Panama and the canal . Map V.—Routes Across Central America. ENEMIES OF THE RAIEROAD 95 are of iron instead of wood, and if we get out, when tlie trainstops, and look carefully at the cross-ties beneath the rails,we shall find that they are all of lignum vitie, almost thehardest wood in the ^^•orld. It is next to impossible to drivea spike into these cross-ties. Holes for them must be bored. Pedro ^Iiguel.—Panama Railroad. out. And this is, of course, a long and expensi\e task. Itis odd to think that all this trouble was made necessary byharmless-looking ants. We haye heard of ^Jea^x?rs cuttin
Panama and the canal . Map V.—Routes Across Central America. ENEMIES OF THE RAIEROAD 95 are of iron instead of wood, and if we get out, when tlie trainstops, and look carefully at the cross-ties beneath the rails,we shall find that they are all of lignum vitie, almost thehardest wood in the ^^•orld. It is next to impossible to drivea spike into these cross-ties. Holes for them must be bored. Pedro ^Iiguel.—Panama Railroad. out. And this is, of course, a long and expensi\e task. Itis odd to think that all this trouble was made necessary byharmless-looking ants. We haye heard of ^Jea^x?rs cuttingdown young trees with their sharp teeth, in order to eat thetender twigs and leaves or to use the branches in buildingtheir mud houses. But that ants will eat dry, hard telegraph 96 SPANISH ROADS poles and railroad cross-ties seems like a fairy story. We maysmile at the idea, but it is true nevertheless. In the forestsof Panama there are great colonies of wood-eating ants thatwill eat into and destroy any but the very hardest wood. Ironand lignum vitae, however, have proved too much for story of the building of the Panama railroad takes usback again, for a moment, to the early Spanish times. Whenall that long stretch of land between North and South Amer-ica which we call Central America (Map V) was discoveredand conquered by Spain, and the rich west coast of Americafell
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