Fossil Crocodile. 461 



The important requisite of safe harbours, at either extremity of 

 the canal, is also supplied to the utmost extent of our wishes. 

 At the mouth of the Chagre is a fine bay, which received the 

 British 74-gun ships in the year 1740, when Captain Knowles 

 bombarded the Castle of St. Lorenzo ; and at the other extremity 

 is the famous bay of Panama. Nor is this the only expedient for 

 opening the important navigation between the Pacific and At- 

 lantic Oceans. Further north, is the lake of Nicaragua, which 

 by itself almost extends the navigation from sea to sea. Into the 

 Atlantic Ocean it falls by a navigable river, and reaches to within 

 three leagues of the Gulf of Paparayo in the Pacific. 



Can we refuse to dwell for a moment upon the prospects which 

 the accomplishment of this splendid but not difficult enterprise 

 opens to the United States, as well as to Europe ? It is not merely 

 the immense commerce of the western shores of South America, 

 extending almost from pole to pole, that is brought, as it were, 

 to our very doors ; but immense would be the traffic which would 

 immediately begin to cover that ocean denominated Pacific. All 

 the riches of India and China would move towards America. The 

 riches of Europe and Ameiica would move towards Asia. Vast 

 depots would be formed at the great commercial towns, which 

 would immediately arise at the two extremities of the central 

 canal. 



And is it too much to hope that China and Japan themselves, 

 thus brought so much nearer the influence of American and Eu- 

 ropean civilization, much more constantly and powerfully subject 

 to its operation, would not be able to resist the salutary impres- 

 sions, but would soon receive important changes in manners, arts, 

 ideas, and institutions ? The hope rests on such strong founda- 

 tions, that it seems to rise, upon conten)i)lation, even lo a cer- 

 tainty ! And what results might not be expected for the whole 

 of Asia, that vast proportion of the earth, which in its most fa- 

 voured parts has been, during all the latter ages, condenmcd to 

 demi-barbarism and the n)iseries of despotic power! It may, 

 however, be considered as certain, that South America, which 

 stands so much in need of industrious inhabitants, would receive 

 liosts of laborious Chinese, who already are to be found in all 

 parts of the Eastern .\rcliij)elago in (|uest of employment and of 

 food. These are a few of the results which there is reason to 

 expect from a regulation of the affairsof South .America. ' Tem- 

 pura imUa7Uur, ct nos mulumur in illis.' F. M. 



FOSSIL CROCODILE. 



The following is an extract of a letter from M. Cuvier to the 

 Uoyal Academy of Sciences at Caen, returning thanks for a well 

 executed model which it had sent that learned anatomist of a 



lusbil 



