| PAGE |
| INTRODUCTION | [5] |
| CHAPTER I. THE FRONT DOOR TO PANAMA | [9] |
| Antilla, a New Sugar Port—The Island of Jamaica—Kingston, The Colonial Capital—Womenas Burden Bearers—Characteristics of the Native Jamaican—Life of the Negro Woman. | |
| CHAPTER II. CRISTOBAL-COLON; AND THE PANAMA RAILROAD | [23] |
| The Approach to Colon—The Architecture and Population of Colon—Railroad Building in aSwamp—The French Come to Colon—The Beautiful Roosevelt Avenue—Colon Streets in the Early Days—TheVaried Population of Colon—San Blas Indians and Their Cayucas—The Ghastly Story of the Chinese—Cost andCharges of the Panama Railroad. | |
| CHAPTER III. NOMBRE DE DIOS, PORTO BELLO AND SAN LORENZO | [45] |
| The Harbor of Porto Bello—The First Appearance of Balboa—Early Indian Life inPanama—The Futile Indian Uprising—The First Sight of the Pacific—The Beginning of Balboa’sDownfall—The Traitor in Balboa’s Camp—The Character of Vasco Nunez de Balboa—Panama a Link in PhilippineTrade—Flush Times in Porto Bello—The Piratical Raid of Sir Francis Drake—The Futile Attack on the TreasureTrain—The Appearance of Morgan the Buccaneer—The Pillage of Porto Bello. | |
| CHAPTER IV. SAN LORENZO AND PANAMA | [75] |
| The Waterway to San Lorenzo—Approach to San Lorenzo Castle—A Rip Van Winkle of aFortress—The Assault of the Buccaneers—The End of Porto Bello and San Lorenzo. | |
| CHAPTER V. THE SACK OF OLD PANAMA | [87] |
| The Advance of the Buccaneers—The Banquet before Panama—The Buccaneers Triumphant inBattle—The Pirates’ Orgy of Plunder—How Morgan Plundered His Pirates—The Scene of Morgan’s GreatExploit. | |
| CHAPTER VI. REVOLUTIONS AND THE FRENCH RÉGIME | [101] |
| The Scottish Settlement in Panama—Disasters Beset the Scotch Colonists—The RepeatedRevolutions of Panama—Early Projectors of a Panama Canal—Sea Level or Lock Canal—A Relic of the FrenchDays—Some of the Finished Work of the French—The Financial Aberrations of De Lesseps—Yellow Fever’s Tollof French Lives—The Value of the French Work. | |
| CHAPTER VII. THE UNITED STATES BEGINS WORK | [123] |
| Why Panama Wanted Independence—Our Share in the Revolution—A Revolution Without a SingleBattle—Treaty Rights of the United States—Illustrations of the Magnitude of the Canal Work—The Passage ofthe Canal Locks—Spectacular Features of Gatun Lake—The Abandonment of Canal Towns—The Pacific Terminus ofthe Canal—The Forts at the Pacific Entrance. | |
| CHAPTER VIII. THE FORMATIVE PERIOD | [147] |
| The Beginning of Work under Wallace—The Absentee Commissioners and the Red Tape—TheSuccessful War with Yellow Fever—The Change from Wallace to Stevens—The Varying Estimates of the CanalCost—The Resignation of Engineer Stevens. | |
| CHAPTER IX. COL. GOETHALS AT THE THROTTLE | [161] |
| What the Colonel Meant by Orders—The Colonel’s Sunday Morning Court—The Autocratic Powerof Col. Goethals—The Panama Work Shows Governmental Efficiency. | |
| CHAPTER X. GATUN DAM AND LOCKS | [171] |
| Atlantic Beginning of the Canal—The Plan of the Gatun Dam—How the Chagres Current wasBlocked—The Spillway, The Nerve Center of Gatun Lake—The Uses of the Electric Power of Gatun—TheColossal Concrete Work at Gatun—The Motive Power of the Lock Gates. | |
| CHAPTER XI. GATUN LAKE AND THE CHAGRES RIVER | [187] |
| The Native Affection for the Chagres—The Indispensable Native Cayuca—Keeping the Record ofthe Chagres—Cruces in Its Day of Greatness—Animal Life on the Chagres River—A Typical Foreign Laborer onThe Zone. | |
| CHAPTER XII. THE CULEBRA CUT | [201] |
| The Great Problem of the Slides—The Physical Characteristics of the Slide—Some PeculiarFeatures of the Slides—The Explosive Experience of Miguel—The Gorgeous Coloring of Culebra—The PerilousPassage of Culebra Cut—The almost Human Work of the Steam Shovel—The Work of the Steam Shovellers—Thealmost Indispensable Track Shifter—The Industrious Ants of Panama—The End of the Canal at Balboa. | |
