328 



MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEIOA, WEST INDIES. 



suspected long after the exploration of the Caribbean Sea. Columbus himself, 

 even after coasting the seaboard from north to south, died in the belief that such 

 a passage would still be found through the region visited by him. 



So deep-rooted was the conviction that the strait must exist that it was figured 

 on all maps down to the year 1540. The illusion spread even to the extreme east, 



Fio-. 149. — The "Mystery of the Strait" at the Beginning of the Sixteenth Centttey. 



>* liUtG incoffniiu^n 



Seta G*iccc^ 



•Septem J'orvnos^ 

 iasulae 



and was embodied in a Chinese map of 1820, which represents the two American 

 continents as separated by no less than three interoceanic channels. The 

 " mystery of the strait," which Charles V. recommended Cortes to solve in 1534, 

 shows that he also believed in this navigable highway. 



But as it could not be found, men's thoughts turned to the idea of opening it by 

 sheer force, and schemes of canalisation were proposed before the region itself had 



