In  the  hospitals  it  was  recorded  that  between  i88l
and  1889,  5618  employees  died.  The  contractors
were  charged  a  dollar  a  day  for  every  man  sent  to
the  hospitals,  so  it  may  be  conjectured  that  not  all
were  sent  who  should  have  been.  Col.  Gorgas
estimates  the  average  death  rate  at  about  240  per
1000  annually.  The  American  general  death  rate
began  with  a  maximum  of  49.94  per  1000  sinking
to  21.18,  at  or  about  which  point  it  has  remained
for  several  years.  Among  employees  alone  our
death  rate  was  7.50  per  1000.  The  French  with
an  average  force  of  10,200  men  employed  lost  in
nine  years  22,189  men.  We  with  an  average  force
of  33,000  lost  less  than  4000  in  about  an  equal
period.
When  Col.  Gorgas  came  to  the  Isthmus  the  two
towns  Panama  and  Colon  were  well  fitted  to  be
breeding  places  for  pestilence.  Neither  had  sewers
nor  any  drainage  system.  The  streets  of  Panama
were  paved  after  a  fashion  with  cobblestones  and
lined  with  gutters  through  which  the  liquid  refuse
of  the  town  trickled  slowly  or  stood  still  to  fester
and  grow  putrescent  under  the  glowing  rays  of  the
tropic  sun.  Colon  had  no  pavement  whatsoever.
Neither  town  had  waterworks  and  the  people
gathered  and  stored  rainwater  in  cisterns  and
pottery  jars  which  afforded  fine  breeding  places  for


THE  SANITATION  OF  THE  ZONE    311

the  mosquito.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  whole
Isthmus,  not  the  towns  alone,  furnishes  plenty  of
homes  for  the  mosquito.  With  a  rainy  season
lasting  throughout  eight  months  in  the  year  much
of  the  soil  is  waterlogged.  The  stagnant  back
waters  of  small  streams;  pools  left  by  the  rains;
the  footprints  of  cows  and  other  animals  filled  up
with  rainwater  quickly  breed  the  wrigglers  that
ultimately  become  mosquitoes.
