In 1903, before the United States’ occupation, there was no choice as to means of transport to the Isthmus. A single steamship company, that of the Panama Railroad, dispatched a vessel from New York once a week. Now there are four different lines with as many weekly sailings, besides one from New Orleans, a more convenient point of departure for many south of Mason and Dixon’s line. The four companies, all with headquarters in New York, will gladly furnish the latest information in regard to their own sailing and accommodations as on other points in reference to the tour.

Fares. The lowest fare from New York to Colon, $75.00, to Panama, $78.00, is the same on all lines, better accommodations being provided for a supplementary fee of from $15.00 up. It is wisdom to purchase, if not a ticket for the round trip, one as far at least as Mollendo, $191, as a slight reduction is made on through tickets. Stop-overs are allowed at any of the ports of call, and on the East or West Coasts of South America the journey may, if more convenient, be resumed on certain other lines of steamers without extra charge, save for embarking or disembarking in the small boats.

The respective merits of the four steamship lines to Panama are a matter of opinion. On three of these I have enjoyed the voyage, especially my last in a luxurious suite on the Prinz August Wilhelm of the Atlas Hamburg-American Line.

The old Panama Company claims that its boats are provided with all of the comforts afforded by the others, including rooms with private baths. It has slightly irregular sailings, seven a month, with several steamers making the journey in six days, instead of the seven, eight, or nine occupied by ships of the other lines. Those who prefer American cooking or the shorter voyage will choose one of these ships.

The Royal Mail and the Hamburg-American lines are quite similar to each other in service and accommodations; the boats of the former sail for Colon on alternate Saturdays, calling on the way at Antilla, Cuba, and at Kingston, Jamaica: those of the latter sail every Saturday, touching at Santiago de Cuba and Kingston. The Royal Mail Steamers are scheduled to arrive at Colon on Sunday, eight days from New York, connecting with the P.S.N. boats departing on Monday for the south. But through tickets are good by any of the three lines on the other side; and one may delay on the Isthmus for a few days or weeks of sight-seeing. The Hamburg-American steamers arrive at Colon Monday, one week connecting with a P.S.N. steamer, the next with one of the Peruvian and another of the Chilian Line sailing the same afternoon. No one, however, who is making a pleasure trip should cross the Isthmus without staying over a few days.

The United Fruit Company boasts of a great white fleet with four sailings to Colon a week; two, on Wednesday and Saturday, from New York; and two on the same days from New Orleans. These ships, they say, are the only ones going to Colon which were designed and built especially for tropical service, thus having all of the latest devices for comfort as well as for safety. Among these are bilge keels and automatic water-tight compartments. A wireless equipment as a matter of course the boats of all lines carry; these have also a submarine signal apparatus, to give warning of the proximity of another vessel, and, as an especial feature, lifeboats which with a patent lever may be swung off and lowered by a single man. By the system of ventilation the temperature of the rooms at night may be kept down to 55° if desired, a boon to many on the muggy Caribbean; and the electric lights have the rare quality of burning low. All of the boats on the various lines have pianos and music, most of them cards, checkers, chess, and libraries, the United Fruit Company supplying the latest magazines.

The Saturday steamers of this line from New York call Thursday at Kingston, Jamaica, where they remain until two p.m. Friday. They are due at Colon at noon on Sunday. The Wednesday steamers take a day less for the trip; at Kingston where they arrive on Monday they remain from 7 a.m. till 4 p.m. The Isthmus is reached at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

Via New Orleans. The opportunity to go by way of New Orleans may appeal, especially in winter, to some who have not visited that city and to those who desire to avoid the possibility of two or three cold stormy days on the sea before entering the regions of perpetual summer. The steamers sail in five days to Colon, the Saturday boats arriving Thursday a.m. and the Wednesday boats Monday morning.

The voyage to Panama, indeed all of the six or seven weeks on the sea, which are a necessary part of this tour, will be likely to prove an agreeable experience even to those who as a rule do not enjoy the ocean. While the waters of the Atlantic may at any season be turbulent and tempestuous, the portions of both oceans which are to be traversed are for the most part so smooth that unless persons are determined to be seasick whether they have occasion or not, it is probable that they will suffer little or none from this unpleasant malady. Ordinarily the sail to Panama, under sunny skies, over unruffled seas, in weather, after a day or two, warm enough for summer clothing, is a pleasure unalloyed. On the Caribbean it may be a trifle muggy and sticky, but if favored with sunshine the wonderful blue of the waters, deeper than that of the Bay of Naples, affords solace. On some of the ships a little dance on deck, if happily under a tropical moon, may be an experience affording delightful memories.

Watling’s Island. After leaving New York harbor and the adjoining coast the first land to come within range of vision is that of Watling’s Island, noted for a lighthouse of great power and value. Otherwise unimportant, it acquires interest from the fact that on this shore Columbus is believed to have made his first landing in the Western World. The island is thus entitled to the more pretentious name, San Salvador, bestowed by the great explorer upon the land where first he trod in devout thanksgiving, after many weeks of painful suspense upon the limitless ocean.

