PANAMA. ISTHMl'S OF. 



.>NIA. 



eo 



the Atlantic side: it. Pucine terminui wa. fixed at Panama. Th 

 work* wers commenced in 1840, but their progress wa* greatly im- 

 p*dr.l by the dUBeult character of the countrj- through which much 

 of UM line pawc*, nJ the insecurity f life nn.l property owing t<i 

 the revolution in New Granada. (Nw GRAXAPA.] But the enter- 

 frttf wu conducted with energy MM perseverance, and all difficultly 

 were overcome. The fint section wai opened in 1860 ; a Mcond 

 portion in 1 852 ; at the eloee of 1 863 about 88 mile* were in operation ; 

 and by the end of 1854 the whole was completed. The line wan 

 formally opened for traffic on the 38th of January, 1855. Its entire 

 length IK about 60 mile*; the summit level is only 250 feet above the 

 level of the tee, ; and the entire eoct ha* been about 1,400,00<W. 



Product!***. Thi* isthmus n very rich in vegetable production*, 

 eepeoially in trees, uerful a* timber, dye-woods, or for cabinet-work, 

 and domestic purpose*. Some of them bear eatable fruit*. It nlso 

 prodaew all the fruiU and eeoulent vegetable* cultivated in other 

 intertropioal countries. The cultivated grain* are rice and maixe. 

 The sugar-ram- i* grown, but not extensively. Coffee and cacao are 

 cultivated for domestic consumption ; and some cacao i* exported. 

 The caoutchouc tree, milk-tree (Palo de Vaca), sarsaparilla, and 

 vanilla plant grow in the woods. The Styrax officinal!* a very abundant, 

 n I it* gum sell* very dear. Cattle, horses, and mules arc reared in 

 thoae districts where there are natural prairies or savannah*. The 

 woods are inhabited by numerous wild animals : tiger-cats, which 

 seldom exoeed the sice of a small Newfoundland dog ; lions, bears, 

 racoons ; tajinoe, or a species of wild boar, deer, conejos, which are 

 uraewhat like our rabbits, but larger ; hosts of monkeys ; wil.t 

 turkeys, both black and coloured, and many other bird*. The sea 

 abound* with fish, especially sharks, which are eaten, alligators, and 

 turtle. There are gold-mines in the mountains near Puerto Velo, but 

 their produce U insignificant. Oold is also said to be found on the 

 northern declivity of the table-land of Vcragua, and in the country 

 of the Valientes. Copper and iron are abundant, and tin and mercury 

 are stated to occur. 



The Isthmus formerly constituted one of the departments of the 

 republic of New Grenada, that of latino, but is now included within 

 the department of Cauc*. [NEW GRANADA.] The towns are principally 

 of small sixe. 



Panama, the principal town, stands on a tongue of land which 

 extends a considerable distance into the Oulf of Panama 1 , in 8 57' N. 

 lat, 79* 2V W. long. : the population is about 10,000. The principal 

 streets) extend across the peninsula. The houses are of stone, generally 

 two or three stories high, substantially built, and the larger houses 

 have courts, or patios. The public edifices are, a fine cathedral, four 

 convents, a nunnery, snd a college. As the sloping shores contiguous 

 to the ground on which the town stands are dry at low-water to a 

 considerable distance, the anchorage is 6 or 7 miles distant, where it 

 is protected by a number of islands, the largest of which is called 

 Perico, a name which is also applied to the harbour. These i.-laii.N 

 are high and well cultivated, and supplies of ordinary kinds, including 

 excellent water, may be obtained from most of them. Panama^ since 

 becoming the port for the traffic with California has greatly increased 

 in importance as a place of trade; its commercial intercourse previously 

 was for the most part with the ports of South America and especially 

 with Guayaquil. 



Atpintcall and Ckagret are noticed under KAVT BAT and CHAORES. 



