THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL. 187 



examination of the various American projects for 

 the canal. 



The authors of all these projects appeared before 

 the commission viz., Messrs. Ammen, Menocal, Sel- 

 friclge, de Garay, Blanchet, Belly, Wyse, Eeclus, 

 Mainfroi, and de Puydt and expounded their plans, 

 and met the objections which were advanced. This 

 first operation, which occupied several long and inte- 

 resting sittings, having been completed, the discussion 

 began. Two important sub-committees were formed, 

 one, which consisted of MM. de Fourcy, Yoisin Bey, 

 and five other members, being instructed to appreciate 

 from a technical point of view, the character of the 

 various routes ; while the other, upon which MM. 

 Euelle, Favre, Lavalley, Couvreux, and Cotard sat, 

 undertook to make an estimate of the cost of each 

 plan, and to fix the probable earnings of it, based 

 upon an identical scale of prices for each kind of 

 work. It was between the reports drawn up by these 

 two commissions that the Congress as a whole would 

 be called upon to decide, and by making a summary 

 of their investigations I shall best be able to give my 

 readers an idea of the various schemes submitted to 

 the opinion of the jury. 



In order to explain them properly, I must say a 

 few words as to the geography of the American isth- 

 mus, which extends a distance of 1,437 miles from 

 the north-west to the south-east. Only the coasts 

 and the banks of some of the principal rrvers are 



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