Xxxiv.: Communication

CHAPTER XXXIV.
^TEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION
1801-1887.
ANCIENT IDEAS ON THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE FROM PERU TO LA PLATA

CAPE HORN DISCOVERED ARCTIC REGIONS MCCLUKE S SUCCESSFUL
VOYAGE CKOZIER S DISCOVERY FRANKLIN S ATTEMPTS FINDING BY
NORDENSKIOLK OF THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE PROJECTS TO UNITE THE
ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS ACROSS THE ISTHMUSES PLANS ABOUT
TEHUANTEPEC EXPLORATIONS FOR A SHIP-CANAL ROUTE IN NICARAGUA,
PANAMA, AND DARIEN THE NICARAGUA ACCESSORY TRANSIT COMPANY
CONSTRUCTION OF THE PANAMA RAILWAY, AND ITS GREAT BENEFITS
FURTHER Kr FORTS FOR A CANAL ORGANIZATION OF A FRENCH COMPANY
A SHIP-CANAL UNDER CONSTRUCTION ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA
DlFFICCI.I IKS AND EXPECTATIONS CENTRAL AMERICAN RAILROADS
AND TELEGRAPHS SUBMARINE CABLES.
No sooner had lands been discovered to the west

ward of Europe than the minds of cosmographers be
came fixed in the idea of short routes to India in that
1
direction; nor would they abandon it until long after

both shores of the western continent had been explored
from the Arctic sea to Cape Horn. 2
1
See summary of geographical knowledge and discovery from the earliest
records to the year 1540. Hint. Cent. Am., i. (5.S-154, this series.
-They tints argued from the tirst: Quintus Metellus Celer, proconsul of
Rome in Gaul, was presented by the king of Suevia with a number of red
men, who had been thrown upon his coast. So said Cornelius Nepos, and
Pliny repeated it. Now these savages, having no knowledge of ships or navi
gation, could not have come from America; they were not black, and conse
quently M ere not from Africa. There were no people in Europe like them;
r
so they must have come from Asia. But how? Either from the east or froin
the west; they could not have rounded the eastern hemisphere either by its
northern or southern side, for obvious reasons; therefore they must have
come from the north-west, and hence there must be a way from Asia north
eastward to Europe, running round the north pole. Upon this logic were
staked thousands of lives and millions of money. Dominions Alarms Niger,
the geographer, speaks of men who were driven from India through the north
sea to Germany, while on a trading expedition. As late as 1 1 GO, some strange
(088)
EARLY EXPLORATIONS. 689
I have elsewhere presented a full account of explo

rations by land and sea to establish communications
between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans prior to the
3
opening of the present century. The most important
of the earlier discoveries, since Magalhaes time, was
that of the open polar sea south of Cape Horn, which
was named by the Dutch navigators Le Maire and
Van 4
The north-west passage, so long the
Schouten.
object of search, was at last found in 1851 by an
English expedition. The discovery was effected by
Robert Le Mesurier McClure, who, in command of
the Investigator, sailed, together with the Enterprise
under Richard Collinson, from England in 1850. Be
fore the close of the year, McClure passed Point Bar
row, pushed along the continent, doubled the south
end of Banks Island, and sailed through Prince of
Wales Strait, where he wintered near Melville Sound.
In 1851, the west side of the peninsular part of Wo]
laston Island to Prince Albert s Sound was surveyed
By finding the strait connecting the continental chan
nel with Melville Sound, McClure became the dis
coverer of the north-west passage, and was the first
5
navigator to pass from Bering Strait to Baffin Bay.
persons arrived on the coast of Germany. Humboldt thought they might
have been Eskimos. Othon, in his Stone of the Gothes, speaks of such arrivals,
arguing that they must have drifted in through a north-west passage. Gilbert s
Discourse, in Hakluyt, iii. 1(3-17. Again, Hakluyt finds it recorded that
some 200 years before the coming of Christ, the Romans sent a fleet against
the Grand Khan, which, crossing the strait of Gibraltar, and steering toward
the N. W., i:i hit 50 found a channel, in which it sailed to the westward until
it reached Asia, and after
fighting the king of Cathay, returned by the way
it went.
3
Hist. Cal, i. 1-109; Hist. Northwest Coast, i. 1-342; Hist. North Mexican
States and Texas, i. 1-201; Hist. Oreyon, i. I will add, in this connection,
that Juan de Ayola, with 200 Spaniards, in 1535 crossed from the Paraguay
raver to Peru. Irola, twelve years later, ascended the Paraguay River to
17 S., crossed the mountains to the Guapay River, and succeeded iu estab
lishing communications between Peru and her dependency, La Plata. Lard-
iK r .i Calii.net ii. 90.
Cyclop.,
4
They fitted out two
vessels, Le Maire advancing most of the money, and
going on the voyage as supercargo, Van Schouten as commander. They
doubled the cape with one remaining ship in Jan. 1616. The Spaniards after
ward completed the exploration, and their forts in Magellan Sound became
useless. The straits of Magellan have been, however, used in late years as
the transit of an English
steamship line.
Previously several attempts had been made. Kotzebus, of the Russian
navy, went in 1815 to Bering Strait, and the next year discovered the sound
HIST. CENT. AM., VOL. III. 44
690 INTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION.
Yet he gave to Captain Crozier, second in command

of Franklin s expedition, the credit of prior discovery.
bearing his name. Golovnin made a voyage also, but accomplished nothing.
The English made a number of efforts, which, if unsuccessful in not
attaining
the main object, added much to geographic knowledge. Herewith I give the
expeditions fitted out in England, or under English auspices. In 1818 two
ships, the Dorothea and Trent, under Buchan and Franklin, went to the
Spitzbergen waters, but could not advance far. Two other ships, the Iwihelii.
and Alexander, under John Ross and W. E. Parry, were ordered to Davis
Strait and verified Baffin s exploration of Baffin Bay. Ross entered Lancaster
Sound, and reached 81 30 W. by 74 3 N. Parry made three other voyages,
in 1819, 1821, and 1824, in the last of which one of his
ships, the Fury, was
wrecked in seeking a passage through Regent Inlet. In 1827 he at
tempted the polar voyage in sled-boats from Spitzbergen, reaching 82 40 30",
the farthest point hitherto attained. Capt. John Franklin tried to find the
passage overland from York Factory on the west coast of Hudson Bay. He
wintered at Fort Chepeweyan in 1819, and in the Enterprise in 1820. In July
1821 he navigated the Arctic sea, east of Coppermine River, a considerable
distance, hoping from the trend of the coast to reach Hudson Bay. Want
of provisions compelled the abandonment of the
expedition, and after severe
hardships, and journeying 5,500 miles, reached Great Slave Lake in Dec.
1821. Lyon in 1824 attained Sir Thomas Rowe s Welcome. Franklin re
newed his land survey of the Arctic coasts, 1825-7. He wintered in 1825 on
Great Bear Lake, descended the Mackenzie, and surveyed the coast line
westward to Return Reef in 70 20 N., and 148 52 W. Meanwhile Rich
ardson and Kendall of his party made a voyage from Mackenzie to Copper
mine River, doubling several capes, and completing the survey of the coast
through 00 degrees of longitude. Beechey in 1820 in the Blo**om explored
the coast from Kotzebue Sound to Icy Bay. One of his parties reached Cape
Barrow. He waited for Franklin till Oct. 1827, and returned home via Cape
Horn. Ross in 1829 tried to find a passage through Regent Inlet, but had
to abandon his ship in Victoria Harbor, near 70^. P. W T
.Dease and T.
Simpson in 1837-9 made important explorations between Point Barrow and
Mackenzie River; the portion on the east side between Point Turnagain and
the estuary of the Back s Great Fish River; and also the south sides of Victoria
Land and King William Land. John Rae of the Hudson s Bay Company sur
veyed a part of the Arctic coast east. In 1845 he surveyed Regent Inlet east
and west, found an isthmus between Regent Inlet and the sea explored by
Dease and Simpson. Franklin and Crozier were despatched in May 1845 with
two stout ships, the Erebus and Terror, well supplied for three years. The
expedition sent letters from Whalerish Island, near Disco, and was last seen
on July 26th waiting to cross the middle ice on to Lancaster Sound, 220 miles
distant. Ihe orders were to proceed to about 74| N. lat. and 98 W. long. ;
thence take a S. and W. course for Bering s Strait, the passage west from
Melville Island being precluded. A number of expeditions were despatched
in. search of Franklin;
namely, one under John Richardson and Rae, 1847-9;
ships Enterprise and Investigator under Ross and Bird, 1848-9; Herald and
Plover under Kellet and Moore, 1848-52; North Stir, commanded by Saun-
ders, 1849-50; the Investigator and Enterprise, in 1850, under McClure and
Collinson; whaler Advice, under Goodsir; a squadron commanded by Austin,
triteand Plover, 1852-5; McCormick in 1852; Rae in 1853-4; Anderson in