Fortunate is the traveler who towards sunset enters Windward Channel, passing before dark the desolate wooded bluffs of the eastern extremity of Cuba, Cape Maysi, and later having a look at the southeast shores where rise sombre, forest covered peaks to an imposing height, the loftiest above 8000 feet. From a Panama or United Fruit Company steamer no more will you see of Cuba; but on a boat of the Royal Mail you will already have called at Antilla, in the eastern section of the island’s northern shore, a new and growing seaport on Nipe Bay, and the north terminus of the Cuban Railway. Extensive docking facilities have been provided, large warehouses, immense tanks for molasses, a good hotel: and plans are made for building here a great commercial city.

Santiago de Cuba. By the Hamburg-American Line the first call is made on the south side of the island at the more famous and considerable city, Santiago de Cuba, which, founded in 1514, is said to be the oldest settlement of size in the Western Hemisphere. With a population of 50,000, among Cuban cities it comes next to Havana. It has also historic interest. That Hernando Cortez from this port, Nov. 18, 1518, set out for the bold conquest of the Aztec Empire is a fact less widely known than the more recent circumstance that in this sheltered harbor the fleet of Admiral Cervera lay concealed, until July 3, 1898, it sailed forth to its doom. In the narrow portal, less than 600 feet wide, rests the old Merrimac, sunk by Lt. Hobson and seven others, June 3, 1898. On the right of the entrance, crowning a bluff 200 feet high, is the old Morro Castle, an ancient fortress of picturesque appearance, begun soon after the founding of the city and possessing towers and turrets in genuine mediÆval style. Six miles farther, at the head of the bay, on a sloping terrace with steep hills behind, is the bright, gay city; though at the noontide hour it may seem a trifle sleepy and dull.

If time permits, a drive on the fine roads will be enjoyed. To the San Juan battlefield three miles distant and to El Caney a little farther the fare is $1.50 for a single person, $2.00 for several. The longer drive to Morro Castle, fare $3.50, affords charming views. In the city one proceeds first to the plaza, where on one side is the great cathedral called the largest in Cuba, containing rare marbles and mahogany choir stalls. On the other sides are the Casa Grande Hotel and the Venus Restaurant. Near by is the Filarmonia Theatre where the famous diva, Adalina Patti, is said to have made her dÉbut. A few may care to visit the spot where the Captain and sailors of the Virginius were executed as filibusters in 1873, a slaughter pen near the harbor front to the east of the Cuba Railway Station. An inscribed tablet there commemorates the sad event.

Kingston, Jamaica, is visited by all of the steamers except those of the Panama Line, the Wednesday boat of the United Fruit Company having previously touched at Port Antonio on the northeast end of the same island; the port, a busy place, owing its present prosperity chiefly to our fondness for bananas. Captain Baker of Boston in 1868 began the trade which the United Fruit Company has developed to immense proportions. The splendid Hotel Titchfield which the company has erected affords every facility for a delightful summer outing during our winter season.

The older and larger city of Kingston is on the south side of the island, by the excellent and far-famed harbor of Port Royal. The town of that name, ancient rendezvous of Morgan and the buccaneers, once stood on the long sandy spit which separates the bay from the ocean. But on a day in 1692 occurred one of those memorable tragedies at which the whole world stands appalled. The earth was shaken. The city sank beneath the sea, where it is said that some of the buildings may yet be seen, when the waves are still, deep down below the smiling tranquil surface. Kingston, then founded on the main shore, recently suffered (January 14, 1907), as we well remember, a similar though less complete disaster, being merely shaken down instead of swallowed up. Like San Francisco it was promptly rebuilt with better architecture. Quite up to date with electric cars and other modern conveniences, it is an attractive place of scenic and tropical beauty, excellent too for shopping. Interesting are the markets, the old Parish Church, badly shaken, but still standing; the main streets, King and Queen, at right angles to each other; the Jamaica Institute with museum and library where among other historical curios may be seen the famous Shark papers, in 1799 thrown overboard, swallowed by a shark, but soon after rescued from his maw, to the discomfiture of the Yankee captain of the Nancy, an American privateer. In the suburbs of the city within easy reach is King’s House, the fine residence of the Governor-General. Worth visiting (electric cars) is Hope Gardens, an estate of 220 acres, with a fine collection of indigenous plants and many exotics. The splendid roads over the island, the possibilities for delightful excursions,—the most enchanting the ascent of Blue Mountain, 7423 feet,—would tempt to a longer stay. But we hasten onward to more distant and greater glories.

Western Tourists. Tourists living west of the Rocky Mountains may prefer to sail from San Francisco or Los Angeles to Balboa, the port of Panama, at a considerable saving of expense, though not of time. Express steamers twice a month make the voyage from San Francisco in 14 days with the single call at San Pedro (Los Angeles), fare $85; while three times a month there are other boats which do not stop at San Pedro, but make eleven calls in Mexico and Central America, thus affording opportunity to see some of those ports, consuming 26 days on the trip. On these steamers the fare is $120. All these boats are of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. By way of New York the journey from San Francisco to Panama may, with close connection, be made in 10 or 12 days.

European Tourists may sail from Southampton by Royal Mail steamer in 18 days to Colon, fare $125, or from Cherbourg, 17 days, fare $100.

Other companies which have steamers sailing from Europe to Colon are the Hamburg-American, four times monthly from Havre and Hamburg, the Leyland C. Harrison, three times a month from Liverpool, the Cia. Generale Transatlantica, once a month from St. Nazaire and once from Bordeaux, the Cia. Transatlantica and the Cia. La Veloce, each monthly from Barcelona and Genoa.