The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-03-27

nign, ana the most e~Xorbftant prices
preyailfor everything needed. From So
to VA per dozen is demanded for wash
ing, in addition to which you mustpay
extra for the soap used in the process.
american white cut sugar brings 80
cents per pound. California flour $l4
per hundred-weight, fresh beef 80
cents per pound, potatoes 20 cents per
pound and hard to get, cabbage from
Callao 70 cents per head. Plantain is
the only vegetable cultivated, but
tropical fruits abound.
1.-The natives live in bamboo huts,
and their dress is of the Adamite pc
Rod. Notwithstanding the country
abounds in the most valuable species
OF hardwood forests, the houses in
which the representative people live, are
erected OF pine from the forests of Cal
itornia. To give an idea of the size of
some OF the trees in these magnificent
forests, there are canoes in the harbors
seventy feet long, six feet wide, and
four feet deep, dug out of a single
tree. ] have seven steers transported
in n of them from the shore to q
steamer in the harbor.
"The people have little religion in
them. Sunday is almost unknown, or
at least it is regarded as the best day
for fandangos and orgies of a ques-
tionable character. A priest occasion
ally calls, but an effort for several
years past to build a chapel has only
been rewarded with the erection of the
frame.
''The United States of Colombia has
an army of about five thousand sol
diers, who up to the last annual cele-
bration of their independence were a
shoeless lot of ragamuffins. They got
new suits on that occasion. The
steamer Colombia comprises the navy
on the Pacific coast. The absence of
any rules or regulations for the gov
eminent of a s~hip-of-war in commits
sion gave me many trials with my
crew. They left whenever they
pleased, and | had no redress in claim
ing them. The national government
is almost bankrupt, and because it
could not pay for coal my vessel did
most of her cruising at anchor"
Referring to the Panama canal,
which Capt. Letournau paid attention
to on the trip across the isthmus, he
said: 1.-THE canal is progressing very
slowly. 1t is in sight of the railroad
nearly all the way between Panama
and Aspinwall. Villages are scattered
along the different sections, made up
of the habitation of the workmen, of
which there are about 1000. Work
on the Panama end had just begun on
the arrival of the dredging and other
machinery, and the operations on that
side will be confined to the deepening
of a river on which the canal is to en-
ter from the interior. A few feet has
been taken off in places along the ca
nal in the interior, but at Aspinwall
improvement is noticeable. A break
water halt a mile long has been built
to protect the entrance to the canal
and afford a safe harbor for vessels
waiting. A handsome town has
sprung up on the breakwater, COM
prising two streets of cottages erected
after the American style and orna-
mented with double rows of cocanut
trees down each street. The rock ta-
ken from the excavations has been
used in macadamizing the muddy
streets of Aspinwall is famous, breed
ing death and pestilence, are being
filed up, and the sanitary prospect is
very cheering to those whose lives are
spent in that home of chills and
Chagres. On the Aspinwall end the
canal has pierced the country about
three miles, and is about one-third the
width intended. AT present it has
about six feet of water in it. The ar
rivals of lumber from America for the
canal are immense. baltimore sam.