TO PANAMA
AND BACK

THE RECORD OF AN EXPERIENCE

HENRY T. BYFORD, M. D.

W. B. CONKEY COMPANY

CHICAGO

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

TO PANAMAAND BACK

TO PANAMA
AND BACK