American Geographical Society

Jungle Stories: North American Representations of Tropical Panama

Author(s): Stephen Frenkel
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 86, No. 3, Latin American Geography (Jul., 1996), pp. 317-333
Published by: American Geographical Society
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 The Review
Geographical

VOLUME86 July 1996 NUMBER3

JUNGLE STORIES:NORTH AMERICAN REPRESENTATIONS

OF TROPICALPANAMA
STEPHEN FRENKEL

ABSTRACT. Asthe Americantropicscameunderthe influence of the UnitedStatesduring

thenineteenthcentury,policymakers, andbureaucrats
businesspeople, beganto actdirectly
on the region.Basedon firsthandexperienceandon knowledgegainedfrompublishedac-
Panama,beganto takeshapein thecollec-
counts,a pictureof CentralAmerica,particularly
tive imagination.Eventuallytwogeneralnarratives-onepositive,one negative-emerged.
Thesecontradictory wereusedto legitimateimperialistinterventionandactions
narratives
in the PanamaCanalZonein the earlytwentiethcentury.Keywords: Panama,
imperialism,
Panama Canal Zone, representations,tropics.

'Tisa land that still with potent charm

And wondrous,lastingspell
Withmightythrallenchainethall
Who long within it dwell
'Tisa land wherethe Pale Destroyerwaits
And watcheseagerly;
'Tis,in truth, but a breathfrom life to death,
In the Landof the CocoanutTree.
-James StanleyGilbert,PanamaPatchwork,1908

'During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as tropical Central
Americacame under increasingU.S. influence,U.S. policymakers,businesspeople,
missionaries,and bureaucratsbegan to transformthe region to meet their needs.'
They built railways,led military invasions, establishedbanana and coffee planta-
tions, and eventuallydug a canalacrossPanama.Theirpublishedaccountsand artis-
tic renderingsof CentralAmericadrewon more generalized,archetypalideasin the
art, history,literature,and photographsof tropics around the world to form a spe-
cificdiscourseabout the CentralAmericantropics.2Twoopposing narrativesconsti-
tuted this discourse:positive ones about Edenic paradises,fertile soil, and exotic
beauty;and negativeones about morallaxity,dangerouslandscapes,disease,and the

*' DR. FRENKELis a professor of geographyat the Universityof Washington,Seattle,Washington

98195-3550.
The Geographical Review 86 (3): 317-333, July 1996
Copyright ? 1996 by the American Geographical Society of New York

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318 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

threateningabundanceof the jungle. These variedways of seeing CentralAmerica

revealedthemselvesin more thanjustsemanticrepresentations;they influencedU.S.
actionsand policies in the tropics.Thesecontradictorynarrativeswereused to legiti-
mate imperialist intervention and actions in the PanamaCanal Zone in the early
twentieth century.

THE DISCOURSE OF THE TROPICS

Linesof latitudehavelong been used to demarcatetropicalregions.Aristotle,for ex-

ample,separatedthe world horizontallyinto frigid,temperate,and torrid (tropical)
zones. Todaythe tropicsaredepictedas the regionthatlies between23?30' northlati-
tude and 23030' south latitude-the Tropicsof Cancerand Capricorn.Alternatively,
the tropics have been defined using temperatureand precipitationisolines. These
havevariedsomewhat,fromEllenChurchillSemple's(1911)inclusionof areaswithin
the 20? mean annual isotherm to Isaiah Bowman's (1937,381)use of the 25?mean an-
nual isotherm.A physicalgeographytextbooktodaydesignatesthem as landswithin
the 18?mean annual isotherm (Strahler and Strahler 1996, 165).
Agreementon the climaticcharacterof the region-the heatand humidityassoci-
ated with the tropicallowlands-is more general.In fact,highlandareassuch as the
MesetaCentralof Costa Ricawere excludedfrom the tropicaldiscoursebecause,as
one travelerstated,they areas "cooland healthfulas the coastalplainsaretorridand
fever-infested"(Putnam 1913,10). The interpretationof tropicalheat and humidity
has shiftedover the past two centuries,however.At varioustimes North Americans
have imagined the CentralAmericanlowland tropics as distant paradisesor fever
coasts(in the nineteenthcentury),asbananarepublics(in the earlyto mid-twentieth
century),as places for revolution(in the 1970Sand 198os),and as sites for romantic
ecotravels(in the 199os).In this articleI use the word tropicsto referto the lowland
tropics,and I dealexclusivelywith the latenineteenthandearlytwentiethcenturies.
In this geographicaland historicalcontext,the characterof tropicalclimateswas
frequentlyexpressedin subjectiveterms, even when placed within a so-called sci-
entific framework.Turn-of-the-centuryU.S. naturalsciencetextbookstypicallyin-
cludeda classificationof the tropicalflora,fauna,temperatures,and diseasesin Cen-
tral America. Such descriptions, however, were frequently intertwined with an
author's opinions concerning heat, disease, dark-skinned peoples, hot or spicy
foods, exotic fruit,fecundvegetation,and economic underdevelopment.Forexam-
ple, in his 1918Handbookof CommercialGeography, Geo. G. Chisholmdescribesthe
specific rainfallamounts, humidity, and temperaturethat are characteristicof the
tropics while noting the "excessive"
heat and "irksome"humidity (p. 23)."Scientific"
discourseon the tropicswas full of value-ladendescriptions.
Without doubt, the label tropicalhas been used to stereotypeand homogenize a
wide rangeof places,fromSingaporeto SierraLeone.Evenso, the discourseis heavily
influencedby a distinctiveset of regionalidentities.In Westerndiscourse,archetypal
tropicalrepresentationscan be identifiedfor CentralAmerica,for WestAfrica,and
for the South Pacific.Perhapsmost famousamong these is the overwhelminglyposi-

