[XXVII-73] There are associations of various kinds, including secret ones, like the masonic, of which there are several lodges, with many native Panamanians among their members. The natives still observe the custom of long mournings as of old. In a community where families are more or less connected by ties of blood or marriage, the result is that mourning often seems to be the common dress.
[XXVII-74] Details in Constitucional del Istmo, Nov. 21, 1832; Colegio de Pan., Decreto, 1-2; El Movimiento, Dec. 1, 1844; N. Granada, Gaceta, Feb. 22, 1846; Bogotá, Gac. Ofic., Feb. 6, 1848; Chiriquí, Decretos, MS., 1849; Pan., Crón. Ofic., Nov. 9, 1849, to March 1, 1854, passim; Chiriquí, Inf. del Gob., MSS., 1851-2; Pan., Gaceta Extraord., Dec. 23, 1857; March 30, 1858.
[XXVII-75] In 1869 there were no public primary schools in the state. Parents with means had teachers at home, or sent their children to the few private schools then existing, to Bogotá, the national capital, or abroad. Children of poor parents had to grow in utter ignorance.
[XXVII-76] In 1874 there were in the state 17 primary schools with 1,065 pupils. The numbers steadily increased till 1882, when the schools were 59 and the pupils 2,167. There were appropriated for supporting the schools in 1873 $14,191, and every year after there was an increase; the amount allowed in 1882 being $33,310, and in 1883 $63,962, the govt now becoming alive to the fact that the funds formerly supplied were insufficient, as appeared in the report of the educational bureau on Nov. 15, 1881. Pan., El Elector, May 1, 1883; Pan., Inf. Sec. Est., 1866; Id., Mensaje, 1872; Id., Mem. Sec. Est., 1876; Id., Informe Direct. Gen. Instruc. Púb., 1877-80; Id., Leyes, 1876-7, 26-32; Id., Mem. Sec. Gob., 1877; Id., Min. Sec. Gob., 1879; Pan., Boletin Ofic., May 28, 1863, to Sept. 8, 1869, passim; Id., Gaceta, July 28, 1870, to Feb. 20, 1881, passim; Colombia, Diario Ofic., Feb. 18, Aug. 14, 1874; Jan. 27, March 2, 1876.
[XXVII-77] It began its existence as the Panamá Star, a very small sheet, in 1849; now it has eight large pages. S. F. Times, March 13, 1869; S. F. Alta, March 13, 1869; Pan. Star and Herald, Jan. 11, 1886.
[XXVII-78] I have had occasion to quote both publications repeatedly on narrating events on the Isthmus and in Central America.
[XXVII-79] The bull is led by a rope into the most public streets. A number of men challenge the brute, which occasionally rushes at its tormentors; but as the rope holds it, only by a rare chance is any one hurt. The bull is thus worried by the men-brutes till it is ready to drop.
[XXVII-80] Games of chance and night orgies having become prevalent, in 1878 a heavy tax was levied on gambling-houses, and a severe decree issued to check orgies and brawls. Pan., Gaceta, Jan. 31, Aug. 15, 1878.
[XXVII-81] The following authorities have spoken of the manners and customs of the Isthmus, and character of its people at different periods from 1845 to late years: Macgregor's Progress of Am., i. 820-34; Seemann's Narr., i. 140-1, 299-310, passim; Oliveira, in Nouv. Ann. Voy., cxxiii., 216-27; McCollum's Cal., 16-26; Worthy's Trav., 335-6; Johnson's Sights, 11-87; Foote's Recoll., 135-47; Merrill's Statem., MS., i.; Fremont's Am. Trav., 57-65, 166-7; Griswold's Isth., 130-68, 179-80; Gisborne's Darien, 170-216, pass.; Delano's Chips, 80-92; Helper's Land of Gold, 209-23; Mollhausen's Diary, ii. 374-9; Harper's Mag., xix. 433, 437-54; Trollope's W. Ind., 240, 248-50; Pim's Gate of the Pac., 210-14; Gazlay's Pac. Monthly, i. 17-30; Baxley's What I Saw, 30-45; China Route, Sketch of New, 54-74; Gordon's Guide, 14-15; Eardley-Wilmot's Our Jour., 66-71; Pan. Star and Herald, Feb. 7, 1875.
[XXVII-82] In 1840 small-pox prevailed in Chagres among the natives; foreigners, being mostly vaccinated, escaped unscathed. It visited the Isthmus again as an epidemic in 1863, 1880, and 1881, with great ravages each time, owing to neglect of the common rules of hygiene, or aversion of the lower classes to vaccination. Niles' Reg., lix. 17; Bidwell's Isth. Pan., 222-3; Cash's Sketch, 62-3; Pan., Gaceta, March 14, Aug. 1, Oct. 17, 1880; Sept. 22, 1881; El Coclesano, Aug. 5, 20, 1881; S. F. Bulletin, July 16, 1881.