The key of the Pacific; the Nicaragua canal

Front matter

THE KEY OF THE PACIFIC.

The Nicaragua Canal ARCHIBALD ROSS COLQUHOUN

ASSOC. MEMBER INST. C.E., F.R.G.S., ETC. ; GOLD MEDALLIST

Preface

THE late war in the Far East, the inevitable opening up of China, the approaching completion of the Siberian Railway, and the certain cutting of the Nicaragua Canal, constitute one of the greatest revolutions in the world's history. These will be followed by a new adjustment of international relations, and a fresh distribution of the world's trade. The present volume deals with one of the chief aspects of this revolution.

As a pioneer of commerce in Burmah, Indo-China, China, and South Africa, as explorer, administrator and special correspondent, my constant aim has been to aid in opening up fresh markets on the fringes of our empire. I have long held the view that the true policy for this country is to foster and develop the existing trade with our colonies and possessions, and to open up entirely new markets, and I have done what I could, on the platform and in the press, to awaken the country to the importance of this line of action.

This policy I believe to be necessary, not only to benefit the merchant, the manufacturer, and the working man, but as affording the main remedy for the depression of trade, and the true solution of the pressing problem of the unemployed.

vi PREFACE.

Of all fields for the expansion of our commerce, the Far East, I am convinced, affords us the greatest opportunity. To this market I have for many years endeavoured to turn the attention of the commercial community, and it was on realizing the part that the Nicaragua Canal would play in opening up the Far East — involving immense changes not only for the United States, but for this country and Europe generally — that I determined to study the question of inter-oceanic communication between the Atlantic and Pacific, and to see how and to what extent our interests would be affected by the Canal.

The reader will find in these pages the results of an examination of the problem in all its varied bearings — mechanical, commercial, and political — made on the ground and in the study, and of general observation and travel in Nicaragua.

In the spring of this year I crossed from Colon to Panama, following the route of the Panama Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and later traversed Nicaragua from Ocean to Ocean, along the line of the proposed Canal, excepting the Pacific terminus, which I was unable to visit owing to the political consequences of the Corinto incident.

The facts embodied in this work point with irresistible force the lesson that, with increased competition with the United States in the Far East as the inevitable result of the opening of the Nicaragua Canal, we shall have to bestir ourselves if we desire to maintain our commercial supremacy.

PREFACE. vii

I would here acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Menocal, the Chief Engineer of the Construction Company for valuable information supplied, and for the assistance he gave me in prosecuting my studies in Nicaragua. To the proprietors of " The Graphic " my thanks are due for permission to reproduce some twenty of the numerous illustrations given in the book. I must also record here the courtesy and attention received by me, in a pleasant journey to and from Central America, at the hands of the officials and officers of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, especially its Secretary, Mr. J. M. Lloyd.

A. R. C.

London :

CHAPTER I. The Three Main Schemes, packs

Origin of Panama railroad — Survey of Nicaragua route — Three well-defined schemes — The Panama Canal — Paris Congress of 1879 — Cessation of work in 1889 — The Compagnie Nouvelle — Conclusions regarding Panama — Visit to, and discussion of, Panama Canal — Tehuantepec ship-railway — Eads — Concession from Mexico — Nicaragua route — U.S^. Report of 1876 — Mr. Menocal and canal i — 19

CHAPTER n.

The Canal Route, Concessions and Companies.

Outline of route — The lake — The Eastern Section — The San Juan river — The rapids — The San Carlos- — The San Francisco — Upper and lower route — Western Section — Concession from Nicaragua and final survey — The Maritime Canal Company — The Construction Company — Cessation of Construction Company and Re-construction 20 — 43

CHAPTER in.

The Question of Guarantee.

