cams_WROlden_b011_f010_001_003

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3.

morrow. A considerable portion of the night was occupied by
the free & independent citizens of New Grenada in dancing
fan dan goes – the music is made by a small drum
& the dancing seems to be a parody on the cachucha – the
feet move but little but they wiggle the body & move the arms
in time with the music – On the following morn'g [morning] at an
early hour we got into the canoes & got under way ours contained
four including myself it was about 20 feet long by 5 broad
manned by 3 natives an old man our Padroon [padrone] sat in the
stern & steered two young men who stood in the bow a
puddler or pusher as the water was deep or shoal. –

My party for I had selected them to cross the Isthmus with me
consisted of an Irishman, who by the way of variety for it is
uncommon was a gentleman in every sense of the word
& a very clean fellow the other two were western men whom
we had taken in to fill up the party, they were clever
fellows in their way. – The distance from Chagres to Gorgona
by the river is 42 miles by an air line 18, we had come
17 & had 25 to go yet, we made but slow progress not
averaging 2 miles per hour but at the same time we got the
lead & kept ahead of the others – the water is now at its lowest
stage & in places the current is quite strong – but in no place is
it less than 2½ ft deep in the channel, there is nothing to prevent
the river being navigated by a small light draft steamer during
the lowest water as far as Gorgona – except a few small
snags & one or two rocks which could easily be removed.

We slept that night at a place about six hours from Gorgona
(distance here being measured by time not miles) in a hut by the
river side – the inhabitants of the hut seemed kindly disposed
towards us – we heated water made tea & ate a very hearty
supper upon cheese dried beef & ship head, the remains