José, I believe the only place in the city where they are grown in any considerable quantity, - and where the good sisters charged me an exorbitant price for them. The natives generally attribute the disappearance of their flowers to the extensive use of kerosene by the Canal Commission's Sanitary Department. This is not, however, an entirely satisfactory explanation. It is probable that the drastic cleaning up process, to which Panama was treated a few years ago, involved the destruction of most of the small plants and little or no effort has been made to replace them.

The French canal companies took great pains in the beautifying of the grounds in their possession. This was especially the case at the Ancon hospital, where the verandahs, and even the wards, were brightened by flowering plants and graceful palms. Sad to say, this otherwise praiseworthy feature of their management was a powerful agency for the spread of death and disease. The pots containing the plants were kept standing in saucers constantly filled with water. This suitable precaution against the attacks of ants created ideal breeding places for mosquitoes which, at that time, however, were not recognized as

enemies to health. The French surgeons were sorely puzzled to account for the fact that the hospital was a hotbed of yellow fever and malaria, and the originating point of thousands of cases of these diseases.

The country house of the better class of Panamans is usually a two-storied structure of stone or brick, though wood is beginning to be used extensively. The ground floor is devoted to storerooms, or given over to the use of servants, but they more frequently occupy outbuildings in the courtyard. The owner and his family reside in the upper story, after the custom which prevails in all Spanish-American countries. This arrangement is probably prompted by several considerations. Not the least potent of these is disclosed by the commonly current proverb: " Smallpox never goes upstairs."

The country house is the usual unbroken block. In place of the interior patio is an extensive yard, called by the same name. To this the same suggestion of the Orient attaches, and is especially pronounced in the case of the low mud wall and the ever-present well. The country patio always contains shade trees, and, not infrequently, vines and flowers.

CHAPTER VI

THE CHURCHES OF PANAMA 1

AMONG the population of the Republic of Panama there is a sprinkling of well-bred families descended from Spaniards, French, and Italians. Numerically they are insignificant, but in every other respect they are the most important element in the community. They absolutely control things political, the masses being quite willing to blindly follow the lead of one or another prominent partisan. Most of the business and property is in their hands. The members of these "illustrious families," as they are termed in SpanishAmerican countries, are generally well educated, it having been long the custom to send them to Spain or France for their schooling. The tendency now is to have the youths of this class taught in the United States.

1 Portions of this chapter have been printed in articles contributed by the author to Travel Magazine.

Peculiar marital connections are common among the better class. As a rule, the offspring of irregular relations are well treated. Not infrequently they are legitimatized and taken into the family presided over by the legal wife. In 1888, the Colombian Legislature enacted a law of which the following is an extract:

"Art. 34. El matrimonio contraido conforme a los ritos de la Religion Católica anula ipso jure el matrimonio puramente civil, celebrado antes por los contrayentes con otra persona.

"Art. 35. Para los efectos meramente civiles, la Ley reconoce la legitimidad de los hijos concebidos antes de que se anule un matrimonio civil a virtud de lo dispuesto en el articulo anterior.

"Art. 36. El hombre que habiendose casado civilmente, se case luego con otra mujer con arreglo a los ritos de la Religion Católica es obligado a suministrar alimentos congruos a la primera mujer y a los hijos habidos en ella, mientras esta no case catolicamente."1

1 Art. 34. Marriage contracted according to the rites of the Catholic Religion of itself annuls (ipso facto) a purely civil marriage previously celebrated by the contractants with other

persons.

Art. 35. For the purely civil effects of the Law, it acknowledges

Civil marriages came into vogue following the dispossession of the Church and the eviction of the priests from their holdings. With its return, to some extent, to the former influence that it enjoyed, the Church has sought to nullify all marriages that have been contracted without its sanction and many men have eagerly seized the excuse for breaking bonds which have become irksome.

Aside from fiestas, which are numerous, but not so much so as they used to be, Sunday is the chief holiday. After morning services, the day is devoted to amusement and a wide choice of diversions is offered to the people. The cocking main will draw as many as the enclosure will hold. The seats rise all round the pit in tiers. Money is bet freely on the birds, and men, whose demeanor is usually dignified and self-possessed, abandon themselves to wild excitement. The choicest seats are occupied by persons prominent in the community. I have seen the Chief of Police holding a watch the legitimacy of children conceived prior to the annulment of a civil marriage by virtue of the provision of the preceding article.

Art. 36. The man who having married civilly marries subsequently with another woman, according to the rites of the Catholic Religion, is obliged to provide maintenance for the first wife and for the children had by her, so long as she does not marry according to the Catholic Religion.