File:Panama and the canal in picture and prose (1913) (14803083343).jpg

Identifier: panamacanalinpic01abbo (find matches)
Title: Panama and the canal in picture and prose ..
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: Abbot, Willis John, 1863-1934. (from old catalog)
Subjects:
Publisher: New York (etc.) Pub. in English and Spanish by Syndicate publishing company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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infrequent reminderof the presence of civilized man and his explosiveactivities. Infrequent though it is, however, it hasbeen sufficient to frighten away the more timid in-habitants of the waterside—the alligators, the boasand the monkeys. Only at rare intervals are any ofthese seen now, though in the earlier days of theAmerican invasion the alligators and monkeys wereplentiful. Today the chief signs of animal life arethe birds—herons, white and blue, flying from poolto pool or posing artistically on logs or in shallows;great cormorant ducks that fly up and down mid-stream, apparently unacquainted with the terrors ofthe shotgun; kingfishers in bright blue and paroquetsin gaudy colors. The river is said to be full of fish,including sharks, for the water is saline clear up tothe Gatun locks. I know of no spot, easy of access, on the Isthmuswhere an idea of the beauty and the terror of thejungle can be better gained than on the lowerChagres. The stout green barrier comes flush to the
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Photo by T. J. Marin THE SALLY-PORT AT SAN LORENZOAn unusual picture because of the clearing away of the jungle. Ordinarily the walls are hidden 78 PANAMA AND THE CANAL waters edge, the mangroves at places wading out ontheir stilt-Uke roots into the stream hke a Hne ofdeployed skirmishers. That green wall looks light,beautiful, ethereal even, but lay your boat alongsideit and essay to land. You will find it yielding indeed,but as impenetrable as awall of adamant. It willreceive you as gently asthe liquid amber wel-comes the fly, and holdyou as inexorably in itsbeautiful embrace whenyou are once entrapped.The tender fern, theshrinking sensitive plant,the flowering shrub, thebending sapling, thesturdy and towering treeare all tied together bylithe, serpentine, gnarledand unbreakable vineswhich seem to springfrom the ground andhang from the highestbranches as well. Thereare not enough inches ofground to support thevegetation so it growsfrom the trees living liter-ally on the air. Everygr

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