THE RISING LAKE COVERED MANY 
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NATIVE VILLAGES 
Inhabitants in the remote valleys had no faith in the predicted rise and neglected to remove 
their property in time 
A ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL PARK 
While the various so-called insular 
possessions of the United States present 
many strange forms of plant and animal 
life, most of these are beyond the cur- 
rent of our domestic intercourse and 
are little visited by travelers from other 
lands. Wonderful as are our national 
parks, they must be seen, if at all, by 
those diverted from the customary lines 
of travel. 
The Canal Zone, however, is seen en 
route, and is the only Federal domain of 
surpassing interest that can be directly 
traversed by boat or rail and in which 
each citizen having a feeling of proprie- 
torship should favor its permanent im- 
provement and beautification. The ter- 
minal cities of the canal—Colon and 
Panama—will continue to be objects of 
interest; but how refreshing and enter- 
taining is the trans-Isthmian trip, for 
here can be seen the tropic growths in 
all their luxuriance, and here ought to 
be visible every native variety of tree, 
shrub, and bloom, the wonderful bird 
life, the strange species of mammals and 
reptiles, and all that goes toward mak- 
ing a panoramic summary of tropical life. 
The lake district, as the center of this 
great international park, would soon be- 
come the natural home of the deer, pec- 
caries, tapirs, monkeys, alligators, croco- 
diles, and iguanas; a resort for every 
variety of fresh-water fish known to the 
southern continent; the place to colonize 
vast rookeries of heron and egrets, while 
protection against the gun would soon 
make the routes of travel resound with 
the noisy chatter of parrots and macaws, 
and myriads of bright-colored songsters 
would give added color to the orchid- 
laden trees. 
A LESSON FOR OTHERS 
What an example in wild-life conser- 
vation to our sister republics of the 
South! Such self-restraint in useless or 
wasteful destruction would soon bring to 
the car windows and to the edge of each 
hamlet a varied and interesting life now 
hidden to most eyes in the impenetrable 
jungles. The introduction of many beau- 
tiful and useful plants from South Amer- 
ica could be supplemented by those from 
Africa and similar climes, and not out of 
line with such a display, as already sug- 
gested by Colonel Roosevelt, would be 
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