PAMPHYLIA 



PANAM! 



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Mutiny (1854-59), Ireland (1868), the Franco- 

 German War ( 1870-71 ), the Vatican Decrees 

 (1874-75), the Eastern Question (1877-80), the 

 Irish Land Laws ( 1880-82). 



Painphylia. anciently a country on the south 

 coast of Asia Minor, with Cilicia on the east and 

 Lycia on the west. It was originally )>oun<led on 

 the inland or northern side by Mount Taurus, but 

 afterwards enlarged, so as to reach the confines of 

 Phrygia. Pamphylia is mountainous, was formerly 

 well wooded, and had numerous maritime cities. 

 The inhabitants a mixed race of aborigines, 

 Cilicians, and Greek colonists spoke a language 

 the basis of which probably was Greek, but which 

 was disfigured and corrupted by the infusion of 

 barbaric elements. See I)r Lanckorowski, Die 

 Stftdte Pamphylieiis und Pisidieiis ( 1890 et neq. ). 



Pan, among the Greeks, a divinity of pastures, 

 forests, and Hocks, usually described as a son of 

 Hermes. His worship originated in Arcadia, but 

 spread gradually over the rest of Greece, although 

 it did not reach Athens until after Marathon. Pan 

 is represented as having horns, a goat's l>eard, a 

 crooked nose, pointed ears, a tail, and goat's feet. 

 Sometimes he appeared to travellers, startling them 

 with sudden fear, whence a sudden fright was 

 called & panic fear. During the heat of the day he 

 used to sleep in the shady woods, and was exceed- 

 ingly wroth if his slumber was disturbed by the 

 halloo of the hunters. He was the patron of all 

 persons occupied in the care of cattle and of bees, 

 in hunting and in fishing. He is also represented 

 as fond of music, and of dancing with the forest 

 nymphs, and as the inventor of the syrinx or Pan- 

 dean pipes. Cows, goats, lambs, milk, honey, and 

 new wine were offered to him. The fir-tree was 

 sacred to him, and he had sanctuaries and temples 

 in various parts of Arcadia, at Troezene, at Sicyon, 

 at Athens, &c. The Romans identified the Greek 

 Pun with their own god Faunus. Plutarch (De 

 Orac. Defectii) is the first to tell the story that in 

 the reign of Tiberius one Thanius a pilot, when 

 steering near the islands of Paxiv, was commanded 

 by a loud voice to proclaim that ' the great Pan is 

 dead.' As soon as he had reached Palodes he cried 

 the news aloud from the poop of his ship, where- 

 upon was heard a great noise of lamentation, as of 

 nature itself expressing its grief. The coincidence 

 of this story with the birth or the crucifixion of 

 Christ gave occasion to an explanation that it 

 marked the end of the old world and the l>eginning 

 of the new when the old oracles became dumb. 

 Ral>elais has the story, there is a well-known 

 allusion to it in Milton's Ode on the Nativity, and 

 it has been finely treated by Schiller and Mrs 

 Browning. The Devil of popular Christian super- 

 st it ion owes some of his attributes to Pan. 



Panama, ISTHMUS OF, formerly called the 

 Isthmus of Darien (q.v. ), embraces the narrowest 

 part (35 miles) of Central America, connecting 

 Costa Kica on the \V. with Colombia on the E. 

 It now forms a department of Colombia, has an 

 area of 31,880 so. m., and a pop. of 285,000, with 

 8000 uncivilised Indians, and is traversed by a low 

 chain of mountains, forming the barrier between 

 the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Numerous 

 streams, the largest of which is the Tuira ( 160 

 miles long, and navigable for more than 100 miles), 

 fall into both oceans. Off the Pacific shore are 

 numerous beautiful islands, among which Las 

 Perlas, so called from their pearl-lisheries (now 

 almost discontinued), Naos, and Taboga are the 

 chief. There are no good natural harbours. The 

 chief trading ports are Panama (see below) and 

 Colon ( Aspinwall). The exports embrace hides, 

 tallow, caoutchouc, indigo, vanilla, colFee, gold dust, 

 cocoa-nuts, tortolseshell, &c. Commerce is entirely 



in the hands of foreigners, and is valued at less 

 than 1,400,000 annually. Gold, once abundant, 

 is still worked, and copper, iron, coal, &c., exist. 

