What I saw on the west coast of South and North America, and at the Hawaiian Islands.: By H. Willis Baxley, M.D.

VOYAGE FROM NEW YORK TO ASPINWALL.
not be envied by the just and noble, who finds his resemblance
in the voracious dolphin, or in the mean and ungenerous seahawk.
The lofty headlands of the Province of Porto Bello, in the
Republic of New Granada, are in sight. The lifting up, or flitting by of clouds in the distance, revealing hills and valleys beneath or beyond, clad in verdure and constantly developing
some new and lovely combination of light and shade, is so fair
to look on, so refreshing to the water-wearied eye, so typical of
the brief and changeful visions of happiness sometimes coming
to us in dreams, when the darker curtain of care is drawn aside,
and the liberated imagination looks out on the beautiful scenes
of its own creation, that I must cheat you of these moments, and
regale the eye and cheer the spirit with these exquisite dissolving
views of nature. Such they seem; for, as we flit past them, so
rapid is the change of the picture, that ere we can say " look,
look, how beautiful!-'tis gone."
Aspinwall was reached in a little over eight days from New
York-distance two thousand miles-and too late to make the
railroad connection with Panama; hence we must stay all night
in this miserable abortion of a town, which is destitute of comfortable accommodations, but affords an undoubted chance of
our imbibing a sufficient quantity of malarious poison to produce yellow fever, a malignant type of which has been prevailing here for some weeks. The voyage was formerly made in less
time, and could be now in perfect safety, and with great economy of time to travellers, but for the parsimony of the monopolist
of this end of the California steamer route.
Aspinwall cannot be surpassed for filth, nuisance, and noxious effiuvia. The houses-mostly shanties of deal boards-are
built on piles in the midst of a marsh, with the railroad similarly
supported, and filled between the cross-ties with earth brought
from a distance, forming the main street, a few alleys crossing
these at right angles, being nothing but bog pathways, with logs
or planks to keep the pedestrian from premature interment, or
submersion. The water-lots (there are no yards) are covered
with green, offensive, and poisonous scum, oozing up between
the flooring of the lower stories; and everywhere, in and around,
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