Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1851-07-09
LIFE IN TABOGA.

oHu d'tIlUuteu 10 l)r. FRANCIS ONES, WHO
was Tor two years attached as surgeon to
one of the United States mail steamers on
the Pacific. DR.. Tones was one of the first
to witness the development Of the gold fe-
yer on the other side Of the continent, and
his observations ranged over the whole Of
lis most interesting phase. We are encour
aged to hope from these publications in the
Literary World, that the doctor designs to
favor the public with full account of his
rare and valuable experience. We may as
well add lha, Taboga is a little English island
on the Pacific coast not far from Panama,
with bold coast; where, in the absence Of
more perfect accommodations, it was and
still is we believe customary to shore YES
sells for repairs. In the following sketch the
writer describes bis visit, in ques. of some
thing to eat, TO a native, bu. which he finds
hid away in the tamerned grove.
In the distance i, looks not unlike some
huge birds nest, half covered with the leaves,
and The languid native girl swaying in the
hammock, and startled at our approach, sug-
gests to fancy the fu,.ering Of feathers. 1t is
IN fact native cane hut, and the hammock
is swinging gently to the languid movemen.
of a Taboga beauty. We enter, bending
under the low open doorway. pushing aside
the leaves, and doffing our GuayaquiI SON.
brero and u.Iering our benas dias, Senorita,
with the most courtly air at our command.
Alter modest futter and graceful move
men! OF light drapery that drops Ike cur
tain over The full form and rounding limb
that had been wooing the warm air IN unsus-
pected secret dallance, we Ore cour,eously
made welcome. To our question, hay alba
mas cosas para conner and to corner
where there is heaped up an abundance Of
PlantaIns. bananas, mangoes, melons, name
apples, pines, and yellow oranges, fragran,
with their mellow odors, and gushing with
ripeness. AS we look, feas,ing our eyes on
the luscious heap, see monster of the al
liga,or kind, large, black, soft, fleshy thing,
that seems to crawl torpidly abou. the heap;
it has long head, like serpent; its black
skin hangs in loose folds abou, its throat,
looking like the shrivelled neck of an Afri
can hag ; its body is thick and fiaccid the
back is roughed with bony ridge, and the
belly, glis,ening with b Shiny white, falls in
folds abou. its spreading claws, and its viper
tail coils in and on, among the fruit. This,
we are told, is an iguano, and an innocen.
and much priced item Of the larder, and is
uged upon us as delicscy that an Apicius
nigh. smack his lips over. We shudder
out muchas gracias, implying very deci-
ded no, to the offer Of cooking this monster
for our dinner.
Our hos, is notable house-keeper, and
while she is busy making ready our cheer,
we have dropped into her hammock, into
the very mould of her graceful form. As
we swing in the hammock, we sweep the
area Of the whole hut, and examine the bird
cage like structure its sides are made Of
canes placed upright and joined together q,
the top and bottom with cross pieces, fast
ened by cords made Of a native grass the
roof rises in palm-leaf lhatch that asscends
in a central ridge and falls With steep de-.
scent, bringing the caves in a loafy fringe
low down over the sides. The doors and
windows, rudely Gu. out of the cane walls,
open into the green grove. A great red
eariben jar dripping with moisture, filled
with delicious water, always KEEP. cool by
the evaporation through the porous clay of
which it Is made, standing in one corner
with a goodly show Of white calabashes ar
ranged abou. two or three hides stretched
on the bare ground, some palm leaf baskets
! lying near, and the swinging hammock fast
ened to the ridge pole, moving in its breezy
sweep, are all the simple contents of the
palm-,ha,ched hut.
The goodIy housewife, as we look about
US, in the meantime busying herself with
the preparation Of our feast, and although
she labors with notable zeal, all she does
is done with grace of movement and a soft
languid ease, that lighlened all her labor.
! The plan,ans have been thrust into the
orange wood fire, just outside the door in
sigh, of the swinging hammock, and the
dame, as she sits beneath the shade of q
spreading ,amarind, is busy dropping into a
calabash Of rice, into which has been pour
ed the milky juice, shower Of snow white
meat, which she CRATES with shell from
The ripe cocoanut. The mealy plan.ain has
bust its lea!hery jacket, and the rice mIngl-
ed with the mea, and milk Of the cocoanu,
is done to a turn, and we feast; and our
Taboga Hebe pours out for US calabash
bumper Of chca, in which her health and
all eternity to her beauty are OF course feel
ingly pledged. For desert we have no
choice TO make; we take what is offered
from the stores of fruit, and are glu.led with
the sweets of the orange, the melon and the
luscious pine. To crown all, all hail our
good friend, the wide worlds friend, tObac-
CO! We ask for cigar. and our maiden
plies her ready hand. She has a store OF
the finest leaf, Tahoga grown, and culIlng
the choicest from the heaped-up palm Leaf
basket, sits at our feet rolling INTO iorm.--
She spreads the broad moist leaves here,
and there she heaps The fragments, aud with