UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LIBRARIES Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2009 with funding from University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/panamacanalrevie1974pana w^& -?KJ;:- '^.-^ V .^> ^^% \' .^f^^ 1' H t] Willie K. Friar David S. Parker Editor, English Edition Governor-President Jose T. Tunon Charles I. McGinnis Editor, Spanish Edition Lieutenant Governor Writers Frank A. Baldwin Vic Conel, Fannie P. Hernandez, Franklin Castrellon Panama Canal Information Officer Official Panama Canal Publication and Dolores E. Suisman will appreciated. Review articles may be reprinted witliout furtlier clearance. Credit to the Review be mail airmail single copies 50 cents. The Panama Canal Review is published twice a year. Yearly subscription: regular $1, $2, Panama Canal Review, Box M, Balboa Heights, C.Z, For subscription, send check or money order, made payable to the Panama Canal Company, to Editorial Office is located in Room 100, Administration Building, Balboa Heights, C.Z. Printed at the Panama Canal Printing Plant, La Boca, C.Z. Contents Our Cover Panama's Pearls 3 Sometimes finding just the right il- lustration for an article in tlie Balboa, Elizabeth Taylor and Review becomes a storv in itself. Such was the the mosqiieta are all a part of case in locating a photograph of Eliza- the history of the Pearl Island beth Taylor wearing Panama's most pearls. famous pearl. The search, with assist- ance from William R. Mallorv, of the Consider the Crackowe 8 Canal's Motion Picture Service, spread From the Duckbill to the to such faravvav places as Rome and London before Reverly Williams, of the Sidewinder you can bet your Reference Section at the Canal Zone hrogans it's style that counts Library, discovered that Life had fea- in the selection shoes. of tured the actress wearing the pearl in a cover story on her 40th birthday. The Culinary Capers 12 photo, obtained from Time-Life Photos Fare from everywhere avail- in New York, appears on the opposite able at local restaurants. page. The magnificent mosquetas on our Isthmus Turf Stars 15 cover and those used to illustrate the story were loaned to Local jockeys, horses make the Review by Richard and Silvia Werner, owners of racing history. Ricardo, the well known Panama City jewelrv Disney World 18 store. On the front cover is the beautifully A look behind the scenes at a simple traditional mosqueta with its cen- favorite vacation spot. ter pearl surrounded by circles of pearls interspersed with gold. Babel on the Banks of the The back cover shows a modern \'er- Panama Canal 22 sion of a mosqueta, the designs and TJie student body at Canal variations of which are limited only by the skill, ingenuity artistry Zone College is as interna- and of the jeweler. tional as the parade of ships Werner is known as Ricardo to res- transiting the waterway. idents of Panama, the Canal Zoiie, and a worldwide clientele Maritime Monickers 26 that includes many celebrities. He came to Panama Whether shell or named for a on a visit in 1936 and settled. One of a St. Nick, there's always a family of 13 jewelers, he began his ap- story. prenticeship in his father's store in Vien- na at the age of six. He worked at Casa Three Decades Make a Fastlich and Tahiti before opening his Difference 33 own shop in 1947. The Balboa High School Class The Werners shared their love and knowledge of pearls and the mosqueta of '43 returns for a nostalgic with Review readers bv providing look at the Isthmus. much of the information in the storv. » i". The co\'er photograph is by Arthur L. Artwork—Peter Gurnet/, p. 8 and 27; Hector Sin- > 'r clair, p. 10; Carlos Mindez, p. 26. Pollack. 2 Spmng 1974 Haustellum 5 3 1954 / ) Banama^ Pcani ficm La rcica'iina PEARLS AND GOLD HAVE played an important part in the history of Panama. And the mosqueta, created by combining the two in an in- tricate work of art, has become one of the symbols of the country. When a Panamanian girl pins her grandmother's mosqueta on the pom pom on the front of her pollera, the na- tional dress of Panama, she may man'el at the beauty of the gold and pearl brooch and wonder how it happened to be created. Many visitors, purchasing them to take home, also express curiositv about the origin of the design. No one knows for sure when the first mosqueta was created or who the de- designer was. But it is fairly certain that the gold and pearls of Panama were first joined in the delicate beauty of the mos- queta bv jewelers from southern Europe who migrated to Panama, bringing with them their skill in gold filigree work. At that time, labor was cheap and pearls from the Pearl Islands were plentiful. There is a