140 



COLOMBIA. 



sued in November, 1883, appointed a commit- 

 tee of inquiry composed of five members. The 

 investigation will have to take for a basis of 

 its deliberations the frontier treaty between 

 the two republics, of Sept. 14, 1881. Frontier 

 disputes having so frequently led to disastrous 

 wars between Spanish- American republics, the 

 tendency is to avail themselves in the future of 

 amicable arbitration. 



Postal Service. There were forwarded in 

 1879-'80 altogether 463,832 letters and 413,- 

 350 newspapers, and $2,283,974 in coin, be- 

 sides 4,920 kilogrammes of gold-dust and 14,- 

 348 kilogrammes of bar-silver. 



Railroads. There were in operation in 1883 

 the ensuing lines of railway: 1. The Panama 

 railroad, 47 miles; 2. The 17 miles from Sa- 

 banilla to Barranquilla, in the State of Boli- 

 var; 3. Of the Oucuta-Puerto Villamizar line 

 (on the Zulia river), 38 miles were being built, 

 and part of it 12 miles from Villamizar to 

 Altoviento, were in operation; 4. The line 

 from Buenaventura to Cordoba, 13 miles; 5. 

 The line from Puerto Berrio to Zabaletas, 20 

 miles: together, 110 miles in operation. There 

 was formed in New York in 1883 " The Bogo- 

 ta City Railway Company," a company pro- 

 posing to establish in the Federal capital and 

 elsewhere in the State of Cundinamarca a sys- 

 tem of tramways and narrow-gauge railroads, 

 with a capital of $2,500,000. 



Telegraphs. Length of lines in 1879-'80, 

 2,960 kilometres; and number of telegrams 

 forwarded, 150,204. 



The Panama Canal. The progress of the work 

 on the Panama canal at the end of October, 

 1883, is shown by the following statement : 

 " The total length of the canal is 74 kilometres, 

 from the Atlantic to its mouth in the Pacific, 

 at the islands of Naos and Flamenco. It is di- 

 vided into twelve sections, the most important 

 of which are those of Colon, Gorgona, Obispo, 

 Emperador, Culebra, and Paraiso. These united 

 sections employ daily 80 steam-excavators, 40 

 locomotives, and 300 tip-wagons. There are 

 90,000,000 cubic metres to be excavated. The 

 grand cutting, about two thirds of which has 

 already been excavated, is the cutting between 

 Obispo and Paraiso. The force employed upon 

 the work is upward of 10,000 men, and the ex- 

 cavation up to the 1st of October amounted to 

 more than 2,500,000 cubic metres. During these 

 latter months of the bad season the excava- 

 tions have amounted to about 350,000 metres a 

 month. This figure will be quintupled during 

 the fine season, which begins in December, and 

 next year (1884) nearly all of the necessary 

 machinery will be at work, and the excavations 

 will amount to 4,000,000 metres a month. The 

 working force will be augmented to 15,000 

 men. 



" At Colon the port works are nearly com- 

 plete. The Terre Pleine, with the breakwater, 

 destined to diminish the effect of the heavy 

 seas at the entrance of the canal, is finished. 

 An entire town has appeared there, with a 



collection of workshops, warehouses, and con- 

 necting railways for the reception and dis- 

 tribution of the material. The earth from 

 Terre Pleine was taken to Monkey Hill, where 

 a great cutting has been specially opened, with 

 the object of filling up the lagoons at the bot- 

 tom of the Bay of Colon to improve its sanitary 

 condition. This cutting at Monkey Hill will 

 itself be enlarged into Terre Pleine, and will 

 become an annex for stores, workshops, ware- 

 houses, etc. The port of Colon is dredged 

 continually by three machines, lifting together 

 daily from 6,000 to 7,000 metres. One of these 

 dredges can work during the worst weather, 

 and can lift 3,000 metres a day. From Colon 

 to Gatun the contractors are Messrs. Huerne 

 & Slavin, of San Francisco. These engineers 

 must, with three machines of 120 horse-power 

 each, open the first section in six months be- 

 tween Colon and Gatun, a distance of nine 

 kilometres. The first of these machines is able 

 to excavate 6,000 metres a day. The Pacific 

 opening, between the mouth of the Rio Grande 

 and Paraiso, is contracted for by the Franco- 

 American Trading Company. The first ma- 

 chine of the American system will begin to 

 work in a few days, and will be supplemented 

 by others, which will be necessary to finish this 

 part of the canal, from Gatun to Bahia del Sol- 

 dado, in two years. On the Atlantic side the 

 company are working two machines, furnishing 

 a minimum of 4,000 cubic metres a day. 



"The Hercules, an American dredge, is at 

 length at work on the Panama canal, and is 

 giving satisfaction. The average day's work 

 at present may be set down as about 6,000 cu- 

 bic metres." 



Since the establishment of the canal-works 

 the population of Panama has increased enor- 

 mously. Including Colon and Panama, the At- 

 lantic and Pacific termini of the canal, togeth- 

 er with the villages between them, there is a 

 population of 36,000, half of whom are ne- 

 groes from Jamaica. The climate during the 

 dry season December to April exhibits a 

 steady temperature of about 82 Fahr. ; but 

 during the rest of the year, when rain and 

 storms prevail, it is much hotter. Accidents 

 from lightning are common, and are likely to 

 continue, for in the city of Panama there is not 

 a lightning-rod to be found. There is no mut- 

 ton in the country, and, when any lucky resi- 

 dent is able to procure a joint, he invites his 

 friends to partake of the unusual delicacy. The 

 Indian equivalent for the word Panama is 

 " plenty offish," and plenty there is, with the 

 difference that those which are taken from the 

 Atlantic side of the Isthmus are far superior to 

 those on the Pacific side, which are not firm, 

 and become tainted very soon after they leave 

 the water. The Isthmus for fifty years had 

 been free from earthquake-shocks till Septem- 

 ber, 1882. On Aug. 29, 1883, earthquakes were 

 felt in Salvador, Colombia, and Ecuador, while 

 at Talcahuano, Chili, on August 28th, the water 

 rose two feet above high- water mark, and al- 



