Читать книгу The Boy Travellers in South America - Thomas Wallace Knox - Страница 8

"Is everything ready?"

"Yes," was the reply. "The trunks are packed and strapped, and the carriage will be at the door at ten o'clock."

"That is quite early enough. The steamer leaves the dock at noon, and we can easily be settled on board by eleven o'clock."

"Quite easily," was the response. "And here comes Frank, who has been to see the porter about the heavy baggage."

"It's all arranged," said the latter; "the baggage-wagon will take our trunks, chairs, and other heavy things, and have them ready at the pier, so that we shall have only our satchels and rugs for the carriage."

"An excellent plan," was the reply; "and the next business before us is to go to breakfast."

The conversation recorded above took place not many months ago in the corridor of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, in New York. The parties to the dialogue were Dr. Bronson, his nephew, Fred Bronson, and Frank Bassett, a cousin of Fred. Some of our readers have met this trio of travellers, or, at all events, have read of their wanderings in Asia and Africa. When we last saw them they were on their homeward journey from Zanzibar, after making the ascent of the Nile, visiting the equatorial lakes of the Dark Continent, and reaching the Indian Ocean at Bagamoya. Those who have perused the narrative of the travels of Frank and Fred with the amiable doctor will need no further introduction.[1]

The Doctor and his young friends had planned a journey to South America, and at the time our present story begins they were just starting on their new adventure. With their experience in former travels they realized the wisdom of going to the steamer in ample season to take everything leisurely, and be comfortably settled before the hour of departure.

ON THE SEA AGAIN.

Promptly at the advertised time the steamer left the dock, followed by the cheers of the crowd that had come to witness her departure or say farewell to friends on board. As she moved slowly into the river there were dozens of handkerchiefs fluttering over her rail, and other dozens waving answer from the shore. Steadily the distance between ship and pier increased, and it soon became impossible to distinguish friends from one to the other, even with the aid of glasses. With her engines at half speed the great vessel moved majestically down the channel, passed the Narrows, and entered the lower bay. A fog blowing in from seaward compelled the pilot to order the anchor dropped, and the chain rattled through the hawse-hole with a vehemence that seemed to threaten the safety of the steamer's bows.

THE FOG CLEARING AWAY.

For two hours the fog continued; then it lifted, and the way to the ocean was revealed. Up came the anchor, round went the ponderous screw, the outer bar was passed, the pilot, his pocket filled with letters, the last messages to friends on shore, descended to his boat and was safely deposited on the light-ship at Sandy Hook, and then the steamer took her course for more southern waters.

SANDY HOOK LIGHT-SHIP.

The flag of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company fluttered at the main-truck, and it needed little observation to show that the craft on which our friends had embarked belonged to that famous organization. When the project for visiting South America was first discussed, the Doctor told his young friends that their best plan would be to proceed from New York to Aspinwall by one of the Pacific Mail Steamers. "We will then," said he, "have the whole of the continent before us; we can go down the western coast to any point we choose to visit, or we can travel along the northern and eastern coast, and make our way westward by one of the overland routes, or through the Strait of Magellan. We can ascend the Amazon, or descend it, or we may cross the Andes in the vicinity of Santiago. We will leave our plans incomplete till we reach Panama, and there be guided by circumstances."

As our friends were by no means novices in ocean travel they speedily dropped into the ways of the ship and made acquaintance with the passengers and officers. The passengers were a polyglot collection, numbering some fifty or more, and including about a dozen nationalities. There were Americans, on their way to California or Central America; Englishmen, with similar destinations, or bound for Callao and Valparaiso; Frenchmen, who were interested in the work on the Panama Canal; Peruvians, Chilians, Nicaraguans, and other natives of Central and South America; Germans, commercially engaged in the republics beyond the Equator; besides, as Fred expressed it in his note-book, "several districts to hear from." But in spite of their difference of nationality they were entirely harmonious, and the voyage proved a most agreeable one.