1855; and several others, among which deserve mention the American ex
peditions under lieut De Haven and S. P. Griffin, E. K. Kane, Hayes, Hall,
and Schwatka; most of whom made important geographical discoveries and
found relics of Franklin s party. It was ascertained beyond a doubt that
NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. 691
McClure with the Investigator was shut in during the

winters of 1851-2, and 1852-3. In the spring of 1853
he resolved to abandon the ship and seek Mackenzie
River and Lancaster Sound in two parties, a journey
which would have been disastrous. At this moment,
6
April 6th, Lieutenant Pym of the Resolute appeared.
The McClure party were taken to the Resolute, and
reached England in 1854.
The north-east passage was discovered by Adolf
Erick Nordenskiold in 1879, after 326 years from the
7
first attempt by Hugh Willoughby in 1553.
The necessity of shorter communication between

the two oceans becoming more evident from day to
day, with the increase of traffic with the western
coast of America, with China, and with the numerous
islands of the Pacific, various projects were enter
tained to establish such communication either by
canal or railway. At Tehuantepec, Honduras, Nica
ragua, and the isthmus of Panama were formed the
Franklin sailed up Wellington Channel to 77, descended by the west side of

Cornwallis Island, and wintered 1845-6 at Beechey Island. The wintering
positions of the ships were in 1846-7-8 off the north end of King William s
Island. Franklin died June 11, 1847, and the ships were abandoned near the
above spot Apr. 22, 1848, Capt. Crozier intending to lead the 105 survivors to
Great Fish River. Only 40 men reached the vicinity of this river, and all died,
according to Eskimo accounts. On this journey Lancaster Strait was connected
with the navigable channel along the continent, and the existence of the
north-west passage proved. Richardson s Polar Regions, 13G-7, 146-9, 151-202;
Lanlners Cabinet Cyclop., iii. 176-7, 198-247; Tytlers Hist. View, 133-4,
283-92; Franklins Narr., i. ii.; Quarterly Rev., xviii. 219; Am. Jour., xvi.
130-2; Encydop. Brit., xi. 347; xviii. 329-30; xix. 331-2, 335-8; Dictionnaire
de In Conversation, xii. 2; xiii. 608-10.
6
Sent by Capt. Pellet on Barrow Strait, and was guided by a message left
by McClure at Winter Harbor on Melville Island.
7
Nordeiiskiuld, a Swedish professor and experienced navigator, with the
steamer Vega, commanded by Lieut Palander, on the 19th of August, 1878,
reached Cape Severo or Tchelyusken, the most northern point of Siberia and
of the Old World in 77 41 N., and steered a south-easterly course, the sea
free from ice and quite shallow. Aug. 27th the mouth of the Lena River was
passed, the Veija parting company with her tender, the Lena, and continuing
her course eastward; she almost accomplished the passage that first season;
but toward the end of Sept. the Veya was frozen in off the shore of a low plain
in 67 7 N. and 173 20 W. near the settlement of the Chugaches. After an
imprisonment of 294 days, the Vega on the 18th of July, 1879, continued her
voyage, and on the 20th passed Bering Strait. Nordenskibld, without loss of
life or damage to his
ship, arrived at Yokohama Sept. 2, 1879. Encydop. Brit.
(Am. ed.), xix. 337.
INTEKOCEANIC COMMUNICATION.
TEHUANTEPEC ISTHMUS. 693
most favorable conditions for a forced or artificial

8
transit.
The breadth of the isthmus of Tehuantepec between
the bays of Carnpeche and Tehuantepec at the narrow
est point is 130 miles. It is drained by the rivers
Coatzacoalcos and Tehuantepec, the former running
northward, discharging its waters into the first-named
bay, and extending over three fourths of the width of
this isthmus; the latter flowing into the bay of
Tehuantepec. There are several lakes and lagoons.

At one time it was proposed to cut a canal across this
isthmus, and to improve the navigation of the Coatza
9
coalcos, to which end surveys were made. But no
Tehuantepec, connecting the rivers Coatzacoalcos and

8
For canal: I.
Chimilapa. Honduras. III. River San Juan de Nicaragua: 3. River

II.
San Carlos, Gulf of Nicoya. Nicaragua Lake: 4. Rivers Nino and Tempisque,
Gulf of Nicoya; 5. River Sapoa, Bay of Salinas; 6. San Juan del Sur; 7. Port
Brito. Managua Lake: 8. River Tamarindo; 9. Port Realejo; 10. Bay of
Fonseca. IV. Panama: River Chagres: 11. Gorgona, Panama; 12. Trinidad,
Caimito; 13. Navy Bay, Rivers Chagres, Bonito and Bernardo; 14. Gulf of
San Bias, and River Chepo. V. Darien: 15. Bay of Caledonia, Port Escoces,
Gulf of San Miguel; 16. Rivers Arguia, Pay a, and Tuyra, Gulf of Sa;i
Migiiel. River Atrato: 17. River Napipi, Bay of Cupica; 18. River Uruando,
Kelley s Inlet. Overland. 1st. Coatzacoalcos, Tehuantepec; 2d. Bay of
Honduras to Bay of Fonseca; 3d. River San Juan, Nicaragua, Managua, Bay
of Fonseca; 4fch. Port Limon to Caldera, Costa Rica; 5th. Laguna de
Chiriqui on Golfo Dulce; 6th. Colon, Gorgona, and Panama; 7th. Gorgon
Bay, Realejo; 8th. Gorgon Bay and San Juan del Sur. Nouv. Annaks de*
Voy., cliii. 9-10; Davis Rept, 20.
9
A survey made in 1715 was sent to the secret archives of Madrid, where
other like documents lie hidden. In 1774 the Spanish officers Corral and
Cramer, after inspecting the route reported that a canal of about eight leagues
might join the Chimalapa and Malpaso rivers, and establish a communication
between the two streams. The Spanish general Orbegoso in 1821 explored^this
isthmus, and formed a map, which was not published till 1839. In 1825 he
showed that it was not easy to carry a through-canal across Tehuantepec. In
1842-3 a survey was made under the auspices of Jose de Garay by C. Moro
and others, to determine the practicability of a ship canal by way of the
Coatzacoalcos to the gulf of Tehuantepec. The objections to the route were
shown to be the expense of cutting, the uncertainty of water upon the sum
mit level, and inadequate ports at the termini. Garay, however, announced
as practicable a canal of the same size as the Caledonia, in Scotland, and was
put in possession of lands, etc. ; but nothing came of the transaction but diplo
matic complications resulting from Garay s transfer of his grant to a foreign
company. Finally, the Mexican congress in 1851 declared the grant forfeited.
Nouv. Annales des Voi/., ci., iii., 8-9; Dufiot de Mofras, Explor. de I Oregon,
119; Reichardt, Cent. Am., 183-^t, 188-9; Cortes, Diario, 1813, xix. 392; Robles,
Prov. Chiapa, 70; Chevalier, Pan., 61-2; Mex. Col. Dec, y Ord., 115; Id., Col.
Ley., 6rd. y Dec., iii. 113-14; Bustamante, Med. Pacific, MS., ii., snplem. 15;
Mex. Mem. Sec. Rel, 47-8; Rivera, Govern. Mex., ii. 116; Id., Hist. Jalapa,
211, 225, 236; Du slan and Lozano, Le<jM. Mej., i. 738-9;
iv. Institute
ii. 362;
Nac. de Bol. No. 1, 30-43, with map and profile; Ward s Mex., i. 311;
Geo<j.,
action having been taken toward constructing a canal

by the parties to whom franchises had been given, the
scheme of a railroad across this section has been also
10
contemplated, and finally a grant was made to James
B. Eads, to construct a ship railway between the two
gulfs, capable of having transported over it the largest
11
ships with their cargoes. The scheme has been de
clared by Eacls, and by other engineers of high repute
in Europe and America, to be practicable. His oppo
nents deride it. He applied, without success, to the
United States government for assistance. 12
The idea of uniting the two oceans, by means of a
canal across the isthmus of Nicaragua, occupied the
attention of the Spanish court from a very early day
after the conquest to the last years of its occupation
13
of the country. Since the separation of Central
LioCs Pan., Nic. and Tehuan., 6-12; Ramirez, Mem., 1-108; Garay, Privileyio,
1-28; Id., Survey lath. Tehuan., 3-188; Manero, Notic. Hist., 51-G; Id., Apuiit.
Hist., 12-18; Mex. Mem. Sec. Guerra, 1852, 19-22; Id., Mem. hustnic. de los
dereckos, etc., iu Mexican Financier, no. 1, 1-39. In 1850-1 an American
commission headed by Alaj. Barnard, U. S. Engineers, surveyed the route,
who reported it to possess but little merits as a practicable line for the con
1
struction of a ship canal. Davis Report, 5-G. In officers of the U. S.

