Show liL WilB hll G mie LAM hyraw jwj AT ar ww aji jj i V A k I 1 LIU h R u 4 1 s 4 MITU 4 Z 11 af s m 6 1 1 1 1 2 I 1 remains of ono one of the spanish forts forta at porto bello 2 native VII 1 logo lage on taboga island down verdure clad slopes and terracing roaches reaches where orange and mango and pineapple grow on ono wanders through edon eden to ocean washed beaches an eden that only the sun children know ehnow thus james B S gilbert tho the late lat lamented poet of panama wrote of taboga island it was so BO enticing that I 1 determined to be one of the un bun children tor for a day or two and so M teamed away in a little launch twelve miles out into tho the Raci flo to that beauty spot it is all that thai mr gilbert called it and more and it la Is no wonder that the sanitarium established dished there by the french canal company and reopened by the americans Is so BO well patronized if you are a canal employed white and have been ill the doctor may be kind enough to send you rou over to taboga for two weeks to recuperate it if you are a mero visitor you can put up at the unpretentious little hotel conducted by william jones the american six elx tooter footer who looks like a miner and dances like a cotillion leader in either case you will be fortunate tor for you will find those verdura clad slopes dopes gorgeous gorge oua with i flowers and alive with brilliant birds and the th ocean washed beaches the fenest places in the tha world for n swim you can sail about the pretty bays with the native fishermen or you can climb up the hills where the boys are IT vociferously driving the kite home borne to ko be milked or you can merely lie its in the shade and dream dreams odthe of the spanish galleons gal leons and the buccaneers bucca A more deltz delightful hatful place for rest and the repair of shattered nerves would be hard to find taboga has a lili story too small mall as tt la Is do D luque the second bishop of f panama looked upon the island islan d raw that it was vas good and there his country rexf dence in fact he be maintained a bo household there the y year I 1 car round for like ilka rainy many another churchman hurch roan of we tee old days he did not adhere closely to th rul of cell celibacy bacy his memory to ti preserved pros orvid by a bathing place in a tream stream that runs run down the mountain side lda called the dish blah ove 1091 it was wa reserved for or the use of him and his retinue above it la is the family pool tor for women and children and still higher up in the pool of at the letters for the men rho hie last one derives its lt namo name from tile the inscription 11 J P F B ohio carved on a nearby near by rock this lc Is a remi reminder that in 1852 1862 the fourth infantry U S A crossed the isthmus en route for garrison duty in california having sailed from new york aix oix on the united states mall mail steamer stia mer ohio cholera was pre prevalent Talent ut at the time in panama and the american soldiers and the sailors from the ohio were attacked by the disease about eighty of them dying some of the sick were left on taboga island to recover and evidently one of them did re cover to climb up to the bathing pool and leave the record that la Is a mystery to the native inhabitants habitat habitants its of this day incidentally ta U B S grant then a captain was with the fourth Jn infantry fantry on that trip it if you climb up the hill following this stream most of the way you win come to jo a place at the summit ofa of a pass called Us las cruces there sot set in cement cament are ard three small crosses commemorating the most exciting incident in the ta islands binds history according to a spanish work written early in the last century a shipload of peruvian pirates came sailing up tho the in 1815 and decided taboga was a good place to loot they landed and drove the small spanish alson out of tho the village and up the mountain but in the pass the sol dars rallied the inhabitants came to their assistance and there says the chronicler a acost ost bloody combat raged tor or hours finally tho the pirates were routed and fled to their ship leaving three men dead on the field of battle the isthmus reeks reeka with history some of the most futi interesting resting passages of which have to do with porto nello but the visitor who goos goes anere with mind full of the mighty sista find and lp great eat trade of tha old spanish days daya will bo be woefully disappointed by the town as it now la 13 romance commerce com merde morde everything at has fled long ago from that place and porto bello ts Is nothing but a dirty immoral little village full of 0 low cantina cant inu slatternly natives and mangy curs at each tildo aide 0 of the town is the ruin ot of a spanish tort its marred by fisher mens nets and the local washing hung up u to dry thus thua tho the work ot of man has baw decayed but nature to Is as kind as aa ever to porto dello bello its ita bottle shaped harbor is ono one of tho the prettiest to be b found with promontories guarding the entrance beautiful hills on both sides aides and entrancing little rivers meandering down from tho the mounts tins ans and through the jungle jungla into its upper end one hill bill opposite the town boasts the remains of three unusually interesting spanish forts forta one la Is at the waters edgo edge another several hundred yarda up the slope elope and them two were once connected by a covered stone stairway the ruins of which still provide the tha easiest means of ascending on the summit of the hill bill la is the third fort a mighty square tower surrounded by a leep deep 4 moat tho walla wall are almo at intact aul bluhe wi roo roof has baa fallen alienie ali enIn in and the for fortress trois Is bullot trees and shrubbery bery with these three orf forts two others protecting the harbor entrance the two at the ends of the town nand and another just fuai above it porto bello might well seem to have been impregnable yet it was taken twice by the english sir francis drake planned to capture it la in 1596 buti but just as his ships were about to begin the attack drake drak died and was wag buried la in the mouth of tho abo harbor dispirited by the loss loaa of their leader the english balled away lut capt Willi william arn parker took up the ibe project la in 1602 with two ships he be got past the first forts forta at night and after x v desperate fight captured capture dand and sacked lacked tho the city carrying oft off ducts worth of plunder the second taking of porto bello was the first notable isa olt of henry morgan the famous buci buccaneer aneer as an I 1 independent commander of a fleet beet sailing into what to Is now colon harbor barbor he took his men man up a river in ill canoes landed at a place called estera estem longa long lemos and marching through the jungle attacked the city from the rear first capturing the castle above the town hechst he chut the garrison in one room and blew them and the tort fort to pieces with gunpowder the governor the citizens and the rest of the soldiers surprised surprise dand and terror stricken were soon boon driven into one of the ther forts and tor for hours they bravely withstood the assaults of tho the buccaneers bucca until as ing tells us captain morgan began to despair of the whole success of the enterprise finally he had bad a number of ladders made and forced the priests and nuns whom he had captured to set them up against tho the walls many of those these poor creatures were vera killed by the defenders but at last the ladders we replaced were placed and the buc buccaneers bucca swam swarmed edvia up thera them carrying fire fireballs balls and pots pota of powder which they kindled and hurled burled among tho the spaniards the gar garrison rison surrendered at discretion but the gallant governor defended himself so obstinately that the english were forced to kill him morgan remained in porto bello several weeks plundering tho the place and torturing the citizens to induce them to reveal the hiding places of their riches though an important place in the transshipment of gold froni from the west coast of SOL j america porto dello bello never was 9 large town but blit tor for BV eral weeks each year it was very populous this was at tho time nt nf the annual fair when the balison Ea lison from spain were n the Ilio harbor waiting tor for the mule trains to bring the gold from panama then merchants and adventurers from all that part of the world gathered in the village and trade was waa brisk in the big building now called the custom house whose whoa mined walls walla still belll are standi standing tig M chand chan leing dising drinkin gand and fighting divided the time until the balloons gal jal loons set salt tt for spain alth their tf olien ar ow |