TOPOGRAPHY OF PANAMA. 327 



Here Drake died suddeuly in 1595, when about to sack the town after ravaging 

 the mainland. 



Puerto Belo was succeeded by Chagres, on the right side of the Chagres estuary, 

 as the Atlantic terminus of the isthmian route from Panama. The river from 

 this point was navigable for boats to Matachin, within 14 miles of the Pacific as 

 the crow flies. But Chagres, like Puerto Belo, is a hotbed of ague, the marsh 

 fevers raging on this coast being commonly known as " Chagres fevers." Hence 

 the population rapidly disappeared as soon as another station was chosen at the 

 little coralline island of Manzanillo, north-east of Limon Bay, between Chagres 

 and Puerto Belo. 



Here was founded the new port, which was named Colon, in honour of Colum- 

 bus, who discovered the bay in 1502. It also took the name of Aspin/ca/l from one 

 of the chief promoters of the isthmian railway, and both names are still in current 

 use. Colon is a town of wood and iron, with colonnades and verandahs brought 

 ready-made from the States, docks and depots relieved by a few clumps of cocoa- 

 nut palms round about the rail way -station, and adorned by a statue of Columbus 

 facing seawards, executed by Carrier-Belleuse. 



Colon, having been recentl}^ burnt, has been rebuilt on a larger plan and on 

 better-drained ground. Some of the building materials have been supplied from 

 the porphyry quarries at the neighbouring village of Bohio Soldado. It is almost 

 exclusively a place of transit for goods and passengers, nearly all brought by 

 regular lines of Atlantic steamers communicating by the isthmian railway with 

 corresponding lines in the Pacific. Some bananas are also exported to the States 

 from the plantations on the Kio Chagres. Although sheltered by a recently-con- 

 structed embankment, the shipping is still insufficiently sheltered at the mouth 

 of the canal, and sailing-vessels have occasionally to take refuge in the harbour 

 of Puerto Belo. 



So early as 1835 the American, Biddle, was already exploring the isthmus of 

 Panama with a view to the construction of an interoceanic railway. But the work 

 was not begun till the year 1850, when the fame of the Californian Eldorado was 

 attracting thousands of goldseekers from all parts. The line, which was opened 

 in 1855, was carried across swamps and forests, rivers and mountain passes, under 

 a dangerous climate, at the cost of many lives, while the outlay, nearly £40,000 

 per mile, was five times more than the average expenditure in the States. 



But this line, nearly 100 miles long, was from the first of great commercial 

 importance in forwarding goods and passengers between the two oceans. Its 

 historic importance is also incalculable. Thanks to this route the west coast of 

 America was suddenly brought some thousands of miles nearer to Europe. Thus 

 its far-reaching consequences extended to the trade of the world and the whole 

 system of international communications. 



Nevertheless a railway, however useful, especially before the opening of the 

 United States and Canadian transcontinental lines, could be regarded only as a 

 sort of "stop-gap" pending the reopening of the marine communication between 

 the two oceans, the existence of which, though closed since tertiary times, was still 



