The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-12-09
ISTHMUS OF PANAMA.
On the Western Shore of Costa
Rica.
THE PACIFIC A SAD MISNOMER
The Harbors-LandingU Under Diff
culties-Trafic TO Europe-Fever-
Haunted Swamps-PrOducts.

Cry OF PANAMA, November %, 1888.
correspondence of The
HERALD. BY consulting a map of
Central America you will see that Gulf
Nicoya (of which Punta Arenas is the
port) is on the western shore of Costa
RIGA, tucked up snugly under the wing
of projecting reef. just above Guste-
malls capital, San Jose, whose next
door neighbor. southwark sailing oyer
some leagues Of tossing see, is Panama.
The voyager along these western
coasts feels in
THE DEPTHS OF HIS SOUL
or rather his stomach, that the name
Pacific has been misapplled. Especially
is this true if he comes down from San
Francisco on one of the many small
coasters Gas has become quite the
fashion of late,) and most welcome
relief is experienced when the long
rolling, nausea-provoking pillows OF the
open sea give place to the little white
capped hillocks of breezy Nicoys. And
the view is equally gratifying to eyes
wearied with the sight of water, water,
everywhere" On the right of the small
gulf, standing as q watchtoWer guard
ing the entrance, is the grim volcano
Herrandura, with the dun-colored
islands of Cano sleeping in its shadow;
while on the left Cape Blanco-the
eastern pier of this great gateway
glimmers IN the mist and as the morn
Tag vapors melt away, loftier noun
talns come into view farther up the
Gulf
Nearing the coast, clusters OF small
islands suddenly appear, as if just
arisen from the deep
ALL FLAT, BARREN, BROWN AND sCRUBBY.
but whose foundations are laid in coral
and pearl. The wind blowing from
shoreward grows perceptibly warmer,
and the sea-now .hronged with life
throbs and whispers beneath the keel.
All manner of craft literally cover the
water, and from a forest of flagstafs
droop the cOlors of all countries. There
are French flags. German flags, Eng
lish, Spanish and Russian flags, the
dear, familiar Stars and Stripes and the
Union Jack floating gally beside those
of the several republics and contedera-
tons of Central and South America.
Most of the large vessels have avn
ings stretched from stem to stern to
protect their timbers from the blister
ing sun of this latitude-a needed pre-
caution. Swarms of smaller boats
scows, rats, bungoes, piragnes-are
busy as bees, flying between ships and
shore, laden with freight. Nicoya has
an inner and an outer harbor, and in
the latter all vessels must anchor which
draw more than seven feet of water
fully three miles from thelandlng place.
The inner harbor, formed by the
main land and a sandy promontory
over which the town Pienta Arenas is
scattered-is accessible only to small
schooners, coasting ships and piragues.
THE OUTER HARBoR IS SAFE.
capatious and easy of access, and in it
merchant vessels are obliged to break
their cargoes and send them ashore on
scows or "lighters"-a tedious and
Wasteful operation, entailing risk as
well as expense.
1t is generally high noon, when the
heat is 6ercest and the tropic coast
looks least inviting, before you arrive
at the landing-or as near to it as ships
can come. Across the intervening
league of bounding blllow you may be
conveyed as best suits your purse or
pleasure. Passage on scow, raft Or
bongo, with emigrants, Indians, or
whatever indiscriminate company may
happen to crowd ii will cost you only q
medis (six cents) with the chance of q
social showerbath (probsbly needed by
most of the passengers) from the first
salty Wave. A piragua "bird," with
just room enough for the boatman and
two passengers, cannot be hired for less
than dollar, and in either case, should
the tide be low, the last fifty yards of
the journey must be made on
THE BACK OF A BARE-LEGGED NATIVE
over a stretch of shiny mud. 1 can
testify, from sad experience, that those
few yards are more trying to nerve and
Yankee "grit" than a voyage around
the world would be under ordinary
circumstances. The Costa Ricans are
puny set, far inferior, physically, to
the sturdy Anglo-Saxon, and their
limbs are alarming shaky when put to
the test of 40 pounds of female aver
dupois, with probably twenty pounds
more Of grip sack, cloak, shawl and
other paraphernalia-all of which, for a
fearful five minutes, trembled in the
balance above bed (soft enough to be
sure) of knee-deep. greenish slime.
From Puenta Arenas to Panama City
Is pleasant sail of from three to five
days, according to the caprices of wind
and weather. This great Isthmus, the
hyphen of the New World, really be-
longs to South America, being owned
and controlled by what lis now known
az "the United States of Colombia I"
But though South American as to laws
and customs, it is of far more import
ance to the northern portion of our
hemisphere than to the southern, and
is now chiefly monopoliZed by North
American interests.
While northern school-chil6ren' are
being taught great deal about Lap
land, China, Madagascar, and even the
interior of the Dark Continent, how
many of our educators are aware that
more than 5000 900 of civilized people
live in the Spanish-American States
Immediately adjoining our own2 How
many of our wisest statesmen know
that the annual commerce of those
southern neighbors amounts to over