FIRST TOUR ABROAD
Mexico--Guatemala--Salvador--Panama--Colombia--Venezuela--Jamaica
--Cuba--Fire in Amarillo--Rebuilding.
Among the many long trips leisure has permitted, the first was a tour
through Mexico, Guatemala and Salvador to Panama; thence through
Colombia and Venezuela; Jamaica and Cuba; needless to say a most
interesting tour.
Mexico has a most delightful climate at any time of the year, except on
the Gulf Coast, the Tierra Caliente, where the heat in summer is
tropical and oppressive. She has many interesting and beautiful towns.
The city itself is rapidly becoming a handsome one, indeed an imperial
one. Accommodation for visitors, however, leaves much to be desired. The
country's history is of course absorbingly interesting, and the many
remains of Aztec and older origin appeal much to one's curiosity. There
is a capital golf-course, a great bull-ring, and a pelota court. There
is much wealth, and every evening a fine display of carriages and
horses. The little dogs called Perros Chinos of Mexico, also "Pelon" or
hairless, have absolutely no hair on the body. They are handsome,
well-built little creatures, about the size of a small terrier. They are
said to be identical with one of the Chinese edible dogs. Cortez found
them in Mexico and Pizarro in Peru. How did they get there?
Popocatepetl, a magnificent conical volcano, overlooks the city and
plain. I tried to ascend it but a damaged ankle failed me. A trip to
Oaxaca to see wonderful Mitla should not be missed. There also is the
tree of Tuli, a cypress, said to measure 154 feet round its trunk. Also
a trip to Orizaba city is equally interesting, if only for the view of
the magnificent Pico de Orizaba, a gigantic and most beautiful cone
18,000 feet high; but also for the beautiful scenery displayed in the
descent from the high plateau of Mexico, a very sudden descent of
several thousand feet in fifteen miles, with a railroad grade of one in
fourteen, from a temperate climate at once into a tropical one. More
than that, it leads you to the justly-celebrated little Hotel de France
in Orizaba, the only good hotel in all Mexico.
The imposing grandeur of a mountain peak depends of course greatly on
its elevation above its base; for instance, Pike's peak, to the top of
which I have been, is some 15,000 feet above sea-level, but only 8000
above its base. The great peaks of the Andes likewise suffer, such as
Volcan Misti at Arequipa, nearly 20,000 feet above the sea, but from its
base only 12,000 feet. Then imagine Orizaba peak at once soaring 16,000
feet above the city, not one of a chain or range, but proudly standing
alone in her radiant beauty. From Orizaba I went on to Cordova, where it
is the custom of the citizens of all ranks and ages to assemble in the
evenings in the plaza to engage in the game of keeno or lotto. Many
tables are laid out for the purpose. The prizes are small, but
apparently enough to amuse the people. Of course I joined in the game,
happened to be very successful, and as my winnings were turned over to
some small boys, beautiful little black-eyed rascals, my seat was soon
surrounded by a merry crowd and great was the fun. How beautiful and
captivating are these Spanish and even Mestizo children, the boys even
more so than their sisters. From this point I took train, over the
worst-built and coggliest railroad track I ever travelled on, to the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec, to see the famous Eads Route, over which he
proposed to transport bodily, without breaking cargo, ocean-going
sailing ships and steamers from the Gulf to the Pacific Ocean. Also to
visit the Tehuana tribe of Indians, whose women have the reputation of
being the finest-looking of native races in the Western world. They wear
a most extraordinary and unique combined headdress and shawl. In the
markets could certainly be seen wonderfully beautiful faces, quite
beautiful enough to justify the claim mentioned. At Rincon is the
starting-point of the projected and begun Pan-American railroad, which
will eventually reach to Buenos Ayres. At Salina Cruz, the Pacific end
of the isthmus, and I should think one of the windiest places on earth,
perhaps beating even Amarillo, I met a young American millionaire, a
charming man who had large interests in Guatemala. We sailed together
from Salina Cruz on a small coasting steamer bound for Panama. Except
only at Salina Cruz, where a terrific wind blows most of the year, the
weather was calm, but the heat very great. Not even bed-sheets were
provided, nor were they needed. Sailing by night we made some port and
stopping-place every day. The view of the coast is most interesting. You
are practically never out of sight of volcanoes, some of them of great
height and many of them active. One particularly, Santa Maria, attracted
our attention because of its erupting regularly at intervals of half an
hour; regularly as your watch marked the stated period a great explosion
occurred and a cloud of smoke, steam and dust was vomited out and
floated away slowly landwards. In the clear calm air it was a
magnificent spectacle and I never tired watching it. Another volcanic
peak had recently been absolutely shattered, one whole side as it were
blown off it. On arriving at San José, the port of Guatemala city, we
had a great reception, my friend being the owner of the railroad--the
only railroad in this State. A special train took us up to the capital,
splendidly-horsed carriages were put at our disposal, and we were
banqueted and entertained at the Opera, my friend insisting that I
should share in all this hospitality. The American minister joined our
party and made himself agreeable and useful. Guatemala city was once the
Paris of America, was rich, gay and prosperous; to-day it is--different,
but still very interesting. You are there in a bygone world, an age of
the past. Revolutions and inter-State wars have driven capital from the
country; progress is at a standstill; confidence in anybody does not
exist. As in the Central American States, "Ote toi de la que m'y mette"
is on the standard of every ambitious general, colonel or politician. It
is the direct cause of all the revolutions. At Corinto a lady, whom we
became intimate with, landed for the professed purpose of "revoluting."
