The Boy Travellers in South America. Thomas Wallace Knox
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of the railway in order to facilitate the work. A controlling interest in the line was bought by the canal company, and it is fair to suppose that the owners of the shares received a good price for their property.
"The Panama Railway has been the most profitable thing of the kind in the world," said the Doctor, "or, at any rate, one of the most profitable I ever heard of. The managers have generally kept their affairs as much as possible to themselves, and would, doubtless, assure you that they had lost money by their investment, which is often the case with men who have a remunerative business of any kind. The local fare over the line between Aspinwall and Panama was established at twenty-five dollars, and remained at that figure for nearly twenty years. Twenty-five dollars for a ride of forty-eight miles, or more than fifty cents a mile! Thousands of passengers were carried over the road every month, and every thousand passengers meant twenty-five thousand dollars to the railway. At one time the steamships were carrying steerage passengers from New York to San Francisco for eighty dollars, including the transit of the Isthmus; the steamship company thus received fifty-five dollars for carrying a passenger five thousand five hundred miles, including his board and lodging for twenty-three days, while the railway company received almost half as much for carrying him forty-eight miles, lodging him four hours in rickety cars, and giving him no board whatever.
"But bygones are bygones," continued the Doctor, "and if any traveller disliked the price of the railway journey he had the privilege of going by the old route. This involved a tedious journey up the Chagres River by bongoes or native boats as far as Gorgona, and a ride thence over the hills and through the mud to Panama. The riding was done on the backs of mules, as there was no wagon-road; travellers were often obliged to pass the night in the open air, as there were very scanty accommodations in the few villages along the road; a week or more was generally consumed in the trip; the prices of everything were exorbitant; and the tourist generally reached the end of his journey feeling very much as if he had been passed through a patent wringing-machine. Not a few fell ill and died on the way, and many a fevered sufferer in California, years afterwards, could trace the beginning of his ills to his exposure on the Isthmus. 'Isthmus fever' became known almost as a distinct malady, and it was often very difficult of cure. It is pretty well forgotten now, thanks to the rapid transit afforded by the railway. Under all the circumstances, the enterprising men who constructed this road deserve every cent they received from it; it has saved thousands of lives to the population of the United States and other countries, and has added materially to the commercial facilities of the world. It was built under many discouragements, and the energy displayed in its construction was worthy of a liberal reward."
They rolled merrily over the track and in a little while had passed Gatun Station, and the point they visited in their excursion to inspect the work on the canal. They wound among the low hills and along the bank of the Chagres River, catching pretty views here and there, and passing several unimportant stations without stopping. One of the officials pointed out the cottage which was the favorite residence of Mr. John L. Stephens during his connection with the railway, and also a gigantic tree which has long been known as "Stephens's tree." Other objects of interest were indicated, and there was not an idle moment in the whole journey.
The railway crosses the Chagres River at Barbacoas, where there is a fine bridge, which has withstood the shocks of that capricious stream in a manner that reflects creditably upon its builders. A little beyond Barbacoas they met a train bound eastward, and waited a short time on a siding to enable the locomotive and its burden to get out of the way. The delay gave an opportunity for a brief excursion into the tropical forest, which came close up to the railway, as it does for the greater part of the distance between Aspinwall and Panama.
Frank and Fred were accompanied by one of their new friends, who seemed to be well versed in the botany of the country. The first tree to meet their gaze was a palm, and while they were noting its peculiarities their guide told them there was no place in the world where so many varieties of the palm could be found together as on the Isthmus. "There are," said he, "twenty-one different species of palm-trees; I am informed that three or four more have been found in the vicinity, but I have not seen them. From one of the well-known varieties is extracted the palm-oil of commerce; another produces a sweet sap from which the natives distil a wine they use freely as a beverage; there is the 'sugar palm,' from which sugar is made; the 'sago palm,' which produces sago, but of a quality inferior to that of the Malay Archipelago; the 'ivory palm,' which supplies vegetable ivory; the 'cabbage palm,' whose stalks resemble the cabbage in appearance and taste; and the 'glove palm,' from which bags for holding grain or kindred things are readily obtained. Houses, weapons, domestic utensils, and many other things are made from the leaves, stalks, fruit, bark, or wood of the palm, and the tree is quite as necessary to the existence of the natives of the Isthmus as is the bamboo to the inhabitants of tropical Asia."
It was impossible to penetrate far into the forest, owing to the network of hanging and creeping plants that blocked the way, and the youths were not long in realizing the difficulties encountered by the surveyor who laid out the line of the railway. Their guide described many of the vegetable growths that were visible, and the number was so great that Frank was fairly bewildered with them. So he called attention to the birds darting among the thick foliage, and asked about the animal kingdom of the country.
"There are birds, beasts, reptiles, and insects here in great number," was the reply. "There are parrots of several kinds, some of which will learn to talk while others will not; there are toucans, with enormous beaks especially designed for the disposal of fruits; humming-birds of gorgeous hues and hardly bigger than bees; and there are orioles, trogons, tanagers, and other birds whose names are only known locally or in scientific works. There are wild turkeys and grouse among the hills; the latter are shy and not easily taken, and the hunter is always at a disadvantage on account of the thickness of the shrubbery; the tapir abounds in the low ground and marshes near the rivers, and his flesh is not unlike pork in taste and appearance. You have already seen monkeys, and if you could go into the forest a dozen miles from the settlements you might see hundreds of them in a single day. They go in large parties oftentimes, and whenever they make a raid on a banana plantation they destroy in a few hours the labor of a whole season. There is a tradition that in the old days the natives used to serve up monkey flesh to the California emigrants under the name of 'opossum.' The opossum is found here, but he is not easily taken, and a man from the States would have no hesitation in eating its flesh, though he might seriously object to dining on monkey.
"Besides the animals I have mentioned," he continued, "we have the ant-eater, peccary, sloth, deer, cougar, bear, and tiger-cat; the peccary is also known as the 'wild hog,' and is closely allied to the tapir. There is a lizard called the iguana, which is sometimes five or six feet long, and is as delicious as lobster or chicken; its eggs are much prized by the natives, and frequently seen in the markets. Americans who come here are generally chary of eating iguana, because it is a lizard; we have got over this difficulty by naming it 'Panama lobster,' and thus silencing all objections. There's a great deal in a name."
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