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The National Geographic Magazine 



Photo by Dillwynn M. Hazlett 



Panaman Cattle 



the brains, but also the muscle necessary 

 successfully to complete this great and 

 good work, beneficial not only to our- 

 selves, but to the whole world." 



A recent writer, concerning the feed- 

 ing of the men employed on the canal, 

 says : "Panama is 2,000 miles distant 

 from a base of supplies, and the greater 

 part of the work will necessarily be done 

 in a jungle and under severe climatic 

 conditions." This is the usual idea of 

 those who have not visited the Isthmus 

 and familiarized themselves with the 

 facts. If the "climatic conditions are 

 severe" now, will they not be so when 

 the canal is finished? Will not its main- 

 tenance require that work to be done 

 "under severe climatic conditions" ? I 

 found these "severe climatic conditions" 



today to be such that scores of men now 

 employed on the Isthmus have deter- 

 mined to make it their future home. The 

 small population of the Isthmus is not 

 due to the "severe climatic conditions" as 

 much as to the ignorance of the true 

 climatic conditions, the marvelous fer- 

 tility of the soil, and the natural resources 

 of the country. As these become better 

 known, we will witness a rapid increase 

 of its population. 



Nor will "the greater part of the work 

 necessarily be done in a jungle." The 

 canal route follows in the main close by 

 the Panama Railroad from Colon to 

 Panama. It passes through cultivated 

 fields as well as through virgin tropical 

 forests. The distance from Colon to 

 Panama is 47.65 miles, with the follow- 