Senate bill passed — Character of Senate bill — Significant amendment— U.S. Commission to report on canal — Clayton-Bulwer treaty — Discussion of Question of Guarantee in Congress- Question of Guarantee considered — Laisser faire Ytx^ws, direct intervention of State — Renaissance of inland navigation — Objects of the bill — Project must be under auspices of U.S. Government 44 — 55

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

The Engineering Problem. — Part I. pages

The Excavations and Divide cuts — The "Great Divide" — Major Dutton on the "Great Divide" — Discussion of question — Embankments and dams — The Ochoa dam — Major Dutlon on Ochoa dam — Discussion of dam problem — The Deseado Swamp— The La Flor dam — Drainage — Lockage — Locks — Cross Sections — Harbours at Greytown and Brito . . . 56 — 11 1

CHAPTER V.

The Engineering Problem. — Part II.

Climate — Rainfall — Labour question — Volcanoes and earthquakes— ^Time of transit — Cost of canal — Discussion of estimates — Question of maintenance — Time for completion of canal — Question of forfeiture of canal concession — Materials for construction — Comparison with Suez — The Suez Canal ; traffic, revenue, engineermg problem, condemned by English engineers and politicians — Purchase of Suez Canal shares by England — General conclusions 112 — 143

CHAPTER VL

Historical Sketch of Inter-oceanic Projects. 1501 — 1800.

The "Secret of the Strait" — Rodrigo Bastidas — Columbus—* Solis and Pinzon — Ojeda — Nunez de Balboa first to discover Pacific — Character and exploits of Balboa — Gil Gonzalez Davila — Derivation of Nicaragua — Pedrarias Davila — Cortes and the search for the Strait — Saavedra — Esiete — Andagoya — Gomara's four routes — Batista Antonelli — I'he Buccaneers — David's expedilion — L'Olonnais — Paterson's Scots Settlement — William Paterson — Cramer and Corral, Yzasi and Alexandre — Nelson's Expedition — Galibteo — La Bastide .... 144 — 161

CONTENTS. xi

CHAPTER VII.

Historical Sketch of Inter-oceanic Projects.

Humboldt on inter-oceanic communication — Goethe's views — Congress of Panama — Werweer, Tliierry, and Bolivar, Morazan — The " dreamer of Ham " and the Canale Napoleone de Nicaragua — Occupation of San Juan del Norte and Granada — The Clayton-Bulwer treaty — Vanderbilt's transit company and proposed canal — Telix Belly — U.S. expedition of 1872 — The Paris Congress of 1879 — The Frelinghuysen treaty 162 — 174

CHAPTER VIII.

Social and 'Political Nicaragua.

A pi7icelazo a hrocJia gorda- — Railroad and steamers on lake and river San Juan — Impressions — Bathing in Nicaragua — Hotels — El Bafio — The Nicaraguan Club — Nicaraguan life and customs— Hacienda el oso, or " playmg the bear " — The fair sex and the toilette — Amusements — Markets — Labour and immigration— Architecture — Form of Government — Elections — The revolution — A Nicaraguan writer on the Spanish- American republics — The laws — The Roman Catholic religion— Public instruction — ConclLision_. 175 — 208

CHAPTER IX.

Principal Towns. Races. Languages. Remains.

Populations of cities and towns — Granada, Managua, Masaya, Rivas, Leon, Corinto, Greytown— Future of Greytown — Races — Population of Nicaragua — -Remains — Squier's explorations— The early writers- — Nicaraguan antiquities . . . 209 — 224

CHAPTER X.

Geography. Physical Features. Mines and Mining.

Boundaries — Area — Boundary between Costa Rica and Nicaragua— Costa Rican boundary question — Limits of Mosquito xii CONTENTS.

PAGES

reservation — Ports on Atlantic and Pacific coasts — The " Estero Real" — Mountain ranges and volcanoes — The fluvial system — Code of mining laws — Mineral resources and mines — Primitive methods of mining — New mining district — English Company — The gold-mining belt 225 — 238

CHAPTER Xr.

Resources of Nicaragua.

