Such is the character of the Gorgona road to Panama. With regard to the Crucis road, we may observe that it is a common practice, for most of those who take the Gorgona road in going to Panama, on their return, to take the Crucis road, no doubt hoping that the difficulties and toil to be encountered are less than those they know are to be met with upon the other. The following account of a return journey by way of the Crucis road, with the full character of the route, is given in the journal of a returned adventurer. "I had passed three days in Panama; and, feeling desirous of continuing my journey, I had no sooner concluded this arrangement, than I got my mule saddled, and my box and carpet-bag packed in the regular Isthmus fashion. The mule I obtained, like most of his fellows, was little better than a mere skeleton; but still it was the best I could procure, and I was fain to content myself with it. Some of my friends endeavored to persuade me that it was better to proceed on foot; but I knew the muddy and stony nature of the road, and thought it infinitely more comfortable to ride a slow animal than subject myself to the sufferings that I must experience from these inconveniences. "The negro, I had hired, brought to my hotel a long frame of bamboo, with a sort of basket at the end, into which he crammed my luggage. This frame had two straps fastened to the upper part of it, through one of which he slipped his arm, whilst he passed the other over his left shoulder, and attached it under the latter to the frame which was now on his back. This contrivance not only effectually secures the load in its place, but protects the shoulders of the bearer from the continual friction they would otherwise undergo. "A large party had preceded me; but I felt no anxiety to overtake it, as there was little or no danger of my encountering violence on the route. I was armed with a good revolving pistol, in the event of any thing of the sort presenting itself; so that, all things considered, I was just as well pleased to be left to my own society.