Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-02

and children. black and white, accost you
III the hotels, on the streets and in the
railroad trains, and offer you chances Tor
the next drawing. / happened to be pass
ing the lottery office on Sunday when the
drawing was going on and stepped N. A
little boy of about eight years of age had
been picked out of the crowd and put Upon
table. In front of him was revolving
wire basket filled with hollow ivory alls,
each containing one of the numbers from
l to 10. The basket was wEirled and the
boy picked out ball. The number in it
was the thousands of the prize, another
whirl gave the figure for the hundreds, a
third for the tens and fourth for the
units. The whole thing was fair CROUCH,
only, as the alcalde, or city judge. in charge
told me, there was only about one chance
in five hundred of a ticket holder drawing
anything. The president of this company
is a naturSlized American citizen named
Duque. He is the owner of the only paper
in Panama and his p, Gifts from his $4,000
worth of lottery stock about $4,000 in
silver a year. @s
There is a chanc, for a concession here
for waterworks. Panama is now supplied
with water ty peddlers who go about
through the streets, seated on barrel carts,
each of which is pulled by a mule. In the
wet season the city relies on the csterns.
There is, / am told, good water in the hills
twelve miles away, and it could easily be
piped to the city. Panama has about 81, 900
pee pie.
The Gold Mines of Colombia.
The idea prevails in the United States
that the greater part of South America is
low, moist and unhealthful. This is not SO.
There are vast areas here which are as
salubriOus as any part of North America.
Mr.. Kennedy an American mining engineer
who has prospected in all parts of our con-
tinent, as well as in many parts of this,
tells me that for every habi;able square
mile in North America there is an equally
rich and healthful square mile here, and
that south of the equator there are vast
areas OF undeyeloped agricultural territory
which have not been touched. He says that
this is the klondike of the future in gold as
well as in other things, and predicts that
the eyes of the world will soon be turned
southwark. In Colombia the most of the
people live back from the coasts, where
there are plains and valleys of vast extent
from 5000 10 5000 and more feet above the
sea. Colombia is land of gold. It is
like Alaska in that you cannot wash the
soil anywhere along the rivers without find
ing what the miners call color. saw men
washing the sands of the sea in the bay of
Panama. and though they said they did not
get much l am told that they have been
doing the same work fer years. 1t was
here that the Spaniards got some of their
first gold, and since the conquest an aggre-
gate of s100,OOO,0OO worth of precious
metals has been taken out of Colombia. A
great deal OF mining is now going on in
the department or state of Antigua. which
is reached by going several hundreds of
miles up the Magdalena river Here small
diamonds sometimes found with the
gold. English parties own a number of the
best mines in this region, and much capital
Is invested. There are now between 300 and
$40 gold mines being worked in Colombia
Nearly all of the Indian tribes have more
or less gold. 1 have been told of a curious
method which the church has of getting
the Indians to give up their gold They
are prone to hoard it, but as they are very
sLperstitious the priests have in some of
the churches the images of certain saints
who are supposed to cure diseases. but to
whom must first be offered in gold minia-
ture image of the part which Is diseased.
If man has sore leg he molds little
leg of gold-it may be the size of his little
finger, it may be larger-and offers it to the