10 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



might prove less expensive and overcome the ten-foot "lift" from lower to upper 

 level with greater ease than a lock. 



Next, let us look at the Pacific section. It is a generally received idea that 

 the Cordilleras of the isthmus extend in one unbroken fcarrier from Mexico to 

 South America. Fortunatel)', in Nicaragua they trend to the eastward of the 

 lake, ending on its western side in the volcano Monbachio, near Granada. From 

 Granada to Rivas the country is a succession of hills, nowhere rising to an alti- 

 tude of more than i,ooo feet, and sinking to an elevation of less than 130 feet 

 above the lake at the point where the canal crosses the divide. In other words 

 the "cut" to be made is 127 feet, plus the depth of the canal. The divide is 

 six miles from the lake and about ten from Brito, the Pacific terminus. To lock 

 down this distance is a simple matter ; or, again, let Mr. Eads give us a double 

 track railway. 



When the expedition sailed for Nicaragua the great problem to be solved 

 was the discovery of a pass through this western section. More than three months 

 were passed in surveying tentative lines, and when two were found with profiles 

 of less than 130 feet, we could scarcely believe our levels were correct. They 

 were gone over again, one of the routes being only seventy-eight feet at its sum- 

 mit. 



When the expedition returned to the United States the advocates of other 

 routes, unable to find any fault in the Nicaraguan line, immediately set about 

 to discover imaginary objections. It was bruited abroad that there were no har. 

 bors at either termiuus. Let us see if this is true. 



Graytown is in reality a better harbor than ever. Thirty years ago the San 

 Juan and its tributaries from Costa Rica (which enters below the canal) brought 

 down vast quantities of sand and detritus. The volcanic sand, being of light 

 specific gravity, had the effect of making a shift bar across the mouth of the river. 

 Eventually this bar became so extensive that the stream sought an exit further 

 southward, at Colorado Bay, where it now discharges. There are to-day fourteen 

 feet of water inside of the bar, and outside of it the ocean bed is hard and stable, 

 the coast current having set the whole amount of sand back against the outer 

 shore, which is now covered with trees and bushes. The absence of the silt- 

 bearing river is, therefore, a cause for congratulation ; and a channel once dug 

 through Greytown Bar, the harbor is an accomplished and enduring fact. All 

 tropical rivers are a curse to a harbor. There is not the slighest chance that the 

 San Juan will ever return to its original bed, the history of its change of course 

 and the configuration of the land, both going to prove that its tendency is to 

 work south. 



It must be granted that there is no good harbor at Brito, the Pacific terminus, 

 but there is an excellent one a few miles to the southward, which would afford 

 ample refuge for incoming vessels. Brito, however, is susceptible of very great 

 improvement at moderate cost ; a tall cliff protects the roadstead from northers, 

 and the bottom land of the mouth of Rio Grande (which empties at the base of 

 the cliff) can be easily excavated. 



