The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-06-07
PANAMA AND WEST INcdEs
Some First Hand Glimpses of Great
Work.

heavy coats the first two days out,
but by the 3rd Tuesday noon the
ships deck presented a very pretty
sight with officers and passengers in
white.
Our first port of embarkation was
the picturesque harbor Of Antilla,
Cuba, situated in Nipe Bay. We
were taken ashore in a small boat
after waiting several hours for the
port doctor to come aboard and eX-
anime the passengers. When we
left the steamer the sun was shining
dimly but before we reached the
shore, two miles away, it was rain
ing.
Such is the weather in the British
West Indies in the rainy season.
Arriving on land we climbed lad
der-like flight of steps set in a side
| hill which brought us to the princi-
pal building in Antilla. This is a
long low building containing at one
end hotel, in the center several
stores and at the extreme and the
stores and at the extreme end the
ing. The rain kept us indoors dur
ing the greater part of our stay on
the island, but we had plenty Of OPP
portunity for seeing the important
spots which consisted of a large but
bare post Office situated among beau
tiful gardens and the railroad station
at the waters edge for Antilla is on
! ly an important shipping and trans
| portation town.
| Our good ship seemed very home
like when we reached her after an
absence of three hours.
We sailed out of Nipe Bay Thurs
day morning with much pitching and
tossing, but during the day it grew
smoother and we had an uneventful
twenty-four hours to Kingston, Ja-
maica.
AS we entered the harbor and
steamed slowly to our deck we were
speechless with admiration at sight
of the beautiful Blue Mountains. For
in spite of the rain the mountains
had a blue gray mist over them
which gave them a most unusual ap.
pearance. We spen; the day motor
ing around the city ana lunched at
the Myrtle Bauh hotel which has
been rebuilt and greatly modernized
since the earthquake OF 1906, evil
dences of which are still to be seen
in the outlying parts of the city.
We returned to the ship for dinner
and early in the evening we began
TO feel the effects of the tornado
which was sweeping the island and
doing great damage to the bananas
and cocoanuts.
Early in the morning we sailed
and went into one of the worst
storms of the year. Waves washed
the deck all day and the only safe
occupation was sitting still, although
few people stood in the bow of the
boat thoroughly enjoying the soak
ing they received as each wave came
up.
We reached Colon Monday morn
ing under clear skies and none the
worse for our rough trip on the
Caribbean
Many doctors would do well TO pre-
scribe trip on the Caribbean Sea for
forbid livers which 80 not respond to
ordinary treatment
During all our rough weather we
had very jolly time on the ship
Our fellow passengers were most de-
lightful. The officers did everything
in their power to make us comfort
able and happy.
We were met at Colon by a most |
affable government official and were |
taken through the Canal in a way
which is not open to all tourists. A |
government automobile was put at |
our disposal for the day and instead |
OF going by train and seeing the |
/ npEC and Ea1ahra ctf frn,, a ba;ul.t
we were taken directly to and !
through them. The automobile had !
locomotive wheels which allowed us |
to go wherever the work train went. |
First we were taken to the Gatun |
dam and Spillway. The latter acts |
as a distributor to the Chargers |
river for the refuse which rises from |
the artificial lake now being filled. |
AS the water in the lake rises trees |
and underbrush come to the top and |
form themselves into floating islands |
some being mile in length. A busy |
little tug boat sticks her nose into !
the island and pushes ii to within a |
few feet of the spillway and then |
backs off. The island, caught in the |
whirling water. goes over the spill |
way breaking up as IL goes. In such |
a way as this they clear the lake for |
the big boats she will carry.
The Gatun locks were our next |
point of interest and we stood spell
bound looking into them. A morrow
foot bridge span them at one end and
only when standing on this did we
realize how immense the locks were.
We looked down one hundred and
fifty feet but refrained from going
down the ladder.
From the locks we went to the
most wonderful piece of work of all.
the Celebra Cut To get there we
went through several small villages
where the workmen and overseers
live and which will be submerged
when the water is let into the Canal.
The houses are portable and one
color and design with the exception
of the mud huts ip which the native
blacks live. AS We approached the
Cut we saw what appeared to be a
small army and in truth IL was one
for forty thousand men are at work
in the Zone. These men work i'm
three shifts OF eight hours, each. and
are paid off once a month. The Cut
is about three hundred feet wide I'm
some places and at many points is
two hundred feet hight At present
1t is covered with a net work of