THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL. 177 



try. The first sitting was held on the 15th of May, 

 1879, at the meeting place of the Geographical Society, 

 nearly every country being represented at the Con- 

 gress. Mexico sent the engineer, F. de Garay, and 

 China the mandarin Li-Shu-Chang. The United 

 States were represented by Admiral Ammen, whose 

 wide knowledge was of great service, Commander 

 Selfridge, and the engineer, Menocal ; while the coun- 

 tries of Europe had sent their leading geographers 

 and engineers, such as Sir John Hawkshaw, and Sir 

 John Stokes, Commander Cristoforo Negri, Signor de 

 Gioia, the engineer Dirks, who cut the Amsterdam 

 canal, and his colleague Conrad, President Ceresole, 

 Colonel Coello, Dr. Broch, Admiral Likatcheff, Colonel 

 Wouvermans, M. d'Hane Stenhuys, and many others 

 whose names I ought perhaps to add, including all 

 the most eminent scientific men in France. With an 

 assembly thus composed, it was quite certain that the 

 discussion would be frank, open, and luminous, and 

 that the Congress would not separate until it had 

 found a solution for the problem which was set be- 

 fore it. 



The labours of this assembly will occupy an impor- 

 tant place in history, and it will not, therefore, be 

 thought that the space which I devote to the subject 

 here is more than its importance deserves. In order 

 to expedite its task the Congress was subdivided into 

 five committees, each of which undertook to investi- 

 gate one division of the very complex subject which 



