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without damage. This old-time cement today is as hard as stone. Over the entrance to public buildings and churches they made their inscriptions in these cements, in many instances filling in odd spaces with ornamental work made of the large pearl shells from the famous Islas de Perlas, or Pearl Islands, in the Gulf of Panama. Such designs when new must have been chaste and beautiful, as the smooth motherof-pearl surfaces of the large shells on a background of reddish cement must have made a beautiful contrast, the shells reflecting the sun rays in a thousand directions. "This quaint and most substantial old edifice faces on a small street. At one time it made the corner of the Plaza San Francisco. The large door is reached by a few stone steps on either side of which are plain columns, while there are a few lancet shaped windows above. Its front is very plain. The whole is surmounted by a quaint old tower of the true Moorish type. It is built wholly of stone with a rounded cupola of the same material. Lashed to cross-pieces are the old-time bells. The door is a huge affair of most substantial make, studded with huge brazen heads or knobs. When closed from within, persons in the church could stand a siege very successfully. The side windows of the church are fully twenty-five feet above the street, and they were purposely so made in case of attack. The walls of San Felipe Neri are nearly five feet thick, and the windows are so deeply recessed as to

remind one of an ancient fortress or prison." A larger, and not less interesting church is that of San Francisco, facing upon the square of the same name. It was built early in the eighteenth century. The interior is very imposing with its gracefully arched roof and fine supporting columns, dividing the entire length of the edifice. The altar is an exceedingly large and beautiful structure of carved hardwood.

THE FAMOUS FLAT ARCH OF ST. DOMINIC.

A strange story attaches to the ruins of St. Dominic. When intact, it must have been an extremely handsome edifice, but its noble towers and grand façade are things of the past, and the massive remains of the old church are now overrun by vegetation. The most striking portion of the building has survived the attacks of fire and the shocks of earthquake. It is one of the most peculiar arches in the world. It stands complete near what was the main entrance. It is a single span of about sixty feet, its chord so flattened as to be almost horizontal. Architects are puzzled to account for this arch standing without further support than the terminal columns. Legend has it that this curious structure was erected three times and each time fell. A fourth time it was set up and the monk who designed it stood beneath the arch and declared that

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if it should not fall upon his head the work was good and would endure.

The churches of La Merced, San Juan de Dios, St. Ana, and the Cathedral, deserve description if space permitted. Nelson makes an interesting statement with regard to the origin of the last-named building: "The cathedral of Panama was built at the sole expense of one of the bishops of Panama, and was completed about 128 years ago. The bishop's father was a Panamanian by birth - a colored man. He made charcoal near La Boca de la Rio Grande, or the mouth of the Grand River, a stream entering the Bay of Panama some two miles from the Panama City of today. This colored man made his charcoal and brought it on his back from house to house to sell· a custom that obtains to this day. He gave his son, the future bishop, as good an education as was possible. In due time he became a deacon, priest, and finally bishop of Panama -a bishop of proud Panama, for in those days it was a wealthy city. He was the first colored bishop of Panama. This son of a charcoal burner devel oped into a grand man, and in time crowned a life of usefulness by building the cathedral from his private means." Much of the stone used in its construction is from the highlands of the interior, and was brought many leagues on the backs of men. After long years the building was completed in 1760.

The churches of Panama are both numerous and

noisy, facts that are impressed upon the stranger by the almost incessant clanging of their bells. Panama has been the scene of three or four great fires, in which several ecclesiastical buildings were damaged or destroyed.

THE DEAD ARE TEMPORARY TENANTS OF THEIR

GRAVES.

The city has several cemeteries, but the system of temporary tenancy forbids any calculation of the number of past occupants. When a graveyard becomes crowded the coffins are taken up, the bones shaken out in a heap, and the empty receptacles offered for sale, or hire. The same system of leasing space is in force in the boveda enclosures. A boveda is a niche just large enough to accommodate the coffin of an adult. The cemetery is formed of a quadrangle surrounded by three tiers of bovedas.

These are rented for a term of eighteen months, and after a coffin is deposited in one, the opening is closed with a slab, or bricked up. Where the space has been permanently secured, a memorial tablet often seals the aperture. When the rent of one of these sepulchers is overdue its contents are thrown out in just as business-like a manner as that in which a harsh landlord might evict a delinquent tenant. Perhaps the foregoing statements ought to have been made in the past tense, for the Canal Com