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 JUNGLE STORIES 319

tiveEurocentricportrayalof the SouthPacific.Basedon the gendered,Edenicvisions

of CaptainJamesCook, Louis-Antoinede Bougainville,and Paul Gaugin,a recog-
nizableimagewas set by the earlytwentiethcentury.Indeed,it was so well ingrained
thatwhen AlecWaugharrivedin Tahitiin 1930,he wearilycommented:"[T]he South
Seasareterriblyvieuxjeu.Theyhavebeen so writtenabout and painted.Longbefore
you get to them you know precisely what you are to find" (Waugh 1930, 20).
By contrast,basedon a well-deservedreputationfor extremelyhigh death rates,
representationsof the WestAfricantropicsinvokedfearsof deathand disease."The
deadliestspot on earth"washow Britishdoctorsdescribedthe regionto MaryKings-
ley prior to her 1893 journey (Kingsley 1987, 12). As epidemiological danger com-
bined with racial prejudice, travelersto the West African coast were warned to
prepare "for lonely ports of call, for sickening heat, for swarming multitudes of
blacks"(Davis 1907,8). This discourse,of course, hit its zenith in JosephConrad's
Heartof Darkness(1910).Suchviews arestill reproducedin sourcesas variedas jour-
nalistic "rough-guide"accounts of the horrorsof WestAfricanpolitics and literary
anthologies of "rain-forest"fiction like Talesfrom the Jungle:A RainforestReader
(Katzand Chapin1995),which continue to includeas staplesselectionsfrom Conrad
and Kingsley.
Representationsof the Americantropicslikewisedevelopeda recognizablechar-
acter.More so than descriptionsof the South Pacificor WestAfrica,ideasabout the
Americantropicswere ambivalent.As the geographerSusanPlacewrites,
SincetheirfirstencounterswithLatinAmerica,Europeanshaveexpressedmixed
feelingsaboutthetropicalrainforest.Thelureof fabulouswealthandthe hopeof
findingElDoradohavewrestledwiththedreadof mythicalbeingsandhorribledis-
easesin thegreenhell.Accountsof the tropicalrainforest,whethernovels,travel
journals,or scientificreports,revealatleastasmuchabouttheirauthorsastheydo
abouttheforest.Everywriterrepresents to a certainextenttheprevailing
worldview
of his or hertime and culture,but perceptionsof the rainforestarealso filtered
throughthe lens of meaningscreatedby the individual'sexperiencesandbeliefs.
(Place 1993,1)
Much of the stronglypositive sense of the Americantropicswas in place by the
early nineteenth century.A number of commentators, including KathrynMan-
thorne (1989) and Fredrick B. Pike (1992) have suggested that North Americans in-
terpolated the region's characterfrom only a few sources, including newspaper
articles, artists'reproductions,and lavishly illustratedtravelers'accounts such as
JohnLloydStephens's1841Incidentsof Travelin CentralAmerica,Chiapasand Yuca-
tan. Giventhat the U.S.populaceknew little of the region,visions of Southand Cen-
tral Americawere easily lumped together.So it was that, with comparativelylittle
geographical specificity, a "unified pictorial consciousness of Latin America
emergedin the United States... in directresponseto a lacunaof knowledge.Its image
as a land of scientificwonders,golden riches,and edenic innocence could be main-
tained only so long as accurateinformation and direct experiencewere at a mini-
mum" (Manthorne 1989, 60-61).

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320 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

CROSSING THE
CROSSING THE ISTHMUS
TH_
ISTHMUS OL-EN
N THll QOLDENTIME,
IN TI-,.

FIG.i-A popular illustration of the Panamanianisthmus, circa 1855.Source:Tomes 1855,18.

