Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-01

IN honor OF w. Asplnwall OF
New York, one of the railway Directors,
and is decidedly cosmopolitan in its char
acter.
The same long street, merging into a
beautiful avenue of palms, leads to the
French quarter, which is universally
known as Colon. This end of the little
island was built up entirely by French
men, who own and occupy it. Among its
handsome residences-which are all OF
wood, mostly painted brown-the two
largest and handsomest are those that
were built for NJ. de Lesseps and his son.
Both are now empty, and will probably
remain SO for some time to come. 1t is
said that bill of $4,000 apiece was rem
dered, and paid, for these houses, though
$4,000 each probably exceeded their ac-
tual cost. Near them is the colossal
bronze statue of Christopher Columbus
whom the French call Christophe Co.
lombe), with beautiful Indian girl
crouching beside him-a gift to the town
from Empress Eugene. There is very
large and well-appointed hospital here las
also another in the American quarter,
and most of the offices and buildings of
the canal company
The American quarter has its bronze
statue, too, though not quite so pretentious
as that of the French--one of Aspinwall,
who gave his name othis end of the town.
Such heterogeneous collection ofnational-
tiles as swarm here, never was seen before
especially since the high-tide of prosper
ity has passed, leaving drift-wood of hui
man degradation. There are fully 10000
people on the tiny island, and large pro-
portion of them are blacks from Jamaica
and San Domingo-tall, powerfully built
men and women, with the thickest lips,
--LATEST noses and wooliest wool that ever
grew on human craniums. The quarter
where these people swarm and breed like
flies, bear no comparison, hope, to any
other under the sun. The street is
crowded with negresses-bold, Haunting,
saucy creatures, many of them in bedrag-
gled dresses of white lace or embroidery,
or gorgeous in the cast-oh hnery of former
mistresses, their kinky locks balf-covered
with bright handkerchiefs, coquettishiy
knotted into a double-bow sort of turban
set far back on the head, so as not to inter-
fere with the exaggerated chang" like a
miniature brush heap, which every one of
them affects. There. are turbans of old
rose and royal purple, heliotrope, pink,
pale-blue, sulphur, crimson, ETC.; there are
dusky "ladies," ragged, dirty and repulsive
beyond degree, and others, not more at
tractive, than whom Solomon in all his
glory was never so arrayed, in latest Pari-
sian styles, with magnificent silk shawls
knotted around their shoulders and dia-
monds glittering on fists that looked like
well-smoked hams.
There was tine when this large ele-
ment of the population became extremely
dangerous, and that was Immediately after
the collapse of the canal scheme, when
thousands Of negroes were suddenly thrown
ont of employment, and famine stared
them in the face. Those from the English
islands, however, were cared for by the
Government, being supplied with rations
every day, and finally money was furnished
to pay the passage home of all those who
wished to go. In spite of their poverty,
the happy go-lucky children of Ham seem
perfectly contented-sihging laughing and
dancing the careless hours away, with no
thought for the morrow.
The roofs Of Aspinwall are mostly tiled,
the upper half of each house projecting far
out over the sidewalk, with awning-shaded
verandas above. A large share of the home
life goes in on these verandas. Some con-
tain bird-cages, flowers blooming in boxes,
children romping, women sewing and
maids pursuing their household vocations
in full view of the street. Other verandas
are piled with tubs, pots and refuse of all
sorts. In some of them washings are going
on, and the clothes tapping in the breeze !;
or ironing is in progress, and shirts and
chemises spread out to air-all these max
ing queer study of the main street of As
pinwall.
There is a Conssje Municipal, or town
hall, big iron market-house, calaboose,
a tolerable theater and an amateur dra-
matte company. Electric lights illumin-
ate many private residences, as we'll as the
streets and public buildings. There are
four churches Tor rather church organiza-
lions, none Of them in hourishing condi-
tom, viz Roman Catholic, Episcopal,
Methodist and Jewish. A paper called
The Isthmus is published three times a
week, in the three languages most spoken
in this modern Babel. There are secret
societies without number-Masons, Odd
Fellows, Ancient Order of Foresters,
knights of Pythias, etc. There are half
a dozen or more hotels, and the shops,
saloons, restaurants, ETC., are all turned
out of doors during the day, on account Of
the excessive heat. On the pavements
outside the eating and drinking places are
little round tables, surrounded by chairs !;
and / noticed with amusement that on
each table is appropriately painted flight
of swallows. Beggars, of course, abound,
and disease, deformity, vice and filth in
every form. Leprosy is not uncommon.
The doctor of our party, who went to the
Postofice to purchase stamps, declares that
he was obliged to receive them direct from
the scaly hand of leper.
One must not miss drive all around
the island, via the Paseo Coral, or Coral
Promenade" as the beach-road is called.
Part of this paseo lies close upon the trop-
ieal forest, whose exuberant vegetation
springs ont of the dense and pestilential
swamp which surrounds Aspinwall on
three sides. Then there are occasional
long stretches of ocean, with beautiful
shell-strewn beach glimpses of the hills
that form the dividing ridge between the
two oceans. and swamps that show a series
Of small islands between Manzanillo and
the main land.
OF course we must see the entrance to
the celebrated canal, upon which work
was commenced just nine years ago. We
find it on the main land, behind the
island on which Aspinwalli is situated; but
the latter has been so built out in this
direction that if the great ditch were ever
Colon would be its eastern
terminus, in the same way that Suez is the
Red Sea terminus of that canal. There
are acres and acres of warehouses and
and cottages for the laborers
and residences for the officers, now mostly
deserted, all made of wood unlike those
of the railway company, whose great build
ings are mostly constructed of brick and
iron, the better to resist the ravages of
tropical insects and the rapid disintegra-
ton of wood in this damp climate.
The most astonishing stories are rife