The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1912-05-10
Panama and Costa Rica

could see for miles the mountain ranges,
We began to think it possible that the ship
would call at the port of BoeaS del Tore
which seems to be between a hundred and
a hundred and fifty miles from Colon, We
watched the mate as he dropped the log Ans
and threw on his signal forward in full
force Here the great propeller OF the
steamship began to work in full force,
Looking. meditating and remembering
both those we had left in the beautiful Re
public of Panama and those who were SS-
pecting us at home, we had nothing 70 SraWSS
us except the dial of the log line. HOlSlNS
our watch, we found that we We're making
about eleven knots an hour. Calculating
from this that if we left Colon at twelve m,
Saturday, we would reach Port IlnSOn st
eight a. m. Sunday morning This would
give us twenty hours steady sailing, and, Sc
ten knots per hour, it would be about two
hundred miles from the port of Colon.
We were very anxious to call at the port
of Bocas del ToroS for the reasons it is s
great fruit port. 1t is at this port that the
United Fruit Company has its largest hS-
mana farm, with a railroad to Sanchez and
intermediate points. Also there are here
many colored people with a pastor by the
name of Rev. E. c. Mailman. There is q
Baptist church and several missions. How
ever, these are connected with the Jamaican
Baptists. Inquiring of the captain, found
that the ship would not call at this port
Hence, after six o'clock dinner, we spent
the time making the acquaintance of the
few passengers that were aboard the beau
tiful ship.
Right here we began to wonder if there
was anything in the old adage or supersh-
ton concerning the number thirteen, for
when we examined our state room it was
No. 13. Though it was as beautifully ar
ranged, with bed dressed in pure white
linen and everything as convenient as
heart could wish, yet the number thirteen
stood out clearly before us, and we fell
asleep with that number on our mind. Ear
" Sunday morning we arose and, just after
daylight, discovered the distant mountains
md knew we were in sight of land. But
when we drew closer to land, as we sailed
up the Costa Rican Bay, we saw what
seemed to us banks of snow. The wind was
cool and we asked the captain if it was
possible that in Costa RIGA we had snow
capped mountains like the Rockies. He in
formed us that what we saw was the ris-
ing vapor from behind the mountains, and
we afterwards learned that this vapor was
caused by the heat from the volcanoes
In a short time we could see Port Limon,
and the sailors began to get busy on the
deck, and the steamship gave long, loud
blast which told us they were giving notice
to the port. In a short Atime the ship
directly we saw launch coming, carrying
dropped it's anchor in Port Limon Bay and
the flag of Costa RIGA, and the sailors be-
gan lowering the ships ladder, and imme-
diately man and his attendant climbed
aboard. We had no right to ask him his
nationality, but neither he nor his attendant
were white or black. They jabbered some
thing that by close attention we discovered
was in the Spanish language, and, then, we
said, "Ah, these people, too, speak Spanish"
The doctor examined first the crew, then the
passengers and then wanted to know who
was to land and how long they we're expect
ed to stay. When finding that all on board
except two were through passengers, he did
MOI carry long,
Another blow of the whistle brought the
dock pilot with his crew, and we were told
that the pilot notified the captain that the
sWells were so great that the authorities
could not let the ship come along side or
any passengers be unloaded until the next
morning. Sad, sad indeed, for us. When
breakfast was over, we sat on the deck of
the anchored ship while she played at moor
ing and could hear the church bells tolling
the hour of worship, and we do not know
when the day has ever been when we so
much longed to join the people of God in the
worship of His name but we felt it was our
loss and we must make the best of it, So
we read what books and magazines we had
and spent the day in watching other ships
come to anchor in the bay, out from the
deck as we were,
In conversing with the captain we fount
that there was an Unusual disturbance Of
the waters, that it was not quite on account
of the Sabbath, but on account Of the dis
turbance in the waters. The presumption
was that somewhere great storm was rag
ing and the swells were reaching this point
The day was spent and night came on. TIL
dock was lighted with electricity and tn