ck, will go to the
Mexican nation.

The Tehuantepec Railway is a very important line, in that it forms a
short transcontinental route across North America, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific Oceans; and it may be expected to compete with the Panama
Canal, in the carriage of passengers and freight. The distance from
ocean to ocean in an air line is only 125 miles, and the line itself is
only 192 miles long. This interesting route crosses the _divortia
aquarum_, or water parting, of the continent at an elevation of only
730 feet above sea-level, at the Chivela Pass. The isthmus of
Tehuantepec has been considered of geographical interest ever since the
expeditions of Cortes discovered it. Projects both for a canal and a
ship-railway have at different times during last century been brought
forward to traverse it. The existing railway line was built in 1894,
but its construction was faulty, and, moreover, the terminal ports,
Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf side, and Salina Cruz on the Pacific side,
were inadequate. In 1899 an English firm was called in by the Mexican
Government; contracts entered into for the re-construction of the line,
and the making of its terminal ports, all of which has been carried to
completion; a work of endurancy, solidity, and utility being the
result, which reflects credit on British methods generally and upon the
contracting engineers in particular. This is the same firm[45] which
carried out the great harbour works of Vera Cruz, and the drainage of
the Valley of Mexico, and it has earned an enviable reputation in
Mexico. The Tehuantepec Railway is 1,200 miles north of the Panama
Coast, and may be expected to take a good deal of the United States and
international transoceanic traffic, as it is nearest to the "axial
line" of the world's commerce of any American isthmusian route. The
railway is owned by the Mexican Government, but is worked by the
British contractors in conjunction therewith under a partnership
agreement. At Salina Cruz, the Pacific terminus, a fine harbour has
been constructed at considerable cost; and a dry dock capable of
holding vessels 600 feet long. The whole forms one of the most
important seaports on the American Pacific coast, and reflects credit
on its British constructors and on Mexican financial enterprise.

[Footnote 45: See p. 336.]

[Illustration: NEW PORT OF SALINA CRUZ, ON THE PACIFIC: THE GREAT DRY
DOCK. (See also p. 306.)]

The Mexican Southern Railway is a narrow-