The forests — Mahogany, cedar, wild cotton, etc. — Dyewoods — Textile plants — Coffee — India-rubber — Banana cultivation — Cacao — Vegetables and fruits — Cattle - raising — Fauna — ■ Commerce 239 — 258

CHAPTER XH.

The Demand of the Age : Ship Canals.

Three classes — Objectors and sceptics in regard to new enterprises— Engineering achievements at end of the nineteenth century — Sketch of canal making— The Erie Canal — Struggle between canals and railroads — Baltic, Corinth, North Sea, Amsterdam, Manchester, and Caledonian Canals — The Sauk Ste. Marie Canal and its bearings on the Nicaragua Canal — The " Canal maritime du Midi "^The Languedoc Canal — The Illinois drainage and ship cana! — The Pontiloff canal — • Projected schemes 259 — 278

CHAPTER Xni.

Value of Canal and Lake.

Opinions of David, Dalling, and Nelson on value of lake — Views of Humboldt, Goethe and Nap )leon III — The policy of the United States regarding trans-isthmian traffic — Opinions of Evarts, Hayes, and Grant — Senator Morgan's views — The canal an alternative route for Britain — The later American pohcy — The Mosquito reservation and the Hatch incident — British action in Nicaragua — The Corinto incident — The

CONTENTS. xiii

PAGES

"Monroe doctrine" — Seward's interpretation of Monroe doctrine — The meaning of the doctrine — Neutralization of canal imperative 279 — 305

CHAPTER XIV.

Effects of Canal.

The trans-continental railroads — The Pacific Slope — The Southern States — Ten years progress in the South — Western Spanish-America and the Far East as new markets for the Southern and Atlantic States — Maury on the Mississippi basin and the Isthmus — Resources of Nicaragua — Water-power available — Probable traffic — Various estimates — Conclusions as to traffic — Distances saved — Comparison of distances via Suez and Nicaragua — The Far East trade — New markets — • Humboldt's views — Conclusions 306 — 336

APPENDICES.

PAGES

I. The Clayton and Bulwer Convention 339 — 344

II. The Dickinson-Ayon treaty 345 — 350 ^

III. The Frelinghuysen-Zavala treaty 351 — 362*^^^

IV. Concessions and decrees of Nicaragua to the Nicaragua

Canal Association 363 — 385

V. Concessions and decrees of Costa Rica to the Nicaragua Canal Association 386 — 407

VI. U.S. Charter of the Maritime Canal Company of

Nicaragua 408 — 412

VII. Report of the Board of Consulting Engineers . . . 413 — 418

VIII. Senate Bill. S. 1481 419—434

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Map of Central America .

Views on the Panama Canal end of vol.

View on the Panama Canal

General Map of Entire Route from Ocean to Ocean to face Longitudinal Section of the Nicaragua Canal Bird's-eye View of the Nicaragua Canal ...

Eastern Section. — From Greytown to the Ochoa

Sketch-map of the Canal Route ..... 25

Eastern Division. — Greytown to Lake Nicaragua . to face 26 Eastern Section. — From Greytown to the Deseado

Basin to face 28

Eastern Section. — From Deseado Basin to the Ochoa

The Western Section. — From Lake Nicaragua to the

Pacific Ocean ....... ^ 35

Longitudinal Section of Western Division. — Lake

Nicaragua to Brito to face 36

Cross-section of "Great Divide" ..... 59

Wesiern Division. — Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific

Ocean to face 64

Railway under Construction through Swamp . . 79

Railway Completed through Swamp .... 80

The Sault Ste. Marie Lock ..... to face 91

XVI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Harbour of San Juan del Norte, Greytown

The Breakwater at Greytown in 1893

Former Proposed Harbour of San Juan del Norte

Greytown .....

The Dredges at Work, Greytown, 1893 The Harbour of Brito Fort Castillo, San Juan River

MOMOTOMBO ON LaKE MANAGUA .

