Sanitation in Panama

by William Crawford Gorgas

A quaint little village, Taboga, nestles on the beach at the foot of the mountain. This village is now some four hundred years old, and the church there is reputed to be about that age. A gruesome thing about the pretty little church is the fact that in the outer wall a human skull is imbedded in the masonry. A glass cover is placed over the front, and the skull can be plainly seen. I was told that this was the skull of one of the early padres, who had been a very good man, and to whom the people were greatly devoted. And when he died, they took this method of perpetuating his memory and showing their veneration.

For the reason that Taboga was considered so much more healthy than Panama, the French located there a sanitarium. It was very prettily situated outside the limits of the village of Taboga, and the grounds about the sanitarium had been beautified and improved by the French just as had the grounds of Ancon Hospital. In their sanitarium they could accommodate about one hundred people. We enlarged this institution, and made it a convalescent hospital of about one hundred and twenty beds, and patients were received here on the same terms as in our other hospitals. It has proved to be to us a most useful institution.

In the early days, the Isthmus had such a bad reputation for health that when an American got sick, he became very much depressed and made up his mind that he was going to die, and usually determined that he would go back home to the United States if he ever again became able to travel. The island of Taboga had such a reputation for salubrity that we could generally persuade him, when in this frame of mind, to go to the convalescent hospital there until he was able to travel, or until his ship sailed. He usually improved so rapidly at Taboga that by the time a ship was ready to sail, he had gotten over his homesickness and depression. In this way a large number of useful employees were saved to the Commission.

I think the bay of Panama, looking north from Taboga, compares very favorably with the bay of Naples, and reminds one somewhat of that famous sheet of water. A most romantic dell leads up to the top of the mountain from the convalescent hospital. Down this dell runs the only stream of water on the island, fed by springs near the top of the mountain, by way of this ravine. When one has finally reached the crest of the mountain a thousand feet above the level of the sea, the view on all sides is superb. To the north the mouth of the Canal, defended by the fortified islands of Naos, Perico and Flemenco; the city of Panama, Ancon mountain, and in the distance the continental divide of Culebra. To the south, the bay, extending some fifty or sixty miles, dotted with islands, large and small, and in the distance, the historic group of the Pearl Islands.

The trail referred to gave access to the dozens of small pineapple farms located on each side of the ravine. Just as the trail reaches the top of the mountain there are three or four crosses, locating an equal number of graves. Every fall, in September, the whole village of Taboga turns out and has a religious procession which goes up to these graves and decorates them. The tradition among the natives is that when Sir Henry Morgan captured old Panama in 1670, he sent an expedition down to Taboga. The townsmen made a very brave resistance, but were slowly driven back by the pirates up the trail to the top of the mountain, where they made their final stand, and at last succeeded in beating off their enemies. The little burying-ground was the point where they made this stand, and the townsmen who were killed in the fight were buried where they fell. The yearly religious ceremony which I saw was kept up in commemoration of their brave fight.

The bay north of Taboga is pretty well inclosed by the mainland on the northeast and west, and Taboga on the south. This piece of water is a favorite place for the collection of large schools of fish, and when these schools are in, all species of birds and fish follow in innumerable myriads. It is a very interesting sight to stand on the gallery of the convalescent hospital and see the thousands of pelicans and other species of birds diving and plunging after their prey. This is also a favorite nook for whales. I recollect on one occasion seeing as many as six in this little bay at the same time. They did not seem to be particularly shy, allowing us to approach them in the steam launch to within twenty-five or thirty yards.

This bay was the scene of one of the most remarkable naval battles of history. About ten years after Sir Henry Morgan’s sacking of Panama, another buccaneering expedition crossed the Isthmus. They struck the South Sea about opposite the Pearl Islands, camping on the bay of San Miguel. Here they collected enough Indian dugouts to carry their force of three hundred men. This Indian dugout is very much like the one made by our Indians in the southern states, an exceedingly unstable and easily capsized boat, as anyone knows who has ever attempted to navigate one. It is much better adapted to the smooth inland waters than to the rough open sea. The Pearl Islands are about forty miles south of Taboga, and Sharp, with the bulk of his men, undertook a foraging expedition to these islands. Hawkins with sixty men went northward along the coast toward the city of Panama.

When they reached the island of Chepo, they heard that the Spanish fleet was anchored at Taboga. Chepo is easily visible from Taboga. The Spanish fleet consisted of the flagship, the Santa Maria, whose armament was twenty guns, and whose crew consisted of one hundred men. She was accompanied by two tenders of a couple of guns each, and crews of about thirty men. Hawkins, having accurate information of the armament and strength of the Spaniards, wished to be reënforced by the main body before going any further. After waiting several days, he thought it unwise to delay any longer, and determined to attack the Spaniards with the force he then had—sixty men. So he started his canoes paddling toward Taboga, some fifteen miles off. When the Spaniards discovered the buccaneering fleet approaching, they got under sail, expecting to have no difficulty in running down and sinking in the open sea the canoes of the buccaneers.

Now the buccaneer, like our frontiersman, was dependent upon his gun for his food. Most of them had spent many years hunting wild cattle in Haiti, and the cured beef of cattle killed in this way was their principal support, and also their principal article of export and commerce, under the name of “buccan.” And this is how they got their generic title of buccaneer, a person who produces buccan. This wild life on the coast caused them to become equally expert in handling the dugout.

Ring Rose commanded the leading division of six canoes, and described the fight most graphically. As the large Spanish vessel bore down upon the canoes of the buccaneers, under full sail, the latter found no difficulty in avoiding the big vessel by a few strokes of the paddles. As the great ship passed, the expert marksman in the canoe shot down the man at the wheel. This caused the big ship to yaw, lose headway and become stationary.