Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-11-21

!
north to Central America aud San Fran
cisco, and from the Latter to transpaci6c
| ports.
"a few years ago one of the leading in
duStrles of the Isthmus was the expectation
Of crude india rubber Its value in those
days was considerable The I>thrnus of
| Darlen, to the northeast of the state of
| Panama, was one Of the chief departments
furnishing that elastic gum. Ivory nuts
were also an important item, the latter
! being the fruit of aspecies of palm.
| The state of Panama is more a con-
sumner than a prosueer. 1t is literally
| true to say that her daily bread depends
| upon her flour from San Francisco and
New York: and the same thing is true of
| the greater part of her provisions and vere-
tables of all kinds The trade and i'm
| portance of the IsthLlus of Panama are due
| entirely to its situation. Her manufac-
| lures are, as are all her industries, handi-
| capped by prepOsterous concessions. One
| day the question was asked in my hearing:
What Is the leading industry of Column
bia?' A quick-wittdd Columbian instant
| ly replied, Revolution. So it is. 1t is at
once profession, a science and a game.
The last revolution, IN March,
1885, destroyed Colon. paralyzed canal
work, upset transit, aud caused veritable
reign Of terror. Undoubtedly it would
have involved the destruction of Panama
but for the prompt action of the British
and American cOnsulS.
The holidays on the Isthmus the writer
describes at considerable length.
The festival par excellence is that of the
2Sth of November, orsthe anniversary of
the singing of their declaration of indie
pendence. The 2Sth, 29th and Both are
devoted TO bull tosSings horse races, mas
qutradlng and other sports During one of
these festivals huge circle, or temporary
bull ring, is put up in the Plaza de Santa
Anna, outside the walls.i 1t is a substan-
cial structure, fenced inl Above are cover
edith palcos, or boxes. One of these could
be secured for the tiesta4 or holidays, up
on payment of Sl6, the Iholders being at
liberty to put in as many as six chairs.
You have to furnish yorktown chairs there
both for bull fights and theaters-or
stand
We are told that peope also send their
servants with chairs to the churches on all
festive occasions.
In regard to the lower orders of the popu-
latiOn the writer says:
'The Indians and negrpes in Colombia
are not greatly giving to marrying. They
simply get mated The swomen of the
poor or laboring class do not care for mat
rimony. Their stated objection being that
if they were Lawful wiyesitheir husbands
would ill-treat them; whereas as long as
they are only mated the }men will be on
their good conduct These women know
the men of their class thoroughly. and
deem matrimony little better than serfdom
As a rule the wontsn are faithful
strictly 50. In time, the Sman and wo-
man fail to agree. they Separate simply
dividing the assets of the Partnership 'and
each taking one-haf of the children. Then,
if they see fit, they form new Unions. But
there is a simplicity and decency about
this matter in the prinlitivet uneducated
people, that is really admIrakk.e, y
Then the author takes a typical peon
man and woman, whom he calls Juan and
Marie He tells US how they build their
house and furnish it; how they make their
own pottery, weave their own cloths, catch
their game and cook it, raise their tobacco
and make their spirituous liquors. They
need buy little or nothing, which is for
tunate, as they rarely have any monry.
Juan is a republican in name, but a
free trader at heart Of taxes and re-
striction. be will have none, be they war
to the party in power he Is a mugwump of
the first water And he has the same af-
fection for Cinnamon that a republican
senate has on the eve of a presidential
election. He is free thinker during life
but generally ends by dying a Catholic.
He works for others when it suits him, but
not otherwise. He scOrns the daily paper,
and has no knowledge of prize fights and
cablegrams. but no doubt dearly loves a cock
fight, and he calls upon all the saints in his
Colombian calendar to bless his bird. He
is a home ruler Of the first rank. and like
the other members Of that class over the
water he would rather have a row about it
than otherwise.
In the country the women make the
cigars, and generally smoke them, too.
The woman's cigars are the counterpart of
| the long 'whiffs' known to smokers Wo-
men smoke in a peculiar way on the 18TH
mus, which have noted again and again;
| they hold the lighted end of the cigar in the
mouth. At first sight this seems an ex-
traordinary statement, butit has the merit
| of being an absolutely accurate one. The
other end is used for lighting the cigar
| when it is reversed. As to what. if any,
| benefit is derived from this method of smok-
| ing. | do not know 1t is certain it must
require great dexterity to smoking in that
way. TO avoid burning the tongue and
| mouth
The men and women OF the peon class
| generally wear cotton goods; the women a
simple, short skirt with bodice above.
They 60 about barefoot and bareheaded,
for hats, shoes and stockings to them mean
! high civilization.
There is an interesting account of the
early projects for uniting the Atlantic and
the Pacific oceans by means of a canal.
John Schooner, in 1920, we are told, made a
| globe upon which such passage through
the Isthnus was delineated.
Among the Spaniards, Gornera, his
| torian, was the first of advocate the unien
| of the oceans by means of a canal. Three
hundred and thirty-seven years age the
schemes that have received consideration
recently were on the tapis. There was the
old I'anama scheme, the Nicaragua scheme
and the Tehuantepec scheme. These were
submitted to Phillip II. and his court. y
None of these measures went through.
From this point the author follows the
| canal question down to the present day.
He presents many strong arguments
against the de Lesseps scheme, but his
| writing has a tinge Of bitterness in 1t that
gives the impression that he has some
| personal reason for pitching into the
canal company aid its enterprislng dl-
rector. The greater portion of the book,
however, seems to be written taIriy. Ii Is
all interesting to read, and there /. instruc-
tion IN 1t.
The Paris Gente Civil describes an in
strument called the erygmatoseope, de