By the mid-nineteenth centurymore detailedknowledgewas available.Central

Americabeganto takeon a more complex (and geographicallyspecific)meaningfor
the U.S. public after travelers'harrowingdescriptionsof tropical places became a
commonplace of popularjournals (Miller1989,118).The serializationof works by
Stephensand by Alexandervon Humboldt,the accountsof laterexplorerswho were
searchingfor Mayanruins, and the post-1849memoirs of California-boundtravel-
ers who crossed the Isthmus of Panamaincreasedthe informationavailableabout
the region. Artists (and later itinerantphotographers)painted and photographed
scenesin CentralAmerica(Figurei). Thesevisual imageswerethen reproducedand
shown to generalaudiencesthroughoutthe United States.WhetherFrederickCath-
erwood'setchingsof pyramidsnearM6ridaor MartinJohnsonHeade'spaintingsof
hummingbirds,these works influencedthe visual image of the tropics.
Writers also depicted a more realistic side of travel, making associations be-
tween CentralAmerica and tropical diseases, especially malariaand yellow fever.
Panamawas viewed as particularlydeadly (and indeed it was), with death ratesof
around 60 per 1,ooo during the 188os(Harrison 1978,163).Although endemic dis-
easeswere a significantproblem for travelersand residentsalike,regionalovergen-
eralization painted all places as dangerous by virtue of their location in Central
America.

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 JUNGLE STORIES 321

Bookswrittenabout agriculturalenterprisesin the earlytwentiethcentury,espe-

ciallythose that describedbananaplantations,challengedsome of these images.To
give just one example,a business-orientedwriterin 1929,while acknowledgingthe
negative aspects of plantationsin the tropics, stressedNorth Americans'ability to
dominate and tame nature:"Forfour and a half centuriesthe white man has battled
againstnatureand againsthis fellowsin that regionbetween Cancerand Capricorn
which formsthe Americantropics.And natureuntillatelyhas alwayswon. Onlynow
is man gaininga measureof mastery"(Crowther1929,v). Likewise,the UnitedStates'
successin diggingthe PanamaCanalfurtherdemonstratedthat,if North Americans
applied "theprinciplesof modern science in their economic and social life"(Price
1935,2), the dangers of the tropics could be reduced. The theme of "man's domina-
tion overnature"was to influenceNorth Americanvisions of the regionwell into the
twentieth century,through images of United FruitCompanyor U.S. MarineCorps
activities in CentralAmerica.
In the late nineteenthand earlytwentieth centuriesPanamagavethe region an-
other very specific, hegemonic meaning and, for a time, exemplified the Central
Americantropicsfor the U.S.public.Fourfactorsaccountfor this:First,by virtue of
its location-90 north latitude-Panama by definitionwas the quintessentialtropics.
It thereforewas a suitablemodel forwhat a tropicalplaceshould look like (Figure2).
Second, Panama(and to a lesserextentNicaragua)continuallyintersectedwith the
development of the United States.The United States intervenedmilitarily,signed
treaties,built railroads,and dug the canal. In addition, private U.S. investors in-
volvedthemselvesin schemesrangingfrom railroadsto plantations.Thesecommon
episodes of historymeantregularmention of the isthmusin U.S.newspapers.Third,
Panama(and again,to a lesserextent,Nicaragua)was the route for North American
travelerson theirway to California,the PacificNorthwest,and even SouthAmerica.
Becausethese passengersfrequentlyrecountedtheir experiences,the body of litera-
ture on Panama grew.3Regional knowledge increased so much that an English-
woman who sailed to Chile in 1853could write: "[T]o describe Panamato North
American readerswould be like describingNew Yorkor Boston, or any other city
with which we arefamiliar"(Merwin1966,16).Fourth,neighboringcountries,espe-
ciallythose to the north, were comparativelyunderimaged-Panama'sstrongimage
vanquishedthem. The importanceof Panamaafterconstructionof the canalbegan
is made clear in a 1913traveler's memoir:

Panamais the keyto CentralAmerica... not onlyin a geographicsense;the con-

structionof the PanamaCanalis doingmorethanhasbeendonein fourcenturies
to awakenthatdormantterritoryanduntangleitspoliticalandeconomicsnarls.So
farastheUnitedStatesis concerned,theCanalpractically
meanstherediscovery of
CentralAmerica;it has focused national attention southward.(Putnam 1913,1)

NORTH AMERICAN IMAGES OF PANAMA

Positiveviews of Panamacan generallybe connected with travelingto the tropics,

whereasnegativeviews can generallybe associatedwith living in the tropics. Until

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322 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

ITErPHENS' TREE.

FIG.2-Jungles of the Panamanianisthmus. Source:Otis 1867,95.(Reproduced

courtesyof the SpecialCollections Division, Universityof WashingtonLibraries;
negative number uw17828)