"Things are not now what they were before the overland railways were built," said one of the officers in conversation with Frank; "in those days we carried three or four hundred passengers in the first cabin, and twice or three times as many in the steerage. Now, the travel between the east and west goes by railway, and comparatively few persons make the sea trip between New York and San Francisco. But it's as pleasant as it ever was, and if people would only think they could spare the additional time there would be more of them going by steamer than by rail. There's no more delightful voyage in the world than from Panama to San Francisco. You are in sight of the coast nearly all the way; the ocean is so calm that you might suppose yourself on an inland lake, except on rare occasions; and before you begin to be weary of the trip you are entering the Golden Gate, and making fast to the dock, at your journey's end."

Dr. Bronson confirmed the assertion of this ancient mariner, as he had made the voyage to California in the manner described; "and we used to think," said he, "that we were getting along finely when we went from New York to San Francisco in twenty-three days. Now we can go in a week by the railway, and it is contrary to the American temperament to make the longer journey."

Frank and Fred were agreeably disappointed in the expectation of a storm before reaching the Caribbean Sea. In looking up the accounts of previous travellers they had found an old couplet:

"If the Bermudas let you pass,

You must beware of Hatteras."

They questioned the captain on the subject, and found that the poetical assertion was not without basis, as many a ship sailing on her course had encountered a gale in the neighborhood either of Cape Hatteras or the Bermuda Islands. "But in marine verses, as in every other sort," the captain continued, "you must allow for the poet's license, which often requires a very large margin to include it."

A STRANDED SHIP.

Hatteras and "the vexed Bermoothes" permitted them to pass without a semblance of a gale. They sighted one of the islands of the Bahama group, and there was great excitement on board the steamer when it was discovered that a ship was stranded on the shore. Fred and Frank rushed below to tell the Doctor, and that worthy ran on deck as soon as he could don his hat and coat. The captain scanned with his glass the unfortunate craft, and relieved the general anxiety with the information that she had sent a line to the land, and there was no danger to the lives of her people, whatever might be the risk to the property. "If anybody was in peril," said he, "I would do all I could to save him; but when it comes to a mere question of ship and cargo, none of us care to take any risk, or even go out of our course for a minute. It is a serious matter to stop a great steamer like this, and, besides, it is a peril to her passengers and crew. We will save life always, and the property of our own company, but when it comes to the ships of other people, who would, quite likely, refuse to pay anything for the service without a lawsuit, we mind our own business and keep on our way."

The correctness of his reasoning was apparent to all the listeners, and before the day was over the stranded ship was well-nigh forgotten.

WEIGHING BAGGAGE.

They passed the eastern end of Cuba, and then steered between that island and Jamaica. The sight of the palm-trees that fringed parts of the shores reminded the youths of their journeyings in Ceylon and the Malay Archipelago, and increased their eagerness to be once more in tropical lands. In the Caribbean Sea they renewed their acquaintance with the flying-fishes, that darted from wave to wave, and were sometimes so numerous that hundreds of them could be seen at once. On the seventh day of the voyage the heavy baggage was brought from below and piled on deck, each piece being carefully weighed, and checked off on the purser's books. The Doctor explained to the youths that each passenger was entitled to free transportation of one hundred pounds of baggage across the Isthmus, but all above that amount was subject to an extra charge.

At daybreak the next morning the steamer entered the harbor of Aspinwall and made fast to her dock. The city was named in honor of William H. Aspinwall, of New York, but the French persist in calling it Colon, which was its appellation before the Panama Railway was thought of. It was a place of little consequence until the discovery of gold in California, in 1848, called attention to the necessity for a route of speedy travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of our continent.

Frank and Fred were up early on the morning of their arrival at Aspinwall, and as soon as the gang-plank was out they hurried on shore, accompanied by the Doctor. Tropical verdure greeted their eyes as they looked inland, and the open sheds and slightly built houses told very plainly that they had reached a region where frosts were unknown.

The wharf where the steamer lay was more than a thousand feet in length, and, on inquiry, they learned that it was built on a coral reef, which formed an excellent foundation. "You observe," said Dr. Bronson, "that the piles resting in the water are covered with copper, to resist the teredo, a tropical worm which is very destructive to wood. Perhaps you would like to know something about him.

THE SHIPWORM AND HIS WORK.

