"And that was the sum total of the Wyse Survey. The exploration of the Panama route that was 'not an exploration' had occupied all of two weeks, four days. Wyse had played no part in it and in fact no survey had resulted." Book 1, Chapter 2, pg. 63.

"Of the several committees, only one really mattered, the fourth, or so-called Technical Committee, which was charged with deciding where the canal should be built, what kind of canal it should be, and what it was all going to cost. It was the largest committee, the one de Lesseps himself would sit on, and of the 52 other delegates he had assigned to it, more than half were French. Indeed, of all the 136 delegates in attendance, a total of 73 - well over a majority - were French and not a quarter were engineers." Book 1, Chapter 3, pg. 72.

"And all the while, in the lovely...