The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1919-01-10
FROM THE CANAL Zone
MlSSFlORENCEJONESW WRITES
VERY NEWSY LETTER
She Describes Conditions In
That Section of This Good
Old World

suCcI die III iSSSipl vi liiS ioiio"iAst9
letter from their daughter Miss Flor
ence Jones, who is teaching in one
of the government schools in the
Panama canal zone:
Il am going TO start and tell you
all about my trip today. We had a
trip to a native inland village called
ABRAHAM.
There were eleven of us in the
party and went in three canoes. Two
of them were men who took Us on
that other trip a month ago. We
started from Mirafiores, and went up
the same river as before. There
were four in our canoe and we start
ed on first and stopped at wild or
ange grove, but found only two. as
the trees had been stripped. There
were lots of pelicans flying above us
and egret by the water side. When
we could go no farther in canoes We
left them and hit government trail
for two hours. We were right in
the jungles and had imagined it
would be rather a hard trip, but it
wasn't bad at all. 1t was rather
muddy in the morning as ryIhing
was so damp. red sticky mud. The
soldiers go through about every week
and keep it cleared on each side Of
the narrow path which we followed
up hill and down hill. but always go
ing higher. One of the men had a
gun and had a chance to use it too.
for we saw two big snakes in a tree.
He shot one which was about seven
feet long, but the other got away.
You can see all kinds of palm
trees, short and tall, wide and mar
ieties. OF course you see lots of
vines and so thick that sometimes
its hard TO make out the tree. There
are some trees with blossoms on
but very few wild flowers. l was in
hopes I'd see a wild pig and some
deer, but didn't. One of the party
saw a white faced monkey run across
the path, but l didn't happen to.
1--WE got TO the village about IL a.
m. First thing we did was to get
some oranges from one of the natives
and they surely tasted good. Wish
you could have some as they say
they are so expensive at home.
These sell at the comlnissary for
one cent each. They arc like the
Florida oranges, sweet, juicy, lots of
seeds and tough pulp. Then We
walked down the path through the
village. The houses are set out in
rows and everything looked real
neat outside. The grass down the
main streets looked as though it
had been cut or cropped close.
There were about four rows of hous-
es, which are made of bamboo, plas-
tered on the outside half way or all
way up, and with matched roofs of
palm leaves. There is no floor but
the hard earth. Some of them had
partitions, while the sleeping room,
if YOU could call it that, was on
the second floor which was a
pile of boards. If they had chicken,
pigs, etc, they also live downstairs.
In one house we saw several women,
four or five children, hen and chick
ems, couple dogs and pig all inside.
I'm front of some of the houses
were coffee beans, cocoa and rice
spread out to dry. Orange trees
loaded with oranges were in back of
most of the houses. Also saw some
rubber trees near the well where we
ate our lunch. A lot of the natives
Of course had to have water when we
got there. One mother came down
and gave her baby bath. We used
six rolls of films, so hope we get
some good ones.
1--WE saw cocoa and coffee growing,
and few grape fruit trees, and we
had some delicious ones. The one
! had was the largest l ever had and
it took me some time to eat it.
The inside Was pink like blood Or
ange, and the cells We're very large.
1.-THE mayor is called the alcalde,
and he showed US his Telegram Nof-
fice.' 1t was a telephone where mes
sages were phoned in, and he was
very proud of it, so we raved over it
though he couldn't understand what
We said. We took telegram blanks
printed in Spanish for souvenirs.
Then he ard the policeman showed
us where they put the men who were
too much drunk" or too much bad"
They were regular stocks where they
had to sit on the floor ard have their
feet fastened through holes in boards.
1--WE walked up into the church
which must be very old The i'm
ages inside were very queer locking
Outside the church were two bells,
one of which had the date 1922 on it,
"They have some kind of tom i
tom dance every Sunday, when every
one gets out. We had been in the
ex alcaldc's house ard asked him
to have it done for us, and if he had
been alcalde | am sure he would have
He had had just enough rum to make
him feel gay. When ir his house he
played a graphophore, a wonderful
thing to him. Later we heard three
tom toms going, and they came down
to a house where we were resting
and began to play. We went into
the house ard were given seats and
watched the performance. A fellow
ard girl would get out and dance,
singing all the time while the women
and girls or the side lines clapped
their hands ir time with the drums
and sing. Both doors and the win
dow were soon full of people looking
in.
after leaving the canoe we filled
up on oranges agair ard started on
our way. We didn't come back quite
so fast, ard it took us a little over
two hours.
Coming back we saw some iguan-
as, or. dead tree They are like
large lizards and the natives like to
l. Il -