Yet the country is a naturally rich one, having on the highlands a
splendid temperate climate, and everywhere great mineral and
agricultural resources. We were fortunate to see a parade of some of the
State troops; and such a comical picture of military imbecility and
inefficiency could surely not be found elsewhere. The officers swaggered
in the gayest of uniforms; the men were shoeless, dirty and slovenly. On
approaching the city one passes near by the famous volcanoes Fuego,
Aqua and Picaya (14,000 feet), and mysterious Lake Anatitlan.
A shooting-trip had been arranged for us: a steam launch on the lake,
Indians as carriers, mules, etc. etc., but my friend declined for want
of time. Among the fauna of the country are common and black jaguars,
tapirs, manatees, peccaries, boas, cougars or pumas, and alligators.
Also the quetzal, the imperial bird of the great Indian Quiche race, and
the Trogan resplendens. Poinciana regia and P. pulcherrima are common
garden shrubs or trees, but the finest Poinciana I ever saw was in
Honolulu. Vampire bats are more common in Nicaragua, but also exist in
Guatemala. They have very sharp incisors and bite cattle and horses on
the back or withers, men on the toes if exposed, and roosters on the
comb. They live in caves, and not as the large fruit bats of India,
which repose head downwards, hanging from trees in great colonies.
Vampires live on blood, having no teeth suitable for mastication.
It is a strange fact that Germans, who now have the great bulk of the
trade throughout Central America, are very unpopular. Nor are the
Americans popular. "Los Americanos son Bestias," "Esos Hombres son
Demonios" express the feeling.
I was told that in Guatemala there exists a tribe of Indians which does
not permit the use of alcoholic drink and actually pays the State
compensation instead.
Among other places we called at were Esquintla, Acajutla, and La
Libertad, from which point we got a magnificent view of the Atatlan
volcano in full activity; also at San Juan del Sur. From Leon, in
Nicaragua, some fourteen active volcanoes can be seen. In Salvador only
two of the eleven great volcanoes of the State are now "_vivo_," viz.,
San Miguel and Izalco. The latter is called the Lighthouse of Salvador,
because it explodes regularly every twenty minutes. The lesser living
vents are called infernillos--little hells. Altogether it looks like
Central America, as a whole, with its revolutions and its physical and
political instability, must be a very big hell.
Salvador, though the smallest of the Central American States, is the
most prosperous, enterprising and densely-populated. She was the first
to become independent and the first to defy the Church of Rome.
It had been my intention to sail through Lake Nicaragua and down the
river San Juan to San Juan del Norte. But accommodation at that port and
steamer communication with Colon was so bad and irregular that the trip
was regretfully abandoned, and I went on to Panama with my friend. This
gentleman possessed a personal letter from President Roosevelt
addressed to the canal officials, ordering (not begging) them to permit
a full inspection of the works, and to tell the "truth and the whole
truth." Consequently we saw the works under unusual and most favourable
conditions. The Americans have made remarkable progress, assisted by
their wonderful labour-saving appliances, chief among which are the
100-ton shovels, the Lidgerwood car-unloaders, and the track-shifters.
But chiefly, of course, by their sanitary methods, the protection
afforded the employees against mosquitoes, and the abolition of mosquito
conditions. The natives and negroes are immune to yellow fever, but not
to malaria. As most of us know, Major Ross of the I.M.S., in 1896,
proved the connection of malaria with the anopheles mosquito; and in
1902 Mr Reed of the U.S. Health Commission tracked the yellow fever to
the stegomyia mosquito. Yellow fever requires six days to develop. It
should be noted that the stegomyia insect is common in India, but
luckily has not yet been infected with the germ of yellow fever. And it
may also be here mentioned that the connection between bubonic plague
and rats, and the fleas that infest them, was discovered by the Japanese
scientist, Kitasato.
