Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1913-09-19


iage on Ia
Down verdure-clad slopes and ter
racing reaches
Where orange and mango and pine
apple grow,
One wanders through Eden to ocean
washed beaches
An Eden that only the sun-children
know"
Thus James S. Gilbert, the late la
,mented poet Of Panama, Nrote Of
Taboga Island. 1t was so enticing
that / determined to be one of the
sun-children for q day or two and SO
steamed away In a little launch twelve
miles out into the Pacific to that
beauty spot. It is all that Mr.. Gill
bert called 1t, and more, and 1t is no
wonder that the sanitarium, estab-
lished there by the French canal COM
pany and reopened by the Americans,
Is so well patronized If you are a
canal employe-white- have
been i'll, the doctor may be kind
enough to send you over to Taboga
for two weeks to recuperate. II you
"a q q lAACk q FAoAtSA JOA NShA pAN ~ 80
the unpretentious little hotel con-
Quoted by William Jones, the Ameri-
can six-footer who looks like a
miner and dances like a cotillon
leader. In either case you will be
fortunate, for you will find those
"verdure-clad slopes" gorgeous with
flowers and alive with brilliant birds,
and the "ocean-washed beaches" the
finest places in the world for a swim.
You can sail about the pretty bays
with the native fishermen, or you can
climb up the hills where the boys are
vociferously driving the kline home to
be MIXED, or you can merely lie In
the shade and dream dreams of the
| Spanish galleons and the buccaneers.
A more delightful place for rest and
the repair of shattered nerves would
be hard to find.
Taboga has a history. too, small as
It is De Luque, the second bishop
OF Panama, looked upon the island
saw that it was good and established
there his country residence. In fact
he maintained a household there the
year round, for, like many another
churchman of the old days, he did moi
adhere closely to the rule of celibacy
His memory Is preserved by a bath
Ing place in a stream that runs dowr
the mountain side, called the Bish
ops Pool. It was reserved for thu
use of him and his retinue. Above +
lis the Family Pool, for women am
children, and still higher up is thu
Pool of the Letters, for the men
The last one derives its name from
the inscription 81. F. b., Ohio carved
! on a nearby rock. This Is a reminds
that In 1852 the Fourth infantry, q
8. A., crossed the isthmus en- rout
for garrison duty in California, haV
Ing sailed from New York on tn
United States mail steamer Ohio
Cholera was prevalent at the time i
Panama and the American soldier
and the sailors from the Ohio wer
attacked by the disease, about eight
of them dying. Some of the sic
were left on Taboga island to reco'
err. and evidently one of them did n
cover sufficiently to climb up to tn
bathing pool and leave the recor
that is a mystery to the native II
habftants of this day Incidental
u. s. Grant, then captain, was wit
the Fourth infantry on that trip.
If you climb up the hill, followin
this stream most of the way, you wi
come to a place at the summit of
pass called Las Cruces. There, 81
in cement. are three small crosse
commemorating the most exciting Il
cident in the islands history Al
! cording to a Spanish work write
early in the last century, a shiplos
of Peruvian pirates came sailing L
; the coast in 1915 and decided Tabog
was a good place to loot. They Ian
ed and drove the small Spanish ga
rfson out of the village and up tt
mountain. But Ia the pass the 81
!, diers rallied, the inhabitants came
: their assistance and there, says Il
!, chronicler, a most bloody comb
!, ragged for hours. Finally the pirat
T were routed and fed to their shi
4 leaving three men dead on the fie
of battlel
The isthmus reeks with histor
some of the most interesting pa
d sages of which have to do with Por
1 Bello. But the visitor who go
' there with mind full OF the Nigh
: fights and great trade Of the Q
Spanish days win be woefully d
appointed by the town rs It now
Romance. commerce, everything
d traetive has fed long ago from tn
s place and Porto Bello is nothing b
e 4 dirty. immoral little village, full
4 low cantinas, slatternly natives a
d NANCY ours. At each side Of t
own is the ruin of Spanish 70
ts picturesqueness marred by fish
mems nets and the local washi
hung up to dry.
10 Thus the work OF man has decay
o but Nature Is as kind as ever
u Porto Bello. It's hottie-shaped
a Il = 49, v,~aAAla.k -