 ' Panamd hats ' are made in Ecuador and Peru. 



PANAMA, the capital of the department, stands 

 on a projecting volcanic rock on the Pacific side of 

 the Isthmus ; the massive walls the Spaniards 

 built to protect their treasure city still stand in 

 places. Old Panamd, founded in lois, was captured 

 and destroyed by the buccaneers under Morgan 

 ( 1671 ). Modern Panamd was built two years 

 later, 4J miles distant from the old city. In May 

 1880 it had a population estimated at 15,000, the 

 majority of Indian and negro descent, and half- 

 breeds. During the zenith of canal work (see 

 below) the population was estimated at 25,000 to 

 30,000. Fires have destroyed Panama repeatedly, 

 as well as its sister city Colon. The principal 

 buildings are the cathedral (1760), a Spanish 

 structure, built of yellow stone ; the town-ball, in 

 which the Colombians signed the declaration of 

 their independence ; and the bishop's palace ( 1880). 

 Panama is connected with Colon on the Atlantic 

 by the Panamd Railway (48 miles long), built by 

 Americans in 1850-55. 



PANAMA CANAL. The idea of connecting the 

 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by way of the central 

 American isthmuses is by no means new. That 

 for uniting them by the Isthmus of Panama is 

 almost coincident with Balboa's discovery of the 

 Pacific (1513). In King's Wonders of the World 

 we read : ' In the town library of Nuremberg is 

 preserved a globe, made by John Schoner in 1520. 

 It is remarkable that the passage through the 

 Isthmus of Darien, so much sought after in later 

 times, is on this globe carefully traced.' Gomera 

 (1510-60), the historian, was the first to advocate 

 a union of the oceans by means of a canal. Philip 

 II. of Spain proved an implacable enemy to all such 

 schemes. The Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, and Darien 

 routes were discussed in the 16th century ; and the 

 Dutch, it is alleged, made complete plans for a 

 canal over two centuries ago. But no steps were 

 taken to carry out any plan until Ferdinand de 

 Lesseps, of Suez fame, convened in Paris in May 

 1879 an international congress to discuss the plan 

 of cutting through the Isthmus of Panama. A plan 

 previously prepared by De Lesseps was adopted, 

 and a concession from the United States of Colom- 

 bia to Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte 

 Wyse of the French navy, who had made a hasty 

 and partial survey, was sold to the prospective 

 Panama Canal Company. On February 28, 1881, 

 the first detachment of canal employes arrived at 

 Colon ; surveys were at once made, and the build- 

 ing of camps, hospitals, &c. followed. In 1882 

 the Canal Company purchased the Panama Rail- 

 way. De Lesseps' Engineering Commission to 

 Panamd in 1880 estimated that a canal could be 

 made for 843,000,000 francs. De Lesseps reduced 

 their figures to 600,000,000 francs, or 24,000,000, 

 and announced that a canal a niveau, or tide-level 

 canal, could be completed for that sum. Later he 

 invited delegates to meet him at Panama in 1888 

 for its opening. Loans followed year after year. 

 Meantime interest charges accumulated and be- 

 came burdensome, while little real progress was 

 made. In the autumn of 1888 further borrowing 

 became impossible. The company was forced into 

 liquidation, January 1, 1889; its bond and share 

 indebtedness was roughly estimated at 70,000,000, 

 interest charges over 4,000,000, with perhaps a 

 fifth of the real work done. There are over 

 800,000 holders of shares in France. Shortly after 

 the crash, a liquidator was named by the Court of 

 the Seine. In 1890 a commission of French and 

 other engineers was sent to the Isthmus by him. 

 Their report was very discouraging. Valuable 



