The Republican., 1925-08-13
SOLUTION OF LAST WEEKS
CROSSWORD PUZZLE.

cities go. Founded by Pedrarias the
Cruel in 1919, sacked and destroyed
by Morgan the Buccaneer in 1911, it
survived for no more than a century
and half, mere 152 years of glory
and wealth, of bloodshed and mur-
der, of cruelty and avarice.
Originally an Indian fishing village,
with name meaning place abound
ing in fish," strip of firm ground be-
tween marshes, hard to attack and
immune from famine, the site pleased
| Pedrarias when circumstances drove
him across the Isthmus from the
Atlantic coast to the Pacific.
i Circumstances were in this case
but another word for fright. A new
Governor had been despatched from
Spain to inquire into sundry scan
dals, and Pedrarias' sense of discre-
tion bade him beat a hasty retreat.
There was much on the mind of this
! ancient scoundrel, who, sent to the
New World at the ripe age of seventy,
lived there to do more harm than any
man in the Americas. Yet, so is vii
lainy rewarded, the new-made city
and its founder prospered and grew
rich.
The Spanish Governor and sundry
others in authority vanished with a
rapidity only explained by poison.
Pedrarias remained supreme in Pana-
ma. The former settlements on the
Atlantic coast were abandoned to the
Indians. But even to this day no
white man may stay over night in
those regions under threat Of death.
so well do the natives remember the
cruelty Of Pedrarias and his lieu
tenants.
The treasure trade with Peru was
not the only source Of wealth in Old
Panama. Nor were the pearls from
Pearl Islands, nor yet the gold from
the mines at Vehagaua, nor even the
brief, profitable trans-Pacific trade
with the Philippines.
Panama grew rich on smuggled
goods. Foreigners were forbidden to
trade with the Spanish colonies, and
when the royal fleet came every year
to the Isthmus to take away the ac-
cumulated treasures, it was supposed
to bring with it in exchange only
homemade goods. But Spain was
never a manufacturing country, and
during the busy weeks of the Gal
leo Fair" when the great vessels
sent ashore their sail to make booths.
more things were sold than had ever
seen Spain or paid duty to the King.
Small wonder that such varied
spoils should have fired the imagin-
alton of mankind. 1t was the dream
of brakes life to capture Panama.
Again and again he came back to the
Isthmus, goaded by the staggering
prosperity of the city on the Pacific
But he died before even his dream
could come true, and was buried a
league from the shore of the harbor
of Porto Bello. Eighty years later
Morgan succeeded where he had fail
ed.
| When Morgan and his fourteen
hundred buccaneers appeared before
the walls of Old Panama it was not
the defenses of man that had let and
hindered them. They had crossed
the 1sthmus by way of the Chagres
river, setting out with provisions
enough to last two days; but the
tropical forests were not so easily
conquered, and for another week they
struggled on through the dense
Jungle, eating leather belts, leaves.
anything they could find.
Two hundred died of starvation,
but the rest went through, broken,
desperate, and exhausted. Then the
Governor of Panama became pos
! sessed of an idea. He turned loose
upon the buccaneers a herd of wild
bulls, confident that the cattle would
trample upon the starving enemies.
But the enemy were not so starv-
ing that they could not turn and kill
many of the bulls. and ere long the
cattle had become good red meat, and
the buccaneers good strong men