fathoms in depth. The banks of the Huasacualco were then much better peopled than at present. - h After the taking of Mexico, Gonzalo de Sandoval conquered the province of Tehuantepec in 1521; and though Andre Niño the pilot, affirmed that there was no strait from the coast of Nicaragua to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, this Isthmus was nevertheless looked upon as of very great importance, because the proximity of the two seas, and the River Huasacualco afforded the first Spanish conquerors a facility in transporting from Vera Cruz to the coast of the Pacific Ocean, the necessary materials for the construction of vessels. The expedition of Hernando de Grixalva, who set sail for California in 1584, went from Tehuantepec; and in the same manner the vessels in which Cortez embarked at . Chametla" were constructed at the mouth of the Rio Chimalapa, of the materials brought by the Rio Huasacualco. One of these vessels was lost in crossing the Bar of St. Francis, on leaving the Laguna de Santa Teresa. - - .

Since the end of the 16th century, the port of Tehuantepec, which hardly deserves the name of road, has been very little frequented; the South Sea commerce has been concentrated

at Acapulco; and the embarkations necessary
for communication with the Philippine Islands,
have all taken place at Manilla, or the port
of San Blas. Besides, the sea is daily with-
drawing from the coast of Tehuantepec ; the
anchorage is yearly becoming worse; and the
sand brought down by the river Chimalapa
augments both the height and extent of the
bar. At present the distance from the Villa
de Tehuantepec to the sea, is four leagues by
the way of the Hacienda de la Zoleta; and
the best anchorage is at the Morro del Carbon,
at the salt pits, and in the Laguna de Santa
Teresa. - - ; ,
A fortunate accident towards the end of the
last century was the means of occasioning the
two Viceroys, Buccareli and Revillagigedo,
again to turn the attention of government to the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Rio de
Huasacualco. There was discovered in 1771
at Vera Cruz, amongst the artillery of the
castle of St. John de Ulua, several pieces of
cannon cast at Manilla. As it was known
that, before the year 1767, the Spaniards neither
doubled the Cape of Good Hope nor Cape
Horn, in their voyage to the Philippine Islands,
and that since the first expeditions of Magellan
and Loysa who set out from Spain, all the com-
merce of Asia was carried on in the Galleon of
Acapulco, they could not conceive how these

cHAP. XII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 21

guns had crossed the continent of Mexico on their way from Manilla to the Castle of Ulua. The extreme difficulty of the road from Acapulco to Mexico, and from thence to Xalapa and Vera Cruz, rendered it very improbable that they should come by that way. In the course of their investigations, they learned both from the chronicle of Tehuantepec * written by Father Burgoa, and from the traditions preserved among the inhabitants of the Isthmus of Huasacualco, that these guns were cast at the Island of Luzon, and landed at the Bar of San Francisco; that they had ascended the bay of Santa Teresa, and the Rio Chimalapa ; that they had been carried by the Farm of Chivela, and the forest of Tarifa to the Rio del Malpasso; and that after having been again embarked, they descended the Rio Huasacualco, to its mouth in the gulph of Mexico. It was then very reasonably observed that this road which had been frequented in the beginning of the conquest, might still become very useful for the opening a direct communication between the two seas. The viceroy Don Antonio Bucareli gave orders to two able engineers, Don Augustin Cramer and Don Miguel del Corral, to examine, with the greatest minuteness, the country between the Bar of Huasacualco and the road of Tehuantepec ; and he instructed them at the same time to verify whether, as was vaguely supposed, among the small rivers of Ostuta, Chicapa, or Chimalapa, there was none which in any of its branches communicated with the two seas. From the itinerary journals of these two engineers, of whom the former was lieutenant of the castle of Ulua, I drew up my map of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. They found that no river discharged at the same time its waters into the South Sea and Atlantic Ocean; that the Rio Huasacualco did not take its rise, as the viceroy had been informed, near the town of Tehuante

pec ; and that on ascending it beyond the

cataract, even as far as the old desembarcadero de Malpasso, they were still more than 26 leagues distant from the shores of the South Sea. They observed that a chain of mountains, of very inconsiderable height, divides the waters between the gulf of Mexico and the gulf of Tehuantepec. This small cordillera stretches from east to west, from the Cerros de los Mixes, formerly inhabited by a wild and warlike tribe * towards the elevated table land of Portillo de Petapa. The engineer, Cramer, affirms however, that to the south of the village of Santa Maria de Chimalapa, the mountains form * Cartas de Cortez, p. 372. .

rather a group than an uninterrupted chain, and “ that there exists a transversal valley, in “ which a canal of communication might be “cut between the two seas.” This canal, which would unite the Rio de Chimalapa with the Rio del Passo (or Malpasso), would only be six leagues in length; the boats would ascend the Rio Chimalapa, which affords a very easy navigation from Tehuantepec to the village of San Miguel; and from thence they would pass by the canal projected in the time of Count Revillagigedo to the Rio del Passo. This river discharges itself into the Rio de Huasacualco near the Bodegas de la Fabrica ; but its navigation is extremely difficult on account of the seven pyramids (raudales) which are counted between its source and the mouth of the Rio de Saravia. It would be of infinite importance again to order this ground to be examined by intelligent engineers, to determine whether, as was believed by M. Cramer, the canal between the two seas can be executed without locks or without inclined planes, and whether, by blowing up the rocks with powder, the beds of the rivers Passo and Chimalapa can be deepened. The Isthmus is rich in cattle, and would, from its great fertility, supply valuable productions for the commerce of Vera Cruz. The fine plains of Tehuantepec would be susceptible of irriga