Chagres, is its comparison with the river Styx, and you can form a slight conception of the defile between this and Cruces by its comparison with purgatory, as described by an illiterate and boisterous parson; and you can appreciate the loveliness of this Castilian female, by fancying that she is the very prototype of the unearthly Cleopatra, the accomplished and captivating queen of ancient Egypt, who was familiar with all the dialects of the East (thirty in number), whose glowing eloquence and brilliant eye, and majestic form, and perfect symmetry of mind and body and feature, only could have allured the eloquent, rich, and noble Anthony from his ambition of military glory and his love of his native country. The Cathedral is dingy and very gloomy. All the bells are cracked, and their doleful tones thrill the senses. I saw the leading priest to-day, who seems very old and infirm. In front of the Cathedral, are the Twelve Apostles, with the Saviour. The spires are adorned with pearls, with which the coast abounds. I have visited the temples, jails, walls, churches, old governors’ palaces and trenches, and my heart was filled with pensive emotions, as I gazed on these crumbling ruins of other generations. The best idea I can give about this place, is its comparison with New York, after the great fires of 1835 and ’46. The tortures and mode of life here are very peculiar. I slept on a bare cot, and with only one sheet over me—sweat like blazes. The meats and cooking are extremely novel. Lizzards, spiders, musquitoes, galinippers and ants, crawl around and over me, and often penetrate the ears and nose. Some lizzards gathered around my head the other night and awoke me, which I scattered very quick. I think they were preparing to play some trick on me, and perhaps even contemplated the decapitation of my beloved proboscis, as one of the rascals was smelling around my nostrils when I suddenly awoke. I hate lizzards, but I can stand spiders and alligators, and the other animalculae of the country tolerably well. A girl only ten years of age was married to-day. This seems incredible, but you may repose implicit confidence in its truth. Females mature more rapidly here than in any other part of the earth. At eight and nine there is often every indication of puberty. I saw the young “lady” of ten, who was married to-day. I was utterly astonished at her prodigious maturity. She was extremely beautiful, and her glances were bewitching, and she seemed very devoted to her young and enthusiastic lover. It rains or pours in these latitudes ten months in the year, which the natives call the wet season. The other two months are called the dry season, when it only rains about twelve times a day. The lightning is sometimes incessant, and the thunder is terrific and makes the alligators look glassy about the eye. We had a shock of an earthquake last night which lasted some seconds. It created quite a