The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-03-20
A Trip to the Tropics
lcoxrlNuED FROM LAST suNpAY.]

a,rd;,y morning / stood one the
wharf at Colon watching a crowd of
noisy and not over valiant negroes driv-
ing a herd of half-wild cattle towards
the side of "a ship. The deck of the ship
was fully twenty feet higher than the
wharf, so decided to wait and see how
the loading was going to he effected.
Cracking their whips the negroes drove
the poor animals SO closely together mat
they soon formed a dense struggling
mass. Occasionally some young buil
would make brave dash for liberty
causing momentary stampede; put az
ter much laughing yelling, ana houIien
ing of whips, the rebel was each JUN
driven back to the drove. AT lehsrh
lasso was deftly thrown over the hoihe
of Il bull and for a moment. Wlid sCluS
gle ensued, the animal alternately pun
ing away and charging upon his tornlen
tors. Rrt this was soon stopped, for the
end of the rope was fastened TO q pune!
hanging above the deck of the ship anu,
in an instant the bull was dangling III the
air. the pressure of his whole immense
weight being borne by his horns. After
n furious fight the animal was secured,
and one after another of his companions
was subjected to the same brutal treat
ment. / turned away in disgust. ana
hurrying to the railway station. enter
cd the pay car on which l had been III
yited TO make a trip across the lsthums
to Panama. The car was very COM
Portable one divided into two rooms, one
with easy chairs and sofas-for COM
fort: the other arranged for business
exactly like a miniature bank, with a
wire partition at the end and a small
window at which stood the treasurer of
the Panama Railroad. On the table and
floor We're great boxes filled with
money for this was to be payday along
the line. At signal from the conduc-
tor--a North Car0linian-the train moved
off and was soon passing through the
worst part of Colon, the houses and
tents being built on piles driven into the
stagnant mud. No wonder yellow fever
sometimes prevails here; | am only sur
prised that feyers of every color of the
rainbow do not sweep off all the poor
creatures who live in this way. The
porches are crowded with negroes. Chin
csc and some whites and Alongrels.
Absolutely naked children gaze in Won
der at the car and its passengers.
Strange to say. though, the faces which
closely scanned, seemed all healthy and
happy, and this | continued TO notice all
along the line.
Passing q lagoon we were soon thun-
dering through apparently a virgin
forest-graceful palms, huge trees of va
rious sorts, some of them covered with
flowers, others green with parasites.
Now we pass through marshes crowded
with bull-rushes or studded with great
clusters of white lilies. Now thicket
of tall reeds and an impenetrable jun
gle knotted together with vines seem
to rush by us. Now comes new spe-
cies of palm, now a wild banana plant
with great bunch of useless fruit and
dropping purplehead. The flowers and
birds are, however, less numerous and
less brilliant than we had expected. Here
we are skirting the Chagres river, great
originator Of malarial feyers, and now
we pass village of huts built of up
right bamboo and matched with dry
paJm-leayes. the roofs steep and pointed.
Other villages have large frame houses
built on high posts and under these
houses, in many instances, the families
are gathered with their hogs and goats.
Even the cooking and eating are attend
ed to under some of the houses. As we
get further into the interior Indian blood
shows itself more distinctly in the faces
of the people and many of the young
girls are decidedly pretty. At Matachin
(which means slaughter of the Chinese
fifteen hundred of them once committed
suicide here in a single day., / saw a
girl at the station whose beauty / have
seldom seen equalled anywhere. She is,
L was told, half Spanish and half In
dian.
Thus we travelled for three hours, oc-
casionally stopping to pay off gang
of wOrkmen. AS we approached
Panama we passed many groups Of
nude or half nude negro women AMI
girls standing in the streams washing
clothes for their employers in the city.
But at length we have reached the end
Of our journey and like Balboa are anx-
ious to see for the first time the great
Pacific ocean. Let us take cab, for
the way is long and sunny, and the
charge is only twelve cents. Panama is
a real Spanish town, with cobbled streets
and stone houses-each of the latter lib
orally supplied with shady porches which
over-hang the streets. The streets circle
about in such a way as to guarantee an
alienation of shade and sunshine at all
hours of the day. The cathedral is an
inspiring structure even from an Euro
pean standpoint, and the pretty squares
are well supplied with palm trees and
shrubbery. The posters on the walls
moreover, show that Spanish blood rules
the town and still delights in Sunday
afternoon chicken and bull fights.
From the esplanade one has beauti-
full view down the bay of Panama,
studded with islands blue in the distance,
beyond which lies the vast Pacific. And
as | stand and gaze, let me whisper in
the gentle readers sympathetic ear,
these picturesque verses of an Isthmian
poet:
II sit on my lofty piazza,
Overlooking the restless sea;
(And a spider glides over my fore
head
A cockroach sits ON my kneeO
1.-The god of the day is preparing
His bed for another night;
but a swarm of pestiferous sand-ficf
Is obscuring the glorious sight)