Across the Canal Zone line in the village of Cristobal are the cold-storage and manufacturing plants of the Commissary system, a modern fire-station house, Cristobal. and the old French Canal headquarters, on Cristobal point. One of these buildings was built for Charles de Lesseps, son of the Canal promoter,

Columbus
Statue.

and was occupied by him and other canal officials during the French regime. It is now used as offices for the Commissary system and other branches of the Canal administration. Occupying a little knoll on the point is situated the statue of Christopher Columbus, in heroic bronze, in the attitude of protecting an Indian girl crouching by his side. It is said that he is supposed to be explaining away the terror of the girl, but Ferdinand de Lesseps said upon the occasion of his visit in 1880 that he was learning from the Indian "the secret of the straits," and in turn was explaining to her its profound importance. This statue was presented to Colombia in 1868 by the Empress Eugenie, and was set up in the railroad yard in Colon in 1870, but upon request of Lesseps it was removed to Cristobal point. The construction of the docks at this point will again place it in a railroad yard, and it is proposed to remove it once more, this time to set it up in the garden in front of the new Washington Hotel on Colon Beach.

COLUMBUS STATUE AND LESSEP'S HOUSE-CRISTOBAL.

Construction work in progress in front of Cristobal is. that for a system of five piers enclosing ten docks which will.. be the Atlantic terminal docks for the Panama Canal. Each dock will be capable of berthing ships 1,000 feet long, and the space between the piers (300 feet) will be sufficient to allow two ships to enter and dock at one time without danger of collision.

Terminal
Docks.

Across the bay from Cristobal is the canal settlement of Toro Point, where live the men who are constructing.

the breakwater at the entrance to the canal Toro Point. and those who are building the fortifications, which are to guard the west side of the entrance. The fortifications for the east side will be on Margarita Island, about a mile north of Manzanillo Island on which Colon is situated. In what may be considered the back yard of the city are situated the Panama railroad shops, where the railroad equipment is erected and repaired.

Mount Hope.

Farther south along the line of the railroad are the unloading docks for canal supplies, the dry dock and marine shop at Mount Hope, and the main storeHere house for canal and railroad supplies. also, on the east side of the railroad, covering the knoll opposite the warehouse, is the Mount Hope Cemetery, which has been the burying.

Shops, Store

house, ceme

tery.

ground of Colon and Cristobal from their beginning. original name was Mount Hope, although there was a peri during the French regime when it was referred to as Mo key Hill, on account of the presence there, in early day of a number of the monkeys which are found in the woo all over the Isthmus.

At the Marine Shop the French erected the dredg and other equipment with which they carried on the Atla tic entrance work. Their plant was enlarged and the d dock rebuilt by the Americans so that the equipment now use in the Atlantic entrance could be repaired. Five dredg half a dozen tugs, a fleet of barges, and a dozen small launch are kept in repair here. The work is in charge of Maj. Ch ter Harding, Assistant Division Engineer.

The original storehouse at Mount Hope was burned April, 1907, and the main building, erected immediately aft wards, is of sheet iron with concrete fire walls dividing it in compartments which are connected by automatically clo ing doors. The stores consist of 12 buildings with 249,( square feet of space, and the stock on hand in 1912 was valu at two million dollars. One of the parts is a modern prir ing plant under the management of an American printer, M Albert P. E. Doyle. Its work includes The Canal Reco the Official Handbook, The Panama Guide, and all the statione and other work of the Canal and Railroad, except the a nual reports. Along the old French canal are the unloa ing docks with berths for three ships, and here nine tent of the Canal freight is unloaded. The initial accounting f all this freight is done at the Mount Hope Depot, by the st: of the Depot Quartermaster, Capt. Courtland Nixon, w is in charge of the storehouses, printery, and docks, b 90 per cent of the freight is delivered direct to its destin tion along the Canal, only a small part being kept at Mou Hope.

Shopping and Eating in Colon.

A shopper's guide to Colon is published herewith, ai by referring to the map of the city the tourist can readi find the location of any shop with relation one of the principal buildings of the cit In general it will be found that European an Asiatic goods are cheaper here than in stor in the United States, but considerably more costly than i European cities. There are a number of novelty shops i which souvenirs of the Isthmus are sold, but one will fin very little that is characteristic of Panama because ther are few industries in the Republic other than agriculture