Milford chronicle., 1923-08-10
Letter From
Canal Zone
LIEUTENANT THEo. coULBoURNE
WRITES FROM COCO SOLO AN
INTERESTING LETTER TO
A FRIEND.

Under date of July 10th, Lieutena1
Theo. Coulbourne wrote to G. Marsha
Townsend, in which several photo
graphs of the natives near Coco SolC
which is about sixty miles south {
Panama, in the Canal Zone, were en-
closed. The letter follows:
July 16, 1923.
My Dear Marshall:
AS the rainy season has set in an
we cannot go about so much, I though
would drop you a few lines, to lie
you know that I am still kickini
around, even though it is down her
in the land of rains and reptiles. Thl
rainy season starts in May and goe
on to October or November, by that
do not mean that it is a steady rain
but a shower will come up in a few
minutes and maybe last an hour Of
so or maybe only a short while, anC
then the sun comes out hot again anG
all is well, you may be driving along
the road and strike a shower and ali
you have to do is to back up a few
feet and wait until it is over, you see
it comes in streaks as it were.
The baseball season is over down
here, and all attention is now turned
to basket ball and boxing, and as you
know Sunday is the main day for it.
1t is kind of hard to adapt yourself
to conditions down here, for instance,
we go to church, sit there and listen
to the preacher, and when he gets
through, he sits down and the lights
go out, and the movie show is on, or
n nj Of TTI
I was hoping that you people would
get Bryan, the pitcher from down
here, when I saw you were slipping,
but I am glad to note that you are
coming back again strong. Bryan left
here the latter part of June and I un-
derstand that he is pitching for Nor
folk, Va, but this is not authentic, we
had a great team down here last sea-
son and they only lost one game dur
ing the league season, but lost two in
the post season series.
I have a great time fishing down
here, as I never saw better sport any
where. There is club known as the
"Tarpon Club" which was organized
club house upon Gatun Lake, near the
spillway, and spend a great deal of
time out there and have made some
very large catches of tarpon and
snook, as well as bass and perch.
take a trip now and then up and
down the coast or over on the Pacific
side, was down in the San Bias
country few days ago, for a couple
of days, and am now figuring on a
trip down in Darien. The San Bias
Indians live very primitive life on
islands less than a mile square, the
houses are bamboo and built on the
ground with no floor or furniture of
any kind. They have no means of tel
there are no stores or shops of any
sort, and the only work they do is to
go out and get a couple of fish for
food for the day. They eat only fish,
rice, plaintains, bananas and bread
fruit. They know nothing of bread,
butter, sugar, coffee, tea, or meat Of
any sort. They sleep in the sand or in
4 small hammock. They do not wish |
% mingle with any other race and
hat is why they object to teachers
md missionaries; they are not a saw
age race, although I would not want
o take a chance of staying ashore all
light. We called on the Chief Of the
ribe, as we had an interpreter with
is, and he made us welcome, but did
lot insist on us staying for tea, so we
vent aboard ship about sundoWn' as
guess we would have been unable
o see after dark, as they have no
electric lights. The natives are very
much afraid of a camera and you can
lot get a photograph Of their faces
Inless you catch them unaWares. l
m sending you picture of us trying
o get a photograph of a native WO-
lan's face, but there was nothing do
ng as she kept her head wrapped IN
er shawl.
This is a great place for social en-
the ladies can get up a
ridge game most any time and there
) almost nightly entertainments II
othing more than moving picture
how or a dinner party, and as you
now one calls for another and in this
tanner the show continues.
was glad to see that President
-arding got to Milford, and that eV-
rything went off so we'll I would
we to have been there, but we cant
2 at all the amusements, about the
me he was down there I was cross
lg the hot sands down here, so
less we both got ours. We had Sen t.
or Ball out to the house for dinner
hen he was down here, and he was d
lling me that the President expect il
to go down there soon, but 1 kind {
had my doubts, but anyhow he did,
Id know Milford done herself JUS {
ce. "
We had a celebration down here on
e 4th and at night the best fire o
orks 1 think have ever witnessed S
i'd the day closed with ball at the S
otel Washington. q
Well Marshall I think l have told
III all the news of this place, and b
you want a nice little trip, why 81
me down and we will try and make b.
pleasant for you. Our baseball sea-
n OPENS again in December and our pl
hing season is always open. With W
st wishes to yourself and to the tU
lionel, am W
Very truly yours,
COULBOURNE. to
m
Tho ,ausnaDers printed at Cristo- V,