omplished.

Honor where honor is due! The man chiefly responsible for the success
of this great work has been Colonel Goethals. We quote here by his
special permission a portion of one of his official reports on the
Canal. We then show the work "as others see us," by giving an account
of the Canal and the impression it has made on other nations, written
by one of the most distinguished of its recent British visitors, the
Hon. Bampfylde Fuller.

COL. GEO. W. GOETHALS, U.S. ARMY

A canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has occupied public
attention for upward of four centuries, during which period various
routes have been proposed, each having certain special or peculiar
advantages. It was not until the nineteenth century, however, that any
definite action was taken looking toward its accomplishment.

In 1876 an organization was perfected in France for making surveys and
collecting data on which to base the construction of a canal across the
Isthmus of Panama, and in 1878 a concession for prosecuting the work
was secured from the Colombian Government.

In May, 1879, an international congress was convened, under the
auspices of Ferdinand de Lesseps, to consider the question of the best
location and plan of the Canal. This congress, after a two weeks'
session, decided in favor of the Panama route and of a sea-level canal
without locks. De Lesseps's success with the Suez Canal made him a
strong advocate of the sea-level type, and his opinion had considerable
influence in the final decision.

Immediately following this action the Panama Canal Company was
organized under the general laws of France, with Ferdinand de Lesseps
as its president. The concession granted in 1878 by Colombia was
purchased by the company, and the stock was successfully floated in
December, 1880. The two years following were devoted largely to
surveys, examinations, and preliminary work. In the first plan adopted
the Canal was to be 29.5 feet deep, with a ruling bottom width of 72
feet. Leaving Colon, the Canal passed through low ground to the valley
of the Chagres River at Gatun, a distance of about 6 miles; thence
through this valley, for 21 miles, to Obispo, where, leaving the river,
it crossed the continental divide at Culebra by means of a tunnel, and
reached the Pacific through the valley of the Rio Grande. The
difference in the tides of the two oceans, 9 inches in either direction
from the mean in the Atlantic and from 9 to 11