cam_E_GoldRushLetter_B017_F012_001C

Well about 4 ^1/2 o'clock P.M. we entered
the Walls of Panama and arrived at
Panama and as I entered the gates
I met a Priest or what I know not who
saluted me with a most friendly bow
and smile. The town place has a most
singular appearance which I fear I can
give you but a poor idea of. It is quite
small although some two hundred years old
and is surrounded with a dilapidated stone wall mounting
a few monstrous cannon. The streets are
narrow and the houses I should judge
were built of stone and covered with plaster.
The most of them having a piazza to
the second story. Some old ruins in the
town look as though they had stood
for centuries. The old churches have a
most ancient appearance. They are
almost destitute of furniture and look
bare and empty. The Alters were intended to
be gorgeous and a number of Images
decorate the eides sides. One – the Virgin Mary
I believe – was dressed in a costume resembling
the dress worn by stage dancers of the
present day. Near the eastern gates is
an Alter in the corner or gable end of a
building and here at all hours of the day you may
see the natives going through their devotions.

As my attention was occupied otherwise
I did not devote much time to itemizing
while there. The town is overlooked by a
monstrous hill which I believe was occupied
by the cannon of the enemy when it