of sluices; and the merchandizes destined to pass the isthmus of Panama could only therefore be transported in flat-bottomed boats unable to keep the sea. Entrepots at Panama and Porto bello would be requisite. Every nation which wished to trade in this way would be dependent on the masters of the isthmus and canal; and this would be a very great inconvenience for the vessels despatched from Europe. Supposing then that this canal were cut, the greatest number of these vessels would probably continue their voyage round Cape Horn. We see that the passage of the Sound is still frequented, notwithstanding the existence of the Eyder canal, which connects the ocean with the Baltic sea.

It would be otherwise with the productions of western America, or the goods sent from Europe to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. These goods would cross the isthmus at less expense, and with less danger, particularly in time of war, than in doubling the southern extremity of the new continent. In the present state of things, the carriage of three quintals on mule-back from Panama to Portobello costs from three to four piastres (from 12s. 6d. to los. 8d.) But the uncultivated state in which the government allows the isthmus to remain is such, that the carriage of the copper of Chili, the quinquina of Peru, and the 60 or 70,000 vanegas cacao annually exported

of

*

*A vanega weighs 110 Castilian pounds.

by Guayaquil, across this neck of land, requires many more beasts of burden than can be procured, so that the slow and expensive navigation round Cape Horn is preferred.

In 1802 and 1803, when the Spanish commerce was every where harassed by the English cruizers, a great part of the cacao was carried across the kingdom of New Spain, and embarked at Vera Cruz for Cadiz. They preferred the passage from Guayaquil to Acapulco, and a land journey of a hundred leagues from Acapulco to Vera Cruz, to the danger of a long navigation by Cape Horn, and the difficulty of struggling with the current along the coasts of Peru and Chili. This example proves, that, if the construction of a canal across the isthmus of Panama, or that of Guasacualco, abounds with too many difficulties from the multiplicity of sluices, the commerce of America would gain the most important advantages from good causeways, carried from Tehuantepec to the Embarcadero de la Cruz, and from Panama to Portobello. It is true that in the isthmus, the pasturage to this day is very unfavourab'e to the nouri hment and multi lication of cattle; but it would be easy, in so fertile a soil, to form savannas by cutting down forests, or to cultivate the

*The assertion of Raynal (T. IV. p. 150) that domestic animals transported to Portobello lose their fecundity, should be considered as totally destitute of truth.

paspalum purpureum, the milium nigricans, and particularly the medicago sativa, which grows abundantly in Peru in the warm.est districts. The introduction of camels would be still a surer means of diminishing the expense of carriage. These land ships, as they are called by the orientals, hitherto exist only in the province of Caraccas, and were brought there from the Canary islands by the Marquis de Toro.

1

Moreover, no political consideration should oppose the progress of population, agriculture, commerce and civilization, in the isthmus of Panama. The more this neck of land shall be cultivated, the more resistance will it oppose to the enemies of the Spanish government. The events which took place at Buenos Ayres prove the advantages of a concentrated population in the case of an invasion. If any enterprising nation wished to become possessed of the isthmus, it could do so with the greatest ease at present, when good and numerous fortifications are destitute of arms to defend them. The unhealthiness of the climate, though now much diminished at Portobello, would alone oppose great obstacles to any military undertaking in the isthmus. It is from St. Charles de Chiloe, and not from Panama, that Peru can be attacked. It requires from three to five months to ascend from Panama to Lima. But the whale and cachalot fishery, which in 1803 drew 60 English vessels to the South Sea, and

the facilities for the Chinese commerce and the furs of Nootka Sound, are baits of a very seductive nature. They will draw, sooner or later, the masters of the ocean to a point of the globe destined by nature to change the face of the commercial system of nations.

6. To the south-east of Panama, following the coast of the Pacific Ocean, from Cape S. Miguel to Cape Corientes, we find the small port and bay of Cupica. The name of this bay has acquired celebrity in the kingdom of New Grenada, on account of a new plan of communication between the two seas. From Cupica, we cross, for five or six marine leagues, a soil quite level and proper for a canal, which would terminate at the Embarcadero of the Rio Naipi. This last river is navigable, and flows below the village of Zitara into the great Rio Atrato, which itself enters the Atlantic Sea. A very intelligent Biscayan pilot, M. Gogueneche, was the first who had the merit of turning the attention of government to the bay of Cupica, which ought to be for the new continent what Suez was formerly for Asia. M. Gogueneche proposed to transport the cacao of Guayaquil, by the Rio Naipi to Carthagena. The same way offers the advantage of a very quick communication between Cadiz and Lima. Instead of despatching couriers by Carthagena, Santa Fe, and Quito, or by Buenos Ayres and Mendoza, good quick sailing packet-boats should

be sent from Cupica to Peru. If this plan were carried into execution, the viceroy of Lima would have no longer to wait five or six months for the orders of his court. Besides, the environs of the Bay of Cupica abounds with excellent timber fit to be carried to Lima. We might almost say that the ground between Cupica and the mouth of the Atrato is the only part of all America in which the chain of the Andes is entirely broken.

7. In the interior of the province of Choco, the small ravine (Quebrada) de la Raspadura, unites the neighbouring sources of the Rio de Noanama, called also Rio San Juan, and the small river Quito. The latter, the Rio Andageda and the Rio Zitara, form the Rio d'Atrato which discharges itself into the Atlantic Ocean, while the Rio Sun Juan flows into the South Sea. A monk of great acti ity, curé of the village of Novita, employed hi pari hioners to dig a small canal in the ravine de la Raspadura, by means of which, when the rains are abundant, c: noes loaded with cacao pass from sea to sea. This interior communication has existed since 1788, unknown in Europe. The smail canal of Raspadura unites, on the coasts of the two oceans, two points 75 leagues distant from one another.

8. n the 10 of south latitude, two or three days journey from Lima, we reach the banks of the io Guullaga (or Huallaga), by which we