The Straits of Magellan divide the main continent of South America from a
group of islands, called Tierra del Fuego, and Cape Horn is the most
southerly point of this archipelago.

The journey down the coast of South America on the east, and up again on
the west, takes such a long time, that the desire for a canal across the
narrow neck of land which joins North and South America has been in men's
minds for many years.

A railway was built across the Isthmus of Panama to shorten the distance,
and save taking the passage round the Horn. Travellers left their ship at
one side of the Isthmus, and took the train over to the other, where they
went on board another ship, which would take them the rest of their
journey.

This plan greatly increased the expense of the journey, and the canal was
still so much wanted, that at last the Panama Canal was begun.

You have all heard about the Panama Canal, which was to do the same work
that the Nicaragua Canal is to do, that is, to connect the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. You have probably heard how much time, labor, and human
life was wasted over it, and how much trouble its failure caused in
France.

This Canal was to cut across the Isthmus at its very narrowest point. It
was worked on for years, every one believing that it would be opened to
ships before very long. Many of the maps and geographies that were printed
in the eighties said that the Panama Canal would be opened in 1888, or at
latest in 1889.