f Fire
Annihilator, or else that there is some mistake!

Eighteen hours of incessant travel brought our intrepid M.D. safe
through to the Pacific Ocean; during which time, if the maps of that
country are of any authority, he passed under quite a number of
mountains and rivers. The trip was not dark at all, as shafts were sunk
every little way, which lighted up the interior quite well, and then the
volcano gave--or ought to have given--some light inside. Indeed, if the
doctor had only thought of it, I presume he would have noticed double
rows of street gas lamps on each side of the canal! The exclusive right
to use this excellent transit route has not, to my knowledge, been
secured to anybody yet. It will be observed that ships as large as the
Great Eastern could easily pass each other in this canal, which renders
it a sure thing for any other vessel unless that shrewd and grasping
fellow the Emperor Louis Napoleon, has got hold of this canal and is
keeping it dark for some still darker purposes of his own--as for
instance to run his puppet Maximilian into for refuge, when he is run
out of Mexico--it is therefore still in the market. And my publication
of the facts effectually disposes of the Emperor's plan of secrecy, of
course.

IV. MONEY MANIAS.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE PETROLEUM HUMBUG.--THE NEW YORK AND RANGOON PETROLEUM COMPANY.

Every sham, as has often been said, proves some reality. Petroleum
exists, no doubt, and is an important addition to our national wealth.
But the Petroleum humbug or mania or superstition, or whatever you
choose to call it, is a humbug, just as truly, and a big one, whether we
use the word in its milder or its bitterer sense.

There are more than six hundred petroleum companies. The capital they
call for, is certainly not less than five hundred million dollars. The
money invested in the notorious South Sea Bubble was less than
two-fifths as much--only about $190,000,000.

Now, this petroleum business--very much of it--is just as thorough a
gambling business as any faro bank ever set up in Broadway, or any other
stock speculation ever conjured up in Wall Street--as much so, for
instance, as the well known Parker Vein coal company.

I shall here tell exactly how those well known and enterprising
financiers, Messrs. Peter Rolleum and Diddle Digwell proceeded in
organizing the New-York and Rangoon Petroleum Company, of which all my
readers have seen the advertisements everyw