On the iithmns, west of Panama, there are several town* of some 

 local importance. Chorrera, on the Caymito or Chorrera, at its outfall 

 in the Oulf of I'anamit, has 3000 inhabitants ; Nald, on Parita Bay, 

 has a population of 4 000 ; and Lot Santos, on the south-western side 

 of the Oulf of Panamii, about 8500 inhabitant*. Neither of these 

 place* has a harbour. In the province of Veragna, the capital, Santiago 

 dt Verayua, in the interior, has about 4000 inhabitants ; the town of 

 La Maa, 4000 ; and Santiayn de Alangr, 2000. 



Inhabitant*. A great portion of the isthmus, perhaps one-third, is 

 still in the exclusive possession of the aborigines. These tribes occupy 

 both extremities of the isthmus. Nearly the whole of the isthmus 

 east of the Bay of Mandingo is inhabited by several small tribes, 

 comprehended under the collective appellation of Handingo or San 

 BUw Indian*. They aro an active hardy race of people, very jealous 

 of their independence, and hostile to the whites who have settled 

 near them. They cultivate plaiuta-n*, bananas, maize, and mandioc. 

 They also rear many fowls. The adjacent sea and the rivers abound 

 in fii-h and turtle, and the forests in eatable animals. The western 

 portion of the isthmus, which surround* the Chiriqui Lagoon, i* inha- 

 bited by the Valientes. a collective name given by the Spaniards to 

 different tribes inhabiting that pnrt of the country. They are much 

 taller than the Mandingo Indian*, and seem to have made greater 

 progress in civilisation. Their extensive plaintain-ground*, maize- 

 field*, and mandioc plantations exhibit a great deal of industry and 

 care ; and among other things they plant the cacao-tree, the produce 

 of which is extensively used. 



lial.itod by the Mandingo and Valient** Indians are 

 annually visited by vessels from Jamaica and elsewhere, which export 

 considerable quantities of tortotseshell, sarsaparilla, and fustic, and 

 also some cacao; they Import manufactured cotton goods, cutlass- 

 blades, and a variety of toy* and small articles. The port of Chagres 

 was formerly visited by European and American vessel*, but it is now 



abandoned for Navy Bay. Thera is a considerable trade carried on 

 there and at Psnaimi, and large quantities of the manufactured goods 

 of Kuropo and America, with sugar, wine, Ac., are imported ; but the 

 articles of export are of little comparative value. The transit trade is 

 of great and growing importance, and will no doubt in a short 

 produce marked changes in the country. 



PANAKIA. [LIPARI ISLANDS.] 



PANAY. [PHH.IFPINB ISLANDS.] 



PANKAS, or BANIAS, a village of Palestine, situated at the foot 

 of the Jebel Uriah, the Mount Hermon of Scripture, is supposed to 

 be on or near the site of the Dan of the Jew*. Its name was changed 

 to C'trtarea Philijipi by Philip the Tetrarch, sou of Herod, in honour 

 of the emperor Tiberius and himself. The village contains only about 

 150 houses, inhabited by Turks, Greeks, Druzes, and Arabs. It stands 

 on a triungular-shaped piece of ground inclosed by the river of Banias 

 and the Jordan, and backed by the mountains at the foot of which, 

 to the north-east of the village, the river of Banias takes it* rise in a 

 spacious cavern beneath a precipitous rock. This precipice has several 

 niches, in one of which the base of a statue still remains ; and each of 

 them had an inscription in Greek characters, which are now so nearly 

 effaced as to be unintelligible. The cavern and Paneium, or sanctuary 

 of Pan, within it, are described by Josephus ('Jewish War,' iii. ]i>-7), 

 from whom it appears that the fountain or spring was considered as 

 the source of the Jordan, and the outlet of the small lake Phialn. 

 Around the spring are great quantities of large hewn stones, which 

 probably belonged to the Temple of Augustus, built by Herod. Philip 

 also added greatly to the town ; indeed Josephus (ii. 9, 1) calls him 

 the founder of Ctosarea in Banias. 



