THE CANAL
TO-DAY

AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT

OF THE CANAL PROJECT FROM THE EARLI-
EST TIMES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
THE ENTERPRISES OF THE FRENCH COM-
PANY AND THE UNITED STATES, WITH A
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE WATER-
WAY AS IT WILL BE ULTIMATELY CON-
STRUCTED: TOGETHER WITH A BRIEF
HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY AND THE FIRST
COMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT OF ITS PHYSI-
CAL FEATURES AND NATURAL RESOURCES.

BY

FORBES LINDSAY

Author of "Panama, the Isthmus and the Canal," etc.

WITH FIFTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM RECENT
PHOTOGRAPHS, AND FIVE MAPS

HARVARD
COLLEGE
LIBRARY

Copyright, 1910,

BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY

(INCORPORATED)

Copyright, 1912,

BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY

(INCORPORATED)

All rights reserved

First Edition, October, 1910
New Revised Edition, January, 1912

Electrotyped and Printed by
THE COLONIAL PRESS
C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U. S. A.

DEDICATED

TO MY FRIEND

J. E. Durham

IN APPRECIATION OF HIS STERLING CHARACTER

AND AMIABLE PERSONALITY

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

WORK on the Canal has moved with such rapidity during the twelve months since this volume first appeared, that the end is clearly in sight and the Administration is looking beyond construction to operation. The world at large joins in this prospective view with the keenest interest. There is a wide-spread desire to know the conditions under which the waterway will be operated, the facilities it will offer to traffic, and the charges it will impose upon vessels using it. Whilst these questions cannot be settled until Congress has taken action upon them, it is possible to give a statement of the plans and the recommendations of the Canal Administration in regard to them. An additional chapter in the present edition has been devoted largely to the subject.

The year just passed has witnessed a marked increase in the interest displayed in Panama as a field for investment and enterprise. The hundreds of enquiries received by the author