T«HE ISTHMUS. 



220 



my host^ upon the eternal topic of canals and 

 railroads. This is a subject of the deepest 

 interest to the people of the isthmus. The 

 variety of schemes which have been projected^ 

 without one step towards execution^ might well 

 have destroyed all hope ; but so intimate is 

 their conviction of the practicability of such 

 enterprises^ from their knowledge of the local 

 facilities^ that they are prone to seize upon 

 every opportunity of discoursing on the sub- 

 ject^ and imparting information upon it. Most 

 of the natives are engaged in commercial traf- 

 fic through the country^ and notwithstanding 

 their natural languor, and the constitutional 

 indolence inseparable from the climate, they are 

 fully alive to the immense benefit of realizing 

 some one of the various schemes which have 

 been so often suggested. 



Senor Gazo has lived on the spot many years, 

 and was enabled, from his local knowledge, 

 to confirm very satisfactorily to me the facts 

 stated by Humboldt in his narrative, by Lloyd^ 



