Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1852-03-18
PanaMA a.

, Il
date: "
Panama is, with one exception, the mean.
est, dirtiest, most disagreeable, and most a.
bominable place | ever visited, and | have
travelled considerably. The exception re-
fer to is Gorgona, on the Chagres river. Cha
gres, mean and contemplate as it is, is par.
adise compared to either. Provisions of ev.
cry kind are eYtravagantly dear; the water
is bad and scarce. The hotel Accommodations
are of the most miserable description imagi-
nable, and there is no society of any bearable
kind The natives are God-forsaken crew,
who know nothing and care for nothing
Their highest ambition is only play monte
with the few dimes they beg or earn by car
rying a travellers trunk, or fetching jug
of water from neighboring stream. took
walk this morning to the markett (savethe
mark and made a note of the manner in
which business is transacted there. 1t is an
open space, bearing the dignifed name of pla-
"a outside the walls; Panama being, as you
are aware, a fortified and walled city. There
were scattered, sitting on the ground, about
four hundred natives, some of them copper
colored and some of them are as black as the
ace of spades. Each having before him OF
her, on wooden platter commodities for sale.
Some had meat, some eggs, some yams, some
pig's feet, with hair on, some roots of various
kinds, including potatoes; others had oysters,
spread on leaf in parcels of dozen, and
such oysters others had beef and pork, cut
up into chunks of about three ounces weight,
and others had other things All the ven
ders of these delicacies were as dirty as a
/ tropical climate, dusty road in the vicinity
and a religious abstinence from washing,
could make them. To be sure, dozen or
so of them apparently made an attempt to
look spruce, in order to tickle the Ameri-
canos." Their big feet were encased with
white satin slippers: but the butt of cigar,
stuck IN the braids of their wool, or behind
the ear as clerks sometimes carry their pens,
| together with their filthy dresses, showed con-
clusively that they fell far short ofbeing neat
in their appearance. Let no person, whose
stomach is not as strong as that of an ostrich,
visit the market of Panama, or he will surely
Die of starvation. The meat is actually dis
gusting. If not cut up into pieces it is into
strings; and you can purchase either as you
please, guessing the weight of the former by
balacing it in your hand, or the latter by the
yard. -Four pieces or a yard of beef is enouh
for small family. am within bounds when
| say, that each piece of beef and pork is han
died and weighed by at least two thousand
persons, with hands not over clean, before the
delicious morsel reaches the cuisine of the
lucky purchaser. In addition to this, the
meat is nasty, from the manner in which it is
killed. Tell it not in Washington market !;
publish it not, that the natives of the Isthmus
of Panama kill their hogs by pouring boiling
water into their ears, until the unfortunate
animal gives up the ghost under the inhu-
rnanity. As soon as it is dead, the bristles
are sawed off with knife, the fat is separa-
ted from the lean, and both cut into "chunks,' ~
and sold in the manner | have mentioned. =
Beef cattle are slaughtered in manner e.
qua!ly novel and ingenious. The animal is
chased into an open space; as soon as he
reaches it, the scientific butcher hurls at his
head a heavy stone. If the blow fails to stu
pity him, he roars in his agony, SO loud
that the noise can be heard distance of two
miles, and he attempts to make his escape
The lasso then comes in play, and after
chase the animal is caught by the horns.-
Stones are again hurled at his doomed head,
and the slaughter commences. When killed,
the carcass is cut into pieces as strings, with
out reference to anatomy, and with dexter
terity that would give New York butcher
a fit of epilepsy. a chunk is cut from the
leg, another from the ribs, one from the neck,
and so on, until the beast is in mince-meat
1t is then brought to market. If cut into
strings, the butcher commences at the leg
and proceeds to the head; thence down again
and up again, SO that if you are very hungry
or wish TO lay in provisions for a voyage, you
can purchase hundred yards of beef in one
string. Although the soil and climate are
favorable in the highest degree to vegetation,
there is great scarcity ofvegetables in Pan
anna. In fact, good potatoes cannot be had,
and as for salad, celery, and such things, they
are not to be procured for love or money
Three diminitive potatoes sell for half
dime, eggs sell five for two dimes yam
is worth dime, and small outra looking to-
natoes cost a dime each. A common meal
cannot be obtained for less than a dollar.
cannot imagine bow the poor people eontrlse
to live. You may well suppose that poor en-