1S(>9
surveyed the route, and made a favorable report. In 1870 Capt. II. W.
Shuffeldt, of the U. S. navy, made another survey, which confirmed the con
clusions of the former, to the effect that no extraordinary engineering diffi
culties existed, as sufficient water could be had from rivers in the Sierra
Madre to supply the canal. The route begins about 30 miles above the mouth
of the Coatzacoalcos, and after traversing a long distance, rises to a level of
about 680 ft, then descends to the lagoon on the Pacific, a total distance of
120 miles. The distance from New Orleans to Hongkong would be 8,245
miles less than by Cape Horn, and 1,588 less than by way of Panama. Am.
Cyclop., iii. 690; Hanero, A punt. Hit., 13-15.
By resolution of the Mexican congress, the contract of the American
10
company was declared void in. Oct. 1882, and soon after the govt made an
arrangement to have the road built 011 its own account. Id., Articulos, Soc.
Arquit., 7-10; S. F. Call, Oct. 5, 1882; Mex., Diario Ofic., Oct. 10, 17, 18, 20,
1882.
n Mex., Diario Debates, 10th Cong., i. 273-1930, passim.; Id., El Noticioso,
Nov. 29, 1880; Id., Col Ley., xxxvi. 320-4; Id., Diario Ofic., June 2, 1881;
Aug. 10, 23, 1882; Mex n Financier, Dec. 13, 20, 27, 1884; Jan. 10, 24, 1885.
12
The Mexican govt guaranteed in 1885 one and a quarter million dollars
per annum for 15 years. Pan. Star and HcrcM, Jan. 16, 1886.
Gov. Pedrarias Davila had the outlet of lakes Nicaragua and Managua
13
discovered. His officers Este and Kojas favored the plan of a canal round the
falls of the San Juan, and another on the Pacific slope. The project occu
pied the court and colony for many years. Hei-rera, iv., iii., ii.; Cent. Am.,
Er.tractos Sueltos, in Squiers MS., xxii. 108; Frobel, Aus. Am., i. 144, 241.
The plan not only engaged the Spaniards but the French and English, the
latter contemplating the conquest of the country. The royal engineer Man
uel Galisteo in 1781, the system of locks being little known then, declared the
NICARAGUA ISTHMUS. 695
America from the crown, the canal scheme has ever

been uppermost in the minds of her rulers and thinking
men, and many scientific engineers and capitalists of
Europe and America have taken a deep interest
therein. But for divers reasons nothing was accom
plished toward establishing an adequate interoceanic
14
communication, in any form, down to 1849. This
year a new arrangement was made with Cornelius
Vanderbilt and Joseph L. White of New York, in
which the government of the United States, through
its representative, E. George Squier, became concerned.
connection of the lake with the Pacific to be impracticable. In 1701 La Bas-

tide proposed widening the river Sapoa between the lake and Papagayo Gulf,
and cutting a canal between that river and the gulf of Nicoya; but the French
revolution caused the matter to be forgotten. In 1814 the Spanish cdrtes
decreed the survey and construction, but subsequent political events made
that decree inoperative. Saravia, Bosq. Polit. Est., 13-17; Vi<ijero, Univ.,
xxvii. 180-4; Bastide, Mem, Sur. Nouv. Passage, 1-70; HumJboldt, Easai Polit.,
i. 117;
Bourfjoanes Trav., in Pinkerton s Coll., ii. 498-9; Reichardt, Cent. Am.,
1(59-70; Duflot de Mofras, Explor. de I Oreyon, i. 137; Sqtuers Nic., 658.
14
Herewith I give a synopsis of what occurred. In 1 823 a franchise was
given to John Baily for a house in London, who did nothing, and the privi
lege was granted to parties in New York, who also failed to carry out the
stipulations. Numerous proposals came between 1825 and 1829, which were
successively accepted, but neither of them had effect. In 1829 a franchise
was decreed to the king of Holland, and there was some prospect of a canal
being constructed; but the war which detached Belgium from Holland broke
out, and the king abandoned the project. President Morazan then contem
plated doing the work on Central American account, and the survey was
begun in 1837, interrupted by Morazan s fall, but continued in 1838 for ac
count of Nicaragua. This same year Edward Belcher, of the Brit, navy,
suggested the possibility of an artificial communication between Lake Mana
gua and the bay of Fonseca. Baily s explorations along the line from Rio
Lajas to San Juan del Sur were terminated in 1S43, and their publication
furnished exact data on the canal. Meanwhile, P. Rouhand (1839), Veteri
(1843), Castellon and Jerez (1842), had unsuccessfully tried to raise funds for
the work in Europe. The king of France in 1814 refused his cooperation.
In 184G Louis Napoleon became warmly interested for a time. Great Britian in
1847 seized San Juan del Norte on the north, and Tiger Island oil the south.
Louis Napoleon turned his thoughts to other subjects. Orsted studied, in
1847-8, for the Costa Rican govt, a canal project which differed fro.n Baily s
in choosing a low line south of San Juan del Sur along the Sapoa River into
Salinas Bay. Nicaragua in 1848 entered into a contract to build the canal
with a house in New York, which, however, surrendered it. Baily s Cent. Am.,
127-50; Annaks des Voy., cliii. 14-17; clvii. 16-17; Nouv. Annalcs des
Voy., xxviii. (1825), 370-82; xxxii. (1826), 369-74; Seder s Trav., ii. 251-80,
435-20; Id., Nic., 658; Liot s Pan. Nic. and Tehuan., 13-16; N
lies Re-/., xxx.
447; xxxi. 2, 72-3; Ixiv. 130-1; Ixv. 57-61; Ixvii. 148; Salv., Diario Ofic.,
Dec. 16, 1879; Reichardt, Cent. Am., 171-3; Lond. Geoy. Soc., Jour., xiv. 127-
9; xx. 172; Scherzer, Cent. Am., 241; Belli/, Me., i. 84-7, 137; /. /., Carted
etudes, 35-15, Strains Int. Garella, Projet, 182-8; Sampson s Cent.
Comm., 7-8;
Am., 7-18; Mar are, Mem. Hist., 1-47; Billow, Nic., 44-57; U. S. Comm.
Rept, 145, p. 230-65; U. S. Gov. Doc., Sen. Miscel., Cong. 30, Sess 1, no. 80,
69-75; Id., H. Ex. Doc., Con;/. 31, Sess. 1, no. 75, 50-326, passim.
This arrangement gave rise to complications with

Great Britain, which were finally settled by the Clay-
ton-Bulwer treaty to perpetually guarantee the neu
trality of the canal to be constructed. The contractors
failed to carry out their agreement
O as regarded the
t/ O
cotistruction of a canal, but established the Accessory
Transit Company, and by means of steamers on tho
two oceans, and on the river San Juan and Lake
Nicaragua, rendered valuable service in the transpor
tation of passengers. The matter was given in detail,
in connection with the relations of that
company with
the Nicaraguan government, including its history
from the date of the foundation till 18 GO, when it
ceased to exist. However, their engineer, (). Childs,
made a survey of the route for a canal in 1851, and
recommended one from the mouth of Lajas River "
to Port Brito, traversing the Bio Grande Valley.

1
Since that time many schemes have been contem

plated, and contracts entered into, but none of them
have Oodven the desired result. 16
I have yet to mention Pirn s scheme, advanced in
1853, of building a railway from Punta Mico on the
This survey was considered reliable. English engineers pronounced

1;)
1
Brito unworthy of this great ship navigation. Davis Report, 0-7.
1!1
S. Bayley in 1852 proposed a route from La Virgcii to San Juan dol Sur,
nearly following that of the Transit Co. without passing through the valley of
the Lajas, which Baily recommended in 1843. In 1853 E. (I. Squier tried to
revive Belcher s plan of utilizing both lakes, and reaching Foiiseca Bay
through the Conejo Valley and the Estero Real. Squier s proposed Honduras
railway also was to reach that bay; and it is quite possible that he contem
plated connecting the two works. Felix Bell\ for Belly, Millaud, and Com
r
,
pany, in a contract of May 1858 with the Nicaraguan government, purposed

carrying into execution Orsted s proposition; but after several years waiting
without Belly or his assigns, the International Canal Co., accomplishing any
thing, or offering better prospects for the future, the government, in 1808,
declared his contract forfeited, and entered into another with Michel Cheva
lier, from which better expectations were entertained; but they were destined
not to be realized. Chevalier required, as a condition sine qua noil, that the
contract should be ratified by the Costa Ilican congress. This took place a
year later, and then came the war between France and Prussia, and Nicara
gua s last effort, like all former ones, was frustrated. Belly, NIC., i. 31-50,
170-4, 401-0; ii. 1-13, 27-33, 59-404; Id., Carte tT etudes, 19-27, 49-01; Nir.
Canal de, 1-21; Col. Dec. y Acuerdos, 1803, 39-40, 118; 1809-70, 8-23; Pini*
Gate of the Pac., 1-14, 58, 110-34, 221-30, 322-70, 394; NIC., Gaceta, Jan. 7,
Apr. 8, 1805; March 20, Apr. 17, 1809; Id., Informs Sec. JReL, 1809, 8-9; Id.,
Id., Hadenda, 1809, 3-5; Marcoleta, Min. Nic., 1-32; Hunt s Merck. May., Iv.
31-48; Ivi. 32-4.