"Well," the Doctor continued, "the teredo is better known as the ship-worm, a name he has obtained from his habits of attacking the timber of ships in tropical countries, and also in the warmer parts of the temperate zones. He is a long worm with a boring head; imagine an auger endowed with life, and you have a very good idea of what the teredo is. He enters the wood when young, and keeps on boring all his life; he goes in the direction of the grain of the wood, and only turns aside for hard knots or for a fellow-worm, whose presence he seems to detect by the sound of his work. The teredo attacks wood immersed in salt water, and hence his destructiveness to ships and to the piles that support docks and other marine structures. The timber is perforated and riddled so much that it crumbles to pieces in the course of time, and not a very long time either. Millions of dollars have been lost in consequence of the worm's performance, and not a few human lives. Ships lying in tropical harbors have been ruined by the teredo, and the injury has remained unknown until the vessels went to sea and were lost in the first gale that blew.

"But he has not been without his uses," said the Doctor, with a smile. "It was the teredo that gave Brunel his idea of a machine for tunnelling under the Thames River, and since his time most of the machines for tunnelling in soft earth have been made on the teredo principle. The head of the worm has a series of cutting disks that eat away the wood; Brunel made a gigantic worm with windows in front, and each window was occupied by a man who removed the earth before him and thus made way for the machine to be pushed forward. The progress of Brunel's worm under the bed of the Thames was exactly like that of the teredo in a piece of wood."

THE DONKEY'S DESCENT.

The Doctor delivered his improvised lecture amid the rattle of boxes that were sliding down the sloping gangway from the side of the steamer, as the process of unloading began almost immediately on her arrival. The lecture was suddenly terminated by the inattention of the audience, the antics of a donkey in a portable stall having caught their eyes. The animal did not relish the rapid descent along the gangway, as his progress easily averaged a mile a minute, and the momentum acquired in the slide carried him far out upon the wharf. He reared and plunged as he was going downwards, and in his struggles one of the upper slats of his cage was torn off. But at this point he became discreet, and carried his protests no further than to lift up his voice in its loudest tones.

THE WHARF AT ASPINWALL.

Threading their way through the mass of bales and boxes that covered the wharf, our friends were soon on solid earth at the end of the coral reef already mentioned. Here the tropical forest was visible in all its luxuriance, and not very far away, as the city does not cover a large area, and the trees grow luxuriantly wherever they are not kept down by the hand of man. Dr. Bronson explained to the youths that Aspinwall is built upon the island of Manzanillo, which is about three miles long by a mile in width; the harbor was formerly known as Navy Bay, and is said to have been discovered by Columbus on his third voyage.

In spite of the commercial importance of the place, Aspinwall contains little to interest the ordinary sight-seer. "You observe," said the Doctor, "that everything is designed for use, and not for ornament; the buildings are of a practical character, and many of them are not even intended to be permanent. There are only a few hundred houses in the city, most of them of wood, and very loosely constructed. Some of the buildings of the railway company are of iron or brick, partly as a precaution against fire, and partly to secure immunity from tropical insects and the rapid deterioration of wood in the damp climate of the Isthmus. The canal company has followed the same plan in the construction of its shops and sheds, but as these structures will be of no further use when the canal is completed there is no attempt to make them ornamental. In the ordinary parlance of the tourist, Aspinwall can be 'done' in half an hour."

Following the Doctor's suggestion, they strolled along the street of hotels and shops near the head of the wharf, passed in front of the stone church, the first Protestant edifice ever erected in New Granada, gave a hasty glance at the iron buildings of the Panama Railway, and then returned to the steamer for breakfast. After that meal was concluded they went on shore again, arranged for temporary quarters in one of the hotels, and immediately transferred their baggage to it.

As soon as they were settled at the hotel a carriage was ordered for a drive around the island by the "Paseo Coral," as the encircling road is termed. For much of the way the drive was through, or close upon, the tropical forest, and the youths were more than once reminded of their excursion in Singapore, and the ride in Ceylon from Point de Galle to Colombo. On one side of the island there was a view of the ocean, while on the other the scene included the dense swamp and series of islands lying between them and the mainland, with an occasional glimpse of the mountains that form the dividing ridge between the Atlantic and Pacific. The Doctor's scientific ardor was roused by the numerous shells with which the beach was strewn, and several times he stepped from the carriage to gather specimens for his cabinet of conchology. The youths looked longingly at the bananas and other fruits which grew in abundance, but they heeded the advice of their mentor, and abstained from indulging. Aspinwall is not a healthy place at best, and the dangers of a stay there are greatly increased by an intimate acquaintance with the products of its gardens, when one has freshly arrived from a sea-voyage.

