The Saint Paul globe., 1902-02-09

! much of it has been rendered obsolete by
later inventions.
From the Culebre cut the roadbed drops
rapidly down again to the level Of the
Pacific coast country. 1t winds in and
out between the hills. The white build
ings Of Panama CLINT in the bright sun
at the far end of the valley and beyond
them the blue islands of Navos and
Toboga in the Pacific ocean seem as
another range of hills far away on the
mainland.
The traveller is brought to realizing
sen-e of something besides blue HIS,
however, as the train nears the town,
for the railroad enters Panama through
the most squaIid section of that large and
picturesque city. The squalor might be
endured for the instant necessary, but
the odors which accompany it can never
be forgotten. They are energetic, all
pervading and indescribably vicious and
insanltary.
1t would be hard to find any linguistic
fault with the hotel, for i'm the office is an
italian clerk in the dining room Spanish
walters, the bill of fare is written in
French and what nationality the cooks
are cannot be told by their products.
These resemble more the monstrosities
and mistakes which are sent forth from
the kitchen of the last class in some
parts Of the West in the Unitad
States They produce "loss of appetite,
heartburn, lack of vitality and that tired
| feeling" which supposedly precedes the
purchase of a bottle of some patent COM
pound. With a French bill of fare which
the Spanish waiter cannot read, an Eng
lish guest who can neither read the bill
of fare nor understand the waiter says
the result is that the English guest takes
what he can get,l is glad to get anything
at all and finds his amusement in identi-
flying his polygot dish as some old famil-
lar friend met with at all railway eat
ing houses and country hotels in the
states.
The rooms of these isthmian hotels are
fairly large and comfortable. On each
floor the guests chamber faces the out
side. Across the hall is always another,
an inside room. These were planned IN
the early days when every one Travelled
and his servant with him. Nowadays
when the hotel is crowded guests are
put in the inside rooms as well, but do
not stay long if they can help II. Inc
bedrooms are without carpets or draper
les of any kind, as insects are too plen-
tiful An iron bed, a chair or two,
dresser and a washstand and a heavy
and much needed mosquito net over the
bed is the entire list of furniture. Early
to bed is the rule, and early to rise. In
the morning a cup of excellent coHee
with hot milk, a roll of bread, and, or
going on a journey, an egg or Two Is
all that is forthcoming until breakfast
at II a. m. Dinner follows at 5:30, ana
both breakfast and dinner are very
hearty meals, with much meat, much
grease. none of the hot chile sauce which
makes almost anything eatable in Mex
leo. and an assortment Of strange dishes
of unknown component parts and foreign
taste To one who has Travelled In Mex
leo the lack of chile sauce is a great
surprise, as it is easily obtainable, very
wholesome in the tropics and gives 20
almost anything a piquancy necessary
to spur an appetite always Jaded IN these
latitudes.
panama is a large, irregular and rath-
er well built city. After the pirate MOT
gan raided old Panama, looted the
houses and destroyed what he could not
carry away, the people took the precau-
ton to retreat to the end of the spit
of land on which the city is built ana
erected a great stone wall about the
town On three sides the sea washes the
foot thereof. and on the land side a
moat was dug and the drawbridge was
lifted at the first sign of an approach
ing enemy. Today the sea wall still
stands, though there are picturesque
breaches in it, but the land is either
down or else has been incorporated :nto
some building, for the town has over
flowed it's old boundaries and it is diff
cult to trace them. These walls may
have seemed impregnable to the
Panamarians of the sixteenth century
but modern gunnery would make a be-
fore breakfast Job Of their total destruc-
ton
The battle now carried on along the
old sea wall is one of love, which is
not always one of peace, however. Here
the maidens came in groups as the sun
drops into the Pacific behind the beau
tiful Island of Toboga. They slowly
walk along the broad esplanade back Of