It  was  soon  ascertained  that  the  English  engi-
neer had  never  crossed  the  isthmus  at  alL  The
summit  level  to  which  he  directed  the  expedi-
tion was  one  thousand  feet  above  tide -water,
instead  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Tbe  ex-
pedition effected  nothing.  In  1854  Lieutenant
Isaac  Strain  led  an  American  expedition  for  the
same  purpose.  They  followed  the  route  pointed
out  by  the  English  engineer,  and,  after  intense
suffering,  returned  and  reported  the  proposed
route  wholly  impracticable.  The  success  of  the
Suez  Canal  revived  the  project,  and  in  1870  two
expeditions  were  seut  out  by  the  United  States
government — one,  under  Commander  T.  O.  Sel-
tVidge,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  to  the  Isth-
mus of  Darien ;  and  the  other,  under  Captain
Sbufeldt,  of  the  navy,  to  the  Isthmus  of  Te-
huantepec.  Three  routes  were  surveyed  across
the  narrow  part  of  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  by
Selfridge,  and  he  reported  all  three  as  having
obstacles  that  made  the  construction  of  a  canal
impracticable.  He  reported  a  route  by  the
Atrato  and  Napipi  rivers  as  perfectly  feasible.
It  would  include  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of
river  navigation  and  a  canal  less  than  forty
luiles  in  extent.  It  would  call  for  three  miles
of  rock-cutting  one  hundred  and  twenty-fivB  feet
deep,  and  a  tunnel  of  five  miles,  with  a  roof  suf-
ficiently high  to  admit  the  tallest^-masted  ships.
Selfridge  estimated  the  entire  cost  at  one  hun-
dred and  twenty -four  million  dollars.  The
whole  matter  was  referred  in  1872  to  a  commis-
sion to  continue  investigations.  The  vast  im-
portance of  such  a  work  is  conceded,  and  the
commercial  interests  of  the  world  demand  Its
speedy  completion.     It  will  undoubtedly  be  ac-


complished by  the  joint  efforts  of  Americans
and  Enropeans.
