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[upper right corner]
9.

The grass has a coarse look to me but I expect it is
nutritious these farms are considered small having only
5 or 6 hundred acres head on each of them. There are
some 15 or 20 miles from here have as many as three
thousand – the cattle are medium size & universaly [universally] of a
dark cream color with their sides nearly black they are far
superior to the horses in size & strength the Bulls are used
for transporting baggage from Gorgona here one of them has
carried 2 whisky [whiskey] barrels at one time about three loads for
one of their best horses – Old Panama presents very much
the appearance of one of the cities Stephens has described. The
ruins are filled with trees of a hundred years growth – the
town was burnt three times by the Buccaneers & finally
deserted by the inhabitants who built new Panama some of
the buildings are in excellent preservation – one large square
tower 4 stories high built of hewn stone walls 6 feet thick is
in far better preservation than any thing in New Panama the
wood work is almost gone but the walls are almost perfect
it was surrounded by walls & battlements part of which are
still standing, enough to show what they were – we explored
a considerable portion of the ruins & what we found
repaid us for our journey – all the buildings were massive
in their structure far more so than in the present city.

The timber with the under growth of vines & bushes so dense
that it was with difficulty we could force our way after
satisfying our curiosity we lunched in a cool shady place
on the sea beach & returned home – I saw a magnificent