The National tribune., 1911-02-16

LOChS, LOOh1NI SOO1H
looks this park. It's towers are rooted
with mother-of- pearl and is grand
specimen Of early church architecture;
the Roman Catholic Bishops palace,
with the office of the Panama lottery
on the ground floor, where the drawing
occurs every Sunday morning; the City
Hall, and the Grand Central. the prin-
eipal hotel of the little Republic, are in
this neighborhood. short distance
away is the Panama White House, fur
nished with regal splendor and guarded
by queer little spiggoty soldiers. | had
little difficulty in passing this guard.
simply looked very severe and walked
| stately.
+, AncOn.
Ancon is the suburb of Panama. as I
I have related before. 1t is on the Canal
Zone, and therefore under our jurisdic-
ton. Here are located our hospitals
on hill that presents IN enchanting
J view of the ocean and the islands of
+. Tahoga, Naos, Perico and FLAMENCO.
4 gems set in the serene azure of the
lordly. mighty Pacific. I drove up the
] long hill, fringed b. stately travellers
palms. rubber trees and fronds. whose
/ lives are dedicated to the delight of the
human eye. Every modern appliance
| for all the purposes of one of the best
| group of hospitals in the world can be
/ found ut Ancon. / told the surgeon
| that 1t approached a pleasure to occu-
Ply one of his beds. especially if one
had 10. He told me that there was
! very little Of tropical troubles under
| treatment. Col GorGas's battle royal
with the musketos of the Stegomyia or
yellow fever propagation and the Ano-
| pheles or malarial variety nearly put
| the hospitals cut of business, and en-
| tirely so when yellow jack" is count
| ed. The French hospitals were also
4 10. N(1
agement was hopelessly defective. The
surgeons and physicians were doubtless
good in their line, but everything. espe-
cially at night, was left to the Sisters
of Charity. One cannot truthfulIy say
word against them: but Sister Of
4 Charity is not nurse necessarily. Her
piety may give her no idea of hygiene
or care of the sick. Nor, and speaking
| reverentially, can the saying of ayes
and paternosters supply the physical
needs of sick person.
| The Ancient Sea Wall.
| Our queer rig took us to the ancient
sea wall, from whose eminence one can
| cover the whole panorama. The flat
arch of the old church ruins is pointed
out as proof that earthquakes have not
| been in evidence in that region or the
| old arch would not be standing. Thus
ended day. or rather, part of day
| in looking over very interesting part
of the 1sthmus. After the usual alter
cation with my Jamaican friend. when
he wanted $3.50 gold for mis- indifferent
service. l dismissed him with a slight
reduction-after telling him to drive to
policeman-by paying $3.50 gold.
| The Panama Railroad.
| Late in the afternoon | boarded the
train for Empire. where one of my
| daughters lives. The railroad Is as rp-
| to-date as the average of our roads at
home. AS the train speeds on the pas
senger sees the queer huts of the sure
enough natives. Generally these huts
have but one opening, and that is closed
to prevent insects and heat from en-
tering. How the large families live in
| one of these small novels, built general
| ly of mixture of mud and grass and
| matched with jungle palms, is an I'M
solvable question TO a white man. But
they live and breed young "spiggoties,"
and, of course, dogs. The donkey fur
nishes means of transportation, and is
handled mostly by the ladies of the
| family.
The living of these people is easy to
| obtain, as bananas, cocoanuts, lines
oranges and yams are all around them
and can be had for the gathering. A
yard of cloth, with Il grin, suffice for
| an adults everyday adornment The
problem of the high cost of living has
not reached the jungle nor never will
The native has no aspirations and is
without energy. y few work on the
canal, but he can exist without. I met
a real st. Louis coon" at Empire dirty
| ing a mule. He was delivering water
to the different houses. l saw that he
was not of the West Indian variety
He told me that the Commission had
brought to the Zone a large quantity of
| mules-and, by the way, they are fine
animals and well groomed-and that
the Jamaicans could not handle them.
| The mule is reckoned irseparable from
| the negro here. They rebelled at the
West India help, and proceeded to kick
| themselves, with their native energy,
out of commission. Their continued
gestures with their hind feet presented
| a problem that could be solved only by
| importing drivers from the States. This
was done, and no more trouble &C.
Cured. The deliveries of ice, coal,
wood, water, etc, are now made with
| the combination of northern negros
| and Missouri mules. You will likely
! ask what they do with wood and coal
| for domestic uses in that climate The
| lighting is entirely by electricity, and
the wood and kindling are for kitchen
purposes. Being but 10 degrees from
| the equator, no fuel Is needed to heat
the houses.
Contented People.
/ have never met n more contented
lot of people than those who are en-
| ployed on the Canal. They have their
| amusements. and while they may be
| restricted in their scope as compared
with those at home, they are varied
i and interesting. The baseball games
are well patronized, and are CT the
superior amateur sort. At intervals
shows come from the States that are
very creditable. The Y. M. c. A felix's
furnish bowling. billiards and other
games that are patronized literally and