At the outset of the undertaking, M. de Lesseps, following the example that he had set with the Suez Canal, and in order to mark the international character of the enterprise, offered to American capitalists the opportunity of providing one half of the amount required, and announced that whether the Americans subscribed towards the enterprise or not it would be begun with the 300 millions of francs which it was proposed to raise in Europe. Subscriptions towards this moiety were invited in Europe in December 1880, and 102,230 subscribers offered more than double the amount asked for, or 1,266,609 shares in all, of which 994,508 shares were subscribed in France alone. The financial outlook of the enterprise being thus encouraging, M. de Lesseps lost no time in proceeding to Panama, in order that he might study for himself, on the spot, the character of the work he had undertaken to perform. He was accompanied by an engineering commission of eight well-known experts, including MM. Dircks, the chief engineer of the waterways of Holland, Danzats, chief resident engineer at Suez, two Colombian engineers, and others. The opinion unanimously arrived at by this commission was that the canal could be completed for 843 millions of francs, or about 34 millions sterling,[178] in about eight years. Meanwhile a grand superior consultative commission, which had been convened at Paris, for the purpose of inquiring into the technical details of the scheme, and determining a programme for their execution, recommended that no time should be lost, and thereupon MM. Couvreux and Hersent, well-known contractors, were entrusted with the execution of the work to the extent of 500 millions of francs (20,000,000_l._), for which sum they declared that the canal could be constructed. The work of levelling and dredging was prosecuted with vigour. There was, however, a vast amount of preliminary work to be done. Twenty-three different workshops and docks had to be provided along the line of the canal, with workmen’s dwellings, hospitals, and other requisite equipments. The Culebra, a mountain in the middle of the isthmus, was selected for the erection of several considerable installations adapted to the study of the problems to be solved. Through this mountain the canal had to be cut to a depth of over 100 metres. It was calculated that the organisation of the works, the providing of the necessary materials of construction, the acquisition of the ground along the line of route, and the commencement of operations generally, represented something like one-third of the total work to be done. The Colombian Government, through whose territory the canal was to be constructed, did all they could to advance the project, offering to the company 500,000 hectares of land, with the minerals underlying the same, in such localities as the company might select. This concession was deemed at the time to be equal to about one-third of the cost of the canal.