INSTITUTE NOTES 



Another number of the Proceedings ! 



The Museum of the Institute, through the kindness of 

 William R. Newbold, of Panama, has recently received a 

 number of interesting relics from the ruins of an ancient 

 Convent in the old Cit}'^ of Panama. This Convent, which 

 is situated some nine miles from the present City of Panama, 

 was sacked and burned by the celebrated Buccaneer Morgan 

 in one of his raids and has remained a ruin since that time. 

 Morgan, or Sir Henry Morgan, it may be remembered, was 

 probably the most celebrated commander of buccaneers ever 

 known. He was born in Wales about 1635 and died in 

 Jamaica in 1688. In 1671 he sacked and burned the old City 

 of Panama. It was probably at this time that the Convent 

 in question was destroyed. 



The remains of the old Convent, left untouched up to the 

 present day, are almost covered with heavy undergrowth, and 

 little can be seen but some standing walls. It was practically 

 unknown or forgotten by people of the neighborhood. Mr. 

 Newbold, in one of his Sunday rambles around Panama, 

 came upon the ruins and started to investigate. After much 

 difficulty he succeeded in cutting his way through the under- 

 growth and gaining access to the old ruins, of which a 

 portion of the walls still stands. In examining the locality 

 he observed the top of an archway which appeared to be the 

 entrance to an underground passage, now completely filled 

 with debris. After a great deal of work he succeeded in get- 

 ting to the bottom of it, and found it to be part of an under- 

 ground entrance. The floor of this passage was covered with 

 a sort of tile floor in mosaic design, a number of samples of 

 which Mr. Newbold has presented to the Institute. The 

 pavement seems to be about an inch and a half thick, appar- 

 ently of some kind of burned clay material and covered with 

 a thin layer of vitrification or enamel in bright colors and 



