The Chinese of the Panama Railroad: Preliminary Notes on the Migrants of 1854 Who "Failed"

Author(s): Lucy M. Cohen

Source: Ethnohistory, Vol. 18, No. 4, (Autumn, 1971), pp. 309-320
Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/481071
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 THE CHINESE OF THE PANAMA RAILROAD:
PRELIMINARY NOTES
ON THE MIGRANTS OF 1854 WHO "FAILED"1

by

Lucy M. Cohen
CatholicUniversity

ABSTRACT

In 1854 more than 700 Chinese laborers were brought to Panama to help build the
Panama Railway across the Isthmus. Adaptation problems involving opium, destitu-
tion and suicide quickly became manifest This situation is compared with that of
Chinese coolie labor in other areas of the New World, with particular emphasis on the
analysis of suicide.

Introduction

The introduction of Chinese contract laborers to the PanamaRailroad in

1854 offers the anthropologistthe opportunity to understandthe dynamics of
the migration of work groups, and it helps also to fill lacunae regardingthe
adaptation of new populations to life in the American countries of the 19th
century. Indeed, the history of the constructionof railroadscan contributeto an
understandingof the complex set of forces that connected each Americannation
with international spheres of influence. The activities of railroadcompanies in
Latin America, financed often by British, French, or American capital, or by
enterprisingbuilders such as Henry Meiggs for Chile and Peru, or his nephew,
MinorC. Keith in CentralAmerica,are well known to students of the period(see
Hatch 1962; Stewart 1946).
My attention has turned to the study of a labor group used in railroad
building, for construction of these works led the leaders of many an American
country of the time to point to populationshortagesor to the limitationsof the
working capacity of native populations, and to encourage companies to hire
outsiders for the tasks at hand. The history of the settlement of the Chinese
workerstaken to Panamain 1854 is but a short chapterin the study of the many
migrationmovementsof the time. This paperhighlightssocioculturaldimensions
which contributed to the failure of these workersto adapt and to cope with the
demandsof life in the Isthmus.
[ 309 1
310 LUCY M. COHEN

The PanamaSetting

In the 1830's and 1840's the governmentof New Granada,of which Panama
was a part, had conducted deliberations regardingthe construction of a link
between oceans. Authorities had considered the specific proposals of French
contractors (Baron Thierry), American investors (Colonel Biddle), and a joint
French-Granadinemission (Otis 1862:16-26; Ortega Diaz 1920-1949 1:16-18,
11:514-521; CastilleroReyes 1932).
In 1848 this government signed a contract with the Panama Railroad
Company, organizedby Messrs.WilliamAspinwall,John L. Stephensand Henry
Chauncy of New York. These gentlemen had organizedalso two steamshiplines
connectingNew York and New Orleanswith the port of Chagres,on the Atlantic
side of the Isthmus,and Panamaon the Pacific with Californiaand Oregon.The
railroadconstruction work begun in 1849 wasdirectedby the engineersColonel
Totten and Mr. Trautwine who had directedthe constructionof the "Canaldel
Dique" connecting the MagdalenaRiver with the CaribbeanSea, at Cartagena
(Otis 1862:22; Carles1951:12-13).
Up to this period, travel across the Isthmus by canoe and mule was
considered a trial. Carles indicates that transit from the port of Chagres,to
PanamaCity, was undertakenmostly by river, for it was impossibleto cross the
fifty-five miles of dense jungle by foot. The trip up the ChagresRiver usually
took four days while the final mule ride through marsh lands or bordering
precipicesin the mountains lasted two days. This author suggeststhat without a
powerful stimulus like that of the Californiagold excitement, transitacrossthe
Isthmus remaineda challenge. Travellerswho crossedthe Isthmussufferedfrom
extreme fatigue, the effects of long exposure to an unhealthy climate, the
deprivationof all comforts, and the dangersof contacts with adventurers(Carles
1951:9-1 1).2
PanamaCity, the administrativecenter of this region, received the influence
of the migratory movements of the time. The Californiagold rush led to the
addition of new groups so that in 1852 the population of 10,000 consisted
largely of governmentofficials, merchants,tradesmenand laborers.The foreign
population included consular representatives,officers of the steamboat and
railroad companies, merchants and traders (Tomes 1855:213-215; Griswold
1852).
Tomes tells us that the Isthmussuppliedfew resourcesfor the constructionof
the railroad. "Not only the capital, skill, and enterprise, but the labor, the
material, the wood and iron... and the instruments to work with came from
abroad" (Tomes 1855:112). Importation of men and materialswas not related
in all cases to the absence of resources,but ratherto labor costs and to the lack
of communication routes. Although the country had forests, the rails were laid
on North American timber. The bridges, the houses and the workshops were
constructed with lumber from the states of Maine and Georgia (Tomes
1855:113).
The ChinesePanamaRailroad:PreliminaryNote on the MigrantsWho"Failed" 311