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 JUNGLE STORIES 323

the adventof long-distanceair transportin the mid-twentieth century,travelfrom

the United Statesto Panamawas almostalwaysby boat, thus providinga geographi-
cal and temporal pause between the temperateand tropicalregions.This interlude
was, in fact, highly recommended:"Thetropics should be visited by way of the sea.
Youcome into them gently,almost imperceptibly.Youaremore impressedby the in-
tensifyingbluenessof the waterand skythanby the increasingheat"(Bullard1914,1).
Such stylized ocean voyageswere a form of excitement:"Oh yes, there is alwaysa
thrill in it-this setting sail for the hot countries.... [I]t enslavesone like a drug of
which one disapproves"(Flandrau1908,o1). From the decks of a steamshipthe re-
sponse was overwhelminglypositive:
Tweedsandstiffcollarshavedisappeared,replacedbysoftraiment;little"affaires
de
coeur,"tentativeandunsettleduntilnow,takeon a seriouscomplexion.Afterdusk,
cozycoignsof vantageon theboatdecktestifyto the rapidgrowthof love'syoung
(orold)dream;beneaththeglimpsesof thecrescenthornedmoon,romanceweaves
her magicweb, in blissfulanticipationof sevenlotus-eatingdays,seventropic
nightsto comebeforetheenchantment shallbebrokenbycontactwiththeworldof
painful realities.(Bland 1920, 30)

On initial arrivalin Panama,writerswondered at the palpablydifferent,exotic

natureof the place-a climateand landscapefarremovedfrom everydaylife in tem-
perateNew York,Chicago,or San Francisco.One new arrivalcommented:"Evenat
this earlyhour a drowsysoftnesspervadedthe air-a stillnessthatcould be felt.Wasit
possible thatwe werebut four daysfrom the snow and sleet,the icy streetsand blus-
teringwinds of New YorkCity?"(Peixotto1913,6). The stateof wondermentcontin-
ued as northernersbasked "in a Southern sun ... all a-glow with a tropical fever"
(Tomes1855,14).Writersconcentratedon what they sawas differentand exotic-the
lush vegetation,brighttropicalcolors,unusual insects and animals,and unfamiliar
sounds and smells. ArthurBullard,for example, described"the new scale of color
values which the intense sun of the tropics requires"and "thepungent fragranceof
the Southland"(1914,2-3). North Americansalso assumeda fecundityabout the re-
gion, illustratingit in rhyme:
FromJunglefastnesstheycome
GayOrchidspluckedat morning;
Andthen,beforethe sunhasset,
Zoneporchesthey'readorning!
(CoreandMcKeown1939)

Visitorsmarveledat the speed at which plantsgrew,creatinga veritable"floodof

tropicalvegetation"(Tomes1855,78). Evena centurylater,an author observedthat
"thetropical cousin of the tree that grows in Brooklynwill likely grow somewhere
between two and nine times as fastin Panamaor Honduras"(Wilson 1951,5). Given
these assumptions,the commonplaceconclusionwas that tropicallivingwas as easy
as reachingto the closest tree for sustenance.EllsworthHuntington expressedthis
thought when he somewhatjokinglyopined that in tropicalregions "thenativehas

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324 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

nothing to do exceptlie underthe treesand wait for the fruitto drop into his mouth"
(Huntington 1922, 281). This contrasted with the perceived hard life of winter and
work in the temperatezone.
Such positive descriptionswere often used to promote agriculturalenterprise.
Becausetropicallandwasavailablefor the takingwith minimaleffortby U.S.imperi-
alists,they came up with a varietyof schemesto promote rubber,coffee,and banana
plantations.Drawingheavilyon the ideaof tropicalfertility,theseschemessuggested
that one'schoice of cropwas as simpleas decidingwhatwould bringthe highestprice
on the world market (a claim which is still being made today [Slater 1995, 115]). All
thatan investorneededwasthe input of laborand technology.Implicitin such repre-
sentationswas that the indigenouspopulationhad been unableto provideadequate
labor or technology, thereby explaining the availability of land (Adams 1914, 203).
Investorsequatedan "untapped"naturallandscapewith profit.Referencemight
be made to "thewondrouswealthof the Isthmianforest"(Otis 1867,go) or to the fer-
tility of the soil. "Stickan umbrellain the groundovernight"said one commentator,
"andyou'll have an umbrellatree in the morning"(Putnam 1913,89). Even after a
keenawarenessof the limitationsof the soil developed,the landwas stillportrayedas
an extraordinary,if temporary,resource.Plantationprofits"wouldamplyjustifythe
exhaustion of the land" (Crowther 1929, 245).
For much of the nineteenth centurythe Americantropicswere representedas a
long-lost Gardenof Eden,with referencesto Arcadia,paradise,Atlantis,and Elysium
dotting the literary landscape (Manthorne 1989, 11).Although the North American
literatureon Panamalackedsuch Edenicnarratives,it did extol the ideaof"traveling
back in time" (McGrane 1989, 104). Exoticized time-travel was typically a journey
into the "jungle"and a stylizedencounterwith the "natives."Going into the jungle,
tacitly moving away from civilization,was frequentlyaccomplished by the most
primitivemeans,which intensifiedthe exotic characterof the region.Readersof the
National GeographicMagazinein 1922, for example,learnedthat "tosit in a realdug-
out made from a giant tropicalforesttree,with the beautifullydevelopedform of an
Indian in front of you... is an experienceof a lifetime"(Fairchild1922, 141). In their
encounters,explorerstypicallypresentednonwhitepeople as remnantexotic others,
"untouchedby the outside world as were their ancestorswhen Balboapassed that
way" (Halliburton 1929, 137).Along the route the traveler might come across a "lan-
guid nativegirlswayingin the hammock"(Tomes1855,173),surroundedby an abun-
dance of "plantains,bananas, mangoes, melons, mame apples, pines, and yellow
oranges,fragrantwith their mellow odors, and gushingwith ripeness"(Tomes1855,
174).These narrativesled to positive representationsthat became part of the public
discourseabout tropicalPanama.
Despite these positive expressions,a negativenarrativeabout Panama'stropics
became increasinglycommon as travelersmore thoroughlyexploredand workedin
the region.Panama'stropicswereoften presentedas a region of dangerand discom-
fort, of snakes,malarialmosquitoes, and rank,dankvegetation.A minor poet who
lived in Panamafor twenty yearswarned:

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 JUNGLE STORIES 325

Beyond the ChagresRiver

Are paths that lead to death-
To the fever'sdeadly breezes,
To malaria'spoisonous breath!
Beyond the tropic foliage,
Where the alligatorwaits,
Are the mansions of the Devil-
His original estates!
(Gilbert1908,14)

A recentacademictreatiseexplainsthe coexistenceof positiveand negativenar-

rativesabout the CentralAmericantropicsby suggestingthat "beneaththe appear-
ance of sensual and exotic beauty lurked the threat of sudden and horrible
destruction.The most loathsome and terriblecreaturescrouched in the gorgeous
vegetation,coiled in the arabesquesofvines, or weredisguisedin the flowers"(Miller
1989, 120). Given that many nineteenth-century North American visitors arrived in
Panamaintent on travelingquicklyacrossthe country but were slowed by various
obstacles,it is not surprisingthat the purpleprose of the romanticarrivalsceneswas
soon supplantedby more dismal reflectionson local conditions. A darkerdescrip-
tion of Panamais evinced: "Forests,so closely interwovenwith thick growth that
they were impenetrableto light,which had darkenedthe countryin perpetualnight
for ages, had to be cleared.Wallsof jungle had to be struckdown, and treacherous
swamps,in which man had neverbeforeventured,had to be made firm as a founda-
tion of rock" (Tomes 1855,114) (Figure 3).
In general,the longer the physicalcontact with Panama,the more negativethe
impression.As one perceptivetravelerput it, "Ourpoetic conceptionof the place,ex-
cited by the distantview some hours ago, now began to vanish rapidlyand forever"
(Scruggs1910,2). Theheat,once a pleasantdiversionfromwinter,becameoppressive.
Extendedcontactwith the tropicswould eventuallynegativelyaffecteveryonein
some fashion.Environmentaldeterminism,especiallyin the popularworksof geog-
raphers,reinforcedthis concern. Semple,for example,claimed that the tropics in-
duced indolence and self-indulgenceby relaxing"themental and moral fiber"(1911,
626). Others, including Huntington (1924) and Grenfell Price (1939) fortified these
sentimentswith actualvisits to Panama.Panamaniansand North Americanswho
lived in the tropicswere describedas "gaunt,skeletonpersonsclothed in white, and
with ghastly death'sheads under Panamahats, [who] staredwith ghostly wonder
upon us animatedbeings,freshand fatfromthe land of the living"(Tomes1855,43).
An importantpoint, however,mustbe madeaboutthe relationshipbetweenrep-
resentationsof the tropicsand the social scientificidea of environmentaldetermin-
ism.North Americanideasabout CentralAmericawereno doubt heavilyinfluenced
by long-held beliefs in environmentaldeterminism(Frenkel1992)and by a particu-
larlyvirulentstrainof determinismthatemergedin the latenineteenthcentury(Liv-
ingstone 1991).The tropics were consideredan environment that "inhibit[ed] the
forwardmarchof civilization"(Blaut1993,69). But these elementsof environmental

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326 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

RUNNING TIE LINES.

FIG.3-Working in the Panamanianjungle. Source:Otis 1867,20. (Reproducedcourtesyof the Spe-

cial Collections Division, University of WashingtonLibraries;negative number uW17827)

determinism were part of a larger discourse on the phenomenon of tropicality,

largelycomposed of impressionisticreactionsto the naturalenvironment-the soil,
the jungle, the light, and the heat.
Mention of the tropicsalso invokednotions of disease.Basedon prevailingmias-
matic theories of disease,the warm and moist climatewas thought to be a breeding
ground for disease. "The alternateaction of sun and rain upon the rankvegetable
growth,saturatedwith moistureand seethingin a constantsummer-heat,necessar-
ily keeps up a perpetualprocessof rottingfermentation,which engendersintermit-
tent,bilious, congestive,andyellowfevers,and the othermalignantresultsof impure
miasmaticexhalation"(Tomes1855,51).Becauseyellow feverwas historicallyassoci-
ated with CentralAmerica,some even talked of a "sicklyyellow mist of Panama"
(Davis 1896, 197).
Disease was indeed a greatproblem in the nineteenth century,but by the early
twentieth century the discovery and understandingof the mosquito vector had
changedNorth Americans'abilityto control mosquito-borne diseases.A dramatic
dropwas forgedin the disease-relatedmortalityratein the CanalZone from roughly

