PANAMA HAT 



5049 



PAN-ANOLICAN 



is a stream, often swelling to 

 a torrent, running right across 

 the route of the proposed canal, 

 and the latter runs down the 

 i-ilimiiM near the Pacific coast, 

 interposing a barrier which would 

 have to be cut. There were two 

 possible courses open to them. 

 The r'leneh chose the tide-level 

 principle, hut the Americans de- 

 cided for a high-level waterway. 



Near the Caribbean outlet of the 

 Chagres river they built a huge 

 r.irthwork, called the Gatun Dam, 

 luhi across the channel of the 

 -in- UN. .in. I another dam about 20 

 in. S. K. at Gam boa. Behind tlir-r 

 dams and held up elsewhere by the 

 conformation of the country, the 

 waters of the Chagres were allowed 

 to accumulate until a lake was 

 formed, 164 sq. m. in extent and 

 at an alt. of 85 ft. The channel of 

 the canal runs for about 30 m. 

 through the lake, up to the surface 

 of which ships are lifted by stu- 

 pendous locks at either end. 



The channel of the canal begins 

 about 4i m. out to sea in Limon 

 Bay in the Caribbean at a depth of 

 41 ft. Through the sea and the 

 shore it runs for 8 m. till it reaches 

 the first locks, the gigantic three- 

 stepped, two-flighted stairway at 

 Gatun. These locks lift the ship on 



to the surface of the Gatun lake. 

 20 m. farther on the channel is com- 

 pressed into the Culebra cutting, 

 uhi. h runs to the Pedro Miguel 

 look at the other extremity of the 

 85- ft. -above-sea-level Hoction. Com- 

 ing from the Caribbean the vessel 

 drops down thi* lock by .'{() ft. to the 

 little Miraflorea lake at 65ft. above 

 sea level, from which the Mira- 

 florea looks in two steps drop it 

 down to the sea-level Halt-water 

 stretch of 8 m. on the Pacific side. 



Roughly estimated, the canal, 

 with its fortifications, cost 100 mil- 

 lion pounds sterling, as against 19 

 millions for the Suez Canal. Its 

 minimum width is 300 ft. at the 

 bottom, and minimum depth 41 ft. 



An important result for the Brit- 

 ish Empire is the change in com- 

 parative distances between England 

 and Australasia and New York and 

 Australasia. Henceforth New York, 

 and not Liverpool, will be nearer 

 to Yokohama, Sydney, and Mel- 



bourne. The 

 canal completed, 

 an agitation arose 

 in the U.S.A. for 

 the exemption of 

 its coastwise ship- 

 ping from the 

 dues, and in Oct., 

 1921, a bill to 

 effect that end 

 passed the Senate. 

 In 1919 there 

 passed through 

 the canal 2,ui"J 



vessels, excluding canal vessels and 

 launches. See Balboa; Colon; 

 <'u|. l.ra; Dredging; Hay, John; 



Look. n Mill* 



,'jraphy. The Panama 



Canal: J. Saxon Mills, 1013; 



1'iinama Canal, F. J. Has- 



kin*, 1914 ; The Panama Canal: 



an engineering treatise, G. W. 



Goethabi, 1916; The Panama Gate 



way, .). H. l'.i-h<.,,, 1918. 



Panama Hat. Lk'ht hat which 

 can be folded without injury. It is 

 made from the young leaf of a 

 palm, the Carludovica palmata, 

 which grows in Central America, 

 chiefly in Ecuador and Colombia, 

 where the hat was exclusively 

 manufactured. The leaf is, however, 

 no\\ imported into Europe. See Hat. 



Pan-American Conference. 

 Name given to a meeting of repre- 

 sentatives of the republics of N. 

 and S. America. The first, held at 

 Washington, 1889-90, was the out- 

 come of years of effort to further 

 the sense of community of interest 



among the states of the American 

 continent. It was followed by 

 conferences at Mexico City, 1901-2; 

 Rio de Janeiro, 1906 ; and Buenos 

 Aires, 1910. Among the subjects 

 discussed were uniformity of 

 weights and measures, inter- 

 national arbitration, patents, and 

 copyrights. 



Pan-Anglican Congress. As- 

 sembly of churchmen from various 

 parts of the world which met in 

 London in July and Aug., 1908. 

 See Lambeth Conference. 



Panama Canal. 1. Qatun Lock, showing a vessel being towed by electrically driven haulers on bank. 2. Gatun Lock from 

 the lake, looking toward Limon Bay. 3. Upper flight o! Gatun Lock, daring construction 



