Lewis war diary, August 1917-March 1919 / James Ray Lewis - Page 39
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[Page 39]
M' de Lesseps who built Suez canal, formed a company to build a canal here at Panama but the attempt ended in a terrible failure, and it is said that Lesseps was a puppet unknowingly in a gigantic fraud, anyhow there was a great scandal, that did a great deal to so it said to end sadden Lesseps life.
Then We passed through Gatun locks at dusk amid strains of "Anzac", "The Star Spangled Banner", and the cheers and counter cheers of our troops and the American Garrison.
Next day we were in Colon harbour where the ship coaled it wasn't a nice place and we stayed 3 days. The shores are flat and uninteresting and of course green as this country all gets from 100 to 200 inches of rain a year.
Whilst here we all pooled a shilling each to buy fruit, and we got oranges at only £2 10S a case, each orange was as big as a pint pot, and as tasteless as a dishcloth.
On the second day at Colon I went into hospital with the measles, and after that I didn't