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 JUNGLE STORIES 327

40 per 1,ooo in 1906 to 8 per 1,ooo in 1909 (PCC37 E25/19164).Within only a few years it
became possible to visit the tropics and experiencethe "thrillof pleasurein being
near this spot and feeling safe, safe from that microscopicenemy"(Fairchild1922,
140). In other words,living safelywas possible in formerlylethalPanama.Still,even
though medicalreportsprovedthat ratesof diseaseweredescendingin Panama,not
everyoneacceptedthe imageof health.Forsome, simplythe ideaof livingin proxim-
ity to Panamaor Panamaniansremainedunacceptable.Their fearswere stoked by
somewhat higher diseaseratesoutside the CanalZone, which meant that the Pana-
manian environment could continue to be portrayedas dangerous.In 1935,for ex-
ample, doctors dispensedadvisoriesincluding:"CanalZone employees,because of
dangerof malarialfever,dysentery,etc., must, of necessity,confine theirrecreational
activitiesto the Canal Zone" (PCC95 A 1/1935).
The negativetropicalnarrativelikewiseinvokedthe notion ofjungle,a wordwell
exploredin a number of recentdeconstructivearticles.CandaceSlatersummarizes
its nuanceswell: "[T]hejungle is an emphaticallynon-paradisalspace.A figurative
as well as literal maze (of housing laws, for instance), it is also a place of ruthless
strugglefor survival('Man,its a realjungle out there,'one may saywith a grimace).
Rifewith disease('junglefever')and decay('junglerot'),it is home to beastsand un-
savorycharacterssuch as hoboes and tramps"(Slater1995,118).
Junglemayhavea precisebotanicalmeaning,but it also,as the precedingaccount
shows,encompassesmuch of whatwas mythicalor negativeabout the tropics.Many
accountssemanticallydistillednegativeideasof the junglefromthe moreambiguous
categoryof tropics.If imperialNorthAmericansfelt competentto cope with the trop-
ics, they consideredthe jungleto be out of control.They rarelylived in the jungle.In-
stead,they relishedthe dangersof theirbriefjourneysinto the "primitive" jungleand
wrote of them in lurid accounts.
Thejunglewas takento be a timelessfeature,"centuriesold,"castinga "perpetual
shadow"over the landscapeuntil "civilizationdispersedthe darkcloud of growth
impenetrableto the sun"(Tomes1855,50).5 From the U.S. point of view, the jungle
was antitheticalto the evident civilizationof clearedand quonsettedsuburbanland-
scapesin the CanalZone.Thejunglewas somethingforNorth Americanresidentsto
fear and avoid. A similar sentiment was still in full voice, despite the intervening
years,when a writerfor the NationalGeographic Magazinedescribedhis visit to Pan-
ama'sjungle as "a bit frighteningsuddenly find, not houses and lamp-posts and
to
the noisy people who have composed the customaryenvironment and whom one
understands,but in every direction and everywherestrange,silent tree trunks, no
two alike" (Fairchild 1922, 131).

RESPONSES TO THE PANAMA CANAL

Thesepositiveand negativenarrativesof the tropicaldiscoursegaveriseto variedre-

sponses,which, as JamesS.Duncan (1993)has arguedmore generally,servedto rein-
force dominant ideologies and actions. Certainly the resulting representations

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328 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

