The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-29

l ulputeo III Ianama. Even those nomely American dishes of oatmeal and hush are unknown. Our countless variations of breakfast discs, predigested, sanitary and otherwise, are unheard of Milk, which must accompany them, is 10 cents per 1 plnt Tn the cities, and its use is not en- outraged by boarding house proprletors.
 And pie-what is life to an Ame4ican without pie? It is an unknown concoction | to the Spanish-American. One young American whose mouth was watering for a section of the fakey crust and soft cooked apples opened negotiations with a dusky Jamaican belle for a made to order pie She claimed to have brought her knowledge of cookery from that island. Her price for the pie was sS.5O.
 1 Coffee is the natural beverage of Spanih- America. The>f first meal of the day is, in spanish, named coffee. Breakfast comes later, usually about Il o'clock in the morning. Dinner follows between , and l D O clock in the afternoon. That ends the eating for the day, with the excep- | ton of social cups of coffee or the cigar cites which are brought in during the short tropical evening"
 The morning coffee consists of, as it's name implies, coffee, with the addition of dry and hard roll of bread. Occasion- ally an orange is added to this bill of l fare, and the well paid American. by viz 1 orous protesting and the payment of an l additional tribute. Two fried eggs every morning usually means an increase of $6 per month in the price of board.
 Inadequate for Laborers.
 With this modest nourishment the American workmen are supposed to do the mornings turn of work. For steno- graphers, clerks, and office men it may 1 suffice. But the engineer who carries his | transit through several miles of swamp and jungle, or the mechanic operating a ninety ton steam shovel or standing over sputtering steam drill and under a Bcorching sun, will have a very percep- | tible void in his stomach before the noon day meal hour arrives.
 The negro laborers receive even less on which to start the day. The entire board is figured as costing S14 per month. Nat urally they do not pay the additional SC i bonus for eggs and such nourishing lux uries. A cup of black coffee, unsweetened and undiluted with the condensed milk | washes down chunk of stale bread for | them.
 The monday breakfast in city hotel and country adobe house alike, starts with | soup The next course in the more elab- crate establishments invariably is baked or boiled fish. The third course is of meat, either beef, veal or pork there are others. The fourth course varies I companying both courses are vegetables. m assortment of rice, black beans, fried or stewed piantains. vans, and onions. The final course equally consists of fruit 1 Five days out of seven 1t Is papia a sweet, luscious melon, In shape and color much resembling our pumpkins, but hay ing flavor which is inimltable. Black coffee, as many cups as desired, accom- panies the fruit.
 Not such a bad bill of fare, 1t seems Anu it Is the same bill of fare for the evening dinner. And the same for the two meals on the following day. At the end Of week the new arrival in the country looks for new boarding house and a new cook. But whether the new cook be slant eyed Chino" an ebony hued Jamaican. or saffron tinted Span lard, the provender smells and tastes the same. Thus the monotony
 Poor Food Causes Riot.
 The first bloody riot. in which the dusky native police hunted and beat down the negro laborers In the streets of Panama, was caused by the poor food, at which even thesesWest Indian negroes revolted The negroes were being fed by Spanish contractor hired by the canal commission. They refused to eat the unvarying diet of boiled swordfish meat rice, and coffee. | bO5ot of the police, attempted to compel the men to eat. They refused, the police turned loose with bayonets and muskets every hot headed native son armed him. self and joined in the man hunt, and within thirty-hve minutes several score inoffensiyej laborers were carried, cut and bleeding, to the hospitals.
 Cold storage houses have not been completed at Panama. Ice costs cents per pound, and is used sparlngly for drinking purposes. Meat which is dressed in the morning must be eaten before nightfall or else sun dried For this pur- pose 1t is cut into strips and hung along poles in front of the butcher shops The combined effects of the street dust and the burning tropical sun soon preserve 1t. In this condition it is sold by linear measure, not by weight.
 Potatoes are retailed at from 10 to 15 cents per pound. They are imported from California. Rice grows on the sea marshes and black beans ('frijoles') arc found in all parts of the country They are the only vegetables to which a per son from the northern continent is ac- customed. The climate is too damp and the sun too hot for the products of d colder country to flourish.
 Game Plentiful in Interior
 Deer are plentiful in the interior. Bears | 'houiitahi ti6SlS, leDpdGuS, with an elaborate accompaniment of snakes and other venomous reptiles, give spice of uncertainty to hunting. The meat of a l large sized lizard known as iguana is eaten by the natives and it's eggs are | considered a great delicaey The ocean fairly swarms with fish, but so lazy and shiftless are the people that few have | the nets or even the inclination to land l the tinny food
 Sacco is the native brew of the country. 1t is brand of rum distilled from sugar cane and guaranteed to make even a Chinaman fight after very small nip. l The ultimate effect of this drink is ap- pallns. Habtual users rapidly sink intr a condition of mind and body like that of the dope fiends seen in the slums of our large cities. Bloodshot eyes, a thick tongue, semi-comatose mind and ramb- | ling sentences mark the sacco thinker.
 The morning after person has drunk l this poisonous native rum he awakes in 1 a partly stupefed condition. Only another 1 drink of the fiery fluid will spur his mind and body into activity. Unless he | forgoes this stimulant his fall into the | ranks of the sacco drunkards is rapid and l sure. Of the Americans who have gone | to the tropical country the United States | ftp pttna Ir,,xr