During the entire period of construction from 1850-1855, between six

thousand to seven thousand men were contracted for labor. Most came from
the province of Cartagenaand from Jamaica (Negroes and Indian "coolies");
Irish laborersand men recruitedat the port of New Orleansservedalso under six
month contracts or in payment for a free passageto California.All workmen
were conveyed to the Isthmus for the express purpose of railroadconstruction
work, at a cost of from $15-$50 each (Daily Panama Star, Dec. 22, 1853,
IV: 48).3
With regard to the health status of these populations, Colonel Totten
reported that sickness, "although bearing no comparison to the exaggerated
reports which have been circulated" was a serious item of expenditure (Daily
PanamaStar, Dec. 22, 1853, IV:48). Tomes remindsus that no one who resided
in Aspinwall (Colon) escaped fever which was always followed by a habitual
recurrence of the problem and which often resulted in death (Tomes
1855:63-64). By 1853 it was reported that 270 of the railroad working
populationhad died (Estrella de Panama,July 9, 1853, IV).

Admittanceof the Chineseto Panama

In 1854, when the company made efforts to increase the labor supply in
order to complete the railroad,Chinese workers were added to the labor force.
The addition of this group was typical of the times, for the introduction of
Chinese contract workers to the Latin American countries began in the late
1840's and early 1850's. They were brought to work on the Cubanplantations
in 1847 (Jim6nez Pastrana1963:19) and to the Peruvianguanobeds and coastal
plantations in 1849 (Stewart 1951:16-17). By 1853, "severalhundred" were
reported to have arrived in Costa Rica while Brazil accepted them also for
plantationwork (Daily PanamaStar, Sep. 11, 1853, IV:2; Stewart 1951:16).4
The President and Board of Directors of the Panama Railroad arrangedin
1853 to introduce some 2,000 Chinese workers to Panamaas part of a plan to
procure labor from other areas, namely Great Britain (Irish), the South
American nations, China and Madeira (Panama Daily Star, Dec. 22, 1853,
IV:48).5 The RailroadCompany had purchasedthe servicesof the coolies from
a Canton labor contractor and it had agreed to pay $25.00 a month for each
man sent. The contractor was to make his own financial arrangementwith the
individualcoolie - which was in fact to give each man a few dollarsa month in
wages and retain the remainderas payment for ocean passage and food (Schott
1967:177).6 Company records that exist today suggest that members of the
Board of Directors hoped that the contract made with the Chinese would be
extended to eight years if possible, instead of the three or four years of contract.
On March29, 1854, the long expected clipper ship Sea Witch arrivedin
Panamawith 705 Chinese. Soon she was joined by two other sailingships from
the Orient.The voyage of the Sea Witchhad taken sixty-one days from Swatow,
312 LUCY M. COHEN

and approximately twenty men were reported to have died enroute (Panama
Daily Star, March 31, 1854, IV).
Six months later, a Chinese gentleman arrivedfrom Jamaicawhose object it
was "to effect an exchange with the RailroadCompany and furnish them with
an equal number of Jamaicanlaborers for such of his countrymen as are able
bodied and in good health" (Daily Panama Star and Herald, Sep. 3, 1854,
1:107). The exchange was viewed with favor for it was reportedthat the climate
on the Isthmus was not suited to the constitution of the Chineseand they "had
not adapted to the work required from them in the Railroad"(Daily Panama
Star and Herald,Sep. 3, 1854, I1:107).7
Lind confirms the movementof the Isthmuslaborersto Jamaicafor he writes
that in November, 1854, a shipment of 195 Chinesewas broughtto Jamaica,and
of the entire group of Chinese introducedto the Islandthat year, those brought
from Panamagave evidence of the stressessuffered on the Isthmus as noted in
the following citation:
The majoritycame from Colon wherethey had gone to labour on the Panama
Railway,where their health had been completely destroyed. The consequence
was that soon after their arrivalhere they were to be seen in the streets worn
out and emaciated, heartbrokenand miserable, and they eventually found
homes in the hospitals and almshousesof Kingston and St. Catherinewhere
the majoritydied as paupers(Lind 1958:147).8
The rapid conclusion to this chapter in the migrationof a group of overseas
Chinese can lead many of us to make but a passing reference to it. History
remindsus, however, that short lived events can cast a light on the dynamicsof
social life of a period as well as on the problemswe face in the study of the
impact upon a group of participationin mobility and social change.

