Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-21

on THE SPANISH MAIN. BY John Mase-
field New York: The Macmillan Com
pany Washington: Brentano $.
Owing to the digging of the Panama canal
especial interest is now entertained regard
ing the early history of the Spanish main
or the mainland as distinguished from the
Islands of the coast found by the early
Spanish navigators. detailed and conse-
quentIy an interesting account of Morgan's
raid on old Panama is given by Mr.. Mase-
field. The expedition was marvel of pa
thence, intrepidity and endurance, and was
wholly successful
The town is all gone now" says the au
thor, saving the cathedral tower, where
the sweet Spanish bells once ehmed and
the little stone bridge, worn by so many
mules hoofs. There is dense tropical for
est over the site of 1t, though the founda-
tons of several houses may be traced, and
two or three walls still stand. with bril-
liant creepers covering up the carved work.
1t is not an easy place TO reach, for it is
some six miles from new Panama, and the
way lies through such tangle of creep
ers, over such swampy ground, poisonous
with so many snakes, that IL is little Wis.,
tied. 1t can be reached by sea on a fine
day at high tide If the surf be not too bois-
ferrous. To landward of the present Pan
anna there is fine hill, called Mount An
con. A little to the east there is a roll OK
high land. now fruitful market-garden
or farm of orchards. This high land, some
nVe or SIX miles from the ruins, Is known
as Buccaneers Hill. 1t was from the sum-
nit Of this high land that the pirates first
saw the city steeple. Local tradition points
a fayv al Il. p;ct,-
brass and iron, at the nearby village of Ell
Moro, as having been left by Morgan's
men. At the Island of Taboga, in the Bay
of Panama, they point with pride to a cave,
the haunt of>Sauids and crabs, as the hiding
place of Spanish treasure
What old Panama was like we do not
know, Tor we can trace no picture of it.
Ii was said to be the peer of Venice the
painted city, at time when Venice was vet
the incompatible Queene.'' 1t could hardly
nave oeen second Venice, though Its sit
uat1on on that beautiful blue bay with
the Andes snowy in the distance and the
isianos, IKE great green gems, to seaward
10 lovely beyond words. 1t was filled with
glorious houses, carved and scented, and
ueautirui with costly things. The mer-
chants lived a languorous luxurious life
there, waited on by slaves whom they
couid Durn or torture at their pleasure 1t
was the greatest mart for gold and silver
cries UP and down the bay, yielding the
nnest of pearls and golden potosi-the
tangible Eldora was not far off The mer-
chants or old Panama were perhaps as
stately fellows and as sumptuous in their
ways OF life as any on the Rtalto'"
Inc aim of the pirates who sailed under
the British flag, pirates though they were
was 10 capture the treasures that were sent
overland from Panama to the ports on the
Caribbean, whence they were shipped to
Spain Morgan was the only buccaneer bold
enough to push across the isthmus and to
attack the treasure city itself. Sir Francis
Drake, years before had pushed close to
the city to capture a treasure train, for his
force was not strong enough to venture
an attack on the city, but through a mis-
hap the Spaniards were warned and the
treasure was saved.
Mr.. Masefelds book abounds in stories
OF adventure and combat-the attacks on
Nombre de dos, Porto Bello and Chagres.
1t describes the life and customs of the
buccaneers, a term derived from the Caribs
who dried or "boucanned" meat over a
campfire. Meat thus cured kept good for
several months. The buccaneers were
originally hunters living on the isles of the
Caribbean, mostly at Tortuga. They were
raided by the Spanish in 1858, and after
then they began to revenge themselves by
systematic raids upon the Spanish. The
French and English colonists of st. Kits
were treated unjustly by their governments
and many Of them left their homes to Join
the buccaneers. Morgan was the last of
cancers were treated as public enemies,
sailing under the shadow Of the galIows.
THE HEALERs. By Maarten Martens.
author of 'Dorothea" &c. New York:
d. Appleton & Co
With his keenest wit and his subtlest
| methods of construction. Martens has
here presented a story Of the conflict be-
| tween the advocates of medicine and those
of psychological practices for the cure Of
human ills. The two healers chiefly in evil,
dence are a Dutch bacteriologist, who has
been for many years seeking to prove his
theory that all ailments are attributable to
the "semicolon" bacillus, and his son, who
espouses the cause Of psychiatry. The
story Is laid partly In Holland and partly
in France, and the period IS evidently the
last quarter Of the nineteenth century. The
great Charcot, pioneer in the field OF heal
ing by mental suggestion, hypnotism and
the like, Ia repeatedly mentioned, but ap-
pears only in the background as the master
of the young practitioner. Which is better
to devote ones life to the healing Of dis
ease, or to seek the forces that keep the
body well7 This question Is propounded bv
beautiful girl who is brought from SUI
matra, where her Dutch father, an army
officer, has died. Gifted with hypnotic DOW
X
ceptional assistance to him. In the great
case which first brings his name before the
world of science. involving the partial cure
of a congenital Idiot, she serves as his chief
medium of research. The story OF this case
is rendered exceptionally interesting by the
Dutch master of fiction. The stage Is al
ways well filed and the action is brisk An
eccentric Scotch spinster with a heart over
flowing with love for the dumb creatures
and with an abundance of affection for her
fellow men serves effectively as the god
dess In the machine when dark clouds hang
over two young couples. Insanity is an al
ways interesting theme and Martens ham
dies 1t in this connection artisticalIy and
dramatically. The story is mastery in Its
powerful directness.
IN THAMEsLAND, Being the Gossiping
| Record of Rambles through England
from the Source of the Thames to the
Sea, with Casual Studies of the Eng
lish People. their Historic and Ro-
mantle Shrines, the Whole Forming a
Guide to the Thames Valley BY Henry
Wellington Wack +. r. g. s., author
of THE Romance of Victor Hugo and
Juliette Drouet," &c. With map and
100 Illustrations. New York: q. r.
D,,Ar,, v,,Bc