The Volcano at Irazu, Costa Rica

The Aquador ....

The Water Vender .

The Siesta .....

Under the Eyes of the Duenna

The Senorita . . . . :

Nicaraguan Belles

Native Woman ....

The Arriero ....

Market Scene ....

A Pottery Vender

Transport before the Railway in Central America

Scene in the Portales

Carreta ....

Indian Beggar

Native Child

Indian Nurse-maid

Typical Dwellings of the Labouring Classes

Upper Class House, with " Patio "

Managua, the Capital of Nicaragua

Palacio Nacional, Managua

The Cathedral at Leon .

On the Outskirts of Masaya

Railway Station at Granada

A Park in Central America

A Nicaraguan Hamlet

PAGE

to face loi

lOl'

195 196

197 197 198 199 199

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

XVII

Main Street, Greytown

Some of the Canal Company's Buildings at Greytown

A Group of Sumu Indians

Scene at Bluefields, Mosquito Territory Scene at Gold Mine in Nicaragua .

Gold Mining in Nicaragua Group of Work-people at Gold Mine Carting Logs in Mahogany Poorest .

Mahogany Logs Ready for Rafting Scene on Caribbean Coast Lands Preparing Coffee ....

On a Coffee Estate . . . .

Mule Track in the Low Country .

Loading Bananas . . .

Bringing Bananas to Market .

Native "Chozas" in the Hot Country Scene on the Outskirts of Village

Lands .....

Carting Firewood Pottery Market ....

Scene in the " Tierra Caliente "

Clarence, Chief of Mosquito Land Map of Steamship Lines, Showing the Present Course

OF American Foreign Commerce . . . .

Nicaragua as a Short Line between New York and San

Francisco .........

Nicaragua as a Short Line between New York and the

Pacific

Nicaragua as a Starting-Point for Foreign Commerce World-map, showing Present and Future Sea-routes

through the Nicaragua Canal .....

PACK

215 2 16 221 231

to face 232

to face 234

to face 236 to face 250

Coast

311 313

THE KEY OF THE PACIFIC.

Chapter I.

THE THREE MAIN SCHEMES.

FOLLOWING the discovery of gold in California and the opening up of the Pacific coast, interest was naturally revived in the question of providing an alternative route, safer, more rapid, and less costly, to that round Cape Horn, or across the wild country and passes of the Rockies. The result was the construction of the Panama railroad in the period between 1850 and 1855. A reconnaissance of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec was carried out, and negotiations were also entered into with Nicaragua to support a company which had obtained from that republic the right to build a canal, and in the interval to establish — overland, and by existing waters via the San Juan and Lake Nicaragua — a means of transit between the Atlantic and Pacific. The survey of this route, made for Cornelius Vanderbilt and his associates, was executed by Colonel O. W. Childs, of Philadelphia, a distinguished officer of the United States army. His studies fully conformed to the requirements of engineering science, and are remarkable for their accuracy.

From 1870 to 1876, during the presidency of General Grant, renewed activity was shown by the United States Government in exploring the isthmus, and in 1879 work on the Panama route was begun by de Lesseps, only to be abandoned ten years later.

There resulted about the year 1879 three well-defined schemes, arrived at by a process of elimination, namely, those of Panama, Nicaragua, and Tehuantepec. The notorious Panama Canal may now be pronounced nearly moribund, if not actually dead. The Tehuantepec ship-railway passed, at least for the time, out of sight and favour with the death of its illustrious designer. Captain Eads, of Mississippi fame. The Nicaragua Canal holds the field, and although, owing to causes given later, the actual work is in abeyance, strenuous efforts are being made to secure the active support of the United States Government, and are likely to be crowned with success, in which case the work will be prosecuted with vigour. The canal is a necessity of the time, and cannot now long be delayed.

The Panama Canal.

It is unnecessary to give any but a brief notice to the Panama Canal, but the salient points in its history must be noted.