AdaptationProblems

Illness and death began to take a toll among the Chinese soon after their
arrival. The insalubrious conditions in the railroad country undoubtedly
accounted for this occurrence. As Tomes tells us, "the features of every man,
woman, or child I met had the ghastly look of those who suffer from the
malignanteffects of miasmaticpoisons"(Tomes 1855:63).
But company personnel and the Panamaniansexpressed specialconcern over
the plight of the Chinese due to three types of problemswhich other laborers
had not presented: a) How was the opium requirementto be met, and was
deprivation from the drug related to the prostrationmany suffered soon after
arrival?b) Could the ordinary citizen mobilize railroadand civil authoritiesto
care for the Chineseand to preventthe sight of these "destitute people" begging
in the towns? c) And finally, what led many of the Chineseto commit suicide?
The ChinesePanamaRailroad:PreliminaryNote on the MigrantsWho"Failed" 313

a) Opium.
Soon after their arrivalabout one hundred of the group were struck down
with sickness which the interpretersattributed to the lack of opium. The drug
was distributedwith the result that two-thirds of the sick arose againand began
to labor (Tomes 1855:118; Schott 1967:178-182). However,a New York opium
law was promulgatedregardingthe unlicensed sale of drugsand pointing to the
immorality of administeringsuch an expensive habit (15 grainsper day at the
approximatecost of 15 cents a day per man). Tomes tells us that whetherit was
owing to the deprivationof their habitual stimulus, or the malignanteffects of
the climate, or homesickness, in a few weeks there was hardly one out of the
eight hundred men who was not prostrate and unfit to labor (Tomes
1855:118-121).9

b) Destitution.
This inability of the Chinese to work on the railroadled to attempts which
were not altogether successfulto seclude them in one of the Companyhospitals,
and in an area away from the center of work activity. But the Chineseresorted
to begging, a situation which led to periodic requests by the writers in the
PanamaStar and Herald that railroadand civic authoritiescope more effectively
with the problem. From the months of May throughAugust 1854 La Estrellade
Panama published a number of articles on the situation of the Chinese, as
exemplified in the following two excerpts:
[May 18, 18541 We frequently see in the streets some of the Chinese laborers
contracted for the railroad, begging for food; and although we are sure that
those who do it is due to desertion from their job, we cannot but raise our
voices in favor of these wretched persons.
The Company. . . should try to retain the above mentioned Chinese in their
jobs, or in the hospitals if they become ill, invoking for this purpose the help
of the authorities in the country who we are sure will offer their help. ..
because offensive words are begrnning to spread about the honor of the
Company... suggesting that when a Chinese becomes ill or incapacitated, he
is abandoned or laid off work, against the contract regulations.
[August 4, 1854] Every day there is a greater number [of Chinese] in our
streets begging for their livelihood and hurting our sensibilities with the sight
of their illnesses and their misery. The Railroad Company has spacious
hospitals and with good help designed for all its workers; and if the stupidity
of these men induces them to escape from such institutions to come to the
city to bother with their presence. . . the police should control them and
force them to return to their beds. . We would like the Governor to dictate
an order regarding this matter.

There was an official response to the newspapers by the agents of the

Railroadas noted below:
The Agents of the Railroad do all in their power to keep these unfortunate
wretches out of the city; they have even removed all of them from the works
at Playa Prieta, and keep them stationed some five miles out on the road
314 LUCYM. COHEN

where an excellent hospital has been erected for the protection of the sick
(Daily PanamaStar and Herald,Aug. 23, 1854, I).
Records of the Board of Directors regarding the finances of Aspinwall
Hospital and the subject of care and dispositionof the destitute Chinesesuggest
also that this alien group was a subject of concern to the executives of the
Company. Even with this official interest, the Chinesewere said to be averseto
medical treatment and it was stated also that they "availedthemselvesof every
chance to break out of the hospital and come out to Panamato beg." Hospital
authoritieshired a guardto preventthem from "escaping"to PanamaCity.10
The Chinese continued to run away, becausethe Companyagent furthertells
us that wheneverdeserterswere recoveredthey were broughtimmediatelyto the
station, even though this process incurred considerable expense for the
Company. The agent requested that PanamaCity dwellersshould refrain from
giving alms to the Chinese"since the sympathy of the nativeswho assistedthem
with food and money encouragedthem to remainin the city."1
Although the Star editors later commended the police and the Company
agents for coping with the problem of these "disgustinglooking wretches"the
Chinese continued to be an eyesore up to the time of their departureto Jamaica.
Thus, in September, 1854, when the Chinese gentleman from Jamaicabeganto
make arrangementsfor their transferto the Island,the Star continued reporting
that "the Chinamenare againbecominga nuisancein the streets"(Daily Panama
Star and Herald,Sep. 3, 1854, 1:107).