ACROSS MOSQUITIA. 697
Atlantic to San Miguelito, on the eastern shore of

the lake, traversing Mosquitia. company was A
formed, but the project was soon found to be imprac
17
ticable.
No have been spared ever since by Nica
efforts
ragua and American citizens to bring about the ac
complishment of the long-expected canal, under the

that it is the most desirable, feasible, and
impression
least expensive route. The assistance of the United
States Ogovernment has been solicited, and treaties 7
made to afford facilities, but the American congress

has thus far refused to do anything, except send com
missions to explore the several lines, and their re
18
ports seem to be favorable. The last treaty concluded
Nlc., Garcia, Dec. 12, 24, 1863; Nov. 9, 1867.

l
18
The exploration by Com. Lull, of the U. S. navy, established the ex
istence of a practicable route for a caual with Lake Nicaragua as its summit
level, 107 ft above mean tide. It was proposed to connect the lake with the
Pacific by a canal 16.3 miles in length, from the mouth of the Mudio River
to Port Brito. The first 7.5 miles would require an excavation averaging 54
ft in depth, which would be the most costly part of the work. The plan calls
for ten locks, and one tide-lock between the lake and the sea. Th^Like navi
gation is of 56 miles. The river San Juan would bo improved by means of
four dams; namely, at the rapids of Castillo, Balas, and Machuca, and at the
mouth of the San Carlos River, all of which place., are suitable for dams. A
short section of canal with one lock would be needed to get around each of
the upper three dams. From the fourth dam to San Juan del Norte, an in
dependent canal 41.4 miles long with 7 locks must be constructed, which pre
sents no apparent engineering difficulty. The total length of thecan;;! would
be 61.7 miles. No tunnelling needed. The harbor of Saa Juan del Norte
must be dredged, and otherwise improved, to insure that no water but that of
the canal shall run into the harbor. Short breakwaters must be built to pro
tect the entrances from the surf. Lake Nicaragua with a Eurfaco of 2,700 sq.
miles, and a drainage area of 8,003 sq. miles, will supply SS times the maxi
mum possible demand of water. The depth of water would be 26 ft; the
width at bottom 72 ft, and at surface 150 ft. The lock:;, 21 in number, with
a lift of from 8 to 10 ft, would be 400 ft long, 72 ft wide. The cost was esti
mated at about eighty million dollars. U. S. Oov. Doc., Sen. Jour., 916, Cong.
41, Sess. 2; Id., H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 42, Sess. 2, i. no. 1, pt, 1, 670-8; Id., Id.,
3d Sess., i. p. 100, 4G2-5; /:/., Sec. Navy Ile.pt, Cong. 43, Sess. 1, p. 10-12;
Id., Nic. Ship Canal Route, Cong. 43, Sess. 1; Livy, NIC., 428-40; Nic., Gacetn,
Aug. 20, 27, Oct. 2-2, Dec. 24, 1870; Oct. 21, 1871; Jan. 11, Feb. 22, Judy 12,
1873; March 21, June 6, Nov. 28, 1874; Id., Mem. Sec. Rel, 1871, 10-16, 29-
39; 1875, xiii.-xiv.; 1879, xxvii.-viii. ; Costa 1!., Col. xix. 17-34, 180-1;
Le>/.,
Id., I/iforme Sec. lid., 1872, 2-5; 1877, 2; 1885, 4-6, 47-54; Guat., Me.-n. Sec.
Rel., 1884, 6, 8, 9;Pan. Canal, March 5, 1883; hi, Star and Herald, Feb. 12,
14, 1883; La Estrella de Pan., Jan. 15, 1885; El Guatcmalteco, March 4, 1884.
It has been asserted that formidable obstacles exist to a
permanent deep-water
entrance at San Juan del Norte, owing to sand and other detritus carried into
it by the San Juan River, rendering it shallow and dangerous. Gisborn n lath.
Darieu, 8-11.
698 INTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION
between the two governments with reference to a canal

was rejected by the United States senate. The last
survey made under the auspices of the American gov
ernment was that of Engineer Menocal, of the United
States navy, who, with other officers, visited Nicara
gua in January 1885. His report was presented in
November of that year. The plan of this commission
had been at first to convert the river San Juan above
its junction with the Sarapiqui into an extension of the
lake by constructing a dam 74 feet high, but it was
found impracticable. The proposed route extends
from San Juan del Norte to Brito. The total length
is 1G9.8 miles, of which 38.98 miles will be excavated
canal, and 130.82 navigation by Lake Nicaragua, the

river San Juan, the basin of the river San Francisco,
and seven locks. Lake Nicaragua will be connected
with the Pacific by a canal, and with the Atlantic by
slackwater navigation in the river San Juan, by a short
section of canal from the San Juan to the basin of the
San Francisco, by navigation through this basin, and
by a canal thence to the Caribbean Sea. The route
has been divided into three divisions, the western,
19
eastern, and middle. The cost was carefully esti
mated, including a contingent of 25 per cent, at 64,-
043,097. De Lesseps is of opinion, however, that a
canal with locks would be inadequate to pass the traffic
that will frequent it, and would suffer from uncertainty
of sufficient water to supply the lockage and evapo
20
ration.
One of the four routes suggested by Antonio Galvao

19
The report of course gives in minute detail the engineering features of
the three divisions. The proposed locks have a uniform length of 650 ft be
tween gates, and at least 155 ft of width. The canal is to have a depth of 28
or 30 ft. It is anticipated that a ship can pass from San Juan to Brito in 30
hours. Thirty-two vessels can pass the canal in a day. Excellent materials
for construction are at hand. Pan. Star and Herald, Dec. 5, 1885, and San
Francisco newspapers.
2J
This latter objection seems to be disproved by the researches of the
American engineers. But the great difficulty still remains about the estab
lishment and future maintenance of a deep -water entrance to the canal at San
Juan del Norte. Encydop. Brit. (Am. ed.), iv. 701.
PANAMA ISTHMUS. 699
to the king of Spain, for cutting a canal to join the

two oceans, was the Isthmus of Panama*. 21 Soon after
New Granada threw off the Spanish yoke, several
surveys of Panama and Darien were made, and canal
22
projects recommended; two of them, deemed the
most important, were that of Lloyd s to build a railroad
from Panamd or La Chorrera to the Trinidad River, a
tributary of the Chagres; and that of a sluiced canal
recommended in 1843 by Garella and Courtines, who
This Isthmus was surveyed in 1520 by two Flemish engineers, who re
21
ported adversely. The king for politic reasons would not have the subject
meiitioiied again. So it has been said. Duflot de Mofras, Explor. de VOreyon,
i. 119. The section was repeatedly explored. In 1534 preliminary work for
a ship canal was done, under royal order, by G-ov. Gama. The Chagres River
was made navigable to where the wagon road began. Pan. Ced., in Squier*
MSS., xi. 1-6; Andayoya, Carta al Key., in Id., 8; Garella, Isth. de Pan., 3-5;
Datos Bioy., in Cartas de Ind., 7G1. Various schemes were broached in the
17th century, meeting with no encouragement. In 1637 Lionel Wafer was
guided by Mandinga Indians from the gulf of San Miguel to Concepcion on
the Atlantic side. W. Paterson, from his settlement at Caledonia Harbor,
made several journeys into the interior, recommending it to his company for
iiitoroceanic traffic. Ulloa and Jorge Juan explored Panama for a route iu
1736. Juan and Ulloa Voy., i. 94; Fitz-fioy, in Loud. Gcoj. Soc., Jour., xx.
170, 178; Reichardt, Cent. Am., 164-5. A road was opened on the isth. of
Darien by Gov. Ariza from Puerto Escoces to Puerto del Principe on the
Sabana River, which enters the Pacific. Ariza, Darien, MS., 1112; De Puydt,
in Lond. Geor/. Soc., Jour., xxxviii. 69; Cullens Darien, 192-204; Pinis Gate of
the Pac., 183-4; Scherzer, Cent. Am., i. 248-9. In 1320 Capt. Illiugsworth of
the Chilian corvette La Rosa (a) Andes had his shallop drawn across the cor-
dillera, and launched in the Napipi, whence it proceeded to Quibdd or Citera,
near the mouth of the Atrato, where it was found in 1824 by Cochrane, who
in examining Darien for a canal route found the obstacles almost insurmount
able. Annales des Voy., cliii. 8, 22, 36. Domingo Lopez, a Colombian, traced
a line for a canal between Panama and Portobello. Arosemena, Apuntes Hist.,
4. In 1827, C. Friend of the British navy made an excursion from the banks
of the Atrato to the bay of Cupica. But the first forma,! exploration was
made, shortly after Friend s tour, by Lloyd of Pres. Bolivar s staff, and Capt.
Falmarc, a Swede in the Colombian service, under Bolivar s auspices. After
completing their labors in 1829, they declared that a railway, if not a canal,
was feasible between Chagres and Panama. The notes of the expedition were
published in Philosophical Trans., for 1830, and in London Soc., Jour., i.
Geo<j.
69-101; Uicvalier, Pan., 112-13; Bull SocieteGeo-/., xiv. 88, 53-66; Democ. Ret:,
vi. 297-8; Nouv. Annales des
Voy., xlviii. 380-1; Garella, lath, de Pan., 8-9.
22
Thierry s canal project, 1835; Biddle s survey for a canal, 1833; Morel,
soon after Lloyd s survey, in 1837-8, sought a canal route somewhat south of
the line from Chagres to Pan. in the angle between the rivers Chagres and
Trinidad, through Vino Tinto Lake. In a later survey he kept more to the
left; Watts explorations in 1838; Barnet s survey of Chiriqui in 1339. Nite.S
Ren., xlviii.; Arosemena, Exdmen, 8-34; Pinart, Misc. Papers, 110. 1, Decrees
113-17; Pan. Star and Herald, Oct. 4, 1882; Interoc. Canal and Monroe Doct.,
23-4; Chevalier, Pan., 117-22; Barnet s Surv., in Chiriqui Jmp. Co. Coll.; Pan.*
Gaceta 1st., Sept. 20, 1841; G. B. Watts, in Am. Geoy. and Stiit., Soc. Bull> u
pt. iii. 64-80.
700 INTEROCEANIO COMMUNICATION.
studied the Istlnnus under a commission of the French

