452 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The following table shows the total excavation in both canal and 

 derivations. The figures are those of the Canal Company, expressed 

 in cubic metres : 



According to these statistics the total cube of canal and deflections 

 was 105,090,000 cubic metres ; the amount excavated is 31,920,000 

 cubic metres, leaving 73,170,000 to be removed. In other words, 

 thirty per cent of the work is finished, and seventy per cent remains. 

 The deflections are nearly half finished. The principal machine-shops 

 are at Colon, Matachin, and Panama. These, with the hospitals and 

 quarters for oflicials and laborers, if placed side by side, would cover 

 an area of eighty-one acres. They are frame-buildings, j)icturesquely 

 situated, with sills resting on masonry supports, and roofs of corrugated 

 iron. They are clean, well-ventilated, and admirably suited to the cli- 

 mate of the Isthmus. The " cantines " are kept by Chinamen, who 

 board the laborers at reasonable rates. The native huts are unhealthy ; 

 the vegetable matter of a thatched roof decays and becomes a harbor 

 for insects. The present quarters are decidedly in the line of economy 

 both as regards health and future expense and needs. I visited the 

 Isthmus in 1881, when the country was a thickly-matted jungle, the 

 only signs of habitation being a few huts at railway-stations. To-day 

 thousands of acres are cleared, and such is the installation of the com- 

 pany that the canal seems to lie in a prosperous and poi)ulous district. 

 In fact, the passenger from Matachin to Culebra is reminded rather of 

 a single settlement than of several railway-stations. 



At the time of my visit 10,040 workmen were employed by the 

 contractors ; with the 92G employes of the company, the total force 

 was 11,506 men. The laborers are chiefly negroes from Jamaica or 

 other island.s, with a few from our Southern States, who have gone to 

 Colon in coasting-vessels, and have been attracted by the wages of 

 $1.50 per day in Colombian coin. About 300 Kroomen and as many 



