The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-03-20
The Climate In the Tropics.


I've been in the country long enough to
discover that fact he exclaimed as he
cut off a generous piece of rare roast
beef
The vigor with which he spoke and
the evident relish with which he mas
ticated the beef left the impression that
the speaker had never spent any consid-
cradle time in any place where energy
was scarce. He had just landed from
Panama steamer, having come from San
Francisco by that route, and had made
short visits to various Mexican and Cen
trail American ports.
mot only is it not indigenous to the
country, but the exotic article always
withers and almost always dies, " he
said after the keen edge of his appetite
had worn off. Then he ordered pot of
coffee, lighted cigar and continued:
"After we sailed from San Diego it
was several days before we arrived at
another port We crossed the gulf of
California and touched at Mazatlan, in
Mexico l had promised myself that |
should go ashore and see every town at
which we stopped in Mexico and Cen.
tive boats surrounded the ship a party of
passengers hired one, and we were soon
ON our way to the shore. The distance
from the place where the ship was an
chored to shore was about three miles,
and before the distance had been half
covered / was impatient and thoroughly
disguised with the lazy movements of
the native oarsmen. Our time was linn
tied, too, and that increased my irrita-
ton, because l was anxious to see all !
possibly could of the place within
short time.
81 jumped ashore at last and hurried
up to the town first to the postoffice and
then to other points of interest. 1t was
in the middle of the day, and the sun
beat down and reflected again from the
white house and the streets, which were
paved with small cobblestones. Scarce
ly person was on the street, except the
people from the ship The natives
lounged about in their shops or the Sc
oluded courts with which each house is
supplied The shopkeepers were invari-
ably smoking cigarettes, and it was
with difficulty that l induced one of
them to rise from his indolent position
to supply me with some small purchase
which l wished to make.
Walking rapidly from the postoffice
through the principal street to the Ca
thedral and then to the markets, and
again to the public square, / was in
perspiration before l realized it, But
my soul was filled with contempt for
the lounging, lazy natives, who, it
seemed to me, could do nothing except
smoke cigarettes, rest their heads on
their hands and feebly say, 'Manana'
tomorrow. l saw everything there was
to be seen and found the party at the
landing impatiently waiting my arrival,
so they could return to the ship. While
! had done the town thoroughly, had
to admit to myself that had never been
SO tired in my life as l was when l
reached the deck of the City of Sydney
and stretched myself in steamer chair
to smoke and think over what l had
seen.
my spirits revived when we got un-
der way again and had the benefit of an
ocean breeze. renewed my determine
ton to see all the towns at which we
touched, and see them thoroughly. We
dropped anchor again day or so later,
and l promptly made bargain with
one of the natives to take me ashore
For some inexplicable reason did not
feel half the irritation at the slow move
ments Of the oarsmen that l had felt at
the first port. lounged back in the boat
and smoked and was almost lulled to
sleep by the movement of the boat as it
rose and fell on the long ocean swells.
"When reached the shore, howev-
er, shook off the lethargy and start
ed briskly out on my sightseeing trip.
When / reached the public square, my
enthusiasm began to show signs of pc
tering out. With difficulty l tore my
self away from tempting shady seat
and visited the few places of interest
Then l went back to the boat and al
though l reached the ship an hour ahead
Of the time set for departure l found
that all the passengers had returned
ahead Of me.
II was determined to see as much of
the country as possible, however, so at
the next place again hired a native to
row me ashore. took an umbrella this
time and was weak enough to use it as
q shield from the rays of the tropical
sun. Arriving on shore, walked lei
surely as far as the postoffice and back
to the boat Then sat down on the
small pier, smoked cigarettes and watch
ed the lazy motions Of the natives row.
ing barges piled with bags of coffee out
to the ship and the empty boats back to
the shore again. Very few of the other
passengers had come ashore at this
place.
my determination to see the country
had not quite all vanished when the
anchor was dropped at the next port,
and once more l hired native to take
me ashore. When we arrived there, l
simply sat down in shady spot and
smoked cigarettes My resentment at
the laziness of the natives had all van
ished. I said to myself: This talk
about energetic people coming down