c) Suicide.
I have not yet located primarysources with the Chineseview of their life on
the Isthmus duringthis period. But perhapsthe most vivid testimonial of their
reaction, amply recorded by witnesses of the time, is offered through
descriptionsof the high rates of suicide in the group.Indeed, this feature of their
life, almost to the exclusion of any other, caughtthe attention of writersof the
time.
Some two months after their arrival,the Daily Star and Herald began to
publish reports regardingthe "strange"notions of the Chinese regardingdeath
and self-inflictedpunishment. Requests were made that a full recordbe kept of
these suicides, as noted in the Daily Star and Herald, "since they would
constitute a fearfully true and interestinginsight into the characterand religion
of the Celestial Empire"(July 29, 1854). And again:
[June 10, 1854] Among the Chinese the anticipations of death are
distressing.. . Theirimaginationhas invented no fewer than ten hells. . .
[July 20, 1854] The Chinese appearto entertain peculiarnotions regarding
insult or chastisement. Severalinstances have come to our knowledge where
punishment has been inflicted or where insult has been offered and the
aggrievedparty instead of attempting to resent the injury,immediatelyseeks
an opportunity of putting an end to his own existence. . . On the Railroad
such attempts are, we learn, of frequentoccurrence.
The Chinese Panama Railroad: Preliminary Note on the Migrants Who "Failed" 315

In a short period of time 125 Chinese coolies were said to have hanged
themselvesfrom trees and over 300 others were found dead, victims of various
other types of self-inflicted death. Colonel Totten indicatedthat these problems
took place due to the depressionof the coolies over the death of a number of
their group from fever, which had been deepened by withdrawalfrom opium
(Schott 1967:181). Tomes stated that the extent of their "agony and despair"
was such that there were but a scarce200 Chineseleft of the originalgroup,who
were subsequentlysent to Jamaica(Tomes 1855:121).
The literatureoffers many descriptionsof the methods of suicide used by the
Chinese.Bodies washedashoregave evidence of death by self-inflicted drowning;
corpses hung from trees; they tried also to impel themselvesupon machetes or
other sharp instruments of labor, or to die by self-inflictedstarvation(Schott
1967: 180-182; Tomes 1855:119-121; Otis 1862:35-36; Daily PanamaStar and
Herald, June 13, 1854, I:37; Daily Star and Herald,July 20, 1854, I:68; Estrella
de Panama,Aug. 29, 1854,1:102).

Discussion

The phenomenon of suicide merits our attention for the questions that it
poses regardingthe adaptationalpatternsof membersof the group.Did resortto
suicide representa culturallypatternedmode of problemsolution, typical of the
Chinese personality, so to speak, or of those who were rapidlybecomingpart of
the overseas settlements in the Americas? What were, in fact, some of the
situational elements of their environment which may have helped also to
precipitatethe suicidalbehavior?
Murphy (1959) suggests that to determine cultural continuities regarding
patterns of mental disorder among overseas Chinese it is useful to have
information regardingtheir area of originor regionaldialect. The authorhas not
yet located specific data on the subject. S. Wells Williams (1879:6-7) has
documented the fact that all Chinese emigrantsto other lands for the period
studied were furnished by six departmentslying along the coast of the two
provinces of Kwantung and Fukien, the population center of the region being
Canton. But as MyronCohen (1968) indicatesthe linguisticheterogeneityfound
in the local levels of these provincesresultedin a high degreeof localizationand
nucleation. Without more detailed information I do not believe we can establish
a case for the "continuity" of psychoculturaldynamicsfrom the place of origin
to the host country.
We have no specifics on the mode of recruitmentof the group under study,
but Swatow, their port of embarkment,was the center of the illegal coolie trade
(Fairbank 1953:1:214). Fairbank (1953:1:218) points out that the men
recruitedin China duringthis period came from the poorest groups.Enlistment
was undertakenoften by offering false promises, or when all other means of
recruitment were exhausted, through kidnapping along the China coast
(Lubbock 1935:33). The prospective emigrantswere placedin enclosureswhich
316 LUCYM.COHEN