storv that the brooches re- minded the jewelers of a beautiful blos- som and thev began to call them "mos- quetas," the Spanish name for the white musk roses of the Mediterranean area. These old mosquetas, fashioned of the famous Pearl Island pearls, are now treasured heirlooms passed down through the generations. In more re- cent times, thev have inspired a com- plete line of jewelr\' including rings, necklaces, and earrings. So the mosqueta is reallv a final chap- ter in the historv of the Panama pearls, a historv that started as far back as Bal- aljruptl\- 19.38 boa and ended in when Elizabeth Taylor wears Panama's most famous pearl, La Peregrina, as a drop pendant. the Red Tide spread o\'er the Ba\' of The pearl, which was found off the Pearl Islands more than 400 years ago, Panama and destroved the oyster beds was a gift from Richard Burton who paid $37,000 for it. (See story on p. 7) near the Pearl Islands. Photo by Norman Parkinson. The Panama Canal Review tions in her book seeing a nursemaid pass her room in Panama accompaning a child whose dress was resplendent with diamonds and pearls. "The pearls were wonderfully splendid," she added, "because in this native water is a reg- ular pearl industry. These treasures of the deep are abundantly found around the island and prove a profitable source of employment to a considerable body of men who follow the laborious occu- pation of divers." And the occupation of the pearl div- ers was indeed laborious. In the early days, slaves were sent to get the pearls. They descended into the cold, deep waters of Panama Bay with stones tied around their legs. Many of them died of exposure to pressure, of cold and some were killed bv sharks. By the early 19th century, the pearl shells of Panama were to become more in demand than the tiny pearls they might contain. The occasional pearl that might bring $2,000 on the Paris market was considered "gravy" to the merchants who were shipping shells to Germany to feed the largest mother of pearl market in the world. As early as 1888, Woldred Nelson tells in his book, "Five Years in Panama" of the island of San Miguel where he found a stone church, the towers of which were cov- with pearl shells. The pearl shells INTRICATE WORKS OF ART-Nine magnificent mosquetas. In the top row ered towers of the Pan- are three sizes of the traditional circles of pearls and filigree work. In the center and that adorn the twin bottom row, the mosquetas have been fashioned into a variety of forms. The number ama Cathedral in Panama City, which of designs is limited only by the imagination of the jeweler. came from the Pearl Islands, are still being admired by visitors. Balboa was probably the first foreign- Panama 400 years ago, it was considered By the time the European immigrants er to know about the fabulous pearl so magnificent that the Negro slave who were fashioning the early mosquetas beds. Legend says that on reaching the discovered it was rewarded with his with gold filigree work and pearls, the Pacific after his crossing of the Isthmus, liberty and his owner was given a grant Panama pearl already had a long history. he was met by an Indian chief whose of land and a title. The original handmade mosquetas scanty costume consisted mainly of But, according to Joan Younger and those produced later with crude pearls. Even the chief's canoe paddles Dickinson in "The Book of Pearls," the tools cannot compare to the magnificent were studded with pearls. large bulk of the pearls taken to Spain, mosquetas made today with their per- The Indians brought him pearls from was reckoned by the pound, or marc, fect cultured pearls and the finest fili- Panama Bay and told him of even more and no records have been found describ- gree wire. Nevertheless, these early wonderful pearl beds farther north, but ing the various sizes and types. It is pieces, made with thick wire and thick Balboa was unable to pursue the mat- possible that great pearls arrived in gold cups, are cherished heirlooms. ter. He only made notes in his log. Spain by the bagful and were dispersed Because the baroque pearl comes in When reports reached Spain of the along with quite ordinary ones. One odd sizes and shapes, the old mosquetas fabulous Panama pearl beds, other ex- thing is certain, in the early davs Pan- mostlv filigree work. The jeweler plorers with more interest in plunder ama was left mostly with the rejects. were who used 40 or 50 pearls in a mosqueta than Balboa arrived to look for them One of the first mentions of the \ise had to make a gold cup to fit each and soon the riches of the Gulf of of pearls in jewelry in Panama is made one, a tedious, time-consuming job not Panama were on their way to Spain.