoritative hill of Ancon marking the