The history of the canal may be touched on, if only to show the American
method of securing a desired object, certainly a quick, effective and,
after all, the only practical method. The Panama railway was built by
Americans in 1855 to meet the rush to California gold-fields. The De
Lesseps Company bought the road for an enormous figure, and started the
canal works, to be abandoned later on, but again taken up by a new
French Company. In 1901 Uncle Sam got his "fine work" in when he bluffed
the new French Panama Company into selling it to him for 40,000,000
dollars, simply by threatening to adopt the Nicaragua route. Yet the
Company's property was well worth the 100,000,000 dollars asked for it.
To carry out the bluff, the Isthmian Canal Commission (U.S.) actually
reported to Congress that the Nicaragua route was the most "practical
and feasible" one, when it was well known to the Commission that the
route was so impracticable as not to be worthy of consideration. At
least common report had it so. In 1903 Colombia refused the United
States offer to purchase the enlarged canal zone. At once Panama
province seceded from the State, and sold the desired zone to the United
States for 10,000,000 dollars, conditionally on the United States
recognizing and guaranteeing the young Republic. The deal was cleverly
arranged, and was again perhaps the only effective method to obtain
possession.
The tide at Panama measures 20 feet, at Colon only 2 feet. In 1905 the
International Board of Consulting Engineers, summoned by President
Roosevelt, recommended, by eight to five, a sea-level canal (two locks).
But Congress adopted the minority's 85-feet-level plan (6 locks), with
an immense dam at Gatun, which dam will not be founded on rock, but have
a central puddled core extending 40 feet below the bottom of the lake,
and sheet piling some 40 feet still deeper. At least that is as I then
understood it.
De Lesseps was not an engineer and knew little of science. His Company's
failure was directly due to his ignorance and disregard of the advice of
competent men.
Manual labour on the canal has been done mostly by Jamaica negroes. As
said before, they are immune to yellow fever; and, speaking of the
negro, it may be said here that his susceptibility to pain, compared to
that of the white man, is as one to three, but the effect of a fair
education is to increase it by one-third. What then is that of the
monkey, the bird, the reptile or the fish? May I dare the statement,
though most of us perhaps know it, that the sensitiveness of woman to
that of man is as fifty-three to sixty-four. Even the woman's sense of
touch, as in the finger-tips, being twice as obtuse as man's. The
Bouquet D'Afrique, of course, is perceptible to us and offensive, but it
is said that to the Indians of South America both black and white men
are in this respect offensive. The "Foetor Judaiicus" must be noticeable
also to have deserved the term.
But this is sad wandering from the subject in hand and not exactly
"reminiscences." I only hope that this and other departures, necessary
for stuffing purposes, may be excused, especially as they are probably
the most entertaining part of the book.
To return to the town of Panama. In the bay and amongst the islands were
quite a number of whales and flocks of pelicans. More curious to observe
was an enormous number of small reddish-brown-coloured snakes, swimming
freely on the surface of the sea, yet not seemingly heading in any
particular direction. I could get no information regarding them. The
famous Pearl Islands lie forty miles off Panama. The pearls are large
and lustrous.
On reaching harbour the health officials came on board, and to my
surprise selected me alone among the passengers for quarantine. The
explanation was that I had gone ashore at Corinto. So I was ordered to
take up my abode during the period of incubation in the detention house,
a building in an isolated position; there I was instructed, much to my
relief, that I might go to town or anywhere else during daylight, but
must, under severe penalty, be back and inside the protecting screens
before the mosquitoes got to work. The object was that no mosquito after
biting me should be able to bite anyone else. We had been some two and a
half days out of Corinto, so my period of detention was not of long
duration. I also got infinitely better messing than any hotel in Panama
afforded.
The seas on either side of Darien Isthmus were at one time the scene of
the many brave but often cruel deeds of the great adventurers and
explorers like Drake, buccaneers like Morgan, pirates like Kidd and
Wallace. Morgan, a Welshman, sacked and destroyed old Panama, a rich and
palatial city, in 1670. He also captured the strong fortress town, Porto
Bello. Drake captured the rich and important Cartagena. Captain Kidd,
native of Greenock, was commissioned by George III. to stamp out piracy,
but turned pirate himself and became the greatest of them all.