were rarely inspected by the Chinese officials appointed for such purposes,and
many a Chinese coolie is reportedto have died from diseasebefore his time came
to embark(Lubbock 1935:32).
The ship Sea Witch was one of the first and famous Yankee clippersbuilt
under the sponsorshipof the firm Howlandand Aspinwallof New York. The log
book for the voyage of the Sea Witchto Panamadoes not referto any unusual
occurrence during the trip.12 However, Lubbock (1935:33) remindsus that a
"rising of the coolies was the one terror that ever stalked the captain of a
Chinese coolie ship." To prevent the ships from being captured by their
passengers,the decks and the hatchway openingswere barredand barricadedlike
those of the old convict ships. Stewart(1951:18) indicatesthat "comfort on the
long voyage was not given much consideration. The ships that conveyed the
coolies in fact, were known as floating hells. . . While an English regulationof
1853 allowed 12 square feet for each man, it could be enforced only at Hong
Kong."
We can assume, then, that by the time the Chinese arrivedin Panamathey
had been subjectedto physical and psychologicalstressassociatedwith the mode
of recruitmentand with the ocean voyage itself. When these factors are related
to the problemof opium withdrawaland to the effects of the ravagesof fever on
the Isthmus, we can begin to understandsome of the reasonsfor the suicidal
responsesby the group.
But the fact is that during the same period, we find record also of the
prevalence of suicide among the Chinese introduced to other nations such as
Peru and Cuba. References to the suicides of the Chinese who were taken to
work on the guano deposits of the Chinchaand Guanapeislands off the coast of
Peru are better known than is the Panamaniancase under discussion.
Peruviansand foreignerswho wrote in the '1850's and the 1860's stated that
the climatic and work conditions of the region of the guano deposits made any
type of work there a matter of privationand hardship.Illness and the strainsof
work were considered major sourcesof stress(Stewart 1951:92-112). The lot of
the Chinese was reported to be aggravatedalso by the physical abuses imposed
upon the workersand the daily guano quota expectations set on the individual
laborer:
Each man was compelled to clear from four to five tons of guano a day. . .
Two dozen lashes made them breathless, and when released. . . they slowly
(staggered) over... (were) carried to the hospital, and in most cases, if
recovered, they (committed) suicide. . . (Stewart 1951:96-97).
Quoting D. J. Williamson,Watt Stewart (1951:96-97) reminds us of the
reaction of the Chineseto life on these islands.
Life to the Chinaman under such circumstances possesses no attractive
features, and death... is welcomed by him as his deliverance from the
miseries of his lot in life. This feeling necessitates the constant employment
of a guard around the shores of the Guano Islands, where they are employed,
to prevent them from committing suicide by drowning, to which end the
coolie rushes in his moments of despair.
The Chinese Panama Railroad: Preliminary Note on the Migrants Who "Failed" 317

Some of the Chinesebroughtto Cubanplantationsresortedalso to suicide, as

noted by Gonzalo de Quesada:
Desperate, they would hang themselves from trees, dressed in their best
clothes; they would throw themselvesin wells or rivers;suicide put an end to
their martyrdom. . . (Jimenez Pastrana 1963:19).
The occurrenceof this phenomenon in different areasmay serve to support
the proposition that even without materialon the specific areaof originfor the
groups, suicide was a culturally patterned mode of protest or of turning
aggressioninward. The writer suggeststhat this finding is of equal relevancefor
what it tells us of the situational elements that appear to have increased the
tendency to resortto suicide. Whenthe natureof the work situation of each area
is examined, we note that a more extensive resort to suicide appearsto have
occurred in the guano beds and on the Isthmus, where the combination of a
harsh environment and labor conditions appear to have posed greateradapta-
tional challengesthan was the case on the haciendasor plantations.
Comparisonsamong areas lead the author to suggest that the possibility of
following alternativemodes of life and work may have reducedthe expressionof
despair through suicide. For the men taken to the Cuban and to the Peruvian
haciendas,escape offered the potential promiseof relief. If successful,a Chinese
could find new work modes such as through positions as house servants.To my
knowledge, the men on the guano beds and on the Isthmus never had such
alternatives.Stewart's sources report that up to 1856 the Chineseon the guano
beds remainedalive an averageof a few months; death was often self-inflictedor
the result of illness. Descriptions of Panamanianlife in 1854 inform us that
outside of the railroadcompany, there were no alternativetypes of work for the
Chinese to perform. There was no large plantation system in the area, nor did
PanamaCity offer them a work haven. Local citizens offered alms to the beggars
but with a clear understandingthat the foreign company that had hired the
contract laborers was responsible for the solution of their problems.The only
"way out" for this group occurred, finally, through their physical removalto
Jamaica.

