TO PANAMA AND BACK

THE RECORD OF AN EXPERIENCE

BY

HENRY T. BYFORD, M. D.

W. B. CONKEY COMPANY

CHICAGO

Copyright, 1908, BY Henry T. Byford, M. D.

DEDICATED to the Panama Canal Commissioners, who invited the President of the United States to run down and see them dig the Canal while he waited; and to the President, who went to the Canal and found them asleep, and didn’t wait until it was dug.

MAP OF PANAMA (click image to enlarge)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

CHAPTER TO PANAMA PAGE

I Chicago to New Orleans—Principally Chicago 11

II Getting Off 23

III At Sea 29

IV Port Limón 48

V Colón and the Panama Railway 64

VI Panama 87

VII At Gran Hotel Centrál 100

VIII For Doctors Only 125

IX A Siesta and Such 136

X About Town 151

XI Town Topics 169

XII The Past and the Present Panama 176

XIII New Year’s Day and the Sabanas 184

XIV The Bull-Fight 192

PART II

THE FOURTH PAN-AMERICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS

I The Opening of the Congress 207

II Breakfast and Dinner on the Same Day 220

III Panama Bay and Paramount Barrett 230

IV Congress Redivivus 241

V To See Ourselves as Others See Us 251

PART III

BACK

I Accommodations at Colón 265

II Sunday at Colón 273

III After Bananas and Alligators 292

IV From Bad to Worse 309

V The Didactics of Seasickness 327

VI The Last Day at Sea and the First on Land 335

VII Traveling North by Way of the South 356

VIII Did You Have a Pleasant Trip? 375

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Map of Panama 4

Panama Flag 10

Huts on Line of Panama Road 82

Abandoned Machinery of the French 84

Along Panama Railroad 86

In Panama City 90

The Cathedral of Panama and Corner of the Park 92

Ocean Front at Panama 162

Ruins of Santo Domingo Church 172

Ruined Tower of Old Panama 178

Club House on the Sabanas 222

The Congress Waiting for Lunch 224

Taboga Island 232

Square in Colón 266

Washington Hotel, Street Front, Colón 268

Path Leading Across the Lawn from Washington Hotel to the Beach 270

Christ Church at Colón, Seen from a Corner of the Hotel 274

De Lesseps Palace at Christobal 276

Monument to Columbus, Christobal 278

Combination Store and Residence at Bocas Del Toro 288

A Bunch of Bananas 296

Toucan, or Preacher Bird 304

FOREWORD

When I made up my mind to go to Panama, I could find no guide book. I had to depend for information upon the advertising matter of the United Fruit Company, and upon the experience of a friend who had spent a few days there on business and who had seen nothing but swamps, rusty machinery, polyglot politicians and gesticulating foreigners. I had no conception of what I was coming to, and had to be content with the reflection that he who has no books must learn by experience. On the other hand, it occurred to me that by recording the main facts and mental impressions of my trip, I might take the reader with me in spirit and impart to him such knowledge as would be of use to him if he went there, and of interest if he stayed at home, for he who has no experience must learn from books.

As a physician attending the Pan-American Medical Congress, I felt that I was not competent to give the accurate general information sometimes found in guide books, and that I should be more concerned with climate and disease than the average writer; but on the other hand I hoped that, since my viewpoint would differ somewhat from that of the general run of writers, my impressions might not be unworthy of record, and might contribute in their way to a better understanding of the country and its customs.

Some readers will think that the book is too full of appetizers and nightcaps, of diet and donnerwetter, and they will be right. But this is so because the narrative is honest and describes what was seen and felt instead of what ought to have been, or might have been, seen and felt. The busy majority care more about what was than what ought to have been. What was is truth; what ought to have been is fiction, and the worst kind.

Many readers will conclude to wait until the United States has finished the reconstruction of the climate and country before going there, and will agree with me in saying that traveling in the tropics, like eating and sleeping, should be done at home. Indeed, the absurdity of the notion that it is necessary to leave home in order to study a guide book, should be taught to our travel-stricken public. Quarantine, yellow fever, yellow jaundice, black water fever, white swelling, elephantiasis, ague, anemia, neurasthenia, berri-berri, leprosy, dengue, dropsy, dysentery, drinking habits, and dozens of other dread diseases and denouements lie in wait in the tropics. The romance of these things does not consist in exposing oneself to them, but in letting others do it, and of reading about it afterward.

PART I

TO PANAMA

PANAMA FLAG

Part I