DEPARTURE FOR PANAMA.

On returning from their excursion our friends went to deliver letters to one of the officials connected with the canal company's works, but, not finding him, they went to the railway terminus to witness the departure of the train for Panama. The passengers, mails, express matter, and "fast" freight had been loaded as expeditiously as possible into a train of eight or nine cars, and when all was ready the usual signals were given, and the locomotive moved off with its burden. One of the officers of the steamer had joined our friends, and explained that it was the custom of the company to despatch a special train on the arrival of a steamer, whether from Europe or America, in addition to the regular trains that were sent each way daily. Sometimes five or six trains were sent off in a single day, but such occurrences were unusual.

"In the old times," he continued, "when this was the principal route of travel between New York and San Francisco, the arrival of a steamer made a busy scene. Several hundred passengers were to be transferred, together with a large amount of mail and express matter; the passengers were packed into the cars as closely as possible, and when there was an unusual rush it took two or perhaps three trains to carry them all. In such cases the steerage passengers were sent away ahead of the others, while the cabin passengers and mails followed an hour or two later. Most of the passengers were encumbered with several articles of hand-baggage, together with oranges, bananas, and other fruits bought from the natives that swarmed around the station; you would have thought they were setting out for a journey of a week or more, and provisioning themselves accordingly, instead of a continuous ride of three or four hours over a railway. There was often a contest for places in the carriages, and many an impromptu fight has occurred on the spot where we are so peacefully standing."

Soon after the departure of the train Dr. Bronson and the youths returned to the hotel, where they found the official from the canal company awaiting them. He was accompanied by Mr. Colné, the secretary of the American committee of the company, and after the formalities of introduction were completed the party set out for the Atlantic entrance to the promised waterway from the Caribbean Sea to the Bay of Panama.

The entrance to the canal is on the mainland, just behind the island on which Aspinwall is situated. The island has been enlarged in this direction, and, when the great ditch is completed, Aspinwall will be its Atlantic terminus in much the same way that Suez is the Red Sea terminus of the Suez Canal.

Our friends were surprised at the magnitude of the works of the canal company, as they walked through the miniature city which has sprung up since the work of cutting the waterway was undertaken. There were acres and acres of warehouses and workshops, dwellings for the laborers, and residences of the officers, together with other edifices connected with the enormous enterprise. There was a scene of activity around the machine-shops, where engines and dredges were undergoing repairs, and it was difficult to believe that all this life had been infused into the tropical languor of the Isthmus in the past few years.

NATIVE MARKET, ASPINWALL.

Mr. Colné told the strangers that the new town had received the name of Christopher Columbus, in honor of the great navigator, who was believed to have visited the spot on his third voyage, at the time he discovered the bay in which Aspinwall is situated. "And here," said he, as they reached a row of neat cottages, "is the street called Charles de Lesseps; these houses were made in New York and then brought here and put together, and we have houses at other places of the same character. Most of our dredges were made in the United States, and an American company has taken the contract for a large part of our excavating. Part of the land on which the city is built was reclaimed from the bay by filling in with the earth dredged out for the canal and its approaches. Before we get through with the work we shall have changed the appearance of this part of the coast so that its friends will hardly know it.

"When we came here," he continued, "one of the first things we determined upon was the deepening of the harbor of Aspinwall up to the point where the canal is entered. As soon as the dredges were ready they went to work and made a channel that permits the largest ships to come up to the shore. We might have left it till the end of the enterprise, but it was better to have it done at the outset, as it facilitates the landing of our material."

PREPARING FOR A BOAT EXCURSION.

At the suggestion of Mr. Colné the party entered a boat, and spent a half-hour or more in an excursion around the harbor. While they were being propelled by the strong arms of six negro boatmen from the West Indies, their entertainer told them about the history of the canal enterprise. Frank and Fred listened eagerly to the narration, and the former made notes of its most important points. With the aid of these memoranda we will endeavor to repeat the story.

Note.—This book was written and in the hands of the publishers previous to the burning of Aspinwall by insurgents, in March, 1885.