Conclusion

George de Vos (1968) remindsus that to understandthe dynamicsof suicide

we must study it intensively in a psycho-culturalframework.He tells us that we
need to examine how status, social expectations, and the crisisperiodsassociated
with social forces influence the incidence of suicide and its underlyingemotional
logic in variouscultures.
On the basis of the case describedin this paper, I want to add that we need
further study on the functioning of psychocultural forces under situations in
which groups find themselveslocked by the boundariesof a camp, a contract, or
other such arrangements,and under conditions of extreme physicalstress. Bruno
Bettelheim's description of individualand mass behaviorin concentrationcamps
318 LUCY M. COHEN

offers contemporarymaterial for the understandingof the complex forces that

led members of different groups to establish effective links among the camp
populations and with the officialdom. In these settings, suicide was a pattern
followed more frequently by membersof middle income groupsthan by others.
However, in general, prisonersreachedthe final stage of adjustmentto the camp
situation when they had changed their personality so as to accept as their own
values those of the aggressors(Bettelheim 1943). Whatcan the historicalrecord
of the 19th and early 20th centuries in the Americas offer to further our
understanding of the patterns of adaptation and intergroup relations which
developed in response to the demands of company living when difficult
ecological conditions imposed hardship upon some sectors of the company
population?
The case of the 1854 Chinesemigrationto Panamaraisesmore questions than
those I can answer at present. It suggests that we intensify our efforts to
understandthe history of 19th-century foreign and national company systems
and their relations with the governmentsand with contracted labor. For it is in
the context of relations such as these that members of each group carved their
own sense of cultural identity and the imagesof each other which in some cases
have survivedup to the present.Indeed, the anthropologistwho wishes to study
and understandthe complex societies of a contemporaryLatin Americannation
and the search for autenticidad among people in such countries must be
equipped with knowledge of economic and social history of the past century.
Investigation into documents of the period is a challenge whose rewardsare
great.
This study does not propose to offer final answersfor the complex task of
unravellingthe paths to suicide among a population so at risk. I hope to enlist
the interest and work of colleaguesin orderto fill what are admittedlylargegaps
in our knowledge of 19th-centuryLatin America.

NOTES

1. This paper was read at the 17th Annual Meeting of the American Society for
Ethnohistory, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, October, 1969. I wish gratefully
to acknowledge the interest and encouragement offered by Miss Cecilia Alegre,
Panamanian sociologist, and Dona Lia Wong de Cadet, also of Panama.
2. For a detailed description of the terrain and the settlements, see Griswold (1852).
3. More specific data on the terms of contracts may be found in the Minutes of the
Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Panama Railroad in the Records of the
Panama Canal Panama Railroad Company, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
[hereinafter, MMBDPR].
4. For accounts on the movement of Chinese to other areas, see Fried (1956) and Lind
(1958). During colonial times the Latin American countries received the influence of
the Far East through the trade of the Manila galleons. In the early 1800's, the
Portuguese brought Chinese tea growers to Brazil for a short-lived experiment in tea
growing. The introduction of Chinese laborers to these areas took place in the period
under study (MacNair 1924).
The Chinese Panama Railroad: Preliminary Note on the Migrants Who "Failed" 319

5. Also see MMBDPR: entry 35, July 1, 1853, and July 5, August 12 and November 1,
1853; Minutes of the Executive Committee of the Panama Railroad, National Archives,
Washington, D.C., July 8, 1853, entry 36.
6. Also see MMBDPR: August 12, 1853.
7. Also see MMBDPR: August 16 and October 2, 1854.
8. Also see MMBDPR: November 14, 1854.
9. Note that the total number of 800 coolies varies with the figure of 705 cited in other
records. The lower figure is reported in official Company records and consular
dispatches.
10. MMBDPR: March 24, May 13, June 28 and August 16, 1854.
11. See note 10.
12. Log Book of the clipper Sea Witch, Records of the Weather Bureau, (Maury Logs),
National Archives, Washington, D.C., p. 27.

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