Lake Nicaragua has a watershed of 8000 miles. The only outlet of the lake is the San Juan river, which discharges, at its lowest stage, near the close of the dry season, 11,390 cubic feet of water per second. For thirty-two double lockages, it is estimated that 129½ million cubic feet of water will be required, being little more than one-eighth of the total supply of the lake alone. It is claimed that as this supply is from the summit, a dry summit level is almost impossible, while importance is attached to the fact that the canal will be a fresh-water one. The principal distances to be saved by the Nicaraguan Canal, as compared with the only existing alternative route by Cape Horn, are said by the Company to be:— ────────────────────┬───────────┬────────────┬───────── │ │ By │ │ By │ Nicaraguan │ Distance │ Cape Horn.│ Canal. │ Saved. ├───────────┼────────────┼───────── │ miles. │ miles. │ miles. _New York to_— │ │ │ San Francisco │ 14,840 │ 4,760 │ 10,080 Hong Kong │ 18,180 │ 11,038 │ 4,163 Yokohama │ 17,679 │ 9,363 │ 6,827 Melbourne │ 13,502 │ 10,000 │ 3,290 Sandwich Islands │ 14,230 │ 6,388 │ 7,842 │ │ │ _Liverpool to_— │ │ │ San Francisco │ 14,690 │ 7,508 │ 7,182 Guayaquil │ 11,321 │ 5,890 │ 5,431 Callao │ 10,539 │ 6,461 │ 4,078 Valparaiso │ 9,600 │ 7,448 │ 2,152 ────────────────────┴───────────┴────────────┴───────── The promoters of the Nicaraguan Canal appear to have got fairly to work. A considerable quantity of machinery, as well as a number of surveyors and engineers, have been forwarded to the scene of operations, and the latest reports are favourable to the prospect of the enterprise being carried out. It will necessarily, however, involve several years of close work before it is available, even under the most favourable circumstances, for the commerce of the world. FOOTNOTES: