Porto Bello at first gave us considerable anxiety; we knew its ancient history, and feared that we might not be able to control disease there. But the difficulties appeared no greater there than at several other points occupied by us. Our laborers and working forces occupied the side of the mountain on the north side of the bay opposite the old town of Porto Bello, and the quarry was worked first where the old fort stood. We soon found that our employees were so much in the town of Porto Bello that they contracted malaria there, and that though we were able to control it in our own village on the mountain side, we could not prevent our people from contracting malaria from the natives in the town of Porto Bello. The town was located outside the Canal Zone, in the jurisdiction of the Republic of Panama. We therefore requested the Panaman Government to appoint the chief sanitary officer the health officer of the town of Porto Bello. It had been generally agreed that wherever it was necessary for the protection of the health of the Canal employees the Panaman Government would surrender this authority to the chief sanitary officer of the Isthmian Canal Commission. We introduced the same health measures as in the other sanitary districts, which we expect soon to describe, and in a few months had malaria here completely under control. Porto Bello was located well within the San Blas country. Though the inhabitants of the town were Panamanians and recognized the authority of the Republic of Panama, all of the Republic east of this point, in area about one-half of the state of Panama, was entirely uninhabited, except by a few San Blas Indians, not more than thirty thousand all told. The largest product of these Indians was cocoanuts, and this cocoanut trade employed a considerable number of light draft schooners and canoes. These fleets rendezvoused in the harbor of Porto Bello. They carried on their trade as far east as the Gulf of Atrato, and the city of Cartagena, in Colombia. There was, therefore, a probability of the introduction of infectious disease to the Canal Zone by this route. To protect ourselves against this disease we had to establish a quarantine station at Porto Bello. The Panaman Government was asked to appoint the chief sanitary officer of the Canal Zone quarantine officer for the port of Porto Bello. This they promptly did.