Chap. XXII.— B.P.J MR. W. H. WEBB. 365 
the Central American Transit Company, Mr. W. II. 
Webb (the American Laird), a gentleman highly re¬ 
spected in New York, terms were made, and it was 
arranged that one of the engineers I had employed in 
1863 should undertake to cut an entirely new road 
from the Lake of Nicaragua to the Atlantic, over 
which Mr. Webb was to have the right of sending an 
American engineer, upon whose report should depend 
the further prosecution of the enterprise on the part of 
himself and his friends. 
In February, 1867, I left New York for Nicaragua. 
A new road was cut and levelled from the Lake to the 
Atlantic; the total distance between was 10If miles, 
and the summit level was 748 feet; while in other re¬ 
spects the great value of the undertaking was abun¬ 
dantly confirmed. But whether from the delay or from 
a change of Government, it is certain that no great 
encouragement was received from the authorities, and 
even the small boon of extending the concession for 
one year was but grudgingly yielded. Neither did 
Mr. Webb think it desirable to send an American en¬ 
gineer to inspect the newly-opened road; so that on 
returning to New York—having, by the bye, been 
wrecked in one of Mr. Webb’s ships, off the coast 
of New Jersey, on the way up (22nd May, 1867), 
—I got but scant comfort from my journey, espe¬ 
cially when it transpired that Mr. Webb would not 
move any further in the matter. I therefore re¬ 
turned to England, convinced at last how really un¬ 
grateful was the task I had undertaken. 
The plate opposite depicts one of the many inci- 
