THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL. 189 



canal is about to be cut ; it is upon this wide cause- 

 way, which separates North and South America, that 

 the weak point in the armour has been found to effect 

 a breach between the two oceans. 



Let us begin with the north and "go southward, 

 following the report of the sub-committee. We come 

 first to the isthmuses of Tehuantepec and Honduras ; 

 next to Nicaragua, then to Panama, San Bias, and 

 Darien, each of these passages corresponding to one 

 or more schemes for a canal, either on the level or 

 with locks. 



Sefior de Garay, the Mexican delegate, dwelt with 

 great force and sincerity upon the advantages offered 

 by Tehuantepec for the tracing of the canal, but he 

 met with little support. His scheme entailed a canal 

 150 miles long, with a maximum altitude of 975 feet 

 above the level of the sea, to reach which 60 locks 

 upon each slope would have been required. The cost 

 of constructing these 120 locks and the fact that 

 vessels would have been twelve days passing through 

 the canal led to the immediate rejection of this 

 project. 



Seven or eight engineers, among them Messrs. 

 Blanchet, Lull, and Menocal, brought forward plans 

 for making the canal by way of Nicaragua. The 

 geographical position of Nicaragua is, as a matter of 

 fact, a very favourable one for the purpose, as in the 

 centre of the isthmus a fine lake, 110 miles long by 

 35 broad, occupies the plateau which is 125 feet above 



