An opera house was built especially for the occasion, and Verdi, the famous Italian composer, was employed to write a special opera for the occasion. That the opera was "Aida," and that it marked the high tide of Verdi's genius, was perhaps more than might have been expected of a work of art produced at the command of an extravagant prince's gold. The canal itself was opened on November 16, 1869, a procession of forty-eight ships, men of war, royal yachts and merchantmen, making the transit of the Isthmus in three days' time. In the first ship was Eugenie, Empress of the French. In another was the Emperor of Austria, and in still another the Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward VII. A more imposing gathering of imperial and royal personages never before had been witnessed, and all of them were the Christian guests of the Moslem Ismail. When the procession of royal vessels had passed through, the captains and the kings went to Cairo for the fete. The canal was open for traffic. It was significant that the first vessel to pass through in the course of ordinary business, paying its tolls, flew the British ensign. The building of the canal had wrecked Egypt, financially and politically; was destined to end forever the hope of Asiatic empire for France; and was to make certain England's dominion over India, a thing de Lesseps and Napoleon III had intended it to destroy. The celebration of the completion of the Suez Canal was the wildest orgy of modern times, the last attempt to Orientalize a commercial undertaking of the Age of Steam and Steel. The celebration at San Francisco will be more magnificent in its way, and will cost more money. But the millions will not be thrown away for the mere delectation of the senses of two score princes--they will be expended for the entertainment and the education of millions of people, the humblest of whom will have his full share in the celebration. From the spruce woods of Maine, from the orange groves of Florida, from the wide fields of the Mississippi Valley, from the broad plains of the Colorado, from the blue ridges of the Alleghenies and the snow peaks of the Rockies, Americans will go to the Golden Gate to commemorate in their American way the closer union of their States, the consummation of the journeys of Columbus: The Land Divided--the World United. THE END [Illustration: A MAP SHOWING THE ISTHMUS WITH THE COMPLETED CANAL] INDEX Accessory Transit Company, 199 Accidents, 72 Amador, Dr., 238, 239 Accounting department, 315 American Federation of Labor, 271 American clings to home habits, 177 American Federation of Women's Clubs, 176, 180 American mind wanted canal, 11 American Rivers and Harbors Congress, 346 Amsterdam Canal, 341-342 Amundsen, 4 Amusements, 178, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192 Ancon Hill, 89 Ancon Study Club, 183 Animal life, 331 Ants, 331 Appropriations for canal, 269 Aspinwall, William H., 102