The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1914-07-22
Vivid Pictures Of Life In
Canal Zone
FROM RELIGIOUS VIEWPOINT
Quaint Indian Village Where
Natives Navigate Solid
Mahogany Canoes.
IVORY" rs MADE FROM NUTS

lowing fine and enchanting descrip-
ton of Panama, in which he tells of
an unaccomplished task and spir-
itual emergency
II was agreeably surprised during
my entire stay in Panama. Before
leaving America | had read much
about the Gatun lock. and about the
Culebra cut In fact, was led to
think that the canal zone consisted
primarily of locks and cuts. and that
the whole thing would be rather
dreary to man not particularly in
terested in machinery or engineer
ing feats.
'But to my great delight, | found
the canal full of human interest
and also vastly attractive on account
of it's tropical scenic beauty. Few
of us, think, have fully realized
that the canal zone lies well within
the tropics. This means rich and va
ried foliage, and unusual forms of
fora and fauna. Bananas, pineap-
Piles and ceeeanuts- grow in their ma
tural state in this region. Rare but
terfiies, beetles and bugs of various
sorts, some of them rich in coloring.
are to be seen. And monkeys and
curious wild turkeys are found in
the forests.
MY guide took me across Gatun
lake to visit a quaint Indian village.
Here it is interesting to note how
the Creator has furnished food,
cooking utensils, and even cloth
ing, so that labor is greatly tighten
ed.
I'm the front dooryard of one of
the native huts we found the Gala
bash tree on which large gourd-
shaped things grow. From these
cooking utensils are made. By the
side of the calabash was a bread
fruit tree with a curious large fruit
which the natives use in place of
bread Almost everywhere under
the soil are roots called yams. When
cooked, these taste very much like
sweet potatoes. And growing wild
In the forests are bananas and CO.
coanuts in great abundance.
One of the natives whom We Wis
tied in this village. had cute little
white-faced monkey chained in
front of his house. And runnings
around in the yard was wild tur-
key, entirely different from our wild
turkeys, but a very interesting bird
and quite friendly. Then, too, there
was wild pig. or peccary which is
said to be the widest animal in all
South America. This particular pig,
however, was very tame.
in the yard also was a quantity
of vegetable ivory nuts from which
collar-buttons and things of that
sort are made. These nuts are
round and very hard and when OPP
ened resemble ivory. They sell for
$500 a ton in America, but the ma
tives pick them up on the ground
near this little village.
There are many Indian villagers
along the coast and around the
shores of the lake. Ii is most inter-
esting to see them going to and
from the trading places in their ma
tive dug-out canoes. These boats
are very large, sometimes seven feet
vide and thirty feet long. and are
cut out of solid mahogany. The ma
tives are skilled boatmen, and are
able to navigate waters that would
be impossible to the white man in
his modern boat. Coming down to
the trading places, the natives bring
their boats filed with bananas, CO.
coanuts. palms and other articles of
trade.
THE political, physical and sani-
tary aspects of the Panama canal
problem have now been largely solv-
ed. The unaccomplished task is the
spiritual one. ] have no hesitation
In saying that this impressed me as
being the most difficult and urgent
OF all.
Panama is peopled by one of the
strangest mixtures of races to be
found anywhere In the world. The
only place at all comparable with II
that have ever seen Is the city OF
Singapore. In the latter city. while
almost every race under heaven is
represented, the nationalities re-
main comparatively separate and
distinct. But in Panama they are
all merged Aside from Americans
and Europeans. there are hardly
any people of pure blood on the
lAthmus. Chinese. colored people
from the West Indies, Panamanians
and spaniards have all mingled.