, 1879-03-28
INTEROCEAN1C CANAL.

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IAH1rt sia1en t'-oH the lhttl u May Coll
Ercsa Will meet In The hnll Of the Geographical
Society Of Paris, ntA uuticf tho Presidency of
N, dc Lea.eps. to drc,,,c on lin ,,nac,o fn+,n ~
nnc NJ lin rrroicst rn1troarn,, nsoaan,. ~ ~.
oe -. ~" s@o. p,olcete u tI'H
century,-she Union ol isie Atlantic and the pa-
cf1c by ehiItcana. France thinks atle ought
TO do this work. or at lcast to bear a principal
,,",'a ,ar IN IL anu i. a'sult TO eslnsay er after
.sa ., euo eou" 1u''hn.ty IN tte cutt'hEo1
Inc eucz lanai. ahe Is untitled to hearing
aid full hearing, and she las her plans cut
md dried. The Congress wit pc a kind OF trt.
rranah s,,.s s,. s",! "n'e't y, '"e Wv" !.vn,
rte.'en sc,et"es' poth 1nhueattally backed, shall
Ne hfally launched on The market. Que OF tic
French schemes Is for d canal by Dar,cn,
tic nnrrowcst part Of the continent; TIC
o. 49, eal'u " NNaIaEua' "netet
ns us nlsiiors cot,ten1, By the utilization Of the
.nxe INK a Gnu ,ss outet tue Kver san Juan, Nature
san % 1Nade to 10 nearly al TIC WORK. Local
concessions have been obtained fn ench caec aud
provisional co,npancs formed, whIct, arc AT dag
gers drawn. l ain 1n position to gtro thu Rrgu-
h,ehts which one OF ti'rse companies tic Nc.
ataanan. VIII oflhs before the Congressional
tribunal. =.--s.,
Of eourae, at t'rst sight, tlc tnorc plausible
sce1ne, tnorc espccialfyns rs Boine engineers main.
tan tsat u ean ,c dung on tic eveli tint is to
ahJ, AZ at s1icz, without Locks The engineer of
d. Lesscp:, tna!ntalns lint, II this ware III nny
case conrclrably possible, 1t would tD i1npras'
ticnlle, owing to the enormous engineering uli"
cnltiss hl'a CONSEQUENT cust oL excenl1on. ltle
Iord!lieras oppose most fosnii!iablc rneky 9ar-
rter at Darfcn, ind to cut through thcm would be
ens OF schemes proposed III thu course oE The lust
thirty year. most ilayc n'ndo shiowteek on this
oiMtaclc Ito" arc you to got through the Cor
dlferast BY a tunnel, said Commander Self.
have to oo miles in length. pierced In the sola
rocs, atrl, FOR n tunnel, almost inconceivab!Y
hiGh hi,h whtc, 70 admit tsl1 passage or s1ips IN
lll!! fn1!' slofcoYcr might tafnbio I'll ut any
oisen felt at tl!e fsthmus. Nuke an orcn cutting,
thu, sass II. 10 uogorza, another author q q
Dartcn project; hut suCli cuttli+ IN tts sltal-
lowest Part would be o. depth 1nore t!'an
double tlls hlghs q Notsc pame,-a perfect
engineer, indeed, whose observation appears
to have been very subservlcnt, to his fancy mud
ilss Wte'lcs, protesBca to i!ase discovered proyi-
dental dip in the Cordislcras,-a cutting made
by Nalse exrfesssy IT, ennnle 0n t2 run M
cover trace Of y anywfiere but OIL lila own
map. The gscat United aiates surveying e3pe-
dltion organized bY Marry few ycars nE0 to
test THIS and other statements, and 10 make
comprehensive reports on all possible routes,
RnW nothing Of tllo kintl; sa,Hl the conclusion Is
inevitable that, II such depression existed fndc-
pelueiisly Of tile Inapt It r1ust HaTe bctn eoiHe-
where on the head Of the tliseoverer,, at their
lowest point II! thfs TcE!on the Cordllicrns arc
over 300 feet above the level OF the Paellc at tlle
aood.
Tic most plausible Darfcn Bchcn1c, TINT of
Commander 9clfFltlGe, 1nakes dctour to avoid
the worst difficulties, Involves the use Of locks
md The cutting OF & tunnel 8,e0o metres in
!enEth,--tllc whole at nh csttinatc cost OF G00,-
000 900 francs, which would be sure TO swell to
,000, ,0O 900 In execution. Under MI these CIT
c,ltnstances, Dnrtcn, IN spite of the narrownces
Of thu tsthTua, seems to present most serious
disadvantages, not counting one which have
omitted to qu0tC on the authority OF the reports
before mc,-t.lc extreme l,rhealthtncss of the
climate. The laborcrs who made tho Panama
Colon Railway III tint region died like flies.
There are no settlements worth speaking Of on
the istiimus ncay tue proposed liiIeB Of cannl;
everything would tlnyc to be crcated; every
0hstaclc Of Nature hl,d Art s against the under
taking,-l nm still quoting the case for the
prosecution as l fluid In tito documents
put forward OH tho Nicaraguan side. Aud
this brings mn to lhu nlentlpn Of tie great al-
trrnntiye scfc.nB Of II. ls!anc!!ct. Go n lltt1c
further north than the lstllnlus. to the Lake of
Nicaragua, says NJ l}lauchct, md you avoid all
these d!nteult!Gs. The climate Is good tile
country comparatively well pnopscd.. There is