Page 243 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

FRONT I E R P L ACE: C O L ON IALISM TRI UMPHANT

f o cused on "that much-dreaded part of the journey," the crossing of the
isthmus. "The papers had given accounts of the dangers to be met with
there," she explained, including "ro bbers, loss of baggage, of people being
left behind and having to wait f o r another steamer; and, worst of all,
getting the much dreaded Panama f e ver."128 Because the women
believed in Manifest Destiny they viewed their "little brown brothers"
as an inferior race awaiting enlightenment at the hands of white women.
White women expected Panamanians to be, as one woman said, "intel­
lectually little above the animals." 129
After women departed f r om New Y o rk City, some hardly noticed
native peoples. Other fe atures of the journey caught their attention,
including rough seas and seasickness, magnificent scenery, inadequate
meals, fr iendly companions, and the mule ride across the isthmus. 13 0
Other women, however, were taken with the native population of
Panama. Like women on overland trails, Panama migrants were initially
interested in physical appearance and style of dress. They described the
nearly naked state of men and children, observing that the men seldom
wore anything more than a breechcloth, or as one woman said, a "bit
of cloth about their loins." 131 One woman, making the passage in reverse
f r om California to New o rk in r 8 54, portrayed the men as "swarthy­
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visaged, half-naked Carthaginians . . . a mongrel race of natives, whose
appearance and f e atures were equally as repulsive."132 Another woman
added unkindly that most of them were "intolerably ugly." 133
The women of Panama received some compliments f r om fe male
travelers about their attire. Some white women thought that they dressed
"fantastically," although many ruffles and beads made them appear com­
ical. 134 One woman declared that "the fe males were dressed quite f a n­
cifully" in f r ocks of white gauze, whereas another f e lt that women's
outfits bordered on gaudy. 135 Some fe male observers were so delighted
with these picturesque women that they spent hours watching as they
set out wares in the meat market, walked through the streets with bas­
kets on their heads, or spread wash on the grass to dry. 136 One woman
asserted that she was so "perf e ctly f a scinated with them and their wares"
that she purchased "bananas, oranges and limes and a basket."137
When it came to native homes, hotels, and other buildings, women
were much less likely to express admiration. They described native huts

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