Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-16
Germans placidly smoking their pipes, and
plenty OF the always well-dressed and
courtiy descendants of the conQuerors.

Germans placidly smoking their pipes, and
plenty Of the always well-dressed and
cOurtly descendants Of the cOnquerors.
NO ONE LIVES TO BE GRAY.
The hospitals are good. The most elegant
was built by the canal people in their
flush times for $1,000, 900. And people
heads here" the people say. No one lives
long enough to become gray The tales of
death among foreigners to this climate are
innumerable and often most pathetic.
Following a street that leads out OF the
plaza and past the cathedral one may ind
an interesting relic of the past, known as Ell
Postiga de los Monjas, ''the Gate of the
Monks" an antique archway, quantity
carved and crowned by a watch-tower,
which leads through the moss-grown ram.
parts to the beach. Following the path of
the monks OF old, we find ourselves on a
wide expanse of coral reel, which, 1t the
tide be out, is alive with shrimps, cuttle-
fish, hermit crabs, and other forms of deep
sea life, and strewn with kelp, marine ferns
and moses, and shells of curious forms and
colOrs. Another antiquity that should by
by no means be neglected is the
ruined church of San Domingo.
1t was built soon after the founding of
the city. and in its day was one of the finest
ssnctuaries in the New World, possessing
an extraordinary store of jeweled vestments,
altar service, lamps and images of gold and
silver; but more than a century ago it was
nearly destroyed in one of the numerous
conhagrations. There is an interesting
tradition concerning its bells, which runs as
follows: The church itself was built by the
Queen of Spain and the ladies of her court,
each contributing to the piOus work what
money she could afford. When the time
came for casting bells for it there was moth
ing left to pay for the metal they should
contain. So the jealous Queen invited, not
only her court but people of all classes, to
come and witness the casting and contribute
thereto. On the appointed day they came
in crowds, high and low, rich and poor.
When all was ready the Queen threw hand
fuls of gold into the great crucible, and the
ladies and gentlemen Of her court did the
same, and then the poor followed with do
nations of silver and copper, greater in
quantity but less in value.
THE QUEENS GOLDEN ORNAMENTS.
Thus the amount of metal rapidly in
creased, but still there was not enough.
Then the Queen threw in the golden orna-
ments she wore; her ladies did the same;
the gallant courtiers cut the silver buttons
from their jackets and the buckles from
their shoes, and the officers wrenched the
jeweled handles from their swords. The
excitement grew intense. Rings, bracelets
and valuables of all sorts, some of them
precious relics and family heirlooms, all
went into the crucible, together with but
tons of brass and iron, and the meaner
trinkets of the poor. And thus the bells Of
San Domingo were made. It is said that
their tone was Of the purest, that they were
held IN great reverence, both by the priests
and by the people, and whenever they were
rung everybody crossed himself and said q
prayer.
Among the notable institutions of Panama
the great lottery scheme of Messrs. Duque
Brothers must not be forgotten. 1t was es-
tablished in 1888, under concession"
from the Government, and is patronized by
all classes. At the beginning the drawings
were monthly, the grand prize being $500.
The success of the enterprise was so extraor-
dinary that soon the prize was placed at
SIC, 900, and drawings appointed for every
Sunday. Tickets to the amount of $50, 900
are sold Cat s. each), the sellers receiving 8
per cent for their services aud the remaining
500, 900 being divided between the Govern
ment and the Duque brothers.
Mr.. j. Gabriel Duque, the elder of the
firm, a very handsome, well-educated gen.
tleman, probably in the early forties, has
lately been appointed Consul General for
Nicaragua and Colombia. He was born in
the United States, OF Spanish parentage, I
think, and has spent much of his life in
Philadelphia. He says that when the lot
terry venture began to flourish he invested
his gains in Panama real estate, while his
brother converted his into United States
bonds. "And now," he adds, with smile,
''my brother is living like a lord in Los
Angeles, Cal, while 1 lead q dogs life
here"
RUINS OF GRAND CITY.
Old Panama is six miles away. Here it
was that Pizarro equipped his murderous
expedition, and where he and his fellow
rascals, Almagro and Zuque, desecrated the
sacrament by tbs internal compact they en-
tered into. The place where the conquest
of an empire was planned, then the bright
est jewel in the Castilian crown, is now a
dismal heap of ruins in the midst of pesti-
lential swamp, inhabited only by snakes,
iguanaS and alligstors. Phe watch-tower Of
San Jerome was built only, six years before
the city's destruction, in the form of a hollow
square, 100 feet high. Now it is so wound
around by woven vines that it can never
fall, while trees and bushes grow on its
summit, whose sturdy roots, running down.
ward, have completely filled the entire
inner space. FANNIE B. WARD.