SCENE ON TH^ RIO CHILIBRILLO, UP WHICH TRIPS WERE MADE TO VISIT THE BAT 



CAVES 



As palms never grow in water, something of the extent of the flooding of this region can 



be judged 



on the watersheds is important, in order 

 to properly safeguard any part of the 

 lake basin subject to overflow or unusual 

 pressure. Some miles up one of the val- 

 ley estuaries is a ridge called ''the Cana 

 Saddle," forming a natural embankment 

 between the impounded waters and the 

 Caribbean Sea. So low is this rim, when 

 the lake reaches the prescribed maximum 

 of 87 feet, that a prolonged freshet might 

 overflow the bank or a heavy, continuous 

 pressure start a leakage, with the result, 

 in either case, of the rushing waters cut- 

 ting down or bursting through the em- 

 bankment, reducing the lake level below 

 the minimum required for navigation. 



Were this break to occur just before 

 the dry season, it might easily interrupt 

 commerce for months, since the required 

 depth could not be restored until well 

 into the wet season. One or two other 

 localities, also outside the zone, present 



somewhat similar features. Such an in- 

 terruption would be a universal calamity 

 in times of peace and probably more 

 serious for us in times of war. 



IS THE CANAL IMPREGNABLE? 



Military Reasons. — Our refusal to ac- 

 cept the proposal of European nations 

 for an unfortified or neutralized canal, 

 followed by erecting the heaviest possi- 

 ble armament on the seaboard, becomes 

 ludicrous if the operation of the canal 

 can be suspended for months by the use 

 of a stick of dynamite on a northern arm 

 of the lake or through the destruction of 

 the Pedro Miguel locks at the south by 

 projectiles fired from the slopes of the 

 Chagres River, since such easily con- 

 cealed assaults would originate beyond 

 our interior borders. 



To protect the entrances of the canal 

 by fortifications and war vessels, while 



183 



