"
"And where, pray, would you cut the canals?" asked Robert.
"I have a map of the world here," Haw answered, rising, and taking one
down from the paper-rack. "You see the blue pencil marks. Those are
the points where I propose to establish communication. Of course, I
should begin by the obvious duty of finishing the Panama business."
"Naturally." The man's lunacy was becoming more and more obvious, and
yet there was such precision and coolness in his manner, that Robert
found himself against his own reason endorsing and speculating over his
plans.
"The Isthmus of Corinth also occurs to one. That, however, is a small
matter, from either a financial or an engineering point of view.
I propose, however, to make a junction here, through Kiel between the
German Ocean and the Baltic. It saves, you will observe, the
whole journey round the coast of Denmark, and would facilitate our trade
with Germany and Russia. Another very obvious improvement is to join
the Forth and the Clyde, so as to connect Leith with the Irish and
American routes. You see the blue line?"
"Quite so."
"And we will have a little cutting here. It will run from Uleaborg to
Kem, and will connect the White Sea with the Gulf of Bothnia.
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