The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-02-28

erected for M. de LeSSepS and his son. It is said that bill for eighty thou sand dollars apiece was rendered and paid for these houses, though ten thou sand dollars each probably exceeded their, actual cost. But in those flush
 days of the beginning of the French canal, money-other peoples money was literally mo object to anybody
 but the few wise ones who lined their pockets. The de Lesseps houses were
 occupied only for short time; then for years they remained empty. and long ago passed into other hands. Near
 them stands the colossal bronze statue
 of Columbus (whom the French call Christophe Colombe), with the figure of a beautiful Indian girl crouching beside hinl-a gift to the town from Empress Eugenie. There is very large and well appointed hospital here, and also
 another in the American quarter. The
 latter has also it's bronze statue. repre-
 senting MT. Aspinwall, the New Yorker.
 The portion known as the native" quparter is most interesting to travel CTS from the land of Uncle Samuel.
 Such a heterogeneous collection of na- I
 to duplicate, especially since the high tide of prosperity has ebhed, leaving
 behind a driftwood of human degrada-
 ton. It is estimated that fully fifty
 thousand people remain on the tiny is- land. and a large portion of them are
 blacks from Jamaica and Santo De-
 mingo-tall, powerfully built men and
 women. with the flattest noses. thickest lips and woolest wool that ever grew on human craniums. The circum-
 scribed space wherein they swarm and breed like feas bears no comparison, hope, to any other of like dimensions
 under the sun. The one street and the several narrow alleys that intersect it
 are at all times crowded with negresses l-bold. Haunting creatures. many Of
 them in hedraggled dresses of white lace or embroidery, with beautiful
 white silk shawls, bare feet thrust into
 high-h -heeled French slippers and kinlly
 hair half covered with bright handker- chiefs, coquettishly knotted into double
 bow sort os turbans, set far back on
 the head so as not to interfere with the
 exaggerated 'mang,' like a miniature
 brush-heap, which every one. of them effects There was a time when the large negro element became extremely
 dangerous; and that was immediately after the collapse of the French canal scheme, when thousands of these peo- pie were suddenly thrown out of work and famine stared them in the face Those who had fiocked here from the English West Indies. lured by fabulous wages, were cared for by the govern
 ment and supplied with daily rations until money was furnished to pay their passage home. Tn spite of present pow erty, these happy -go-lucky children of Ham seem perfectly contented. singing,
 laughing and dancing the careless
 hours away Just now they are greatly
 elated at the prospect of tn American canal and are building extravagant hopes on the return of flush times.
 The roofs of Colon are mostly tiled, the upper half of each house projecting far out over the sidewalks, with avn ing-shaded verandas above. A large share of the rome-life goes on in these
 verandas. regardless of the public eye" Some certain flowers blooming in
 boxes. bird cages, women sewing, chil- dren romping and maids pursuing their household vacations; others are piled with tubs, pots and refuse of all sorts.
 In some of them washings are going on and the clothes Tapping in the breeze; 1 or ironing is in progress and skirts and chemises spread out to air,-all making a queer study of the city's principal street. There is conseie municipal, or town hall. large iron markst-house, a calaboose (always fulD, a tolerable the ater, electric lights and several church.
 es-Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Meth
 odst and Jewish. A newspaper called
 "The Isthmus" is published three times
 a week, in the three languages most spoken in this modern Babel. There are secret societies without number, Masons, Odd Fellows, Foresters,
 Knights of Pythias and organizations of darker secrets of African origin. There are half dozen hotels, no end of boarding houses and fonditas; and shops, saloons and restaurants and are all turned out of doors during the day on account of the excessive heat. l mo- tice with amusement that some of the drinking places bore no other adver- tisement than a number of little round tables sat on the pavement outside, each table appropriately painted with flight of swallows. Beggars, of course, abound, and disease, deformity, vice and filth in every. form. Leprosy
 walks abroad unhindered, and it is not uncommon to receive your change, your mail, even your food, from a scaly
 hand that ought to be in a lepers' asy- lum.
 You must not miss drive all around the island, via the Paseo Coral, or "Co- ral Promenade" as the beach is called. Part of it borders the tropical forest, whose exuberant vegetation springs out fo the dense serpent-infested, pestilen-
 tial swamp which surrounds Colon on three sides. The drive Is worth taking, (even at five dollars an hour in springless coach that threatens every minute to go to pieces, like the deacon's one-horse chaise) for the occasional long stretches of beautiful shell-strewn beach, with the ocean dashing its spray upon it and glimpses of the hills that form the back bone of the Isthmus. and the green swamps that show a series of 1 Tendency of the Times.