am will not be founded on rock, but have
a central puddled core extending 40 feet below the bottom of the lake,
and sheet piling some 40 feet still deeper. At least that is as I then
understood it.

De Lesseps was not an engineer and knew little of science. His Company's
failure was directly due to his ignorance and disregard of the advice of
competent men.

Manual labour on the canal has been done mostly by Jamaica negroes. As
said before, they are immune to yellow fever; and, speaking of the
negro, it may be said here that his susceptibility to pain, compared to
that of the white man, is as one to three, but the effect of a fair
education is to increase it by one-third. What then is that of the
monkey, the bird, the reptile or the fish? May I dare the statement,
though most of us perhaps know it, that the sensitiveness of woman to
that of man is as fifty-three to sixty-four. Even the woman's sense of
touch, as in the finger-tips, being twice as obtuse as man's. The
Bouquet D'Afrique, of course, is perceptible to us and offensive, but it
is said that to the Indians of South America both black and white men
are in this respect offensive. The "Foetor Judaiicus" must be noticeable
also to have deserved the term.

But this is sad wandering from the subject in hand and not exactly
"reminiscences." I only hope that this and other departures, necessary
for stuffing purposes, may be excused, especially as they are probably
the most entertaining part of the book.

To return to the town of Panama. In the bay and amongst the islands were
quite a number of whales and flocks of pelicans. More curious to observe
was an enormous number of small reddish-brown-coloured snakes, swimming
freely on the surface of the sea, yet not seemingly heading in any
particular direction. I could get no information regarding them. The
famous Pearl Islands lie forty miles off Panama. The pearls are large
and lustrous.

On reaching harbour the health officials came on board, and to my
surprise selected me alone among the passengers for quarantine. The
explanation was that I had gone ashore at Corinto. So I was ordered to
take up my abode during the period of incubation in the detention house,
a building in an isolated position; there I was instructed, much to my
relief, that I might go to town or anywhere else during daylight, but
must, under severe penalty, be back and inside the protecting screens
before the mosquitoes got to work. The object wa