We are still at Lima; but an American steamer has lately arrived, and if it is possible to manage it comfortably, I think of taking a passage in her to Panama, as the sooner we cross the isthmus on our way to Jamaica now (before the roads are utterly turned to swamps and morasses) the better. The rainy season has doubtless set in, but in the beginning it is comparatively easy to effect the transit.

This American vessel is a river steamer. She has come here from New York, through the Straits of Magellan, after losing almost her whole crew at Rio Janeiro of yellow fever: fifteen men belonging to the steamer died there, and the Captain is still ill from the effects of the severe attack he had of that dreadful disorder. In some instances, it is stated, merchant vessels were left without a single man on board. It began among the shipping, and for a long time did not make its appearance on shore; but at length it burst forth there also, and spread with awful violence.

Mr. Yates has most obligingly volunteered to arrange about our passage to Panama, if the accommodations on board the ‘New World’ are sufficiently comfortable. I have consulted an eminent English medical gentleman here as to there being any danger of infection on board the steamer, and he positively assures me there is not the smallest cause for any apprehension.