[Although the envelope is missing, the contents of this letter and of Dillie’s (MHW’s) (#990929) indicate that the two were mailed together.]
Panama,
Sept. 28 ’99
Dear Friends and to all concerned:
Well, of all things, this beats all! This morning at about seven o’clock we landed at Colon. [sic] We are now foreigners in a foreign land nearly two thousand miles from New York. Soon after landing we went to the Panama R.R. car and seated ourselves comfortably in an American car very similar in size and style to our second[-]class cars in Ohio. As soon as our baggage was transferred we started on our inland trip.
I don’t see how I am going to describe everything we saw since everything is so different from what our buckeyes are accustomed to.
This morning when we woke from our last night to sleep upon the Athos the rain was pouring down in torrents, making such a dense fog so [sic] that there was some difficulty in finding the way to the port. As soon as the clouds cleared away and the channel was sounded, the Athos moved cautiously into the harbor.
As we neared the shore the grandeur of this tropical climate met our eyes. In the distance, we saw the tall coconut trees tower[ing] above the other trees, with their bare trunks and a clump of foliage at the top and the fruit clinging to the trunk at the stems of the long leaves. The leaves are as much as ten feet and more in length. Then, looking nearer the surface, we saw many, many banana plants. These do not grow high but are a spreading kind of plant with long leaves. Everything, in fact, is as green as can be, (even some of the travelers from Ohio), but you do not find them spreading themselves over the isthmus so profusely.
After the Athos was lashed to the dock it was some time before we were allowed to go ashore. The sanitary commissioners came aboard and made a formal examination of the steamer, which was indeed for real[?] as it only took a moment. As we stood on deck and gazed at those on the dock our eyes met faces of all colors, seemingly, and as many forms clad in various fashions from the original garb of Adam and Eve down to our American dress suits.
We were then allowed to go ashore, and we must say that it was a treat once more to stand upon solid footing. The dock is a large one. The Panama R.R. runs close to the wharf where all the freight is transferred, and it is only a few steps to the passenger train which carried us over to this ancient city. The R.R. service is very American, it being operated by Americans.
Before we set out upon our overland trip we will notice a few strange things at Colon. [sic] The first is not so strange as plentiful, namely, the rain. This, of course, gave us a gloomy impression of Colon. [sic] The buildings here are quite like ours at home,being modeled after American architecture.
The people go looking most any way. Don’t understand me to mean that they go all the time, as you see them lounging about more in these parts than any place in the States. They speak English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Chinese and most anything the human tongue is subject to.
The stores and shops are all odd to us, not only odd but dirty to such an extent that mo[?] dirty vocabulary fails me at this point. If my eyes and sense of smell could speak perhaps you would have a much better idea of the business places than I have myself. We see liquor sold as openly here as any kind of necessaries in Ohio. Most all the shops keep it as well as the most respectable hotels. The people drink wine in order to avoid drinking so much of the water, which is said to be more or less infected. The liquors are said to be a poor grade and very intoxicating, yet we have not seen much drunkenness.
Now let us go over to Panama, a city of about 25,000 on the Pacific coast. This place is reached from Colon [sic] by rail, the distance being about 48 miles. The cars, I said, are purely American [and are] conducted by American crews. The track is a five-foot gauge, some[what] narrower than in the States. [The standard American rail gauge is four feet, eight and one-half inches.] What surprised us was that we went so fast, while everybody and everything around seems to move so slowly and lazily. As we moved out of Colon [sic] and left what seemed to resemble our old homeland we were quite interested in the new sights as we dashed by. As we got into the country it was still raining, and the dense growth of vegetation grew more interesting. Now we saw how the country people on the isthmus live. Their houses are worse looking from the outside than any of our poorest out-buildings at home. The sides are boarded with rough boards without a sign of paint. The roofs are of three kinds. The kind most used seems quite American, that is, used so much in the States. Of course, it isn’t put on the houses so skillfully as you see it in America. A second kind is tiling. These roofs are very ancient, seemingly; grass and moss grow upon them and look as though they would hold a great deal of moisture and breed disease. Then a kind that is used the least is the thatched roof. I do not know what material they use, but it seems like a species of grass from our point of view.
Well, we saw the people dressed in every imaginable way and a good many children in the original garb without aprons. On our way to Panama, we were accompanied by a wedding party, which occupied a special car. The gentleman is an employee of the Panama R.R. Co., a man of some distinction. He is colored and you can imagine what a turnout of flashing colors there was. The better class of natives are not slow about dressing when a wedding is on hand. With their plumed hats, silk dresses and other fineries, the driving rain cut no figure at all. Slop, slop they went, excited as much as a good many Ohio people become at such times. I think I spied the preacher, as he wore a long coat and carried an umbrella, and looked quite dignified—which things you know are characteristics of ministers???
We passed through a number of small villages. The natives stood around the depots similar to our chronic station loafers in Ohio. I presume we were curiosities to them, and I must confess [that] they were to us. At those stops, the natives passed through the cars selling stuff to eat which looked like [the] food we sometimes threw away. They also had some of the native fruits for sale which are strange to me, and I was unable to find out the names. Boys brought in bottles of milk to sell. I do not know the source of the fluid, and perhaps it would taste better if one was a little ignorant along this line and could see less sharply.
