The
usual point of departure from the river was at the town of Cruces. A
mule path led from there over the lower spurs of the broken mountain
chain directly to Panama City. But ominous rumors drifted back from
boat to boat: "Cruces . . . mucha colera!" The same dread
disease which was playing so much havoc on the Missouri River and the
Platte now levied its toll on the solid men and their "comfortable"
route to the gold regions.
The
boatmen nosed their canoes into the bank at the town of Gorgona and
refused to go any farther. They had not contracted to run the risk of a
particularly noisome death. The road over the mountains from Gorgona to
Panama City was long and hard, but it was reported to be passable.
Horses and mules for transport were very scarce, and the cost of their
hire correspondingly high. Many of the gold-seekers packed bare
necessities on their backs and set off on foot.
"The
path at the outset was bad enough," wrote one of them, "but as the wood
grew deeper and darker and the tough clay soil held the rains which had
fallen, it became finally a narrow gulley, filled with mud nearly to
our horses' bellies. Descending the steep sides of the hills, they
would step or slide down almost precipitous passes . . .
"The
only sounds in that leafy wilderness were the chattering of monkeys as
they cracked the palm-nuts, and the scream of parrots ...
In the deep ravines, spent mules lay dead, and high above them on the
large boughs the bald vultures waited silently for us to pass.