government. And there were other projects.
23
.-
The attention of the United States government was

directed to the subject of interoceanic routes as early
as 1825. In 1835 the executive was requested by the
senate to enter into negotiations with the Central
American states and New Granada, conducive to
treaties for the protection of Americans who might
attempt opening the communication between the two
oceans. A
treaty was made by the United States
with New Granada on the 12th of December, 184G,
under which the latter oguaranteed to the former "the
right of way or transit across the Isthmus of Panama,
upon any modes of communication that now exist, or
that may be hereafter constructed." The United
States government on its part guaranteed to New
Granada the neutrality of the Isthmus, and the rig] its
23
Garella a canal, beginning at Liinon Bay, was to pass under the Ahog-
ayegua ri.lge by means of a tunnel 11:0 ft high a:ul 17,390 ft long, to tlie Lay
of Vaca Monte, 12 miles west of Panama. The route follows the Bernar-
<lel
ami Cuimito valleys on the southern slope, and those of Quebrado and
<lino
Chagrcs on. the northern. The highest elevation 459 feet above the sea L-vd,
the mountain being tunnelled 324 feet 9 in. below its highest point; so that
the canal would at the summit be 135 feet above the sea, and require 35 locks.
.Lloyd, acting for the British government, arrived at the same conclusions.
Carella, Prcjct tC-un canal, 11-194, 230; A~oiu\ Ann. dcx Voj., cvi. 3G-40; U. S.
Gov. ])oc.., II. Com. Rcpt, 1 15, p. 70-7, 50G-71, Cong. 30, Sess. 2; Aroaemena,
Exam 01, 5-G, 11. T
llellert, in 1844-5, explored the Daricn from P.io Paya to
the Atrato. V\ B. Liot, of the Brit, navy, proposed in 1S45 a macadamized
.
road, or a railroad from Portobello to Panama. Capt. Kellet, being informed

by Indians that the Jxapipi lliver, a tributary of the Atrato, approached very
closely to the bay of Cupica, crossed on foot in 1847 till he reached a river
which was supposed to flow into the Atlantic. Cullen claimed to have crossed
the Darien. In 1849 he found the .Sabana River, ascended it, crossed from
Caiiasas to the sea-shore at Port Lococes and returned. In 1S50 and 1851 he
crossed several times alone by diilcrent routes from the Sabana to E.^coces,
convinced that this must be the future route for ships. Here are the requi
site secure harbors; the highest elevation of the valleys through the ridges is
not over 150 feet, which is lower than any level as yet found; locks and tun
nel might be avoided; the canal need be only 26 or 27 miles long, two miles
through hard rock. Unfortunately, Cullen gave 110 notes or measurements to
prove this. Capt. Fitz-Roy, of the British navy, published a memoir ou a
communication between the Atrato, by way of its tributary the Napipi or
Naipi, and Cupica Bay. Greiff, a Swedish engineer, confirmed his observa
tions. In 1850-1 Chevalier explored the Isthmus for information on inter-
oceanic routes. U. S. Coast Survey, 18G8, 260-7; Liot s Pan., etc., p. iii. See-;
manns Very., i. 220; Davis Rcpt, 9-14, and several maps; Cullen s Isth. Daricn
Ship Canal, 2d ed., 19; Annales ties Voij., cliii. 23; Chevalier, in/Sbo. Geoy. Bull.,
cer. iv., torn, iv., no. 19, pp. 30-70.
PANAMA RAILWAY. 701
of sovereignty arid property over its territory. At 24
last an American company, being stimulated by the
great traffic across the Isthmus, took up the matter of

a railway. 25
The termini resolved on were Colon on the Atlan
tic, and on the Pacific, a little to the eastward of the
city of Panama, quite clear of the suburbs. The work

was begun in January 1850, and finished on the 28th
of January, 1855. Its total length is 47 miles, 3,020
feet. The line is a single one, but has four very com
modious sidings; namely, Gatun, 7-J miles from Colon;
one near Barbacoas, 22 miles; one at Matachin, 30
miles; and one at the summit, 37 miles. There
are stations at every four miles. The undertak
ing was a bold one, and was successfully carried
out under the able and energetic superintendence of
26
George M. Totten. The actual cost, as per con-
24
The U. S. had the country surveyed in 1833-4 between the Chagres and
Panama. Fairbairn, in United Serv. Jour., 1832, pt ii. 207-9; U. S. Goc. Doc.,
4 Ex. Doc. 228, vol. iv., Con;?. 25, Sess. 2; ft?., Id. 77, vol. iv., Cong. 3, Sess.
1; Id., U. S. Coinm. Rep. 145, p. 3, 205-332, Cong. 30, Sess. 2; Pub. Trea
ties, 1375, p. 553; A~c., Gaceta, Nov. 18, 1848; Niks jRcy., i. 440; Tuckers
Monroe Doc., 43-4-.
aj
The
parties forming the company were William H. Aspinwall, Henry
Cliauncoy, and John L. .Stephens, all of New York, who on the 15ch of April,
1850, made a contract with the New Granadan government, binding them
selves to construct within a given time a railway between a point on the
Atlantic and Panama, for the transportation of travellers, cattle, merchan
dise, etc., under a fixed tariff of rates. Certain advantages were allowed New
Grenadan citizens. It is not necessary to state here all the terms of the con
tract. It was to be in force 49 years, and the New Granadan government
was to receive three per centum of the net profits. It subsequently received
$10,000 a year additional on the mails. Passengers, merchandise, and every
thing else passing intransitu over the railroad, were to be free of duties and im
posts. The contract was amended July 5, 1867. Under the new arrangement
the company was to own the railway for 99 years; and pay the Colombian gov
ernment one million dollars in gold, and thereafter $250, 000 a year in quar
terly instalments, Colombian mails passing over the road free of expense.
Large grants of land were made to the company, who further bound them
selves to carry the railroad to the islands of Naos, Culebra, Perico, and Fla
menco, or to some other suitable place on the bay. The prolongation has never
been carried out. BidweWs Ixth. Pan., 299-308, 397-417; Pan., Bolelln Ojic.,
Nov. 15, 1867; Id., Gaceta, Oct. 31, 1880; Arosemena, Pan. Prolong. Fcrro-
carr d, 1-18; Pan. Star and Herald, Sept. 3, Oct. 5, 1867; Sept. 12, 13, 28,
1877; Rouhaud. Reqions Nouv., 1878-9, p. 343-51; Pan. Mem. Sec. Jen., 1877,
21-2.
2G
The difficulties of the ground and climate, together with scanty resources
of the country and The road runs on the
scarcity of labor, were overcome.
easterly bank of the Chagres River as far as Barbacoas, where it crosses th^
river over a bridge 625 ft long, 18 ft broad, and 40 ft above the mean level.
struction account, was eight million dollars. The road

has been improved from year to year. Articles of
the coarsest and heaviest description, as well as ordi
nary merchandise, have been constantly conveyed over
it. The road began to yield some income since 1852,
when it had reached Barbacoas. I give in a note
some statistics on receipts and expenditures. 27 The
company from the beginning of its operations had a
line of telegraph between Panama and Colon. In
1881 the railway was sold to the company organized
to construct a canal for 17,500,000, being at the rate
of $250 per share. Adding other items, and interest
on annual instalments, the share-holders received
about twenty million dollars. 28
A survey made by United States officers in 18GG,
through Chiriqui, showed that it was practicable to
build a railway through the cordillera. The harbors
of Chiriqui and Sheperd on the Atlantic, and of Golfito
in Golfo Dulce, were favorably reported upon by
23
Commodore F. Engle.
A full account of tho construction may bo found in Otis Hist. Pan. R. R., 1-
4o; Thornton s Or&jon and CaL, ii. 349-52; Piuis Gateway, 192-209, 415-28;
Nk., Con: ht., May 30, June, 12, 1850; De Bow s Encyc., ptii. 493-4; Fremont *
Am. Trav., 171-2, and other authorities too numerous to name here. The
construction cost many lives of all nationalities, owing to the climate; and
was finally completed with negroes of the Isthmus, Jamaica, the coast of
Cartagena and Santa Marta. Maldonado, Asuntos Polit., MS., 0.
27
Receipts from 1852 to Dec. 31, 1854, $1,020,102; 1855-00, $8,748,020;
1801-0, $12,309,002. Total, $22,143,850. Expenses to end of 1855, includ
ing share of profits paid the NCAV Granadan govt, $1,123,081; of 1850-00,
$8,748,318. Total, $9,871,399. Net proceeds, $12,272,451. The transit trade
has been the main business of the Isthmus. For many years, till the Brit
steamship trade by the straits of Magellan developed, and the overland rail
way between Omaha and S. F. was completed, almost all merchandise going
to or from Europe and the eastern ports of the United States, Cuba, etc., to
California, the west coast of South America, and Central America, was sent
by way of the Isthmus, including even copper from Bolivia and Chile. Re-
coipts of the railroad 1883-4, $0,300,700. Expenses in same years, $3,979, 144.
Net proceeds $2,327,010; a net increase of earnings in 1884 over 1883, of
24,032. Further information in the last preceding chapter connected with
the Isthmus transit trade. BidwelCs Isth. Pan., 280; Otis Hist. Pan, R. R.,
59-09; Superint. Hurt s Rept, March 7, 1885, in Pan. Star and Herald, Apr.
22, 1885; La Estrella de Pan., May 2, 1885.
w Pan. Star and Herald, June 23, 1881;
Sept. 18, 1882; U. S. Gov. Doc.,
H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 48, Sess. 1, i. pt 1, 217-19.
Davis Rept, 8; U. S. Gov. Doc., H. Journ., 1345, Cong. 36, Sess. I; 541,
Cong. 36, Sess. 2; Id., Sen. Doc. 1, pp. 17, 30-44, iii. pt 1, Cong. 36, Sess. 2;
Harper s Mag., xxii. 193-209.
VARIOUS SCHEMES. 703
But the idea of an interoceanic canal was ever pres

