88 
CHAP. VIII. 
ESTIMATES OF EXPENSES. 
All materials upon the spot.—Calculations based upon the first project. 
—Caledonian Canal taken as the model—Cost of 120 locks — 50 
miles of Canal—Water courses of 18 miles between the Ostuia and 
Tarifa—Correction of the Coatzacoalcos—Total calculated cost 
£3,380,000. —Sales of Land and produce will aid in carrying on 
the work—Provisional train and railways during the formation of 
the Canal. 
Dutens, speaking of the Caledonian Canal, which he 
visited before its completion, observes, that “ in a great un- 
“ dertaking of this kind it is impossible to pre-estimate the 
“ cost of every part.’’ And so it is: the amount of expense is 
mostly influenced by eventual causes, by the mode of husband¬ 
ing the funds, and by the skill with which the engineer con¬ 
ducts the work. 
If in Europe, where it is comparatively easy to obtain cor¬ 
rect data in these matters, it is considered venturesome to 
name beforehand a sum as the probable cost of an undertaking 
of this nature, it must necessarily be more difficult to do so 
in the present case, from the want of the requisite particulars. 
However, by making use of proper investigations, and tending 
to over-estimate the expense rather than to diminish it, more 
cannot be expected in our present disadvantageous position, 
than an approximation to the truth. 
It would be an error to suppose that every portion of the 
work must, in our case, cost more than it would in Europe. 
The prodigious quantity of timber of the best quality which 
the projector is authorised to use at pleasure, in virtue of the 