As our train rolled along we saw where work had been done on the Panama Canal and where there is yet some work being done. The company has run short of funds, and the work is going on only slowly. At times they have had as few as fifteen men at work, now about four hundred. If the French government disbands it entirely, any country can take it up and complete it. Uncle Sam has had his eye upon it for some time, and if such an opportunity presents itself, he will place his paw upon it. When this canal is once completed it will afford greater facilities for traffic than the present R.R. Co. It will save much handling of freight, thereby be a great saving of expenses. It is wonderful that there is such a vast amount of freight handled here, considering the inconvenience.
Here we are in Panama. We left our train of civilization, seemingly to be torn in pieces by the half-barbarous hackmen. It was and is yet funny to see these monkeys perform. No less than a half-dozen tried to secure our baggage and passage for their hacks. They were not in the least modest in our presence, but all yelled and chattered in strange languages to the highest pitch of their squealing voices, pushing each other aside in the rudest manner and at the same time trying to act polite to us and secure us as their victims. We knew just where we were going and met out landlord who told us with whom to go. We were then conducted to our hack, which resembled our city cabs at home, fully as heavy [and] drawn by a little horse or pony, not larger than you see at home. Away we went with the crack of the whip at breakneck speed over the rough cobblestone streets. There was something about this ride that touched a funny spot in my nature, whether it was the frightened expression that came over the ladies’ faces or the clatter of the wheels or the coming together of the springs I do not know; but I really felt like yelling at the top of my voice, but since this is a violation of one of our family rules, only a reminder of the same by Mrs. Wert. restrained me. We reached our hotel, which is kept by an English gentleman, and [were] ushered to our rooms. The hotel is very unlike those you are accustomed to. It is more on the shed [sic] plan, with larger doors the size of barn doors; no windows with glass but slats are used instead, which serve for letting in air as well as light. It is a spacious affair, with large halls and rooms. They use no carpets but only large rugs that can be taken up easily. It is so damp most of the time that carpets would soon mold; then there are so many little insects that find their way into these places and make their nests. It is not a first-class hotel where we are putting up; perhaps this accounts for a part of the odd and somewhat disagreeable things that we see and smell as well as taste at the table.
The dining room is a spacious one with a number of tables large enough for four persons. The waiters are natives of this forsaken land but can understand our language well. The dogs and cats seem to have duties allotted to them. They wait for us to feed them.
When the waiters wish them to remove themselves from our presence they slash the brutes with the wiping towel they carry over their arm while at work, then the next move you see them make is to gracefully wipe a plate for a guest’s use. I presume the dog sleeps upon the towels, hence they are as clean as the dog and we are no better than the dog. I don’t know that you can understand this line of reasoning, but what I am trying to say [is] things are not very clean, to say the least. Since we left our native land we are becoming accustomed to anything that might happen.
You may now have a very faint idea of how we are faring, but when I say that we live like lords as compared with the people in the city you will begin to wonder how they live. It is simply awful to see how destitute of everything that leads to happiness and cleanliness the people of this city are. Of course, the climate does not require so much strong food and heavy clothing. In this respect, perhaps they fare as well as they may desire, but if they only knew what sanitation means and put some of its laws in force, I am sure they would enjoy better health and the city would thrive and have more life with which to live.
As I said before, it is a very ancient place. You will remember that these places along this coast were founded soon after the discovery of America by the Spanish. In our walks through the city, we have seen many old ruins of the first buildings, whose shapes are well preserved with small trees and shrubbery growing out of the sides of the walls. We saw several Catholic cathedrals which stand in ruins [and] which perhaps were some of the first buildings constructed several hundred years ago.
The streets are very narrow,as much so as an ordinary alley in one of our towns. These are paved with cobblestones, making a very rough road for driving over rapidly. The houses are peculiarly built. The basements are built close to the street, allowing only a walk of about three feet, in [a?] form which is not made to correspond with the street but with each house as it may happen to be high or low[;] thus making a series of steps up and even as one passes along the street,which is anything but pleasing to one not accustomed to this kind of walk.
I must tell you about the hackmen hinted at a few lines before. There are so many of them and all eager for a job that when we start out for a walk sometimes no less than a half dozen will be seen to follow us, hoping that we may get tired and engage their hack. When we stop they also stop, and watch us and motion to us to go with them. It was real [sic] amusing to me at first,but since the novelty has worn off it makes me a little cross at them. They seem to think that we can’t walk around in their town without giving out or else exercise is unnecessary for us.
At this place, a part of the Colombia[n] army is located. There are six hundred well uniformed and armed men. They make a real nice parade when out in a body. We saw them file down [the] street the other evening in columns of fours to meet some leading officer of the army or government. Their barracks are down at the fort which guards the entrance of the bay and harbor. From this fort, one gets a very nice view of the bay and coast as well as the city squatted at the foot of high hills surrounding it on the land side.
Our steamer the “Colombia” [sic; should be “Columbia”] soon sails,and I must leave you.
We both send our love to all our friends at home.
CHWert………..
Transcribed 2015 by SMK
Posted Dec 26, 2018 at 18:59.
Revised Nov 27, 2022 at 19:53. EDT.
Retrieved May 31, 2026 at 18:38.
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