El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-17

visit old Panama Cor MauFSce II.
Thatcher, who will have charge of the
repairs on the Cruces road, was with
me, and together we examined the
work now being done on the road to
old Panama.
Leaving Ancon, we skirted the savan-
mas or open grazing country outside,
crossed the limits of the canal zone and
after ride of about seven or eight
miles came to the old Spanish. bridge
beyond which are the ruins of what
was once the most important town on
our hemisphere
Old Panama was founded just about
100 years before our Pilgrim Fathers
landed on Plymouth Rock. 1t was fed
by the riches of Peru, which were
brought for shipment across the 18TH
mus and rapidly grew. AS time went
on the city increased in Importance
ana mighty buildings were erected.
one or these was cathedral the tower
and some Of the walls OF which are
still standing. I have climbed into the
tower and had myself photographed
in one of the second story windows.
The tower is, I judge, 100 feet high
and at one side of it is a great well
containing the stairway which led to
the bell on its summit
These ruins are now overgrown with
vegetation. They are half buried in the
earth, and in places trees have sprouted
and now shade the ruins. Inside the
walls Of the cathedral is one tree more
than 100 feet high. Others have spread
their roots about the walls as though
to protect them, and some have raised
parts of the walls and carried them
up with them. The whole country
about is covered with the debris of the
old masonry, including bricks and
pieces of pottery and carved stone All
were part of the Panama Of three
centuries ago. In making the new
roadway great deal of the old site
has been dug over and the land re-
minds enc Of the plowed fields about
Carthage in northern Africa
Panama In 1000.
1t is said by the best authorities
that old Panama was considerably
larger than the Panama of today.
When destroyed by the pirates it had
over $4,000 inhabitants. It had zoo
warehouses, 1000 fine dwellings. and
5000 houses Of ordinary build Many
Of its buildings were Of brick The
bricks were made square and were
about two inches thick. They were
burnt red. Many of these bricks lie
about the ruins to day.
1 am told that it is the intention
of the Panama government to make
excavations all over the site of the
old city and 70 open the past as far
as possible to the light of the pres
ent. Already there is a great tourist
travel out to old Panama. and with the
completion of the canal this will be
one OF the SfSnJS- OF +fh6 country. A
concession has already been given to
build an electric railway, and this viii
probably be constructed in time.
In the Footsteps of the Buccaneers
This country fairly teens with his
tory. Ali the wealth of the Pacific
coast Of our continent was brought
here, and the pirates and buccaneers
lowered about these waters. hoping to
catch and rob the Spanish galleons.
Now and then the cities were besieged.
and one of the most graphic stories of
our hemisphere is that of Capt. Henry
Morgan and his band in the capture
Of Panama. The story was noted down
by one of the pirates, who kept a rec
ord of everything. It was published
about seven years after the events
occurred, and it describes the expedi-
ton as a whole and in detail.
The pirate writer's name was John
Esquemeling, and he published his
narrative in 1873. It was first printed
in Dutch, but it has been done over