The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1908-04-21
IN THE BAY OF PANAMA.
pelicans Diving For Fish Present An
Interesting Sight.

thttfSStiuS Sicnt.
I'm the press dispatches describing
the President tour of the isthmus,"
said Washington tourist. who has
recently returned from a trip in that
region, to n Star reporter. mention
was made of sail around the Bay
of Panama, which the President de-
clared to be one OF the most enjoya-
BILE features OF his trip.
Residents OF Northern chimes have
little conception of the tropics. where
life in all of it's phases is so different
from our own, and from my point of
view | am not enamored of it, except
as something to see and pass
through; but the Bay of Panama is
strikingly beautiful, and the waters
of the Pacific take on an exquisite
deep cerulean tint which is n revela-
ton to the eye of those who have
only seen the blue of the Atlantic
In the event of war with this
country the fleets of the enemy would
make Panama one of the first oh jec-
tive points for capture and occupa-
ton. The bay affords safe and deep
anchorage, and is dotted most pic
turesquely with small islands. The
land Notifications could be easily
shelled and bombarded. There is
considerable of an elevation back and
to the south of the city of Panama,
the streets of which slope up from
the very edge of the waters OF the
bay. But it would seem to me,
though | am not a military man, that
Notifications to be of actual service
against a sea attack would have to
be of the most formidable nature.
AS the sanitary conditions of the
isthmus are better now than former
ly, better time is now made on the
trip from San Francisco to New York
than in past years. On one of my
trips we had to lie outside in the bay
for several days on account of yellow
fever, and then we were hurried over
the isthmus on a special train direct
to the steamer at Colon. During this
enforced quarantine we observed with
delight one of the features of the
Bay of Panama, and a sight which
is never seen in the North.
Large focks OF pelicans make
their abodes on some of the islands
in the bay. The days are clear and
sunny, the sky is cloudless, the ocean
calm and intensely blue and the trade
winds from the Orient, which blow
with almost measured steadiness
all day. seldom kick up even so much
as whitecaps, except in the tempestu-
Gus seasons. The pelicans, which
grow to enormous size in the tropics,
hover over the surface of the water
in search of fish. When the wonder
fully keen eyes of these monster birds
discern a fish, though they usually
fly several hundred feet from the
surface of the ocean, they drop and
make dive, head foremost, with
wings tightly closed to their bodies.
that make the dip OF death of the
diver in a circus look like thirty
cents.
They drop through the air with
the rapidity of cannon ball, strike
the water with a tremendous splash,
sending the spray flying as If real
shot from a cannon had struck the
surface, and in most instances it
seemed to us that they secured their
prey, for we would see them rise in
the air with the fish in their huge
bills. AS is the case with all large
sea birds, however, their rise from
the water is as awkward, as their
dives and subsequent aerial fight are
graceful, and their mammoth wings
beat the water into a foam in their
powerful strokes to gain the initial
momentum Sometimes two or three
and even more pelicans Uould ,,,alxa
the drop and dive almost simultane-
ously, and when they would all land
in the water a few yards from an
other, probably in school of fish,
the sight was one of the most remark
able and interesting that could be
brought to tourists eye in trip
around the world. "-Washington
Star.