De Lesseps held that a sea-level ship-canal could be constructed across the isthmus at Panama, and that it was

VIEWS ON THE PANAMA CANAL the shortest practicable line between the oceans, the length of the route being 46^ miles, and the altitude to be overcome about 300 feet/ He was opposed by many eminent engineers, including M. Lavalley, who spoke in prophetic language of la grande inconniie de la Chagres. But the Congress of 1879, summoned by Lesseps, supported le grand Frangais, and the work, designed wnthout locks, was inaugurated in 1879, the actual excavation being commenced two years later. In 1887 the impracticability of a level canal, at least with the financial means available or in prospect, at length became so evident that Lesseps and his colleagues were compelled to abandon the idea, and M. Eiffel was called in and designed a series of locks. After many vicissitudes, work finally ceased in March, 1889, owing to want of funds. The magnitude of the enterprise is shown by the following official figures of the liquidator, dated July, 1890 :

Total expenses at Panama -;^3Ij330j937

Total expenses in Paris 15,628,066

Purchase of Panama Railway Shares. . 3) 7 3°; 727 Payments to the Civil Society of Obligations for the lottery scheme . . . 1,290,587 Payment to the Colombian Government 98,203

There is no need to go over the ground of the debacle, the history of which has never been fully told, and never will. The company could only show work done to the value of something like ^28,000,000, the difference (over

^ The railway has an elevation of 296 feet, with a summit cut of 30 feet.

VIEWS ON THE PANAMA CANAL.

^24,000,000) having disappeared into that bottomless gulf — the pockets of the vast army of company promoters, corrupt journalists and politicians, swindling engineers, and contractors.

The adoption of the lock system, forced upon him by dire necessity, was very unpalatable to Lesseps, more especially on account of the views he had expressed on the proposed Nicaragua Canal, for it must be mentioned as a singular fact that Lesseps in his " Souvenirs," as well as elsewhere, actually expressed the opinion that " it was very clear the Nicaragua Canal was the best of canals with locks, if one were compelled to adopt that system."^

Many proposals for recommencing the work have been put forward since 1889, the plan generally adopted being for a canal with six or eight locks, to feed which artificial lakes or reservoirs have to be created, in order to avoid so far as possible the deep cutting through the divide. In 1890, a further concession of time till October 31st, 1894, was granted by the Colombian Government, within which to form a new company and resume work,^ and in

^ "II faudrait couper le seuil de Rivas," he wrote, "par une tranchee profonde, y mettre encore sept ecluses, et creer aux deux extremites du canal, a Greytown et Brito, des ports sur des cotes difficiles. Les defenseurs de ces projets vantaient la superiorite du climat, faisaient valoir I'abondance des materiaux du pays, la densite relative de la population, et il etait bien evident que le canal de Nicaragua se presentait comme le meilleur des canaux a ecluses, si Ton eut ete reduit a adopter ce systeme." *

^ In the event of the expiry of the concession, all the canal buildings will become the property of the Colombian Government, and the land

" Souvenirs de quarante ans," p. 463, vol. i.

VIEWS ON THE PANAMA CANAL.

the autumn of 1894, a new company, the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal dio Panama, was formed with a capital of ^2,600,000 (65,000,000 fr.). Operations were commenced on the Culebra cut last October (thereby just saving the concession), and work is in hand. It is claimed that a thorough survey of the isthmus, — including an elaborate system of borings, to ascertain the exact nature of the soil and rocks at all depths, and to determine the permeability of the ground, — has been commenced by a large staff of engineers, and that a definitive plan will be settled in 1897, when a technical commission will proceed to the ground, and decide as to the possibility, or otherwise, of the completion of the canal. But there cannot be much doubt as to the motif of the Compagnie Nouvelle, in which M. Eiffel is believed to be the chief shareholder.

