CHAPTER VII.

RETURN HOME BY WAY OF THE ISTHMUS

SAN FRANCISCO--SAN DIEGO--"WONDERS OF THE DEEP"--ACAPULCO--TERRIBLE STORM--PANAMA--CROSSING THE ISTHMUS--FROM ASPINWALL TO NEW YORK--HOME.

FTER remaining on the coast for two years, we left for our home in the States. We took passage on a steamboat at Sacramento City, passed down the Sacramento River to San Francisco, reaching this city late at night. At that time San Francisco was a gay and lively city. Extensive eating-houses, immense saloons and gambling houses, splendidly illuminated, gorgeously decorated and furnished with bands of the finest music, regaled the visitor at all hours of the day and night. Some of these gambling-halls were one hundred and fifty feet long and fifty feet wide. On one side was a bar, where liquors of all kinds were dealt out to suit the tastes of the various customers. On the other side, and down through the center of the room, were rows of small tables. Each table was a "monte," or "faro-bank," on which gold and silver were piled, in some instances to the amount of many thousand dollars.
     Around each table men were gathered, betting

against the banker or proprietor of the table, the proprietor always coming out ahead; the miner from the mountains almost invariably being fleeced of his hard-earned "dust." At one end of the hall was a platform, on which sat a band of well-skilled musicians. The doors of these attractive buildings were wide open, night and day, and everybody was made welcome. The "click, click," of the glasses at the bar, the "chink, chink, chink," of the gold and silver on the tables; the music by the band on the rostrum, furnished a strange medley, the effect of which was very exciting.
     In these places fortunes were won and fortunes lost in a few hours. Here many rejoiced over their spoils, while others wept over the loss of all they had. Here, too, many a bloody encounter ensued. The gamblers generally went armed to the teeth, and if a dishonest trick was discovered, bowie-knives and revolvers were the arbiters One or the other fell from the deadly weapon, and was borne away a lifeless corpse; but the music and drinking and gambling went on, as though nothing unusual had transpired.
     At that time a large portion of the city was built on piles in the bay, and there was no filling under the streets or houses. In many places holes were found in the street large enough to let a man through, and I have no doubt that

many a poor man went down through these openings never again to be seen alive. Many who went to the Pacific Coast in quest of gold, and were never again heard from by their friends, without doubt found watery graves under the houses and streets of San Francisco. I shall always believe that my brother and I came very near losing our lives while there. I shudder when I think of the night we spent in that wicked city nearly forty years ago. No finer place in the world was ever afforded murderers for their victims than beneath the streets and houses of San Francisco at that time.
     The next day after reaching the city, we took passage on the steamship Northerner. We left the harbor, passed out through the "Golden Gate," and, with our vessel headed to the south, rejoiced at the prospect of soon meeting loved ones at home. We had not been out very long until it seemed to me that "Pacific" was a misnomer. The sea was tremendously rough. I said to myself that it ought to have been named "Terrific" and not "Pacific."
     The first port we entered after leaving San Francisco was San Diego, a small Mexican town some four hundred miles southeast of San Francisco, and about fifteen miles north of the Mexican border. No sooner had our ship dropped anchor in the beautiful bay than swarms of Mexican

men and boys gathered around the vessel in the water, ready to perform the most wonderful feats of diving for a consideration. The passengers threw dimes and quarters into the water, to see the natives dive and bring them up. A dime or a quarter of a dollar thrown into the water was never lost, but was invariably brought to the surface by the expert diver. The boys seemed as much at borne in the water as any fish ever was in its native element. It was really amazing to see how deep one would go down, and how long he would remain under the water, in order to obtain the coveted silver prize. And then when he came to the surface, with a grin of triumph on his face, he would shake his head and rattle the silver against his teeth in his mouth. North San Diego, a small hamlet four miles north of this, was the first place settled by white men in California. The Jesuits first settled here, and founded a mission, in 1768. The climate of this region has always been remarkably salubrious, and many for years have visited it as a health resort. This little, insignificant Mexican town has grown to be one of the lovely cities of the Pacific Coast. Our ship remained here only long enough to take in a supply of coal, when she weighed anchor and made for the open sea.
     David speaks of "God's wonders in the deep." We had not been out on the ocean very long
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when we were pemitted to see some of these wonders. Soon after leaving San Diego, we ran into a school of porpoises. To one unaccustomed to the sea, a school of porpoises is a great curiosity. The porpoise is about six feet long, bluish-black color on the back, similar to the color of a cat-fish, and white beneath. They are very active, and live in schools or flocks, and are frequently seen swimming and playing about vessels, running races with them, and leaping many feet out of the water. The porpoise has been called by some the "sea-fish;" by others the "sea-hog", It looks like a hog, and roots in the sand like a hog, hence the name. It seems to me that "sea-swine" is the most appropriate name that could possibly be given to the porpoise. Nothing I ever saw in my life reminded me more of a drove of swine than the school of porpoises we first saw at sea. They were swmming in front of the ship, and were leaping out of the water from one to six feet high as they scud before the vessel like a drove of frightened swine. Ever and anon we struck a shoal of these "wonders of the deep," both on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
     We saw, too, a number of whales. Mighty monsters they are; the largest of all living animals.
     The next port we entered was Acapulco. This

