Transcription

A Great Enterprise.

That great enterprise, the inter-oceanic or Panama Railroad across the Isthmus, is completed, and the rough Atlantic is now wedded, with an iron band, to the fair Pacific. The connection thus established, between these mighty waters, carries the mind back to the time when—

"Stout Cortez, with his eagle eyes,

  Stared at the Pacific—and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise,—

  Silent, upon a peak in Darien."

What a long stride forward has the world taken since that time! The silent sea then gazed upon by Cortes, is now white with the commerce of all nations ; upon its shores a great people have established their government and free institutions, and the islands dotted so thickly upon its bosom, have become the home of civilized and Christianized man.

The first train went over the road from Aspinwall, to Panama on the 28th of January. Its arrival at Panama was viewed with as much surprise by the native population, as Cortez exhibited on beholding the Pacific for the first time. One of the Panama papers says—

"On the arrival of the train near Panama, it was met by a large proportion of the native population, who were anxious to behold the fire-eating steed with his train of carriages. On the approach of the train, they seemed stupefied with amazement; but when the engineer opened his steam whistle, their wonder was changed to fear—and some of the women and children were so entirely bewildered and horrified that they started for the woods, screaming at every jump. The impression upon the entire population, on the appearance of the train at the city, was of the most exciting character, and after the first paroxysm of wonder was over, the people crowded about the train so close as scarcely to leave room for it to move upon the track."