Panama and the canal in picture and prose .. . of hearingof things that are not announced—quietly anchors were removed tosome safe spot and in due timewill form part of the historicdecorations of the new city ofBalboa. Doubtless by the standards ofthese days the wealth that wascarried back and forth along theRoyal Road by men crushed lowlike termite ants beneath theirheavy burdens, was not one gets some idea of thevolume of the trade from Ban-crofts statement that in the year1624, just four years after thelanding of the Majrfiower, goodsto the amount of 1,446,346 pesos
Panama and the canal in picture and prose .. . of hearingof things that are not announced—quietly anchors were removed tosome safe spot and in due timewill form part of the historicdecorations of the new city ofBalboa. Doubtless by the standards ofthese days the wealth that wascarried back and forth along theRoyal Road by men crushed lowlike termite ants beneath theirheavy burdens, was not one gets some idea of thevolume of the trade from Ban-crofts statement that in the year1624, just four years after thelanding of the Majrfiower, goodsto the amount of 1,446,346 pesosdoro ? (practically an equal num-ber of dollars), were registered atthe Casa, or custom house, whileprobably 7J 2 millions of dollars worth of goods weresmuggled through. There were great warehousesthen and a stone church with a neighboring monas-tery to which it was customary to send the childrenof the richer people at Nombre de Dios to be keptuntil they had attained their seventh year. Forthat piously named town was almost a plague spot. Phutj by Underwood tt L ndLrwua THE LAKE ABOVE GATUN CRUCES IN ITS DAY OF GREATNESS 195 and its miasmatic atmosphere was fatal to tenderinfants. The paved trail echoes no more with the mule-teers cry, or the clatter of hoofs, nor are therewine shops to tempt the traveler, for there are noneto be tempted. But even in its palmiest daysCruces could have been but a dismal spot. Gage,a soldier of fortune and an itinerant preacher, visitedthe village in 1638 and left us this record: Before ten of the clock we got to Venta deCruces wherelived none butmulattoes andblackmoreswho belong un-to the flatboates thatmerchandizeto I hadmuch good en-tertainment bythe peoplewho desired meto preach untothem the nextSabbath dayand gave metwenty crownesfor my sermonand five daysof my abodethere, the boatsset out, whichwere muchstopped in theirpassage down the river, for in some places we found the watervery low, so that the boats
Size: 2066px × 1209px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorabbotwil, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