30
ent. Nothing was practically done, until the whole
30
New Granada granted, in 1852, to Fox, Cullen, and others, the privi
lege of opening a canal between Caledonia Bay and the gulf of San Miguel.
Cullen s Darien Ship Canal, 1146. Gisborne thought it was a mere matter of
excavation costing about sixty million dollars. After having spent a great
deal of ti:rie on the examination of the Atrato and San Juan rivers since
1852, F. M. Kelly, of N. Y., in 1864 explored the route from Chcpo Elver
to the gulf of San Bias, which is only SO miles long, but calls for a tunnel.
Several surveys followed; namely, Strain, of the U. S. navy, early in 1354,
with a party explored the Darien. After several weeks toil they lost them
selves; five men perished, the rest reaching Yavisa on the east coast. About
the same time a New
Granadan expedition under Codazzi made a similar at
tempt, but meeting with disaster, after losing several men, gave up the
enterprise. The same year English and French officers made explorations.
Cullen and Guborne were with them, and saw their former statements
proved false. Next in order is Kennish s examination, followed by Michlcr
and Cravens, of the U. S. navy, who confirmed his report in all essential
points. Scherzer, Cent. Am., 250-1; Mex. Anales Min. Foidento, i. 83-8;
Strains Inter. Comm., 18-27. La Charme, in 18C5, by order of the merchant
Gogorza, surveyed from the south of the gulf of Darien to the gulf of San
Miguel by way of the Tuyra River. De Puydt, for the International Colom
bia Co., reported having found a favorable route from Puerto E^condido to
the Tuyra, and thence to the gulf of San Miguel. A oert s Ship Canal, 63-9,
72-9; La Charme, in Putnam s May., iii. 329-41; Pan., Gaceta, July 2, 187G;
Lond. Soc., Jour., xxiv. 249; xxxviii. 69-99.
Geo>i. Bourdivl, in 1864, passed
from the Pacific with 25 men to the mouth of the Lara, and thence across the
Isthmus to Chucuanaque River, reaching it just below the Sucubti. Here
the natives left him for fear of the savages, and he had to return. Rear-
adm. C. H. Davis, supt of the U. S. Naval Observatory at Washington,
issued a Jteport on Interoceanic Canals and Railways, for his government, in
1867, reviewing modern explorations of the continent from Darien to Hondu
ras for canals and railroad routes, and giving maps thereof, and a Hot of au
thorities thereon. His work is quite thorough to its date. Davis Itept, 15-
19. The secretary of the U. S. navy thus summarized in 1873 the report of
Com. Selfridge, who, in 1870-2, made a thorough exploration of several lines
in the narrower portion of Darien. This route includes 100 miles of naviga
tion of the Atrato River, which is capable of being navigated by the largest
steamers. Between the Atrato and the Pacific, a canal must be made of 28
miles in length, of which it would pass 22 through a plain with a gradual
rise of 90 feet. Of the other 6 three would be in moderate cutting, the other
three would be of tunnelling. The estimated cost was between $52,000,000
and $63,003,000, and the time for completing the work ten years. The tun
nel would be 112 ft high, 60 feet wide, and have 87 ft of clear headway above
the surface of the water. The canal would have 25 ft in depth, 50 ft of
width at the bottom, and 70 at surface. The locks, 20 in number, were to
be 427 ft long, 54 ft wide, with a lift of 10 ft. The water supply, much in
excess of the requirement, would be derived from the Napipi River. Two
alternative schemes were abo presented, increasing the length of tunnelling,
and diminishing the number of locks, at an estimated cost of 85,000,030 to
$90,000,000. He proved De Puydt s line impracticable. Sslfridgo s full
report, with maps and illustrations, etc., in U. S. Gov. Doc., Darien Explor.,
Cong. 42, Sess. 3; Brief reports by sec. of the navy and Selfridge, in Id., H.
Ex. Doc., i. p. 3 (sec. of navy), vol. iii., pp. 9-10, 133-41, Cong. 41, Scss. 3:
Harpers Mag., xlvii. (Nov. 1873), 801-20; Enclydop. Brit. (Am. ed.), iv.
700-]. In 1873 Selfridge surveyed the valley of the Bojaya, another tribu
tary of the Atrato, more to the north, which was regarded as more favorable.
Tho A:n. jjovt despatched two other expeditions in 1874, one of which sur-
subject was discussed in 1875 at the congress of geo

graphical sciences held in Paris, and a company was
organized under General Ttirr for effecting the requi
site explorations. Lucien N. Bonaparte Wyse, a
lieutenant of the French navy, assisted by other en
gineers, was sent out to the Isthmus. The exploring
commission effected their work thoroughly, and the
section from Colon to Panama was given the prefer
31
ence. The Colombian government granted on the
18th of May, 1878, to the Civil International Inter-
oceanic Association, residing in Paris, the exclusive
privilege for ninety-nine years of constructing a canal
between the two oceans, at the same time establish
ing the neutrality of the ports at the termini, and of
the canal itself. 32
De Lesseps, of Suez Canal fame, undertook in 1879
the task of constructing O the canal, and the first meet-
ing of the company, now called Compagnie Universal
du Canal Interoceanique de Panama, took place in
1881. It was calculated that six hundred million
francs, or be it 120,000,000, would cover the expense
of construction and completion. One of the company s
first acts was to establish in New York a branch board
of directors, and another was to purchase the Panama
33
railway. The works were commenced in October
34
1881. The canal in course of construction follows
veyed a line between the Atrato and the Pacific across the state of Cauca;
the other a line parallel with the Panama railway.
31
It affords a much shorter route than that of Darien, and the Cordillera
is there less than 290 ft high. The watershed being nearer the Pacific than
the Atlantic, the streams running into the former ocean are of little impor
tance, whereas the Chagres on the Atlantic slope, with its tributary, the
Obispo, forms a navigable channel, which in the rainy season attains to for-
"
midable proportions.
"abl
certain periods of it from G to 8 per cent of the net receipts; but its share is
never to be under $250,000 a year.
33
The U. S. govt tried to secure by treaty with Colombia the right to
establish forts, arsenab, and naval stations on the Isthmus, though no forces
were to be kept there in time of peace. A protocol was signed Li New York
by representatives of both governments in Feb. 1331, to amend the treaty
of 1S4G, but failed of ratification at P>ogota. Diario de Cundinamarca, Apr. 28,
1S81; Pan. Star ami Herald, May 20, 24, June 24, 25, 1881.
34
De Lesseps, Wyse, and other officials of the canal, received the highest
DIFFICULTIES TO OVERCOME. 705
the route of the railway, though keeping closer to the

bed of the Chagres, which it is to cross again and
again; on the Pacific side it will descend the Rio
Grande Valley, and continue seaward to the island of
35
Perico, a total length of fifty- four miles.
The works have been prosecuted with more or less
vigor, by the use of powerful dredges, until the capi
tal became exhausted, and their operations declined
for many months, seeming to confirm predictions of
failure.
20
However that may be, De Lesseps and his
friends are confident that the opening of the canal will
become an accomplished fact within eight years from
37
the time of commencement. There can be no doubt
marks of regard from the people of the Isthmus. Pan. Ley., years 1879-80,
9-11, 30; Id., Gaceta, Feb. 1, 12, 19, 22, 1880; Jan. 27, Feb. 13, 17, 1881.
The company at once made provision for a health service, in. spacious and
-
well-regulated hospitals, etc. Company o, Projet cVorganiz. du serv. de sante, 1
137, and a map.
30
The bottom throughout its length, 8.j metres below the mean level of
both oceans; width, 22 metres at bottom, 50 metres at top; except through
the Culebra ridge, where the depth will be 9 metres, with the width of 24
metres at bottom and 28 metres at top. It must be observed that the levels
of the two oceans are not alike at all times; at Colon the difference in the
tides never exceeds 23 inches, whereas in Panama it is usually 13 ft, and at
times nearly 23. This must produce a current in the canal sufficient to im
pede navigation for several hours at each tide. The great difficulties to over
come are the mountain and the river Chagres. The company contemplated
at first to tunnel the mountain, but gave up the plan, and resolved to cut
down through the solid strata fortunately soft and otherwise easy for a
depth of between 300 and 400 ft over a long distance. The next task by far
the most difficult one- is to deal with the eccentricities of the Chagres, which
discharges at Matachin a volume of water averaging 100 cubic metres p^r
second, which at low water may sink to 15 or 20 cubic metres, and at flood
rise to 500 or GOO. Several plans have been contemplated, one of which was
to construct an enormous dam at Gamboa, between the Obispo and Santa
Cruz hills, 9GO metres at the base, 1,900 at the top, with a width at bottom
of 1,000 metres, and a height of 45 metres. But it is understood that the
engineers have finally concluded to make 110 use of the waters of the Chagres,
but to change their course and let them run to the ocean through the desert;
this will be left to the last. Moreover, locks will be built to control the tides.
De Lesseps, confident that the canal will be finished in 1SS9, says there will
be no time in the interval to construct the locks; that they can be mada
later. The chief point being that shipping shall pass through the canal.
See Bulletin du Canal Oceanique, issued since 1879; Engineering, 1883-4;
Redux, Explor., in Tour du Monde, for a series of views; Sullivan s Prob
lem of Intcroc. Communic., Washington, 1883; Ammens Interoc. Ship Canal,
Phila., 1880; N. Y. Herald, Feb. 6, 1882; Encyclop. Brit. (Am. ed., 1885),
xviii. 213.
36
It is estimated that the excavation of the canal proper demands the re
moval of about 122,000,000 metres, and up to Jan. 31, 1886, only 15,000,000
metres had been done, at an expense of 30,000,000.
37
Charles D. Jameson, a member of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers,
HIST. CENT. AT., VOL. III. 45
tha,ta large portion of the original capital was wasted,

