| Show OUR PANAMA LETTER The Celebrated Railway and Be Lesseps5 Canal PROSPERITY OF ASPINWALL The Chiriqnl River and Lagoon The Scarcity of Money In ColonA Circulating Medium ASPINWALL Panama December 2 Special correspondence of THE HERALD JQf course one of the first things we did on arriving at Panama was to make a trip over I THE CELEBRATED KAIMVAY I which since 1855 has been running between i I be-tween Panama City on the Pacific side and Aspinwall on the Atlantic and on account of which the United States came near having the war not long ago I i Notwithstanding all the fuss that was made at i building it would seem that the constru of this road could not have been a very serious undertaking since its highest point is scarcely 250 feet above sea level not a circumstance compared to tbat highest railway in Mexico between Vera Cruz and the capital cap-ital which rises more than 8 000 fee I within a few miles I It is officially stated that the average value of the merchandise that passes I from ocean to ocean over the Panama Railroad exceeds 41000000 every year M DeLesseps inter oceanic canal I which runs between the Atlantic and I Pacific nearly parallel wth this railway rail-way is without locks and almost on a dead level But to this inchoate wonder of the world which the knowing ones I hereabouts are wont to characterize as DeLes ops folly we will pay more particular attention by and by Aspen vail or Colon as it is sometimes some-times called is COLOMBIAS MOSF FLOURiSHING SEAPORT and Is virtually colony of the United j States of the north having been ceded in perpetuity by the government of I New Granada in 1852 to the Ameri can company who founded it for the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Railway Rail-way Architecturally the pert little city looks as if it had accidentally strayed away from Now England and got lost down here in the tropics In reality it does not touch Colombia or Panama at all but occupies a tiny island Manzauillo in the Gulf of Mexico or rather in Navy Bay an arm of the Gulf The small island though on y about a mile in extent is cm of the most busy and prosperous places in the New World because of its commanding com-manding position as a place of transit both by reason of the railway and the interoceanic canal Indeed Aspin wall pretty nearly monopolizes the benefits of traffic in both directions over the route between the two great oceans which has appropriately been dubbed THE HIGHWAY OF THE WORLD to the almost utter seclusion of fast decaying Panama For romance and picturesqueness the latter will always bear the palm but Aspinwall with its more commonplace features and air of smart Yankee newness is bound to run so far ahead of the sleepy old Spanish town in substantial prosperity as northern thrift and enterprise distances dis-tances southern sloth and indolence romantic and picturesque though the latter may be The American town was named in honor of Colonel Aspinwall one of the original promoters of the railway and the shrewdest of merchants Its population i popu-lation has been variously estimated and probably changes greatly with time and seasonsbut about 7000 will approximate ap-proximate a fair average The town contains a number of good hotels one of which boasts of being aole to contain con-tain 600 guests It his also the only Protestant Episcopal Church in Central America besides several missions j I Methodist Baptist and Presbyterian I and a number of Catholic sanctuaries I There are also American and Spanish newspapers a commodious and well conducted hospital and very handsome buildings belonging to the railroad company com-pany The great depot is exactly in the centre of the town connected by track with the wharf at which steamers land a change indeed from the old days when the only way of crossing the isthmus was on donkeyback goods and all I Among Aspinwalls other attractions h A LOVELY DRIVE j 1 all around the island called the Paseo Coral coral boulevard because the island itself is supposed to be founded upon abed I a-bed of coral rock Everybody patronizes patron-izes the Paseo at the sunset hour on foot or in cache On the fartherest point I of the island stands a lofty lighthouse I whose revolving eye throws a yellow I gleam far over the stormy water Though Navy Bay is the best harbor the eastern coast with sufficient depth I of water for the largest vessels and anchorage an-chorage room for half the commerce 01 I the world yet it is woofully subject to I the northers that are such a terrorto mariners on the Mexican Gulf No fewer than seven lines of mail steamers make Aspinwall their port of destination via Panama rendering it the chief intrepot not only between California and the Atlantic States but between England and countries beyond the Pacific It should be remembered that Aspinwall is only about 2000 miles I from New York City fortynine miles from Panama City and equidistant 3500 miles from those two great trading trad-ing postsVal Pariso and San Francisco Formerly the climate here was very unhealthy but Yankee neatness assisted by a thorough and enlightened system of drainage has made the little island about the most salubrious shore town in all SpanishAmerica Only eight miles away is the OLD SPANISH TOWN OF CHAGRES a port at the mouth of the river of