Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1911-08-09

strange proceeding given to me b
these who live here.
These men are short in stature, II
Luilt In figure. The women are shape
hut awarthy, with black hair, braid
ed and tightly colled, and eyes sof
and lustrous. Custom allows them tt
wear low-cut embroidered chemises
and gaudy GOWNS, with arms, neck
ma shoulders bare. There are few
countries in Spanish America where
the women have so many homely viz.
tues or the men are as honest as the
Chiroqui and Mosquito Indians.
Nothing more transpired on this
trip worth relating. We all were glad
to get back to Bocas del Toro, where
we had left our friends. Tomorrow we
Will make a trip to the greatest ba-
mana plantation in the world.
We all got up extra early and by 7
I" Hi' VIC itit bo'dS uci ioIo loi Ala
manta. There we took a boat up
Shanganola river OF all | saw in
northern Panama, the primeval trop-
ical forests at the base of these great
mountains were most impress ive.
There one steps from a canoe to the
shore, pushes aside a rank growth
OF reeds and plants, struggles through
them for little distance, reaches a
wall of green foliage, lifts an over.
hanging Dough, scrambles under, and
the world Is shut out The traveller
stands in shadowland and silence
Strange, ghostly butterflies go waver.
.ng in and out among a dense growth
OF ferns and tender plants, which
could not endure the sun; giant trees
form, as il were, columns for an eX-
pansive roof OF green; every where the
gray trunks Of slender trees reach up.
ward, till their branches find the sun.
light far above, and their naked stems
seem like slender tracery pendant |
from the roof of green. A tangled, |
matted growth it is. Climbing vines |
'estooned among the trees, deep shad- |
)ws, here and there a bit of glowing |
sunlight, and mysterious depth ever
opening out as one presses forward.
Such are the primeval forests of the
ropics, and nowhere can they be seen
o better advantage than along the
and Saxola rivers
At last we arrived at our little land.
ng. We got on one OF the United
fruit Company's trains going out for
load of fruit. am told by Captain
iolmes the company has some forty
quare miles planted in bananas and
ocoas. Their output is around a mill.
IN and half punches per year now, s
nd the amount is fast increasing. /
heir cocos are young yet, but they 7
xpect great results from these or a
hards in very short while. We made I
trip of some thirty-seven miles d
trough this enormous plantation. Ev n
'ywhere the natives were using their
achetes, cutting away the rank o
'owth from the banana plants. No in
owing is done; plants and seeds OF r
] kinds are simply put in holes, GOV. Il
ed up and nature does the rest. Ev. g
ythng grows here; in fact, | am a
Id the company has to use iron ties o
the railroad because wooden ties b
hen laid on the ground start to
owing at once. | noticed very
rye species of the lizard family. al
me five feet long. dark green on its NJ
ok, shading to delicate green on II
belly, but rather ugly in its general W
pearance 1t is eaten by the natives W
d they pronounce it excellent eat. W
!. but | declined to eat any. There OF
also white alligator which is hi
ten here. Well, after a tropical r
'rm, which seemed as If It would 70
w everything away, the sun came w
as bright and inviting as a May m
rning in Texas. We all bid q re- fr
tant goodbye to Bocas del Toro in
its great fruit industry, which is sh