Although these springs arc by far the most copious they are not the 

 most distant from the Dead Sea, and caun.it be considered as the true 

 source of the Jordan, which may be placed at about 4 miles N.E. of 

 Banias, near the foot of a hill called Tel-el-Kadl [PALESTINE.] 



The river of Bauias flows on the north side of the village, where 

 there is a well-built bridge, and some remains of the ancient town ; 

 but the principal part of the old town appears to have stood on the 

 opposite side of the river, where the ruins extend nearly a mile from 

 the bridge. No walls remain, but great quantities of atone and archi- 

 tectural fragments are. scattered about; there are also some granite 

 columns entire. On the south side of the village are the ruins of a 

 very strong turreted castle, surrounded by a ditch and wall ; and 

 about four miles to the eastward of the village, on on eminence, aro 

 the ruins of another castle, once evidently a strong fortress, and appa- 

 rently coeval with that in the village. It is surrounded by a wall ten 

 feet thick, and flanked with numerous round towers built with equal 

 blocks of stone about two feet square, and has only one gate on the 

 south side. This oastle, which is called the Castle of Banias, contains 

 the ruins of many private habitations ; and at both western corners 

 there is a succession of strongly-built low apartments like cells, dark, 

 vaulted, and provided with loop-holes for musketry ; there are also 

 four wells in this castle full of water. Banius is about 23 miles E. by 

 N. from Tyre. 



(Burckhardt, Trardt in Syria ; Pococke, Dacriptia* of the EaU ; 

 Seetzen, Trartli ; Mangle* and Irby ; Pliuy, v. 15.) 



PANGATURAN. [SooLoo ARCHIPELAGO.] 



PANGBOURN. [BERKSHIRE.] 



PANJAB. [HINDUSTAN.] 



PANNA. [HINDUSTAN.] 



PANNO'NIA, the name of a province of the Roman empire, was 

 bounded N. and E. by the Danube, S. by Illyricum and Moesia, and 

 W. by Noricum. It was separated from Moesia by the Savus (Save), 

 and from Illyricum by an imaginary line drawn a few miles south of 

 the Save; but the boundaries between Noricum and Pannonia differed 

 at various times. Pannonia would thus correspond to Sclavonia, parts 

 of Hungary, Lower Austria, Styria, Croatia, and to those parts of 

 Turkish Croatia, Bosnia, and Servia which immediately touch upon 

 the Have. 



The Pannonians belonged to the Celtic, or perhaps the Germanic 

 race. They were first attacked by Augustus, B.C. 35 (Dion Cass. xlix. 

 36, 87 ; Liv., ' Ep.,' 181), and were subdued during his reign by Til> 

 rius, and reduced to the form of a province. (Veil. Pat, ii. 110, et seq.) 

 We learn from Tacitu* ('Ann.,' i. 16), that at the death of Augustus 

 there were several legions stationed in Pannonia, which was then 

 regarded, and continued to be so till the end of the Roman empire, as 

 one of the most important provinces of the empire, on account of its 

 bordering on the powerful nations of the Quadi and lazyges. 



Under the early Roman emperors Pannouia only formed one pro- 

 vince ; it was afterwards divided, but at what time is uncertain, into 

 two provinces Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior; the former 

 comprising the western and the latter the eastern part of the original 

 province. A new division of the provinces was made by the emperor 

 Oalerius, by whom Pannonia was divided into three provinces, which 

 division appears to have continued till the downfal of the Roman 

 empire. 



The principal riven of Pannonia were the Narabo or Arrabo (Kaab), 

 the Dravus (Drave), and Savus (Save), all of which flow into the 

 Danube. The two most important ranges of mountains were the 

 Pannonii Monies, a continuation of the Sarmatian range, which passed 

 through the northern part of the province in a south-westerly direo- 



