This lock, the nearest the Pacific, is again quite different and is the work of a civil engineer, Mr. Williamson, and not of army officers, like the rest. Between the two forces, I believe, the most fierce harmony exists. The drawing shows the two locks side by side, the great cranes--they are different, too--towering above. All the ground here will be filled by a small lake between this lock and Pedro Miguel.
These great cranes travel to and fro, and as I drew the nearest I found the lines changing, but thought there was something wrong with me. So huge were they, and so silently and solemnly did they move, that I could not believe they were moving. This is the Pacific end of the lock--the last on the Canal.
The only wall in March of the approach to Miraflores may be contrasted with the similar subject No. XX--Pedro Miguel.
Much as there was to be done in March, the engineer, Mr. Williamson, had no doubt it would be finished this fall; for as fast as the other locks were completed, men and machines were to be put on this.
Amid these royal palm groves work and live many of the members of the Isthmian Canal Commission--the rest are on the high hill at Culebra. To the secretary, Mr. J. B. Bishop, and to his family, I am endlessly indebted for endless help while on the Zone.
Ancon is a perfect Japanese town--built by Americans--and the interiors of the houses here and at Culebra are as delightful as their owners are charming--and I know of what I speak. The large building against the ocean is the Administration Office of the Isthmian Canal Commission.
A road winds up Ancon Hill, passing the official residences and the hospitals, finally reaching a terrace bordered with royal palms. Below to the left is the Tivoli Hotel, and still lower and farther away, the city, while the Pacific fills the distance. This is the most beautiful spot I saw on the Isthmus.
The Cathedral, one of a number of churches in the city of Panama, stands in a large square. The feeling of all these, with their richly decorated façades and long, unbroken side walls, is absolutely Spanish--but the interiors are far more bare--much more like Italian churches.
XXVII THE CITY OF PANAMA FROM THE TIVOLI HOTEL, ANCON