The river was full of alligators, so the bathing was dangerous, and the whole country was about fit for its inhabitants, which were snakes, alligators, monkeys, parrots and lazy negroes.

It could not have been more filthy if the dregs of the whole earth had been dumped here, and cholera and yellow fever were easy for a decent man to catch.
My companion and I went out on the beach a mile or two to get the salt water breeze, and leave the stinking malaria for those who chose to stay in the hot, suffocating village, and here we would stay until nearly night.

Across a small neck of water was what was called a fort.

It could hardly be seen it was so covered with moss and vines, but near the top could be seen something that looked like old walls.

There was no sign of life about it, and I should judge it was built at some very early day.
Surely there was nothing here to protect, for the whole country did not seem able to support even a few barefooted soldiers.
Some men who wandered along up the river bank, following a path, said they had seen some dead human bodies thrown into the swamp and left, probably because it was easier than putting them under ground.
For a bedroom I hired a little platform which a store keeper had placed before his store, where I slept, and paid a dollar for the privilege.
Some one walked around near me all night, and I dared not close more than one eye at a time for fear of losing a little bag of gold dust.
This little bag of gold was getting to be a great burden to me in this sickly climate, and the vigilant guard I had to keep over so small a treasure was very tiresome.
The second night no steamer came, but on the third morning the steamer was riding at anchor three or four miles out, and soon after a ship came in from the Atlantic end of the Nicaragua route with one thousand passengers, there being no steamer there for them to take a passage home on, and so they had to come here for a start.