and rumor is not at fault much was misappropriated.
if
But public confidence in De Lesseps remains unshaken
in France, and he has been able to obtain by
subscrip
tion abundant funds to continue the work, 38 and it is
now being vigorously pushed. His calculation is that
there will be business for the canal to the extent of
7,250,000 tons, yielding 6 or 7 per cent on 2,000
million francs, or 108,000,000 francs, equivalent to
$21,600,000.
This is not the piace in which to speak of the sev

eral northern railways across the continent. The
Central American states exclusive of Panama, which
has had that benefit since 1855 have made some
progress in late years toward establishing railway
communication between the two seas. Guatemala
has one line from Port San Jose, on the Pacific, to
the capital, 39 and another from Port Champerico, also
on the Pacific, to Retalhulen. 40
Measures had likewise been taken to communicate
the capital by railroads with the northern sea, con
templating at the same time to build another line from
thinks there is no insurmountable obstacle. The following newspapers con

tain information on the canal s affairs. Pan. Canal, July 12, 1881; Id., Star
ami Herald, July 20, 1881; July 11, Nov. 10, 1882; and in almost every issue
till 1886 inclusive. La Ettrella de Pan., July 31, 1884; S F. Bulletin; Id.,
Alta CaL; Id., Morning Call; Id., Chronicle; and every other published on the
Pacific coast, as well as in the whole United States; Mex. Financier, July 5,
1884; Correoso s Statement, MS., 9-11.
38
To raise the original capital the liabilities of the company became $150,-
000,000, which at 4 per cent equals $0,000,000 annual interest. If ships
crossing the canal be charged $3 per ton, $5,780,000 will be yearly required
to pay the interest. S. F. Call, Nov. 9, 1886. De Lesseps reckoned the
monthly output of excavation, which in 1885 was 658,000 metres and in 1886
1,079,000, should reach 2,000,000 metres a month in 1887, and 3,000,000
metres a month in 1888, and up to the completion of the work in 1889. Pan.
Star and Herald, Aug. 5, 7, 11, 12, 1886.
39
It is well to say in this connection that tramways have also been built
in the capital, under the auspices of the govt. It was also planned to have
another from the department of Sacatepequez, to run from the town of Ciu-
dad Vieja, through Antigua Guatemala, to the town of Pastores.
M Gmit., Mem. Sec. Fomento, for
years 1880-5; Id., Sec. Rel, year 1884;
Id., El Gitatemalteco (official), March 4, May 10, 22, Oct. 12, 1884; July 19,
1885; Batres Sketch Book, 8-10, 43; Pan. Star and Herald. Vov 24, Dec. 16,
1882; March 8, 1884; Id., Canal, Jan. 17. 188?
CENTRAL AMERICAN RAILWAYS. 707
Coban to the Polochic River. However, these pro

so far as I know, have been, since President
jects,
Barrios death, in abeyance. The Spanish court was
repeatedly urged to open communications between
41
Puerto Cabalfos and the bay of Fonseca. Traffic
on mule-back was carried on between both seas in
colonial times; but what we know of the isthmus of
Honduras is derived from the surveys made by the
British Honduras Interoceanic Railway Company, and
reported by their agent, E. G. Squier. As a practi
cable route for a ship canal, Honduras is out of the
question but the construction of a railroad
;
was begun
between Puerto Caballos or Cortes, on the Caribbean
42
Sea, and Amapala in the bay of Fonseca, through
the valley of the Goascoran and Hurnuya rivers 232
miles. The road was graded, and a narrow-gauge
track was built from Port Cortes to San Pedro, of
about 37 miles in length. The work was suspended
in 1871, and abandoned in 1873. Civil disturbances
and lack of means have prevented its resumption.
Several franchises have been granted in later years
for continuing it; but nothing of a practical nature
43
has resulted.
Salvador has no territory on the Atlantic slope.
She has a railroad between San Miguel and Port La
Union; another line is being built from Port Acajutla
to the heart of the coffee region of Santa Ana. It is
possible that in the future the republic may be placed
Aninon, Discurso, Izaguirre, Relation, Duarte, Relation, and Criado de

41
Castillo, Descub,, all in Squeirs MS8., v., vii., viii., and xvii., respectively.
42
Loans were raised in Europe for the purpose, the particulars of which
are given in connection with Honduran finances.
"For further information, see
Sqniers Cent. Am., 74-9, 680, 729-30, 756-
9; Id., Hond., 207-16, 225-35; Id., Hond. Inleroc. Railway, 1-102; Rtichardt,
Y^c., 284-6; Wells Hond., 130-1; Fitz-Roys Rept Railway; Gnat., Gaceta, Jan.
27, 1854; Hond., Gaceta Ofic., May 10, 1854; CWa R., Gaceta, March 4 to
Oct. 21, 1854, passim; Nic., Gaceta, July 25, Nov. 21, 1868; March 20, Nov.
13, 1869; Feb. 19, 1870; Feb. 11, Aug. 19, 1871; Id., El Poiwnir, Oct. 1,
1871; U. S. Gov. Doc., H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 42, Sess. 3, i. 306; Nic., Semanal
Nic., 15, 1873; Am. Cydop., viii. 790; Froel>eVs Cent. Am., 189-90; Bell-.
May
Nic., 22-7; Pirns Gate of the Pac., 313-21; Laferriere de Paris a Guat.,
ii.
101-6; Pan. Star and Herald, March 23, Oct. 4, 1883; March 20, 1886; Id.,
Canal, March 28, 1883; Mex. Financier, Dec. 8, 1883.
in communication, by railway, with the Atlantic,

through the territory of her neighbors.
In Nicaragua
O the line between Corinto and Chinan-
dega, and hence to Leon, was in operation in 1881-2.
The work steadily progressed. The western section
was opened to public service in 1884, connecting it with
the steam-ship line on the lake. Thus was Managua,
the capital, placed in rapid and cheap communication
steam with Corinto, the chief port of the republic.
l>v
The whole line from Momotombo to Corinto was yield

ing six and four fifths per cent on the capital invested.
In the eastern section the work was going on rapidly
at the end of 1884, and 20 miles to Masaya would
soon be finished. The government contemplated to
have a direct railway line from Villa de la Paz to
Managua,
O "
O a continuous cornmunica-
thus establishing
44
tion between Managua O and Granada.
Costa Rica, thus far, lias three lines, or rather
divisions or sections; namely, the Central, running
between San Jose and the interior provinces, via
Cartago, Heredia, Alajuela, Tres Rios, and San Joa-
the Atlantic, from Limon to the interior, which
<[iiin;
is the route
through which most of the country s
foreign trade is carried on and the Pacific which runs
;
4i)
from Puntarenas to Esparta.
The five Central American republics are intersected

by telegraph lines belonging to their respective gov
ernments, and communicating their chief towns with
one another within themselves, and with the sister
46
republics. The isthmus of Panama" has a communi-
**Nic., Mem. Min. Hac., 1883, pp. vii.-viii. Presiil. Cardenas, Mensaje,
;
Jan. 15, 1885, in Costa R., Caceta Ofic., 4, 1885.