Can the Panama Canal be completed ? Even if proved to be practicable, it is extremely doubtful whether the French people would ever again subscribe the required money, or their government lend its support to the scheme. With this, however, I am not concerned. But is it practicable ? Can the engineer overcome the physical difficulties ?

When in Central America, in addition to my examination of the Nicaragua Canal, I made a personal inspection of the Panama line, paying special attention to the two main difficulties, — the Chagres river and the Culebra cut. A number of estimates of work done, and to be done, to

already conceded will revert to the State. The machinery, which cost a fabulous sum, would bring in little if sold, for the cost of removal would generally be very great.

THE THREE MAIN SCHEMES.

carry through the canal with locks, have been published. The general conclusion I arrived at, however, was that, if a lock canal were feasible, for practical purposes not more than one-third of the total work required to complete it has been executed, and that the remaining two-thirds would involve a genuine expenditure of largely over ^40,000,000. The cost of completing the work, according"to the reports of the last Commission, is :

Excavations

Locks

Dams

Water passages

Deviation of the railway

Indemnities, etc.

Lighting .

To this they add :

For unforeseen expenses

Total

For increase of staff, due to climatic difficulties, say 10 per cent on above

4,400,000

2,120,000

206,000

420,000

640,000

40,000

^^19,432,000

2,320,000

;^25,502,000

Interest during construction, eight years, on moneys as required ....

Say, in round figures

10,440,000

A portion of the Chagres river has been utilized for the canal, which, for some miles, is made in its valley. At Matachin the canal leaves the Chagres, and following the lo THE KEY OF THE PACIFIC.

valley of one of its tributaries, passes through the Culebra Hill, situated on the divide formed by the Cordillera, the backbone of the isthmus. On the Pacific Slope the descent is by the valley of the Rio Grande, entering the Pacific at the port of Panama.

On the occasion of my visit I found that some four or five hundred men were being employed, and these almost entirely on the Culebra cut ; while, contrary to general impression, the machinery and plant were mostly being kept in fairly good order, and this at considerable expense. I have read most exaggerated accounts of the wreck of the canal by the floods of the Chagres river. I have seen it stated that if a spectator were to take his stand on the isthmus and overlook some six or eight miles of the projected work, he would see nothing but immense masses of ddbins of gravel, earth, and sand washed down, and covered by the dense jungle which has sprung up. It was, of course, to be expected that, in a tropical country, after six years cessation of work, the -excavated channel would be thickly overgrown, and much of the work done destroyed. But the general impression I gained from my visit was that a laree amount of useful work remained accomplished — work not evident to the ordinary traveller or untrained observer. Still, the Chagres river and the Culebra cut appeared to me to be obstacles which may be considered insurmountable, that is to say, within the range of practical engineering.

Having no adequate supply of water at greater elevations to feed his canal, Lesseps depressed its bottom to a level that made it a constant prey to the Chagres river

THE THREE MAIN SCHEMES.

T I and the enormous floods of water rushing down by that stream, which drains an area of some 1,400 square miles, discharging- in the dry season, at its first point of contact with the Hne of the canal, 1 5 cubic metres of water, but

VIEW ON THE PANAMA CANAL.

in the wet season, 4,670 metres per second, cause a sudden rise in the Chagres river of from 20 to 50 feet in height ! ^ This water is precipitated from the steep

^ In November, 1879, there was an unusual rainfall and flood of the river Chagres, stopping the railway traffic, the river rising over 40 feet, and covering the line in parts with more than 10 feet of water.

ravines and high mountains, the torrents concentrating suddenly, and often without warning, in the main outlet. I have seen a good deal of torrential streams in various tropical countries, and from my experience, both as an engineer and traveller, have learnt to appreciate their dangerous character, but nowhere — neither in Burmah, India, Indo- China, or South Africa, all of which I know well — have I seen anything more formidable than the Chagres river. The tropical rains in Central America are the most serious obstacle to the construction and maintenance of a canal, which must be out of reach of sudden and excessive inundations. This object could never be accomplished at Panama, with the channel bed at the sea-level. Neither is a lock canal, in my opinion, possible, for a canal with locks or lifts must have at its highest level an abundant, safe and controllable supply of water, and this can only be had in Central America on the Nicaragua route. There it already exists in perfection.

