The Humming Bird. 9 



NICARAGUA AND PANAMA CANALS 



PROSPECTS. 



A British Expert Declares Them Excellent, and 

 Believes the U.S. Government Should Build. 



Mr. Archibald Ross Colquhoun, a well-known explorer, 

 and first Governor of Mashonaland, has returned from several 

 months' mission to Nicaragua, where he thoroughly inspected 

 the Nicaragua Canal route and visited the Panama Canal. 

 He was present at Managua during the British occupation of 

 Corinto. 



Asked if the canal scheme was practicable, Colquhoun 

 emphatically replied : '' Undoubtedly it is practicable. I feel 

 certain of that. But there are many points of engineering 

 importance requiring consideration and full discussion. The 

 American Commission is composed of men of the highest 

 ability, and will, I believe, issue an impartial report, not in 

 any way based on party lines. 



" The total length from Greytown, on the Atlantic, to 

 Brito, on the Pacific, 1245: miles will be unimpeded navigation 

 of the River San Juan and Lake Nicaragua. Twenty-one and 

 one-half miles will be through artificial basins, making the 

 total distance 142^ miles in which ships can travel with little 

 or no restriction. There will be only twenty-six and three- 

 fourths miles of actual digging to be done. 



" From what I have seen of Nicaragua, and in a 

 lengthened visit to the United States (especially the Southern 

 States), I am more than ever convinced of the immense im- 

 portance to the United States of this project. I feel sure 

 that it is only under the auspices of the United States 

 Government that this great enterprise can be carried through 

 as it should be. That is, by overcoming all difficulties in 

 regard to execution, and throwing the proposed waterway 

 open as an international channel to the world's commerce. 



"The canal, in my opinion, will be universally of greater 

 importance than the Suez Canal, and will largely revolutionize 

 the shipping routes of the world. For the United States the 

 canal will have the effect of developing the trade of the Pacific 

 slope and the Southern States." — Twice-a- Week World. 



I am exactly of the same opinion as Mr. Archibald Ross 

 Colquhoun, and as I have said before, not many years will pass 

 before the opening, not only of the Nicaragua Canal, but also 