also was a small Mexican town, of only a few inhabitants. Here, as at San Diego, swarms of Mexican men and boys gathered around, our vessel, anxious to exhibit their aquatic skill. Acapulco is one hundred and eighty miles southwest of the city of Mexico, and at one time was a port of considerable importance, as it was the focus of the trade from China and the East Indies. After taking in a supply of coal, our vessel again headed for Panama. Soon after leaving this port we encountered the most terrible storm we ever witnessed; it was awful, beyond all description. Late in the afternoon it was evident that a storm was coming. The waves of the ocean continued to rise higher and higher. They were perfectly smooth, but appeared more and more fearful as they increased. On and on they came--mighty mountains of water. Each one rising higher than the one preceding it. At one moment we were on the crest of one of these billows, the next we were in the trough far below, and in front and rear rose mountains of water, seemingly hundreds of feet high. The old ship creaked and groaned and labored as she climbed up and down these stupendous waves. The scene was grand but awful. Such a scene one does not care to witness more than ones in a life-time. The officers knew well that danger was ahead. The deck was cleared, the sails reefed

and everything put in order. As the darkness of the night settled down upon us, the storm in all its fury broke upon the ship. Wave after wave rolled over the vessel. One of the wheel-houses was washed away, all the cattle on board were swept into the sea, and in twenty-four hours afterwards the ship came out of the storm badly disabled. During the raging of the storm children cried, women shrieked, and men turned pale and trembled with fear. One man said: "I have seven thousand dollars. I will give it to any one who will save my life." Another man, frantic with fear, cried out: "I would gladly give every dollar I have if I were only on land again." Satan once said to God with regard to Job: "All that a man hath will he give for his life." Once, if never before, Satan told the truth. This truth we saw illustrated on shipboard in this terrible storm.
     I have often thought it strange that men are willing to give so much for the body and so little for the soul. If a man is willing to give all he has for the body, what should he not be willing to give for perfect happiness here and eternal glory hereafter?
     After twenty days' sail, our steamer dropped anchor in the gulf,. about two miles from Panama. In a few moments a hundred small boats or more surrounded the ship, ready to take passengers and baggage ashore. We hired one of these

boats, and in an hour afterwards stepped on the rocky peninsula on which stands the city of Panama. This city was founded, by Davila, in 1518, six miles northeast of its present location. After its destruction by the buccaneers, in 1670, it was rebuilt upon its present site. The houses were mostly of stone; the streets very narrow and irregular. The porches and roofs of many of the buildings were moss-covered, and looked as though they had been standing for ages. Many of them were more than a hundred and fifty years old. From here we crossed to Aspinwall, a distance of some sixty miles. The first twenty miles we traveled on foot, leaving Panama early in the morning, and reaching Chagres River near sundown. It was the hardest day's work we ever did. We were compelled to walk, because we could not hire a mule for love or money. All had been engaged before we were aware of their scarcity. The rain fell in torrents nearly all day. The road was narrow, barely wide enough for two mules to pass each other. More than a hundred years previous to the time we crossed, this road had been paved by the Spaniards for military purposes, and at one time it was smooth, beautiful, and easily traveled. But the pavement of this once beautiful road was broken to pieces, and it was in a much worse condition than if the pavement had never been there. That

day we stood upon the same mountain summit that Balboa's feet pressed when he discovered. the Pacific Ocean. Three hundred and thirty-nine years before, Balboa gazed with delight for the first time upon the beautiful Western Ocean.
     We reached the Chagres River about sundown, and found a good hotel, kept by an American. Our clothes were drenched through and through, and there was not a dry thread about us. We ate a hearty supper, went to bed in our wet and clay-besmeared clothes;, and slept soundly till morning. The next day we took a small boat, descended the river until we struck the railroad, which was then building across the Isthmus.
     The people of the Isthmus were a mongrel race. They were a mixture of the white, the red, and the black. In the same family might be found persons of almost every color. Some almost white, some of a dark hue, and some as black as tar. All smoked. The use of tobacco was as common among them as the use of bread is with us. Almost every one you met had a cigar in the mouth; little boys and girls not more than two years old were running around, puffing away like little steam-engines. The women while engaged in culinary work, smoked their cigars, and the men, no matter what their employment, did the same. The children were all stark naked;

many of the men and women were only half clad, and all were repulsive in the extreme.
     Having reached the railroad, we bought our tickets, and took seats in one of the coaches. This was the first engine and train of cars we had ever seen. We said as, we took our seats: "This is splendid; perfectly lovely!" The train moved off from the depot slowly and smoothly, and glided along very nicely for a few miles, when a heavy grade was reached; up this grade the train went slower and slower, and finally came to a dead halt. Then the engineer backed the train for a mile, and, putting on all the steam possible, started; but as soon as the train struck the grade she slackened her speed, and at length stood stock still again. Again the engineer backed the train, and, putting on all steam he could, once more started, and stuck fast a third time. Then the passengers all got out, put their shoulders to the coaches, and boosted the train over the grade. Our impression of a railroad was not so favorable as when we started. We were paying fifty cents a mile and working our passage. It was a little like sailing before the mast after having paid full fare. The engine was small, the grade heavy, and the engineer green. The summit passed, we got in, and in a little while reached Colon, then called Aspinwall. This town was then two years old, and had about two hundred

inhabitants. It was founded by the railroad company in 1850. Here we took the steamship Illinois, and, after ten days' sail, reached the city of New York. From here, we took the cars, and in three days reached South Bend, our old home, and greeted mother and other loved ones from whom we had been separated for two and a half years.