Chapter I: Foreword: 11

I. WHERE THE PROWLING IS GOOD 13

II. THE TRAIL OF THE PIRATES 26

III. PICTURESQUE PANAMA 41

IV. A CITY OF GHOSTS 55

V. THE SPELL OF THE JUNGLE 65

VI. LIFE AT THE BOTTOM 76

VII. THE INTERIOR 93

VIII. ECONOMIC WASTE 109

IX. PANAMA AND PROGRESS 122

X. KNOWING OUR NEIGHBORS 144

XI. THE FAMILY TREE 160

XII. LATIN-AMERICAN HEART 178

XIII. THE CARIBBEAN WORLD 193

XIV. THE PANAMA CANAL 214

XV. PROWLING INTO THE FUTURE 235

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

The Faithful Mule is the Ship of the Jungle 14

The Homeward Way at Nightfall 15

An Empire in the Making 19

A Few Good Roads on the Zone 21

Church at Nata, Oldest Inhabited Town in New World,
Founded 1520 24

The Jungle is the Place for Picnics 27

Even Farm Cabins Are Picturesque in Costa Rica 30

Ruins of Old Panama, the Most Romantic Spot in the New
World 33

Indian Woman at the Fountain 36

Baths--Wholesale and Retail 43

Convent Door 46

Official Lottery in Bishop's House, Panama 48

Ruin of Famous Flat-Arch Church 52

Eighth-Grade Room, Panama 53

Convent Garden 56

Romantic Old Convents Survive 58

Ruined Tower at Old Panama 60

Costa Rica Trapiche, or Sugar Mill 62

Papaya Trees 66

Bananas and Sugar Cane 68

Cacao Pods 70

Proposed Location for Rest Cure 73

Picturesque Jungle Towns 78

Tortillas are Staple 80

Jungle Folk 81

"The Cotter's Saturday Night" 82

Church Bells of Arraijan, Cast 1722 85

First-Grade Room, Panama 89

The Beautiful Savanas of Costa Rica 95

Shipping Costa Rica Vegetables to Panama 99

Good Pineapples Grow Here 103

Dead Timber in Gatun Lake Now Covered with Orchids 105

Interior Meat Market 111

The Flavor of Old Spain 112

Taking the Rest Cure 113

The Oxen Stage of Agriculture 115

Wayside Sellers of Fruit 117

The House Beside the Road 118

Wireless at Darien 123

Farm Grist Mill, Costa Rica 126

Happy Kindergartners, Panama 129

Young Costa Rica is Enterprising 131

Wooden Sugar Mill and Its Maker 133

Public Market, David 137

Indian Boy Goes to School 145

Washday in Costa Rica 147

Riverside Plantation 151

Jungle Products 154

San Blas Indian Chief 161

No Race Suicide Here 162

Jungle Guide 164

One Use for a Head 165

Beggars and Cathedrals 167

Far from the Madding Crowd 169

Seawall Church and School, Panama 171

Mandy Did Her Share 173

The Canal Digger 173

The Town Pump, Interior Village 175

Wayside Cemetery in the Jungle 176

Coconuts--So Good and So High 180

Boiling "Dulce"--Crude Sugar 183

Washing by the River 189

Costa Rica Farm House 194

Bananas Thirty Feet High 197

San Blas Indians Have "Poker Faces" 198

Where Styles Molest No More 201

Chinese Always Start a School 205

"Schooldays" 205

Three in a Row 212

Mother, Home, and--the Simple Life 212

Construction Days in Culebra-Gailard Cut 217

Gatun Spillway, Key to the Canal 224

Cristobal Streets 227

Fat Cattle of Cocle 228

Enchanted Islands in Gatun Lake 231

Panama Public Water Works, Interior Country 237

A Jungle Cathedral 242

Shoe-bills Are Small 248