§ 2. The Tehuantepec Route.

According to this method of enquiry, we had best begin our examination of the isthmus in the north. Among the southern plateaux of Mexico, the Cordillera gradually assume the form of a dividing ridge, and extend southeast through the isthmus of Tehuantepec, keeping close to the Pacific shore. In the crest of this range, midway along the isthmus and exactly at its narrowest point, lie two mountain passes, Tarifa and Chivela, in close proximity to each other. Just north of these depressions are the head-waters of the Rio Coatzacoalcos, and from this point the winding river may be traced, down the gradual but continuous descent of the mountains, until it empties finally into the Bay of Campechy on the Atlantic side. The Pacific slope of the range is far more precipitous at this point, but it, too, is furrowed by numerous mountain streams, which disgorge themselves abruptly into the lagoons of the southern shore. Under such orographic and hydrographic conditions, therefore, a provisional transit-way may be laid out directly across the isthmus of Tehuantepec at this point. After the isthmus, this route has been named the Tehuantepec Route.

The main ridge of the Cordillera, after traversing the isthmus of Tehuantepec, still continues to run §3. The parallel to the Pacific coast, forming an Honduras unbroken mountain wall facing the sea, Route. down as far as the Gulf of Fonseca. Transverse ranges radiate from the Atlantic slope of this main ridge, intersecting Guatemala in almost

every direction, and stretching out northward and eastward through Honduras to the Caribbean Sea. At the Gulf of Fonseca the mountainous sea-wall terminates rather abruptly in a group of detached peaks around whose base the Rio Goascoran finds its way to the southern ocean. This little stream has its sources in the lofty plain of Comayagua, high up between the transverse ranges of central Honduras, whence it has carved out its valley line to the Pacific. In the northern extremity of this plateau rises the Rio Humuya. Winding down between the mountains this river merges at their foot in the broader Rio Ulua, which in turn empties finally into the Caribbean Sea at the Bay of Honduras. Between these two points, therefore, from the Bay of Fonseca on the Pacific to the Bay of Honduras on the Atlantic side, a line might be drawn along the two river valleys, which would at least fulfil the general conditions necessary for the location of an interoceanic railway. This is generally spoken of as the Honduras Route.

Routes.

The plateau formation of central Honduras is continued along the left bank of the Goascoran and around the southerly shores of the Gulf of $ 4. The Fonseca, in the lower plains of Conejo and Nicaragua Leon. It is from amid these latter tablelands that the main range of the Cordillera now bifurcates; one branch continuing along the Pacific coast to unite in the south with the higher volcanic peaks of Costa Rica, the other cutting Nicaragua in a southeasterly direction and terminating finally on

the Caribbean coast just north of the outlet of the Rio San Juan. From this latter branch again great wooded spurs stretch out toward the eastern seacoast, leaving between them but narrow defiles, through which countless streams flow down to mingle in the lagoons of the Mosquito shore. Esconced, as it were, between these two great branches of the Cordillera, lies a truly remarkable depression, about seventy miles wide, which slopes off gradually from the plains of Conejo and Leon in the extreme northwest to the level of the sea along the lower valley of the San Juan. Through this depression runs a series of isolated volcanic peaks, while in its centre, and for the most part filling it up, lie the two great inland seas of the district,— Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua,-which are united by a narrow channel. Thus a natural watercourse extends through Nicaragua in a northwesterly direction, from the Atlantic on the one side to within a few miles of the Pacific on the other; but here again the Cordillera interpose their persistent barrier between the seas. Lake Managua is cut off from the Gulf of Fonseca by the plains of Leon and Conejo; while along the narrow strip of land separating Lake Nicaragua from the Pacific there extends the western branch of the Cordillera, commonly designated as the Coast range.

Inasmuch as the elevation of the northwestern plateaux is comparatively slight, and as the ridge of the low coast range is indented here and there with easy passes, numerous opportunities are here afforded

for extending this natural water-way of Nicaragua to the Pacific by the excavation of a canal through the remaining strip of land. From the northwestern shores of Lake Managua, for example, a canal might be cut through the plain of Conejo and thence downward along the valley of the Estero Real to the Gulf of Fonseca. Or, to take a shorter course, an excavation could be made from Lake Managua directly across the plain of Leon, to emerge upon the Pacific shore, either along the valley of the tiny rivulet Tamarindo, or else farther north in the harbor of Corinto. Or again, having located the depressions in the Coast range, and having selected those from among them whose concomitant hydrographic features seem favorable, other canal lines could be drawn through these points from the western shores of Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific. Of the several routes that might be laid out according to this last method, the three following are those most worthy of consideration: (1) Up the Rio Lajas, across the very lowest divide of all the great Cordillera range from the Arctic Ocean to the Straits of Magellan, and thence down the Rio Grande to Brito on the Pacific; (2) leaving the lake level at Virgin Bay, across the next lowest depression to the south, to reach the Pacific by the very shortest line of all at San Juan del Sur; (3) up the valley of the Rio Sapoa and across the more elevated divide at this point, to descend again to the Pacific at the Bay of Salinas. Such are the varied possibilities of what in general may be called the Nicaragua Routes.

§ 5. The Chiriqui Route.

South of Lake Nicaragua the Cordillera again assume the form of a single dividing range which cuts northern Costa Rica completely in twain by its continuous ridge and its lofty volcanic peaks. About in the centre of the country this ridge-like contour of the mountains is once more varied by the appearance of another elevated tableland; but almost immediately the range reunites and then branches out again east and southeast, completely filling up the southern section of the land between Chiriqui and Veragua. Though singularly rich in harbors, this section of the main isthmus possesses no rivers of importance, as the mountains are too near the shore. On this account, and owing to the continuous elevation of the range, it must be deemed impracticable to locate a canal route anywhere within the region just described. The relative position of the two superb harbors, Golfo Dulce and the Chiriqui Lagoon, on either side, would naturally lead one, nevertheless, to choose some pass in the dividing ridges, however elevated, through which to lay out the route of another interoceanic railway at this point. Such is the Chiriqui Route.

§ 6. The Panama Route.

After rounding out the peninsula of Veragua, the isthmus becomes but the barest strip of land, hardly broad enough, indeed, to contain the mountain range itself, which now becomes even more attenuated in its ridge-like form in order to adapt itself to its closer quarters. But the summit of the dividing ridge is correspondingly lower