Fred asked for the famous product of the Isthmus, a member of the orchid family, _Peristera Elata_, known as "Flor del Espiritu Santo," or "Flower of the Holy Spirit." It was pointed out to them, and, at the youth's request, they stopped long enough to gather a few specimens. The youths greatly admired the flower, and when they saw it neither of them wondered at its name nor the reverence with which it is regarded in Central American countries. It has a white blossom resembling the tulip, and in the inside of the blossom is the figure of a dove. It needs no imagination to show the form of the bird; there it rests, with its wings drooping at its sides and its head bent forward so that the bill almost touches the breast; the body of the dove is of a snowy white, while the bill is tipped with red. The flower has a perfume resembling that of the magnolia, and it blooms in the latter part of the summer months. Frank wanted to send home some of the plants, and was told that he could do so with ease, but the bulbs would not live unless they were procured in May or June, when the stalks had been sufficiently developed to produce the flower. It is said that the early Spanish explorers of the Isthmus bowed before this flower and worshipped it, and the reverence that was then developed has never been lost. Down to quite recently it was very difficult to procure specimens of the Espiritu Santo flower, owing to this reverential feeling, and it is only since the colonization of the Isthmus by Americans that the stranger has been able to obtain all he wants. The flower is now cultivated in hot-houses, and has been transported to other tropical countries, where it is successfully grown. [Illustration: GATUN STATION.] Fred called attention to several trees resembling some they had seen in Java and Ceylon, and Frank picked out three or four varieties of mahogany which he could recognize. Occasionally there was a clearing devoted to bananas and other fruits, and at Gatun Station, where the road was close to the bank of the Chagres River, several natives offered the fruits for sale. The old village of Gatun was on the opposite shore of the river, and consisted of a group of huts half concealed by the foliage. In the old days of California travel, before the construction of the railway, the inhabitants of Gatun drove a prosperous trade with the gold-seekers; according to one writer, "eggs were sold for twenty-five cents apiece, and the ground-rent for a hammock was two dollars a night."