the same name It was once the principal prin-cipal city of the section but has suffered suf-fered almost a total eclipse since Aspen wall was built It is divided into two towns one on each side of the river that on the left bank being styled the American Chagres because settled principally by people from the United States the other is the old Spanish + a a = Wia + aCss + J village and has a mongrel population > of Mexicans Indians negroes creoles caribs Spaniards and EnghshmenT3oth I towns are little better than collections of rude huts miserable poor flirty and unhealthy their only importance being as a mail station between Great Britain and the western coast of the two Americas I Chagres harbor will accommodate only vessels drawing not more than tenor I ten-or twelve feet of water and at all times is extremely difficult of entrance requiring re-quiring a fai wind When once inside I in-side however SHIPS ARE PERFECTLY SECURE I as far as the elements are concerned no matter what storms may rage upon the Iron Gulf and for that reason it is much sought during the season of northers I The great river upon which the < twin towns lie rilES some thirty miles north of Panaoia City and traverses a fertile country But though from twenty to fifty feet deep it is not navigable b I cause broken by numerous cascades and owing to the rapidity of its current I cur-rent Its affluents tne rivers Pequeni I Gatun and La Tiinidad are all considerable con-siderable streams and upon its banks farther in the interior are severral towns each infinitely better than Cbagres tOn t-On this coast are also found many of those places whose names are familiar miha in our schooldays and map drawing experiencesthe Gulf of Darien near its eastern extremity Port Escosesa the harbor of San Bias Caledonia Bay and the Chiriqui Lagoon La-goon The lastnamed pronounced Chereekee includes the river lagoon and archipelago and belongs mostly to the adjoining state of Costa Rica department de-partment of Vera ue THE CHIRIQttt RIVER after taking a northward course enters the lagoon of the same name which is separated from the Caribbem sea by the Chiriqui archipelago The lagoon is a magnificent bay with three entrances en-trances capable of anchoring vessels of largest size It extends along tle ooast for ninety miles and inland from forty to fifty miles Except a few scattered Carib huts its numerous lovely islands are uninhabited un-inhabited if not wholly unexplored Some of them are b aififully weeded with blossoming vines swaying from the tree tops and strange sweet odors wafted upon every passing breeze What secrets their flowery success contains con-tains what treasures for the scientist the naturalist the archaeologist no man can tell But certain it is that the crocodile basking along the sunny shores the serpents that Hiss and writhe in the fragrant coverts the ravinons sharks and the terrible man I eaters that occasionally shuw their ugly heads in the vicinity serve to I j I guard them as effectually from human intrusion as are guarded the golden I apples of the Hesperides It is assert d by those who reside here I I that never within the memory of man has money been eo scarce as now at I Aspinwall Colon as the town is I more commonly called Never was local business so dull even in the I DARKEST DAYS OF REVOLUTION nor the people so utterly depressed Dire forebodings of further fit a ici 1 disasters I seem to have settled down upon the place like a palldeeply darkly desperately blue Men eo about the streets with hands in their I pockets and gloom upon their faces t and refuse to commit tnemselves to the I most wily interviewers as to the outlook out-look of Istlmian afJairr In i coal circles i cir-cles the general depression is increased by the rumor that most of the canal employees not the common daylaborers but those higher up in the scale are about to be discharged dis-charged in the interests of economy The only ray of sunshine comeS with the increasing excitement in regard to the Nicaragua canal project and the hope that with the growth of that enterprise en-terprise languishing trade may revive I I But there are places not lar away where the people are more hard pushed for coin than even the Panamians r Especially Venezuela all manner of i makeshifts have been resorted to for supplying a circulating medium In Guanta for example the people have I I absolutely no money and when they want to purchase a few necessaries they steal cocoanuts bv the dark of the moon and hand them over to the traders in exchange for the supplies sup-plies they require This free and easy custom became so universal and alarming that in order to protect the few who raise the fruit the Alcalda of the district of Guanta was obliged to issue a decree which probably has not a parallel in financial circles He has lately prohibited the use of oocoanuts as money and threatened threat-ened with condign punishment traders trad-ers who may receive them as such To our ideas this seems rather a left handed way of protecting the palm growers from the depredations of robbers rob-bers who themselves are allowed to go unpunished Considering the bulk and weight of the fruit the thieves in question must be a sturdy set if they can carry about on their backs much wealth in this shape FANNIE B WARn aI |