These facts regarding Panama clearly indicate the wide and radical difference in the conditions existing between that route and Nicaragua, and it is idle, as will later be more fully demonstrated, for the adverse critics of the projected canal to contend that the failure of the Panama scheme proved the impossibility of the Nicaraguan or any isthmian canal. That project was defeated by local difficulties, mainly by the uncontrolled giant floods of the Chagres river, which hold undisputed sway over this route, and by the Culebra cut, the character of which had never been properly ascertained.

THE THREE MAIN SCHEMES.

The Tehuantepec Ship-Railway.

This project for a ship-railway across the isthmus at Tehuantepec, in Southern Mexico, was conceived and advocated with great energy and abiHty by Eads, who succeeded in converting to his view a large number of engineers and men of a scientific cast of mind in various parts of the world,^ although he had the consensus of public opinion, — *' the common-sense of mankind," as his opponents in the United States termed it, — opposed to him. With his death, however, the scheme fell out of favour, and no successor has taken his place. Eads was a man not only of commanding talents as an engineer, but of that rare class of resourceful, magnetic, persuasive personalities, equipped with boundless courage, vitality, and energy in face of all difficulties, of whom de Lesseps was such a striking example. Lesseps, it is too often forgotten, was not an engineer, either in the professional meaning of the word, or even in a much broader sense.

' The report of the House Committee on Commerce contained the following :

"In this connection, however, it is but proper to say that in the opinion of the most able and well-known engineers, naval architects, and ship-builders of the world, the construction of a ship-railway at Tehuantepec, in accordance with the plans which have been submitted to them by Mr. Eads, is entirely practicable. Indeed, many of these experts go much further than this, and declare that a railway is preferable to a canal ; — first, in the economy with which it can be constructed ; second, in the facility with which it may be enlarged when commerce demands its enlargement ; third, in the economy with which it can be operated ; and fourth, in its ability to transport vessels with greater rapidity and less delay."

His brilliant plan was to take ships bodily from one ocean to the other on a four-fold steel-laid track, drawn by as many locomotives abreast. The length of the line was to be 1 54 miles ; the termini Salina Cruz, on the Pacific Ocean, and Barra, on the Gulf of Mexico ; the maximum height to be crossed, 755 feet above sea-level. Extraordinary as was his proposed undertaking, it is by no means beyond the range of possibility, and has one great advantage, that of being built above the floods, while a canal must be beneath them. There is, in fact, at the present moment a similar ship-railway now in progress, and about three-fourths already built, though on a much smaller scale, it is true, which will probably pave the way for other works of a similar nature. This littleknown work, the Chignecto ship-railway, connecting the navigation of the Bay of Fundy with the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is 17 miles in length, and will be capable of carrying ships weighing 2,000 tons.

The concession granted by the Government of Mexico to Eads was for a period of fourteen years from 6th May, 1 88 1. The cost, estimated at ^3,750,000 ($18,750,000), was to be refunded at the rate of ^250,000 ($1,250,000) per annum, should the profitsexceed ^750,000 ($3,750,000) per annum. An ordinary railway, 190 miles in length, — planned by Eads to be used as a " service " line to aid in the construction of his ship-railway — has actually been carried out by the Mexican Government, and recently opened from ocean to ocean, though much is still wanting to make the line thoroughly serviceable. In order to render it valuable for the purposes of inter-oceanic railway traffic It will be necessary not only to alter the character of the railway but to improve the two harbours. To complete all this will involve, it has been estimated, an expenditure of $8,000,000 (gold), and it is said that these improvements will be provided within the next three years.