It had been my intention to sail from Panama to Guayaquil, cross the
Andes, and take canoe and steamer down the Amazon to Para. But the
reports of yellow fever at Guayaquil, the unfinished state of the Quito
railroad, and the disturbed state of the Trans-Andean Indians, through
whose country there would be a week's mule ride, decided me to alter my
plans once more. So, bidding good-bye to my very kind New York friend,
who went home direct, I myself took steamer for a Colombian port and
thence trained to Baranquillo, a considerable town on the Magdalena
River. It was a novel experience to there find oneself a real live
millionaire! The Colombian paper dollar (no coin used) was worth just
the hundredth part of a gold dollar; so that a penny street car ride
cost the alarming sum of five dollars, and dinner a perfectly fabulous
amount. By Royal Mail steamer the next move was to La Guayra, the
seaport of Caracas, a most romantic-looking place, where the mountains,
some 9000 feet high, descend almost precipitously to the sea. There we
saw the castle where Kingsley's Rose of Devon was imprisoned. At that
time President Castro was so defying France that war and a French fleet
were expected every day. Consequently his orders were that no one
whomsoever should be allowed to enter the country. All the passengers of
course, and for that very reason perhaps, were hoping to be allowed to
land, if only to make the short run up to the capital and back. At
Colon, assisted by my American friend and the United States consul, we
"worked" the Venezuela Consul into giving me a passport (how it was done
does not matter), which at La Guayra I, of course, produced. Of no
avail! No one must land. But just when the steamer was about to sail a
boat full of officials appeared at the steamer's side, called out my
name, and lo! to the wonder of the other passengers, I was allowed to go
ashore. This was satisfactory, and I at once took train to the capital,
climbing or soaring as in a flying-machine the steep graded but
excellent road (most picturesque) to Caracas. There I found that the
Mardi Gras Carnival was just beginning. In my hotel was the war
correspondent of the _New York Herald_, just convalescing from an attack
of yellow fever and still incapable of active work. He was good enough
to ask me to fill his place should hostilities ensue. No other
correspondent was in the country and he himself had to put up a 10,000
dollar bond. I willingly agreed, and so stayed nearly two weeks in
Caracas awaiting eventualities. During this time, owing to the Carnival,
the town was "wide open"; every night some twenty thousand people danced
in the Plaza Bolivar, a huge square beautifully paved with tiling. The
dancers were so crowded together that waltzing simply meant revolving
top-wise. A really splendid band provided the music. What a gay, merry
people they are! And how beautiful these Venezuela women, and how
handsome the men! In the streets presents of great value were tossed
from the carriages to the signoras on the balconies. At a ball the men,
the fashionables, wore blue velvet coats, not because of the season, but
because it is the customary male festive attire. Caracas was delightful
and extraordinarily interesting. What splendid saddle mules one here
sees! Castro every day appeared with his staff all mounted on mules. All
the traffic of the country is done with them, there being no feasible
wagon roads. Castro had a most evil reputation. The people hated but
feared him. His whole army consisted of Andean Indians, and he himself
had Indian blood in his veins. The climate at Caracas is delightful.
After two weeks and nothing developing, and not feeling quite well, I
returned to La Guayra and took steamer back to Colon. Feeling worse on
the steamer I called in the doctor, and was greatly alarmed when he
pronounced yellow fever. On arriving at Colon, of course, I was not
permitted to land so had to continue on the ship to Jamaica. The attack
must have been a very mild one, as when we reached Jamaica I was nearly
all right again.
Jamaica is a beautiful island with a delightful winter climate. Also
very good roads. Among other places visited was Constant Spring Hotel,
once the plantation residence and property of one of my uncles. At Port
Antonio, on the north side of the island, is a very fine up-to-date
American hotel, which of course was greatly appreciated after the vile
caravanserais of Central America. Thence on to Cuba, the steamer passing
through the famous narrows leading to Santiago. A pleasant daylight
railroad run through the whole island brought me to the great city of
Havana, not, as it appeared to me, a handsome or attractive city, but
possessing a good climate and a polite and agreeable population. The
principal shopping street in Havana is so narrow that awnings can be,
and are, stretched completely across it. In the centre of the harbour
was visible the wreck of the United States battleship _Maine_. Here in
Havana, on calling at the Consulate for letters, or rather for
cablegrams, as I had instructed my Amarillo agent not to write but to
cable, and only in the case of urgent consequence, I found a message
awaiting me. No need to open it therefore to know the contents! Yes, my
building had been burnt to the ground two months ago. A cable to Caracas
had not been delivered to me. So, back to Amarillo to view the ruins. In
the United States of America one cannot insure for the full value of a
building; or at least only three-quarters can be recovered. So my loss
amounted to 8000 or 10,000 dollars. But no need of repining, and time is
money, especially in such a case. So a new building was at once started,
rushed and completed, in almost record time.