The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-02-17

Amer PlcOQ IOr Tie lcFSl' q Hee'> -
nine for malaria, and brisk pony rlde
down the Savannah road, or a cayuco
trim up the Chagres, or tossing, heart
shaking press through uneasy seas III a
gasoline launch to Porto Bello-tnat
Fascinating Mouth of the Treasure OF
the World" as Sir Henry Morgan
called it-little adventures like these
set ones fancy going. The 1sthmus IS
then net merely small repupllc' py
Jonah's gourd, as horse-breeder
would say, out of bribe-bought reVo-
lution: it is the scene OF acts tnat
minds have delectably dwelt upon,
when young, during twenty genera
tions. Here are the jungles, here are
i,,e seas, and here are the masonry
settlements which Balboa cut through,
the plate-feets sailed, that Pizarro
built and that Drake and Morgan
sacked. These were the seas in which
Sir Francis Drake in two small pin
naces had ravaged plate-heets OF Spain
when conveyed by three armed gal
Icons"
Bells rang when we reached Porto
Bello; small dugout cayucos put OUT
from shore. When we entered one,
all standing, like pictures Of Columbus
discovering America, the gunwales SANK
below water amidships. 1t took more
than mere water and mere wetness TO
affect us now. Drawn up on the shore
were most Of the villagers, and the
American Consul, Rodriguez. who, 1
think. never has seen North America
like many another American Consul
down by the equator. But he traces
with New York, sends ivory nuts to be
made into buttons, etc., and mas tue
sense of hospitality highly developed.
T wanted to so first to the Royal
Treasure House, which was the Mecca
lis it an ana Achronism to use the
phra raseO of the brethren of the coast.
Here it was-solid mdsonry. Troplcal
vines, which need only sun, rain and
air to grow, had branched from its
mortar, had separated the careful lay
ing and cementing. The roof was ON;
there were openings which showed
where the doors had been.
Look at those arches" said the con-
tractor, who had come along; they
have no keystones~ Of course they
hadn't; ancient peoples had advanced
ways of accomplishing ends. Consider
the Pyramids; consider San Lorenzo
fort, up the Chagres River, in Panama.
No one knows how they did it without
steam derricks bigger than we are
acquainted with. It's a fine old pile
this skeleton of a treasure house. Il
mean to restore it as a custom house,
remarked the contractor, pulling red
blossoming plant from a crevice. AL
I'll have to do is to supply doors and a
roof"
We debouched upon cobblestone
street, a long street, connecting with
Jungle at both ends, with whitewashed
half-stucco, half-wood, and occasionally
coral-stone houses along it. Wild wig
waggings attracted US to the American
Consups -Sr. Rodriguez's home, spa
cious. pretty for those parts, showing
wealth in its decoration-interestng
chromos from an early American
period. grasses in vases, mirrors with
the name Of his dead wife emblazoned
at the bottom. There is no irony in
this description-I am simply speak
ing literally; it should be read like
wise. Sr. Rodriguez gave us more than
any stretch Of the meaning OF hoSpl-
tality in America, north or south, west
or east, comprises; and he gave it out
of his heart; he was what you honestly
look for when Spanish-blooded person
says, in conventional fashion, My
house is yours" He showed US his
family Bible, with the names and dates
of his offspring written down. 'Thir-
ty-two children" he said, proudly, and
we read their names. Against some
Of them was the record. Died"
The mother, too, was dead.
Under guidance Of the principal citi-
zens we went to the two old churches
old beyond anything known of in
Christian America. One was in ruins;
one is still worshiped in. The latter,
indeed, was the church which rang
it's bells when it saw men with Amer
lean raincoats coming ashore, thinking
they were priests in eassocks. The
chief citizens of the place for 400 years
were buried under the flags of the
floor. 81 knew it," said I, thinking of
Mayor De Icons calmness duringl our
voyage; here are De Icons to beat
the band" They ranged, under our
feet. back to 1900, twenty years before
the Mayfower at Plymouth, New Eng
land
Along here Columbus passed looking
for "a strait connecting the Atlantic
with another great ocean," Indians
at Honduras had told him of one, or
so he understood them. What they
really apprised him of was that only
a narrow neck Of land here separated
the two oceans; but his mind was fixed
upon navigation, and he searched for
water passage, and stopped a few
miles beyond Porto Bello at Nombre de
Dios, from which point, some twelve
years later, young Vasco Nunez del
Balboa, noble but poor, energetic, en-
gaging, and wonder with the sword,
made a march inland to that peak in
Darien" from which he discovered the
Pacific Ocean. and fell down and
prayed in emotion. Of supreme mo-
ments in the civilization of the world
few are greater than this. Francisco
Pizarro was with Balboa on this