| CHAPTER XIII. THE CITY OF PANAMA | [224] |
| The First Appearance of Panama City—The Popular Panama Lottery—Panama’s Cost of Living isHigh—Scenes in the Panama Market—The Prevalent Temper of the Panamanians—Why Americans are notPopular—American Sentiment on the Isthmus—The Public Buildings of Panama—The Stout Walls of PanamaCity—Scenes of the Mardi Gras Carnival—Cock-Fighting and the Liquor Trade—In the Ancient ChiriquiPrison—The Many Churches of Panama—Panama Clubs and Open Air Life. | |
| CHAPTER XIV. THE SANITATION OF THE ZONE | [253] |
| Beginning the Warfare on Mosquitoes—Methods of the Anti-Mosquito Crusade—Some Humors ofthe Mosquito War—How the Streams are Sterilized—Results of the War on Mosquitoes—The Two Great CanalCommission Hospitals—The System of Free Medical Treatment—The Pleasant Village of Taboga—The Sanitariumand Leper Colony. | |
| CHAPTER XV. THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA | [273] |
| The Doubtful Soil of Panama—The Simple Study of Native Life—The Building of theBridegroom’s House—Labor and Land Titles in Panama—Agriculture and Temperature in Panama—Rubber andCocoanuts Offer Possibilities—The Sport of Shooting Alligators—A Colossal Agricultural Enterprise—TheBanana as an Empire Builder—Why the American Flag is Rare—Getting the Bananas to Market—David and theCattle Country—Gold from the Indian Tombs—Efforts for a System of Industrial Education. | |
| CHAPTER XVI. THE INDIANS OF PANAMA | [305] |
| Marriage Customs of the Indians—The Many Tribes of Panama Indians—Characteristics of theSan Blas Tribe—An Exclusive Aboriginal People—Family Quarters of the San Blas—Customs of the Chocos andGuaymies—Peculiarities of the Darien Indians. | |
| CHAPTER XVII. SOCIAL LIFE ON THE CANAL ZONE | [320] |
| The Population of the Canal Zone—The Temptations to Matrimony on the Zone—The Gold andSilver Employees—The Object Lesson of the Canal Zone—Why It is not at all “Socialistic”—In a TypicalCanal Zone Dwelling—Some Features of Zone Housekeeping—Prices of Food at the Commissary—The ComplicatedSocial Life of the Zone—Church Work and the Y. M. C. A. | |
| CHAPTER XVIII. LABOR AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ZONE | [341] |
| The Colossal Business of the Commissary—The Task of Feeding Forty Nationalities—The SternSuppression of the Social Class—Evil Effect of the Abolition of the Canteen—Some Figures Concerning theCommissary Service—The International Agreement on the Commissary—The Police System of the Zone—The SchoolSystem of the Zone—Agricultural Possibilities on the Zone—Future Possibilities of the Canal Zone. | |
| CHAPTER XIX. FORTIFICATIONS, TOLLS, COMMERCE AND QUARANTINE | [363] |
| Why Fortify the Canal at All?—The Suez Canal no Parallel—Some Details of theFortifications—The Mobile Force on the Zone—The Sufficiency of Fortifications Planned—Effect of the Canalon Trade Routes—The Railroad Fight on the Canal—The Canal and the Flag—The First Immediate Advantage ofthe Canal—The Much-mooted Question of Tolls—Our Trade with Pacific-Latin America—Time Saved by PanamaCanal Route—The Possible Commerce of the Canal—Some Phases of Our Foreign Trade—The Need of Our Own Shipsand Banks—What Our Merchant Marine is—The Grave Question of Quarantine. | |
| CHAPTER XX. DIPLOMACY AND POLITICS OF THE CANAL | [399] |
| Our Reckoning with Colombia—Our Commercial Interests in South America—Mutual Interests ofthe United States and Great Britain—What the Canal has and will Cost—New Work for the Interstate CommerceCommission—The Moral Lesson of the Panama Canal. | |