The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-08
ON THE ISTHMUS.
Filthy Condition of Panama-Present Aspect
of the Canal Work.


Correspondence San Francisco Chronicle.
The rainy season showed US what it is like
even before we left Colon, and in transit there
were a number Of most furious showers 1t was
almost as if the time-honcred hyperbole, ''the
rain fell in Sheets had literally true
They followed one another in quick succession
and we were in the midst Of one when we
arrived at the mere platform, covered with an
open shed. which is now used in Panama as the
station. Considering that yon are told by every
one in the country that TO get wet is almost
surely fatal it is not very pleasant or very
hopeful experience to encounter this peril almost
at the outset and to be deposited by the COM
pany under an inadequate shelter. Cab hire Is
the only thing in Panama that IS cheap: Ihere
were dozens of cabs waiting at the station. and
for twenty cents Colombian (about fifteen cents
Americau), each Of us was taken to his hotel,
some three quarters Of mile away. Panama
does not need description. 1t is a quaint, IN,
kempt looking place. which If photographed
could very easily be taken for town in Aigiefs
or Tunis, lacking, of course, any suggestion OF
Mohammedan mosques. The cathedral is i'm pos
ing and picturesque in It's exterior, but dull, bare
and disappointing within The damage to the
facade done by the last great earthquake that
visited Panama has never been repaired The
only endurable part of the town is that which is
grouped Immediately around the grassy plaza IN
front of the cathedral, and even here IN the best
of the streets filth and stagnant pools abound
Panama had a few sewers some hundred years
ago but they have long since been choked up,
and with their abomnable contents are more
fatal to the city than if they had never existed
city of foul odors.
The narrow, rocky point of land on which it
is built has backbone through the middle, and
slopes on both sides and at the end down to the
waters edte. No city was ever better situated
for drainage. There can be no apology for its
not being perfectly drained But even when the
sewers were supposed to perform some part of
their functions very few of the houSeholders
availed themselves Of them. The houses in Pan
ANA which have decently- appointed water-closets
may be numbered or the fingers of one hand.
The private. habits of some Of the native Span
ish American families claiming first rank and
best blood simply too execrable TO be de-
scribed. You would think so if, on some fine
morning when you have taken very early cup
of coffee, you saunter out for a walk on the an
cient rampant and encounter procession of
skinny old hays of the serving class hobbng
along towards the beach with certain capacious
and malodorous vessels on their heads, These
about the only scaveDgerS that Panama
possesses. Their vocation is as old as the city.
l do not think need to explain more fully the
degrading office that they perform. The vessels
are emptied and washed or tho beach, and they
are borne back to the small room set apart for
them In the arlstocratlc mansions But among
the humber inhabita hts even this system of
disposing of dangerously unhealthy matter is
not practiced. The conditions of life outside The
central quarter near the plaza, are too abomin
able for faithful description. In one walk along
the narrow streets you sniff bad smells enough
to displace forever Constantinople in your imag-
nation as the worst known example Of urban
nastiness. The majority of the old
houses are two stories in height. On the
ground floor, in cramped ROOM fire.
Quently lives whole family, with no
light but that which falls through the door open
ing into the street. After what have said about
the lack OF certain conveniences one may Judge
whether he would care to cross the threshold of
such a dwelling These people do not seem to
possess one Of our ideas Of deccncy or shame
The sidewalks of the most important streets fire.
quently bear disgusting evidence of the beStial-
ty of their habits. Going down the final step in
the social scale, in the outskirts of the town,
among the reed huts, matched with palmleaves,
We find the primitive life of the Hottentot, less
his methods of gaining livelihood.
Panama has but one redeGming feature, a GER
tain p!ctUTesQueness due largely to its situation
on of the most beautiful bays in the world
From the decaying Rampant this expanse of
water impresses you with soft sense of its love
Illness, and suggests the Bay of Naples, without
however, possessing anything like the exquisite
shore profile of the latter Still the blue Taboga
to the right and the Pearl islands to the left Of
the broad egress into the mighty Pacific are a
faint but poetic hint of Capri and Ischia From /,
steamer in the bay, Panama awakenS an admira-
ton due wholly to our sense of the picturesque
The deep red roof tiles contrast well with the
low white walls of the houses; tho cathedral
towers are curious and bizzare reminding me Of
some have at Padua, or at some other
place N Italy; the surf breaks gayly at the foot
Of the old brown rampant; Ancon the extinct
volcano, rears its verdant head with abrupt bold
ness Immediately behind the town, as if bent on
0verthrOwing it of a sudden with one old time
shrug OF his mighty shoulders. All around
the shoreward SIDE of the bay there is string
of variously sized mountains and beyond, in the
Glm distance, northwostward some veritable
peaks are monuments of an eruptive era. The
nearat- hand islands of the steamship companies
which inclose what is really the port Of Panama
are pretty and inviting.
70 the west of the city widely opening
estuary constitutes the mouth of the Rio
CIR ande and the southern terminus of the canal,
where the French have been dredging in great
earnest There are number of their
small steam vessels al anchor in the harDor, or
moving about Ike uneasy insects. Observation
confirms the reports that the canal builders have
everywhere spent money unnecessarily in their !
preliminary works Evidence Of this is strewn |
along the whole line from Colon to Panama In !
in no place does the work thus far performed
appear to have taken its Gefnitive form and the |
casual observer is not always clear IN his mind |
as 20 what that definite form will be- drawing |
only his ideas from the visible scratching of the
soil here and there with huge excavating ma |
chimes and the building Of loose establishments |
innocent of masonry along certain parts of the
course of the Chagres But there is no doubt
that the French projectors are very much in
earnest and that they set out intending to ac-
accomplish their tremendous task with as little
sacrifice Of human life as possible
Panama has on its gloomiest look lust now.
am told. In fact, nearly all the foreigners
whom have met seem nervous and expectant
They consume strong liquors like men to whom
the bibulous habit presents itself in the light Of
duty. The advice to the newcomer as to how
he shall live iii order to continue TO live in this
climate varies as much as the temperaments
and physical constitutions Of the counselors do
But there are few who stand this climate
who do not also stand immense amount of
steady tipping, and whatever they preach, this
is their consolation whenever they are
in the least cast down. Deaths from
yellow fever have lately been of
startling frequency. You cannot walk about
the city without finding black bordered funeral
invitations staring you out of countenance at
the street corners, for it is the custom here to
paste them Ut. black boy bearing these
lugubrious documents about to the various
houses is often to be met. If you are resident
of no ~