Early in January of the year 1881 a party of engineers left Paris, and by the end of February were at work on the scene of operations. The canal planned by the De Lesseps company followed very closely the route of the existing railway between Colon and Panama, and was to be about fifty-four miles in length. [Illustration: JAMAICAN LABOURER ON THE ZONE] It was to be constructed on a sea-level plan, with the bottom 28 feet below the mean level of the oceans. At the bottom the width of the canal was to be 72 feet, and at the surface of the water 160 feet, except in the section through the divide at Culebra, where, although with depth of 29-1/2 feet and a width at bottom of nearly 79 feet, the surface width narrowed almost to one-half and would be only 92 feet. The two great difficulties of an engineering nature which confronted the undertaking were the excavation of the cut through the divide at Culebra and the control of the Chagres River with its tributaries, which during the rainy season are subject to extraordinary floods, the waters having been known to rise as much as 38 feet in as many hours. For the control of this river the French company proposed to construct a huge reservoir at Gamboa, the dam being so designed as to retain the floods of the river and allow the water to escape gradually. From the start the management of the whole undertaking was characterised by unnecessary expenditure and extravagance. Not only does this apply to the financial operations in Paris, but also to the work carried on in the isthmus itself. An artificial peninsula was constructed at Colon, on which were erected expensive residences. The Director-General maintained a state that was almost regal, receiving the handsome salary of £10,000 a year, with £10 per day for travelling expenses. All the officials were highly paid, and lived in residences which were surrounded by spacious ornamental grounds laid out at superfluous expense. But the labourers imported from Jamaica and other West Indian islands were, on the other hand, housed so badly and with such lack of all proper sanitary precautions that sickness and disease quickly devastated their ranks. The Panama Railway had been acquired at almost three times its market price. The defence afterwards made for this was that an understanding with the railway company was essential, as the shares were held in few hands, and the proprietors of these were becoming exorbitant. [Illustration: BARBADIAN LABOURER ON THE ZONE] Losses occurred in September, 1882, when the railway and works were partly destroyed by earthquake, whilst three years later, in a rebellion which broke out, Colon suffered severe damage by fire.