FINISHING NATURE'S WORK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2356, 20 April 1899, Page 60

FINISHING NATURE'S WORK.

SOME OF MAN'S SCHEMES TO "LICK CREATION." It is now quite certain that our cousins across the Atlantic have taken seriously in hand the project of joining the. Caribbean Sea with the Pacific by means of the Nicaragua Canal, thereby saving over six thousand miles of difficult voyaging on the route from any of the big eastern ports to their new colonies in the Pacific, and putting an end to the dangers of the terrific passage round stormy Cape Horn. The isthmus would have been cut through long ago had it not been for the disgraceful swindling in connection with M. de Les-

seps's Panama scheme. Even now attempts are being made to revive the latter project ; but the chances are they will not succeed. The only advantage Panama has over Nicaragua is that it is less than half the length ; but the lowest estimates for finishing it are 80 to 100 million pounds; whilst the Nicaragua Canal, which has already been begun, can be constructed for 20 millions only.

The climate of Panama is one of the worst in the world, yellow-jack and malaria reigning supreme. That of Nicaragua is fairly good. Panama has to be cut or tunnelled right through a range of mountains full of quicksands, the other goes over a gentle slope by a gradual series of locks. Part < f the Nicaragua Canal could be made simply b/ deepening the San Juan River, and another large portwi could be covered at

full speed steaming across the Lake of Nicaragua.

So no doubt we shall soon see big ocean steamers quietly passing right through the forests of Nicaragua along a broad waterway, lighted at night along its whole distance by great electric arc lamps. There are many other great canals in view which, when completed, will alter the very face of the earth, and cause immense re\olutions in shipping, besides saving the valuable liy.es of hundreds of seamen, to say

nothing of hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth, of ships. One daring scheme lies very near our doors. It is no less than a cut right through the very heart of Ii eland from Dublia to Galway. This canal would pre-

sent no great difficulty to engineers, as mof>t of the country is flat, and in the centre boggy, and easily cut through. There is already a canal for barges running from Dublin tlirough Maynooth, and so westwards. The saving on the Atlantic passage by such a cutting is plain by a glance at the map ; but it is hardly likely it will be put in hand for some years yet. Two English ship canals have been lately discussed, both of which would probably take the route of small canals which already exist. One would run from the Severn to the Thames, from Bristol to London, through Reading and London, and the

other from the Severn to -the Wash, thiough the very heart of England. But tli2 former few would care to see, whatever its commercial advantages. Fancy the lovely Thames dredged .and deepened, and even perhaps straightened, and the smoke of six or seven thousand-ton steamers settling down over lovely Henley or historic Windsor!

France has a project on foot in which we must all take a deep interest. It is a very big idea, and consists in connecting the Atlantic and Aledirerranean by a ship canal joining the head of navigable water on the River Loire with the Rhone. This would save no less than a thousand miles on the voyage from London to India. But it would have indirectly much bigger results than this. Our great fortress of Gibraltar would no longer be the key to the Mediterranean, which, in the unhappy event of war with France, might prove a very serious matter for us. Small canals already exist all along the proposed route, which would only have to be deepened and widened. It is quite likely this canal will be taken in hand shortly, as both War and Naval departments in France, as well as their Board of Trade, are exceedingly keen about its accomplishment Russia has long been desirous* of cutting* a 24ft deep canal from the Baltic to the Black Sea. This would run from Riga to

Odessa, and its value, both in peace and war, would be almost incalculable. The country is mostly flat, but the distance enormous — neatly 700 miles as the crow flies. Only want of money prevents this canal being cut at once. Russia's Black Sea fleet, which is already powerful, could then join forces with their Baltic squadron ; so this canal, too, is a distant menace to Britain.

Just below Boston, in the United States, a big promontory, Cape Cod, runs out into the Atlantic. It ends in long points of rock on which fierce surges break, and it is calculated that here alone over 200 lives are lo&t each year, chiefly crews of small sailing craft. The whole coast down to New York is dangerous from rocks, and below from New Jersey southwards sandy shoals run so far out to sea that a big ship cannot .approach within sight of land.

Cape H.itteras, further south, is one of the most dangerous capes in the world. Wrecks strew its shores. And beyond, again, the Peninsula of Florida runs out 309 miles into the Atlantic, lengthening the voyage from Boston or New York to the great port of New Orleans by over 500 miles.

The scheme our Yankee friends have in hand is no less than to cut a canal starting from Boston across Cape Cod by Long Island Sound, the Jersey inlets and the coast sounds, right through Florida into the gulf. It seems too huge a project to be possible; but if you will look at your map you will see all down the coas.t of the Carolines and Georgia, inside long sandy islands, run a series of inlets where the water is fairly deep. These have only to be dredged and joined. Cutting "through Florida looks a big order, but "the whole State is Hat and sandy. In yet another way do our American cousins propose to "lick creition."

Chicago is now the second city in the UniLed States. Plans are in hand for a deep-water canal connecting the big lakes with the Atlantic seaboard. Surveys have

been made, and no doubt this young giant of the West will, by the power of its enormous wealth, push this extensive bit ot engineering through before the twentieth century is many years old. The Kra Isthmus is a rib of rocky land joining the huge Malay Peninsula to the mainland. A canal through it to the Gulf of Siam would shorten the P. and'O. boats' run to Hongkong by nearly two days. But

the cutting would rival Panama in natural difficulties. The rock is hard and high, and locks would be absolutely necessary: These are the most important canals of the future, but there are several others which are thought of, and may at some future time help to save the lives of sailors Ou the Turkish coast, for instance, where that great mountain mass, Mount Athos, thrusts its black fangs far oub to sea. A cut behind it to join the Gulf of Contessa and Monte Santo would save many a life.