Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-15
HEALTH At PANAMA
Conditions on Uncle Sans
Ten-Mile Strip.
FEVER AND MALARIA
PREVENT THE IsTHMUs BEING A
PARADISE.
Terrible Mosquitoes, and How They
Work = Government Fighting yell
low Jack-Trip Through Hospital.
Copyright, 1905. by Frank G. Carpenter,

Copyright, 1905. by Frank 6. Carpenter.)
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
PANAMA.
want to give you some idea of the
health conditions of the Isthmus of Pam
anna. Most people think there is only a
sheet of brown paper between this place
and hades, and that our life is made up of
a continuous fight with the climate. The
truth is Panama would be a paradise # 1t
were not for the fevers. The air here is as
soft and sweet as that of Ohio in June
The isthmus is only about forty miles wide
and the breezes from the Atlantic and the
Pacific are always blowing this way aad
that. We go about in our summer clothes,
but the average temperature is about &c.
the nights are cool, and toward morning
one needs an extra cover At Culebra and
in the other mountains of Uncle Sans
zone it is still colder and the air is Still
fresher These conditions prevail about all
the year round. 1t is never as hot as our
central states in midsummer and there IS
seldom night when one is not able TO
sleep.
Not Health Resort.
And still the isthmus of Panama is not
dHu HeNeT iidS Ucei d Htdltu icSoft. liz
lowlands are swampy and there has been
much malarial fever. About half the
American employees have at one time or
another been on the sick list and about 3
per cent of the 1900 men at work here are
now in the hospitals. We have had between
thirty or forty cases of yellow fever dur
ing the past year, and about one-th1rd OF
the yellow fever patients have died. THIS is
not high yellow fever death rate in a pop
ulation of 10000 or $4,000, and altogether
the conditions are not bad considering the
fact that we have just begun to wipe out
the mosquitoes and to improve the santa
ton and waited supply. The percentage in
the hospitals at present is not as large as
at most of our army posts, and the mala-
rial fever here is not to be compared IN its
injurious effects to the grippe, typhoid or
pneumonia, which they have at home.
Looking for Trouble.
Indeed, the man who comes to Panama is
liable to get the fever from fright The
moment he leaves New York the passengers
condole with him upon the awful condi
lions. They go over the yellow fever cases
of the last year, and the men who have
been on the isthmus tell stories of the
deaths of the past. They relate how
when the Panama railroad was building
the mortality was so great that man
died for each tie in the track, and some,
perhaps, say that the funeral trains still
move in and out carrying the dead to
Monkey Hill. The truth is, there have been
no such trains for many years, and the tie
story is of doubtful authenticity. The pas
senger, however, does not know this. He
grows more and more alarmed as he lands
at Colon and is handed circular or health
warnings by the quarantine officers.
This circular is issued by the canal COM
mission In capital letters the word Ma
LARA stands out in the first paragraph,
and below it are directions how to escape it.
The directions say that malaria comes
from the bite of a female mosquito and
they urge every one to use mosquito bars
and take three grains of quinine each day
before going to bed. The circular is signed
by Colonel Gorgas, the chief sanitary Of
ficer.
1 received such circular on landing. 1
heard more fever stories when l went 10
the Washington House for my dinner, and
as I crossed the sthmus on the railroad a
ghoulish friend pointed out Monkey Hill
cemetery as my future resting place and
remarked: That little station further on
is known as Matachn, a Spanish word
meaning dead Chinaman,' because two
thousand Chinese died there"
MY Yellow Fever Ghost.
My fears increased as 1 approached Pan
anna City and were by no means allayed
by conversation I had upon arriving at
the American legation. which has formed
my home for part of my stay.
Our minister to Panama, John w. Bar
rett, while he apparently has no fear of the
fever himself, going everywhere and almost
daily visiting the yellow fever wards of the
hospitals, believes in being careful Id in
trying to frighten every American with
whom he comes in contact into doing like
wise.
When I entered the legation found him
as solemn as the traditional owl and as
serious as one looking on the dying face
of his best friend for the last time. He
took me into his office and sat me down be-
tween him and a pot of Persian insect pow
der which burned away, filling the room
with a not unplea SAINT but pungent smoke
I afterward learned that this was to stupe-
fly the mosquitoes or kill them on the wing
Before l could ask him to what joss he
was burning incense, he began about the
fever, asking me if ! We're afraid Of It. l
replied that I was, but that he who was
born to be hanged would never be drowned,
and doubted whether Yellow Jack was to
be the cause of my taking off.
II hope not" said the minister: "and, in |
deed, 1 don't want to alarm you; but
woman had the yellow. fever in that build |
ing to the right, man has just been taken |
to the hospital from the building over
there. and third party Is aiing oeio"
where we are sitting"
AS he said this 1 felt my face growing |
yellow. The minister continued:
''Still, the danger is not very great. 1T
will only occur in case you are bitten by
female stegomyia that has already fed |
upon a yellow fever patient. If its bloody |
Jaws get into you, you are gone"
"a stegomyia.'' said l, inquiringly, think !
ing Of the panthers,- tigers. painted rabbits,
iguanas and other dangerous beasts of the |
jungles-"a stegomyia! What is |
stegomyia? / never heard of 1t.
1.-The stegomyia is the yellow fever mos
quito. 1t is about one-third the size of the |
Jersey mosquito. 1t is black and white with |
zebra stripes upon its body and legs. If /
female of that breed bites a yellow fever |
patient its blood becomes inoculated with |
yellow fever bacteria, and in case she then |
bites you, you will have the fever sure"
The Virtues Of Citronella.
"But, by the way" the minister contin- |
ued, have you any citronella oil? The mos
quito does not like the smell of that, and |
If you use 1t 1t will keep her away
Eyes, l have some, Mr.. Minister" said I. |
But have you rubbed 1t on your
enc. not yet.
''Well, you must attend to that at once" |
And with that Minister Barrett went with |
me to my room and aided me in my anoint- |
CT