Theodore Winthrop

“ We soon overtook the cattle crowded in the narrow space between the hills and the sea-shore, hurrying along, goaded by the herdsmen; as a little larger wave would plash more heavily on the sand, the whole black mass would sway tumultuously away like a crowd of men in a panic. ”

“ On these noble plains, one pest of the tropics, the insects that infest the forests, are removed.
Now commenced the real difficulty of the journey. Our road was a mountain path over a succession of rocky ridges, where the rains had washed away everything except great boulders, over which the unshod feet of Bungo, accustomed only to a carpet of turf, were to clamber. A broad path was kept clear through the impenetrable forest. Wonderful views opened, from time to time, over the sea and the islands. ”

“ Then we turned off to the little village of San Carlos, to wait until another fall of tide should allow us to pass the remainder of the beach at night. Some large herds of cattle and swine were already encamped for the same purpose; as the darkness came on, their herdsmen surrounded them with a circle of watch-fires. ”

“ Their easy apathy in delays and difficulties was an example in practice of the perfect and sublime nonchalance necessary to the man who will roll through the world teres atque rotundus, gathering none of the moss of local prejudice, nor fixing his countenance into a stare of gazing wonderment at new developments of human vanity, such as he has seen at home. It is charming to discover, from actual experience, that women are fair and women are false, that men are wise and men are fools everywhere ”

“ When you have nothing else to do in the tropics, you can always eat an orange; but we were not reduced to this of necessity. The nearness of the serrated mountains, with their supporting ridges sloping off to the plain, gave a grandeur to the view. ”

“ It is no easy thing to climb a stalk as smooth as a liberty-pole of eighty feet, but a young athlete of the village, stripping and tying his feet together around the trunk, worked himself up and supplied me with occupation in imbibing milk and scraping the cream. ”

“ José Dimas plodded steadily along, travelling much more rapidly over the stones and through the deep mud than my horse could do. This was the Camerio Real, and, like royalty in America, it was in decay. I endeavored to indoctrinate José with a respect for internal improvements, should he ever be a man in power. ”

“ The women, like the men, are short and stout, none handsome, but with good, trusty faces. In the morning the alcaldes of all the villages appeared, marching down to pay their taxes, and be blessed by Padre Grimaldo. ”

“ The Funcion Penonomé, from its situation near the mountains, is recognized as head-quarters by the Indians of the interior, who, though retaining their own independent life, and inhabiting their own pueblos, come down once or twice a year, on the great festive occasions of the Church, to confess and pay their nominal taxes. ”

“ These Indians have short, dumpy, but athletic figures, and clear, dark complexions, very black, straight hair, shaved short behind and on the top of the head, hanging in long elf-locks at the side, with a narrow coronet, or stiff wig, above the forehead. Their heads are very long and narrow ”