The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-12-10


excited by tho tales OF the aborigines. saw
the vision OF natural waterway bisect-
Ing tho continent to Join the flood OF the
Atlantic with the sweep OF the seas to the
south. Sleeping and waking, this figment
Of fanay--a rainbow, at the end Of which
was to be found the wealth OF the Indies
held with him to the grave Dying, he
bequesthed 1t to his lieutenants. and right
featly did they pursue every prismatic
arc In the imaginative horizon. They
sought In vain. Medieval rainbows were
as elusive as those that span the heavens
today. and the chase was just as prohtless.
The dream. however, too near what should
have been not to be. had taken too firm
o hold on the minds of men to BIO lightly
cast aside. Whisperings of the tales of
the natives that had first directed the
fancy of the great admiral to the quest for
the strait. ever drifted on the tropical
breezes and. as events have shaped since,
there was more in them than mere sound
ing. They had such good basis that. II
signs fail not, the dream of the Sixteenth
century Will find its realization in the
early Twentieth, when the Nicaragua
canal will have been completed.
II 10 far cry from the protege of lsa-
bella TO the commercial captains OF the
present day. Four centuries have elapsed
from the lime the great Genoese first set
out in quest of a passage TO the Indies.
Countless daring spirits since have map
ped encircling seas, new continents have
been discovered. conquered and conse-
Grated to progress by the blood OF the old
They have flourished beyond the widest
conjecture, and, in their turn, have given
to the world OF their Drawn ana brain
and heart that has made OF it what IL is
today. Many great social and economic
questions have engaged the attention OF
nationsi wars have been waged much
history has been written; great improve
ments have been made on the highways
OF commereei new conditions have arisen
and new theories have been advanced to
meet them. Times have changed since
the caravelS sailed from La Rabida. and
people have changed with them. Every
thing else has altered. apparently, except
the never ending round OF che planets and
the unalterabie conviction that an Amer
lean transl5thmian canal would be the
greatest blessing that could be conferred
on mankind
No dissenting voice has been heard to
cry out against this conviction. The small
opposition manifested through these fate
ful centuries has been pitifully critical
ana only then as to ways and means. All
that have investigated in recent years
have agreed, not only as to the advisable
ity, but the necessity of such an inter-
oceanic passageway. through which the
heets OF the world could sail on and en-
IN great circles OF universal prosperity
The conQuistadores, first OF all, sought
for this channel with persistence worthy
81 the need TO be gained. They were con-
yinced that IL was there. because they
thought that the Creator surely must have
digged 1t Tor his greater glory and their
eafier road to the wealth of the Indies
Flushed with the generosity of Provi-
aence that had vouchsafed to them a new
world of boundless reach and endless pos
sioilities. they confidently relied that the
celestial munihence would be manifested
further in the gift OF Cod made passage
way from the known edge of this terra
incognita to the illimitable waters be-
yond. They possessed nothing but their
SHIPS, their awords and their dauntless
spirits They were In fear OF God only
"hen de rode tho storm. They loved their
enemies for the riches they might yield
and Loyalty served their king to their own
advantage. They scorned the knowledge
OF books. which they lett to clustered
triars; science they had none, yet they
had faith that the tropical foliage on the
new shores masked that which was de-
srable above all things. the Ssecret OF
the Strait OF tho quest of which the in
domitable Cortez wrote to the Spanish
court: Although | believe that IL will
cost me more than 10000 pesos OF gold. il
the strait Is found / shall hold 1t to ba
the greatest service have yet rendered"
Ihey We're great lot, these clustering
sailor warriors of their most Catholic mai
estes. They make bold pictures in the
background of the ages. They did much
MOODY work, but withal. their swords
cleared the pathways for advancing civil
secret OF the strait had. undoubtedly very
much to do with impressing upon their
successors the necessity of finding or
founding the channel. Remem bering these
things. 1t is probably just as we'll that no
hypercritical chronicle OF their wander
ings was kept, 1t Ia better maybe that
che romancer has depleted in their stead
: succession OF heroic figures. 1t Is we'll,
400. that San Francisco boulevard bears
me name of Balboa and that Cortez and
riSarro and some of the others make such
wagering swash-bucklers on the stage
and In historical novels.
Roderfgo de Bastidas was about the
noblest OF them all. after Columbus. That
y the reason. probably, that so little is
heard OF him nowadays. He was the first
OF them. also. to see the shores of the
great American isthmus. He sought the
strait and found It not. SO did Columbus
on his second voyage, with similar re-
suit. Soils and Pinzon followed and failed
and SO did Alonzo do ojeda. Then cams
Balboa--Vasco Nunez de Balboa--who first
saw the Pacific on September 25, 1873. and
assumed possession OF It In the name of
his sovereign. eleven years after the dis
covery OF Central America. Balboa was
created adelantado of the countries skirt |
ing the new ocean and he proceeded To ex- |
piore them. He did so in manner that |
marked him as the most remarkable man |
OF time Astounding In great adventures.
ana there Is good reason for the testimony
OF early chroniclers to his genius and dar-
ing as statesman and soldier. That he
was man OF resources is proved by his
transporting four brigantines across the
istnmus OF Darien, an exploit OF WONDER
iul character. initiated later by Cortez.
Following Balboa. his murderous father
ln-iaw. Pedro de Arias de Avila, tried for
the passageway. Then came Gil Com
zales and cortez. Magellan, In 1890. dis
covered the strait bearing his name. but
u was too far south for the purposes Of
that day, and Contreras Andagoya and
others continued the search for the trans
isthmian channel.
These names about complete tho list
OF the seekers for the secret OF the strait
Before the last had given up the hopeless
task some student OF the then Crude
science OF engineering had arrived at the
conclusion that there was no secret for
The very good reason that there was no
strait He advanced this theory at the