THE ISTHMIAN CANAL. 89 



ring evidence, that these fountains of Moses, as they are termed, are iden- 

 tical with Ashdoth Pisgah, "the springs of i'isgah," mentioned in the open- 

 ing portions of Deuteronomy. If this be so, it furnishes additional confir- 

 mation of the faithfulness of Porter's researches in this most interesting 

 field of sacred topograph}-. — St. Louis Republican. 



THE ISTHMIAN CANAL. 



OF all the points in the great Central American isthmus, reaching from 

 Texas to Aspinwall, and dividing the two great oceans, the most desirable 

 for the j)urpose of a ship canal is that surveyed a few years ago by a United 

 States government expedition, and cutting across the isthmus of Panama at 

 its Southern extremity. It is very probable that a route via Lake ISTicara- 

 gua or the isthmus of Tehuantepec would be cheaper and easier in cutting 

 the proposed canal, but it either would be open to the objection of running 

 a great distance through the territory of people that would hardly permit 

 it to be neutralized or placed under the protection of the commercial 

 nations of the earth, or free from toll, etc., for any lengthened period. The 

 United States would hardly allow of a proposition to place a canal running 

 through any portion of its domain under the control of foreign nations, 

 and no other power can be expected to do this any longer than they are 

 compelled by physical force so to do. Besides, the initiative has already 

 been taken, and the right to cut the canal across the isthmus of Panama 

 has been granted by the Columbian government to French capitalists, and 

 the matter may be regarded as already started. The government of the 

 Columbian Eepublic requires that it shall have no locks or tunnels, that it 

 shall have a capacity of five to six thousand tons, that, in brief, it shall be 

 a clear and perfect waterway between the two oceans. They also require 

 that it shall be finished in ten years after the date of the formation of the 

 company, and that it shall not cost over one hundred millions of dollars. 



The value and necessity of such a canal is recognized all over the world, 

 of which there is hardly a maritime nation that is not more or less inter- 

 ested in it. At present, vessels requiring to reach the Pacific from the 

 Atlantic are compelled to go sixty-two degrees or 4,340 miles to the south- 

 ward, more than most of them should, perhaps to double back just as far in 

 their course, and then at last, not least, to round the tempestuous prom- 

 ontory of Cape Horn ; or, as in the case of steamers, to thread the danger- 

 ous straits that divide the group of Terra del Fuego. There would, there- 

 fore, be not only a gain in shortening the passage, but also in the risk from 

 fire, tempests, etc., to which vessels are ordinarily exposed, that would make 

 this canal of the utmost importance to commerce. It would add greatly to 

 the facilities for California commerce. It would shorten the distance to 

 New York by 10,164 nautical miles; that is to say, it would reduce it by 



