The American tropics; . Finally the [113] The American Tropics lights of Colon could be made out aheadand at daybreak the translucent ultramarinesea became a yellowish-green and finally tur-bid. At seven oclock we dropped anchor,completing our seven hundred and seventy-eight-mile run from Puerto Cabella. After a rest of two days and nights, theprospect of visiting one of the great battle-fields in which the mental and physicalstrength of man is contending with the in-finite forces of nature aroused even the mostapathetic. For twenty-six years the warfarehas been waged, with the loss of countle
The American tropics; . Finally the [113] The American Tropics lights of Colon could be made out aheadand at daybreak the translucent ultramarinesea became a yellowish-green and finally tur-bid. At seven oclock we dropped anchor,completing our seven hundred and seventy-eight-mile run from Puerto Cabella. After a rest of two days and nights, theprospect of visiting one of the great battle-fields in which the mental and physicalstrength of man is contending with the in-finite forces of nature aroused even the mostapathetic. For twenty-six years the warfarehas been waged, with the loss of countlesshuman lives and millions of treasure, butstill the conflict goes on. I had an indefinitenotion of the operations, scarcely amountingto an opinion, formed from conflicting re-ports of newspapers and magazines. The day began with showers, some ofwhich amounted to heavy rainfalls lastinghalf an hour or less, alternating with fitfulsunshine, as if this warfare had extended tothe very elements, or allegorically, was a[114]. A Midwinter Cruise strife in wMcli Despair and Hope account of its location, Colon is one oftlie wettest places on earth, having a yearlyrainfall of one hundred and forty was one of the dry months, the rainyseason extending from May to December. It does not take long to gain a fair con-ception of at least one of the great problemsthat confronts the constructors of the Isth-mian Canal: that of maintaining human lifeand health—a problem of sanitary but a few feet above the sea level ona small island of black muck; covered withan impenetrable jungle of rank vegetation;close to the mainland, which is of the samegeneral character for several miles, withstagnant pools and sluggish streams—suchis the site and environment of Colon. ButColon, or Aspinwall as it was formerlycalled, in spite of its unfavorable location,has felt the quickening hand of genius andis being raised above the sink-hole in whichit has lain since its f
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