dovetailedwith U.S. interestsin Panama.Nowherewas this clearerthan in the Pan-

ama CanalZone.
Positivenarrativeswereused to makethe casethatlife was good in the region.By
1912, for example, forests were being replacedby a number of small towns. These
towns-at leastwherewhite North Americanslived-reminded visitors of new sub-
urban developmentsin U.S. cities. Cream-and-graystucco houses, frontedby side-
walksand trees,weresurroundedby lush, manicuredlawns.Rosy-hueddescriptions
of arrivalwere used to attracteven more residents.
Althoughpositivenarrativeswereusefulfor economic enterpriseand reflecteda
way of life for North Americans in Panama,they never came to dominate early-
twentieth-centuryimpressionsof the Panamaniantropics,for a numberof reasons.
First,despite paradisalnotions, North Americansfound these images at odds with
the realitiesof living in heat and humidity.Second, the hardshipsof tropicalexis-
tence were useful for justifying the high salariesand luxurious housing in North
American-runsettlements.In the CanalZone, forexample,U.S.officialslegitimated
a substantialhousing allowanceand a 25percentsalarydifferentialon the basisof the
apparent"hardship"of "whites"living in the tropics.As a result,attemptsby Canal
officialsto downplaythe positiveaspectsof Panamawerefrequent.In a 1921letterto
a congressional-committee staffer,the executive secretaryof the Panama Canal
Companyhadto justifyextendedvacationsforemployees.He attemptedto convince
Congressthat, despitethe glowing descriptionsby touristsand despitethe observa-
tion thatthe Zone had been transformedfrompestholeto paradise,livingin Panama
was a realhardship:"Itcannot be denied that a humid and constantlywarm climate
such as we have here-nine degreesnorth of the equator-is enervating,and in the
course of months saps the vitality of people from the temperate climates, and it
standsto reasonthat more leave should be grantedemployeesworking under such
circumstances"(Pcc 28 B 5/1921). Although U.S. bureaucrats admitted that Panama
could be pleasant,they stressedthat for those who reallyknew,this was an "enchant-
ment lent by distance" (pcc 33 A 11/1925)and that the pleasure diminished with time.
Canaladministratorsemployedvariousnegativetropicalnarrativesto justifytheir
policies.Theymademuch of the mentalandmorallaxityof lifein the tropicsthatenvi-
ronmentaldeterministstraditionallywarnedabout, and they preparedvisitorsfor a
host of climaticdangers(Livingstone1991).The tropicalsun, for example,had to be
dealtwith. Guidebookswarnedtravelersto "haveat handbrownor blue-glassspecta-
clesor eyeglassesto softenthe glarein the middleof the day,wearawide-brimmedhat,
and carry an umbrella"(Barrett 1913,21). Official houses in the Zone were only painted
certaincolors-typically institutionalgreen,gray,or white-because of the "wellestab-
lishedfactthatcertaincolorssuitablefor certainpeople [thatis,NorthAmericans]are
absolutely necessary in the homes in the tropics" (PCC23 N 3/1930).
One of the most direct uses of negativenarratives-including notions of envi-
ronmental determinism-can be linked to the formation of the Canal Zone itself.
When North Americansfirstbegan to conceiveof a canal,much of what would be-
come the CanalZone was rural.A few individualscultivatedthe land, but in North

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 JUNGLE STORIES 329

FIG.4

Americaneyes the undevelopedareaswere all one big jungle. By the 1930Sthey re-
sponded in threeways to the tropicallandscape:They demarcateda so-called sani-
tated zone (Figure4); they maintainedthat sanitatedzone; and they domesticated
(read tamed) the CanalZone landscape.
Demarcation of a sanitatedzone involved depopulatingportions of the Canal
Zone. Invoking health concerns as well as control over labor, sanitaryofficers re-
moved all nonofficialand ruralinhabitantsfrom the Zone. Exceptfor about 3,000
acres reservedas a sanitatedzone, in which it was officiallydeemed safe to live, the
officersdepopulatedthe entire 450-square-mileCanalZone (GeographicalReview
1918,160). Within the apparent safety of the sanitated zone, planners suggested

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330 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

building small towns. Although the phrasesanitatedzonewas rooted in health con-

siderations,the label remainedlong after sanitation efforts had reduced the inci-
dence of malariaand other diseases.Ostensibly,the forcedremovalfrom ruralareas
of the CanalZone of WestIndians (hiredas canallaborersby the North Americans)
and Panamaniansloweredthe ratesof malaria.As one health officialput it in 1912,
depopulation "removedfrom our midst a tremendous number of foci of infec-
tions-malaria, intestinal parasites,and other tropical diseases-making the ques-
tion of sanitationcomparativelysimple by localizingit in and about the settlements
in which the population lived and worked" (Pcc 28 B 5/1912).
This pseudoscientific medical justification had a mainly social meaning, for
proven dangers had mostly disappearedby the time those words were written.
Healthconditions in the 1930sCanalZone wereabout the sameas those in U.S.cities
(PCC37 E 25/1916). Nonetheless,representationsof unsafeand disease-riddentropi-
callandscapesendured.Zonians-long-term North Americanresidentsof the Canal
Zone-were mentally and physicallyliving in a militarilyand culturallysanitated
zone.
PanamaCanal memorandumswere authoritativeon the subject of separating
the Zone fromthe surroundingforest,and clearedlandwaspreferredoverforest.In a
typical health-departmentmemorandum on malaria,white workerswere warned
not "to leave the Zone in the evenings,not to go swimming or riding outside of re-
strictedareasafterdark"(PCC2 D 9/1920). For residents,life in the Zone was "likea
man in a fort surroundedby enemies."He was "fairlysafe if he [kept] within the
walls"(PCC 2 D 9/1920). The imageryof a fort under siege invoked a psychological
sense of dangerand uncertaintythatlastedfor generations.North Americanactions
and construction in the Zone reinforcedthese fears,whether the issue was techno-
logicallysuperiorhospitals,a prohibitionon new houses outside the sanitatedzone,
or even a halt to Boy Scout camp outs. Even in 1960, a U.S. governorof the Canal
Zone describedit as "stillsurroundedby one of the most unhealth[y] regionsof the
world. [Its] residents must continually guard against external disease"(PCC28 D
116/1960).Segregationfrom an alienjungle landscapeimplied securityand signified
a greatdeal more than safetyfrom disease.It spelledsafetyfrom unknown cultures,
from the climate, and from the threateningand impinging forests.
A finalresponseto the representationof Panamaas an out-of-controljunglewas
the domestication of the sanitatedareas,leading to a familiar,suburbanizedland-
scape in the Canal Zone. As North Americans eliminated the jungle near their
houses,theytook an engineer'scontrolof the verylandscapethey rhetoricallyfeared.
Formalgardens,which included many plants that were native to the surrounding
jungle,allowedNorth Americansto createa safeand manicuredlandscape.The jun-
gle became "civilized"within the CanalZone: "Aparklikeeffect has been aimed at,
with open vistas,to the avoidanceof the close confusion of the jungle into which na-
tive vegetation lapses when left alone or indiscriminatelycultivated"(PCC28 D
3/1921). Thus the very elementsthat epitomizedthe jungle were effectivelydomesti-
cated.When arrangedand trimmed backin a controlledfashion,jungle plantswere

