North of Vera Cruz are the Soto La Marina, the Tuxpan and the Panuco Rivers, all of which are navigable for a hundred miles or more. As an adjunct to the navigable streams and the deep water ports the government is now building an intercoastal canal, which is similar to the one proposed along the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas to connect the Mississippi and Rio Grande Rivers. There are a series of lagoons and small lakes that lie just a short distance within the coast line, and which can be connected and deepened. They will then form a convenient and safe waterway for navigation. The government is spending several million dollars on the first link of this system, which will connect the ports of Tampico and Tuxpan, a distance of about a hundred miles. Half of this section is already finished and in operation, and it is estimated that in three or four years more this part of the canal will be finished. This waterway has a width of seventy-five feet and a uniform depth of ten and one-half feet, and will connect the mouths of the Panuco and the Tuxpan Rivers. The Panuco, near Tampico, is fifty feet deep, and the deepest draft ocean vessels can come in and unload at the docks of Tampico. The section of the canal already opened is constantly filled with long and narrow boats, manned by natives, which are propelled by means of long poles when the wind fails. The opening of this section of the canal has worked wonders in the development of this part of the coast land, because it places the products of the plantations and ranches within easy reach of the markets. It has also served to drain thousands of acres of land, which were formerly considered to be of no use whatever. On this route the canal passes through Lake Tamiahua, which is seventy-nine miles long and from five to twenty miles wide. Lake Tampamachoco, a much smaller lake, will also be traversed by this canal. The water in these lakes is comparatively shallow, and it has been necessary to deepen them considerably in order to make the canal of uniform depth with the other portion. The distance between Tampico and the mouth of the Rio Grande is about three hundred miles, but a number of salt water lagoons, which lie near the coast, can be utilized as a portion of the canal. If this project, and the similar one planned by the United States, are completed, it will furnish a very long inland waterway for the coast region. It will serve the double purpose of draining and making more healthful that portion of the country, and likewise giving an outlet for the development that will surely follow. The land when once drained has been proved to be of unusual fertility.