The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-13

wheeled my baggage from the boat to the
station charged me s.. These sums were in
silver, and though / have just got $I1.7O
for a s. gold piece, find the extra money
does not go far after all. / was told at the
Philadelphia Museum that the expenses of
travelling in South America would be about
$15 day. This seems to me very high. My
trip of a year in going around the world
cost me about $40 day, and in my other
long journeys / have found that $40 a day
is just about what it costs to travel in
other parts of the world. / will give from
time to time the expenses of various tours
down here, and will describe just how the
travelling is done,
The trip from New York to Colon takes
just seven days. There are three steamers
every month and the fare is from $75 to
$50, according to the location of your cabin.
The Advance, on which came, is a steady
little vessel of 200 tons. or about one-fifth
the size of the largest Atlantic liners. Its
best rooms were on the promenade deck
and in the corner cabin which had there
were two windows, each about two feet
square, which gave me delicious breeze
day and night The line is now operated
in connection with and is owned by the
Panama Railroad Company. 1t was until
within a short time a part of the Pacific
Mail which ran from New York and after
crossing the isthmuS took its passengers
up to San Francisco. Now the Pacific Mail
Company has only the ships on the Pacific
side, and the Panama Railway and Steam
ship Company have the only regular line
from the United States to the isthmus.
| Their steamers fly the American flag and
all of the officers and sailors are Ameri-
cans Our ship was commanded by Maine
man, Captain Sukeworth, who has recently
been in charge of some of the Red d. line
steamers from New York to Venezuela, and
our chief mate was also from Maine. We
had forty cabin passengers, the most OF
whom were Americans, and the remainder
a mixture of Germans bound for their
coffee plantations in Guatemala and some
Central and South Americans who were go
ing home in this way from Europe or the
United States One of the Germans was
lady who had a pair of baby twins with
her. She had gone from her home in Cen
trail America in order that the children
might be born in the land of the Kaiser
and now having accomplished her mission
was returning home to her husband.
Among the Americans were a Brooklyn
boy, who is going down to be a station
agent at Matachin, on the Panama Rail-
road a Mr. w. II. Nash of Chicago, and
Mr. T. J. Kennedy, of Florence, N. Y, who
are bound for La Paz, Bolivia, where they
will open up some big gold mines which
Kennedy who is a mining engineer, has
discovered, and large party of both sexes
who are going in this way to San Fran
CISCO We had an old sea captain named
Humphreys from bingham where Secretary
of the Navy Long lives, in the Frisco party,
and also an American travelling salesman
or two for South America
THE BISHOP AND THE CONSUL
Last, but by no means least were Bishop
Warren, of the Methodist Church, who is
on his way to Chile to examine into the
state of the missions there, and Mr.. Muir
ply OF the State Department, who is here
in Colon to take the place of the consul
who was drowned within few miles of
where am now writing, while out on a
pleasure sail few weeks ago. The bishop
had his family with him. and was also ac-
companied by some Chilean lady mission
aries who are returning from their
tons to their fields of work. The party,
altogether, was pleasant one The bishop
was mine of story and information, for
he has travelled all over the globe. AS we
left New York and sailed southwark and
passed Cape Hatteras, he pointed out the
the gulf stream, that wonderful river of
the ocean, which has a volume three thou
sand times as great as the Mississippi, and
which, flowing across through the North
Atlantic to the North sea, is the hot-water
pipe which carries the heat from the tropics
which keeps warm Great Britain and Ire
land. AS we crossed this the bishop re-
called the story Of the angry Yankee cap
tain who, when denouncing England for it's
sympathy and aid to the South during our
civil war, said: You English had better
look out, for after President Lincoln has
settled this trouble we will send the army
South and cut channel for the gulf stream
through the Isthmus of Panama, and thus
freeze your two little islands into an ice
berg'''
AS we crossed the gulf stream the air
grew perceptibly warmer, and as we sailed
on its outer edge down toward the Carib-
bean sea. we soon came into summer heat
The first land we saw was the island of
San Salvador, where Columbus landed after
his thirty-flve days voyage from Spain in
his little vessel which was just one-thir-
tieth as large as ours He thought he had
discovered the eastern coast of Asia, and
had no idea that that little island was the
outpost, of another hemisphere. The morn
ing among grove of palm trees and were
told that we were looking at Bird Rock
island one Of the Bahamas, and then
drifted on south until the bleak and rocky
coast Of western Cuba came into view. We
skirted this, keeping about four miles
away from the shore, so as to be out of the
danger limits, as provided by the Spanish
regulations of war. We saw no sign Of
Notifications or fighting. Our next land
was on the east of US. 1t was the noun
tains of Haiti, which we kept in sight for
hours, and then lost them to see nothing
but the blue waters of the Caribbean until
at p. M, seven days out from New York.
we got our first glimpse of the isthmus of
Panama, that wonderful little strip of earth
and rocks which ties together the two
great continents of North and South Amer
lea. AT first it was only a thin, hazy line
of blue in the western horizon. Then the
blue deepened. We saw low hills rising one
above another, and little islands corning
up out of the water along the shore. A
little later we were in sight of the low
houses and the great wharves of Colon,
with great palm trees which line the beach
at the right shaking their great fan-like
leaves and apparently waving a welcome
to us as we came to anchor.