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 JUNGLE STORIES 331

redefined as safe. Many houses "becamethrough the zeal and taste of their mis-
tresses, . . . veritable gardens of beauty-miniature representativesof the jungle"
(Bishop 1913,311).

THE PANAMANIAN JUNGLE AND THE IMPERIAL TROPICS

Representationsproducedby the CentralAmericantropical discoursedefined the

developmentand landscapeof the PanamaCanalZone. These imagesof the tropics
as both paradiseand dangerouslandscapebecame Panama'simage from afar.The
CanalZone was,especiallyfor those living there,a distantplace,antitheticalin many
waysto life in the UnitedStates.Everyculturalaspectwasmodifiedby the word tropi-
cal, including architecture, race, food, clothing, color, and, of course, disease.
Though rootedvery much in actualexperience,ideas concerningPanama'stropical
setting,with its peculiarcombinationof positiveand negativenarratives,formedthe
basis for a North Americanunderstandingof the place and justifiedU.S. imperial-
ism.
At the same time, it is importantto realizethat a focus on the representationsof
North Americansin Panamahas limitations.It does not, for example,provide evi-
dence of other voices. It does not show the tropical landscape as experiencedby
non-North Americans or, indeed, all early-twentieth-centuryNorth Americans.
Panamanianshad an entirelydifferentseries of experiences,largelyuntold. For all
intents and purposes,alternativevoices of Panamaand Panamanianshave been si-
lenced through these narratives.Still,such images shapedthe physicallandscapeof
the PanamaCanalZone.
AlthoughI havewrittenabout the past-more than a centuryago-images of the
tropicsareno less powerfultoday.Theirform,however,is quite different.It is indeed
ironic that the same places which turn-of-the-century North Americansviewed
with suchambivalencearetodayconsideredprimeecotouristdestinations-and that
the attractionof those placesis the verytropicalitywhich was negativein the past.As
the first screen of the PanamanianNational TouristBoard'sWeb site puts it,
DearFriends:
Panamaoffersmanyattractionsjustwaitingto be discovered:virginrainforests
teemingwithexoticwildlifeand inhabited
bypre-Columbian indiantribes;a thou-
sandtropicalislandsin two oceans;hundredsof whitesandbeaches.(IPAT1996)

NOTES

1. Sometimes the term CentralAmericaincludes Panama,sometimes not. HereI referto Panama

as part of CentralAmericabecause its landscapeand recenthistory fit into the CentralAmericandis-
course.
2. Discourses can productivelybe viewed as sets of preconceptions, prejudices,mind-sets, and
ideas that stronglyinfluence,enable,and constrainsocial practice.In this way,the tropics constitute a
discourse of landscape-a bounded mind-set common to those in the dominant society,which men-
tally and geographicallydetermines meaning attached to a set of facts and perceptions about the
place. By informing modes of U.S. representationin Panama,they provide both rationaleand valida-
tion for actions.

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332 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

3. In fact, during this era most travelbooks on South America,and many earlyaccounts of arri-
val in Oregonand California,began with a chapteron the isthmus simplybecauseit was on the wayto
many destinations.
4. PCC[PanamaCanal Commission] documents. The notations used here reflectthe filing sys-
tem in use from the time of earlyconstruction until 1960.The date at the end of each such referenceis
not usually part of the official code but is added here for the reader'sconvenience.
5. Ironically,the jungle of central Panamawas far from the monolithic entity suggestedby the
narrative.As is typical of many observersof so-called traditional landscapes,visitors assumed that
because the CanalZone was cloakedin jungle in 1900,it had alwaysbeen jungle. However,according
to CarlSauerin TheEarlySpanishMain, when the Spanishfirst made contact with Panama,the land
was largelyopen savannah,with shrubbysecondary growth along rivers as a result of intensive in-
digenous land use (1966, 244).
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