FLORIDA AND THE WEST INDIES 239 



to the East Indies, with, it is believed, fatal results. 

 I hesitate to dispute the forecast of so great an 

 authority, but it seems just worth mentioning (what, 

 of course, he is perfectly aware of) that there has 

 for years been direct steamship communication 

 between Panama, which stands at one end of the 

 Canal, and the Asiatic ports concerned, with con- 

 necting transportation by railroad from the other 

 seaboard. Why, then, should the danger be any 

 greater, seeing that Stegomyia, in the form of egg, 

 larva or perfect insect, can be carried by a variety 

 of agencies, with direct communication by water? 

 Indeed, even the railroad communication may be 

 eliminated from the argument, since, previous at 

 any rate to the great work carried out by Colonel 

 Gorgas and his energetic brigade, Stegomyia was 

 quite as abundant in the vicinity of the Pacific port 

 as on the other side of the Isthmus. And this fear 

 of the admission of yellow fever into our Asiatic 

 possessions seems to me to make altogether too 

 little of what has already been accomplished, and 

 what will doubtless be accomplished in the near 

 future, and years before a single vessel can pass 

 the Bocas, by the sanitary authorities, under the 

 supervision of the man who did so much for Havana, 

 waging against the brindled insect a longer and 

 fiercer war than his fellow-officers waged against 

 the Spaniard. 



Whether the Canal is interesting or not from 

 such distant standpoints as New York and London, 

 its grip on the visitor privileged to see as much as 

 has been done is undeniable. Indeed, the region, 

 apart from its mutilation in order to join two 

 oceans, is in itself of amazing interest to the 



