The world: historical and actual . wall onthe Atlantic coastto the city of Pan-ama on the Pacificcoast. It was builtat tremendous cost,1500,000 a mile,and the loss of lifefrom the unwhole-someness of theclimate was enor-mous. That rail-road is one of thegreat triumphs ofmodern of the United States projected and accomplished the numbers of Chinamen were employed in theconstruction. The property has always been a veryprofitable investment. It was recently purchased bythe company organized by M. de Lessejis to constructa ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama, one


The world: historical and actual . wall onthe Atlantic coastto the city of Pan-ama on the Pacificcoast. It was builtat tremendous cost,1500,000 a mile,and the loss of lifefrom the unwhole-someness of theclimate was enor-mous. That rail-road is one of thegreat triumphs ofmodern of the United States projected and accomplished the numbers of Chinamen were employed in theconstruction. The property has always been a veryprofitable investment. It was recently purchased bythe company organized by M. de Lessejis to constructa ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama, one ofthe most gigantic and important undertakings ofthe nineteenth century. The country is rocky andmountainous on the Atlantic or Caribbean side, andswampy on the Pacific side. The soil is all tooproductive. Its yield of tropical plants is so veryluxurious that the decay incident thereto poisons theatmosphere. The town of Panama has a popula-tion of about 10,000, Aspinwall of 4,000. ThePanama railroad was completed in 1S55. With the. Panama ship canal completed (and it is a moralcertainty that it will be) engineering skill and enter-prise will have supplied to the commerce of theworld the shortest passage to the Indies, which Co-lumbus sought, the search for which opened to Eu-rope a new world. The West Indies is the general designation ofthe archipelago which breaks the watery monotonyof the Caribbean sea, which is that portion of theAtlantic Ocean extending from the southern ex- tremity of the pe-ninsula of Floridato the northerncoast of consists of fourgroups of islands,the Bahama Isl-ands, the GreaterAntilles, the VirginIslands, and theLesser Antilles. The Bahamashave, all told, onlyabout 40,000 in-habitants, and atotal area variouslyestimated at from3,000 to 5,000square miles. Thisgroup consists of12 islands, 661keys, 2,387 reefsand cliffs,3,060 islets. COLUMBUS DISCOVERING SAX SALVADOR. andThe larger islands include the Grand Bahama, San Sal-vador and New Provi


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectworldhistory, bookyea