Fel>.
45
The termination of the Atlantic and other lines depends on the arrange
ment of the republic s foreign indebtedness. The cost of the three sections
Avas 812,239,296; and in 1883 they were valued at .$6,000,000. Costa R., Mem.
Sec. Hacienda, 1883, Table no. 10; Annexes 8 and 9; 1884, 152-3, 287; Id.,
Id., Fomentn, 1883, 1-4; 1884, 29-30; Pen. Star and Herald, Dec. 8, 1883;
July 23 Oct. 24, 1885; Costa R., Oaceta, May 16, Aug. 12, Sept. 1-27, 1885.
r
40
For particulars, see Costa If., Inforn/e Sec. Gohcrn., years 1873-4;
I<f.,
/<l
,
O?tra# PM>., 1879-80; Iff., Id., Hac., 1880, 1883; Id., Id., Fomento, 1883; Id ,
y
t ol.
Ley., 1880, 85-9; 1881, 55-9; Semawtl Xic., Jan. 15, 18S4; Suiv.,
J\>.,
TELEGRAPH LINES. 709
cation by submarine cable with Central America and

Mexico at the port of La Libertad and Acapulco.
The cities of Panama and Colon are in direct commu
nication by wire. The Isthmus is further connected
by cable, on the Pacific, with Peru, via Buenaventura,
which also places it in telegTaphic communication with
Bogota and the rest of Colombia. cable to JamaicaA
affords another connection, via Cuba, with the United
47
States and Europe.
Diario Ojlc., Aug. 18, Sept. 12, 1878; Id., Gaceta Ofic., Aug. 12, 1876; Jan.
9, Feb. 22, June 29, 30, 1877; Apr. 19 to Nov. 13, 1879, passim; Nlc., Mem.
Sec. Hac., 1883; Id., Id., Gobern,, 1883; hi, Id., Interior, 1883; Guat., Recop.
Ley., Gob. Democ., ii. 81; /(/., Mem. Sec. Fomento, years 1880-5; Id., PresupueMo
Gen., 19-29.
Eardley- Wilmofs Our Journal, 69; Colombia, Diario Ojlc., Feb. 26, Sept.
47
10, 1874; Pan., Gaceta, Jan. 11, Aug. 12, 1880. The connection at La Liber-
tad was established on the 1st of Oct., 1882. U. S. Gov. Doc., H. Ex. Doc.,
For. Rel., Cong. 47, Sess. 2, i. 51-4.
Scattered through this third volume have been given bibliographical notices
of about twenty of the chief works consulted in its preparation. I have now
to add a few others deserving of special mention. The Gospel in Central A mer-
ica was written by Frederick Crowe, an Englishman, and a Baptist preacher,
who resided some time in Central America in the interest of his church. The
book a 12mo of 588 pages, published in London, 1850 contains, as its title
implies, a sketch of the country, including British Honduras, physical and
geographical, historical and political, moral and religious. The author did
his task as well as circumstances permitted, in view of the fact that at his
violent deportation much of the material he had gathered was left behind and
never recovered. At all events, it afforded much which till then was little
known of that country. The statements contained therein not original are
credited to the sources from which they were taken; for events after the
declaration of independence the author relied on the book of travels by
Hobert C. Dunlop, from which I have also culled some important fact;.
Centra- A meiika, and Nicaragua, both written in German by the traveller
C. F. Reichardt, and published in Braunschweig, in 8vo form, respectively
in 1851 and 1854; the former being of 256, and the latter of 296 pages,
one and the other provided with maps. The two works contain valuable
data, entitled to credit. Aus Amerika, by Julius Frubel, issued in 1855
at Leipzig, and Geographie und Statestif von Mexico und Centralamerika, by
J. G. Wappaus, published at Leipzig in 1863, have also afforded much
useful knowledge. In writing this chapter on interoceanic communication,
I am indebted to the Cabinet Cyclopaedia, directed by Dionysius Lardner,
and to John Richardson s Polar Regions, the first-named giving in its
first three volumes all that was known to 1830-1, on the geography of the
ancients and middle ages, and on modern voyages and discoveries. The
latter narrates the voyages made to discover the north-west passage, furnish
ing likewise a view of the physical geography and ethnology of the polar
regions north and south; the whole subject, though treated in a summary
way, brings it out quite comprehensively. The Report on Interoceanic Canals
and Railroads, between, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans an Svo of 37 pages
with numerous maps printed in Washington, 1867 by Charles H. Davis,
superintendent of the U. S. Naval Observatory, contains all that was known
on the subject to the time of its publication. The Encyclopaedia Britannica
American edition, issued, 1875-86, at Philadelphia has also afforded valuable
data on the voyages in the polar seas, and on explorations and surveys con-
The question of interoceanic communication by

ship-canal across the isthmuses of Central America
occupying, as it does, general attention, I have con
cluded to append hereto information on the subject by
several competent authorities; namely, the British
explorer, Dr Edward Cullen, and E. George Squier.
IGNORANCE RESPECTING DARIEX. It is a very singular circumstance that
the coast of Darien, the iirst settled in America (Santa Maria having been
founded in 1509, and Acla in Caledonia Bay in 1514), within eighteen days
steaming from England, close also to such frequented ports as Chagres,
Carthageiia, and Kingston, Jamaica, should he at the present day as unknown
as the coasts of Patagonia or of New Guinea, and that the vast advantages of
this tract of country, for a canal, should have escaped the penetration of the
great Humboldt, who, after having examined all the maps in the Depdsito
Hidrografico of Madrid, appears to suggest the Chuquanaqua. He says:
On the Pacific coast, also, the deep Golfo de San Miguel, into which falls
the Tuyra with its tributary, the Chuchunque, runs far into the Isthmus; the
river Chuchunque, too, in the upper part of its course, runs within sixteen
geographical miles of the Antillean shore of the Isthmus, westward of Cape

Tiburon. Vieics of Nature, Potsdam, June 1849, p. 432 of Bohn s translation.
The Atrato routelabors under the disadvantage of a bad harbor, on the
Pacific side,Cupica being of very small extent, and open to the s. \v. and ;
the Atrato has a bar with only live feet of water on it, while the rise of tide
in the Gulf of Darien is only two feet.
The Chagres, or Limon Bay and Panama route, surveyed in 1829 by Col
Lloyd and M. Falmarc, under a commission from the Liberator, Simon Boli
var, and subsequently by M. Garella, has such bad harbors that the idea of
a canal by that line has been totally abandoned.
The route from Chepo mouth to Mandinga Bay, proposed by Mr Evan Hop
kins,
48
who attempted to survey it in 1847, for the New Granada govern-
nected with canal matters. None of those works, however, nor the numerous
others consulted, have furnished the required information from the beginning
of the 19th century to the present time; and those of later years do not
usually, to any extent, go back to early ones, or if they do, it is only to give
some meagre information.
But my researches have not been confined to books. Aside from the im
portant facts obtained directly from the lips of intelligent natives and other
conversant with Central American and Panamanian affairs, I have
uad before me presidential messages, reports of ministers and other officials
!)ersons
of the several states, U. S.
govt reports, official journals, statements of ex
plorers and surveyors, cyclopaedias, magazines, reviews, and a host of news
papers of different countries and in various languages, among which special
credit should be given to the Star and Herald of Panama for an ever well-
informed and reliable gatherer and transmitter of news to and from the coun
tries on both oceans over this bridge of the nations. Important data,
wheresoever found, have been brought into requisition.
48
Mr. Hopkins, says Capt Fitzroy, p. 23, was lately prevented by the
Indians from ascending the Chepo River toward Mandinga or San Bias Bay;
Mr Wheelwright was also stopped there in 1837; and Dr Cullen was likewise
K topped
by the aborigines while endeavoring to ascend the Paya River, that
DISCOVERY OF THE SAVANA RIVER. 711
ment, although the narrowest line across the Isthmus, being only twenty-seven
miles across from Chepo to Carti, has the disadvantages of bad coasts, a very
high cordillera, of from 2,000 to 6,000 feet elvation, and a large population of
Indians.
The bar at the mouth of Chepo River is quite dry at low water, as is also a
sand bank which extends several miles out into the bay of Panama; the part
of the Atlantic coast on the other side is beset with reefs, shoals, and kays,
and is dangerous of
approach.
Capt Fitzroy, R. N., in his Consideration* upon the Great Isthmus of
Central America, suggests a line from the upper course of the Tuyra to the
Atrato, or the coast of Darien above its mouth, as an improvement of the
route proposed by me; but this would be nearly twice the distance of the
Port Escoces, and gulf of San Miguel route; there would be the moun
tain of Chacargun or the Sierra de Maly to cross, and should the canal
open into the Atrato, there would be the very formidable obstacle of the bar
to remove, while of the coast above the Atrato mouth, the Columbian Navi-
(jator says: All this coast from Tareiia Kays to Cape Tiburon is high and
precipitous, with deep water off it; and it is very wild in the season of the
breezes. It is very advisable, therefore, at these seasons, to shun it. Any
would be included in the privilege granted,
route, however, in this direction,
on the 1st of June, 1852, by the New
Granada government, to Edward Cul-
len, Charles Fox, John Henderson, and Thomas Brassey, for cutting a canal
from Port Escocds to the gulf of San Miguel, which gives power to select
any place from the west mouth of the Atrato to Punta Mosquitos, for the
Atlantic entrance of the canal.
DISCOVERY OF THE SAVANA RIVER AND THE ROUTE FOR THE SHIP-CANAL.
I imagine that the river Savana was not delineated in the maps which Hum-
boldt saw. 49 Siicb, indeed, was the case with the map which I had on my
first journey into Darien in 1849, so that I was totally ignorant of its exist-
runs from near the mouths of the Atrato to the Tuyra, which falls into the
gulf of San Miguel.
I learned in Darien that Mr Hopkins and Don Pepe Hurtado, a Granadian
engineer, made a present of a scarlet military coat to an Indian on the Chepo,
and that as soon as the Indian chief of the district learned it, he flogged the
Indian who accepted the present, and summoned his people to arms, and
Mr H. and Don Pepe had to fly for their lives. Most probably the chief
looked upon the acceptance of gaudy trappings as an acknowledgment of sub
mission to foreigners. I have mentioned elsewhere my having learned subse
quently that the reason of the Indians having stopped me was the fear of
small-pox being introduced amongst them rather than any dislike to for
eigners.
49
This I attribute to the jealousy of the Spaniards, who were careful to
withhold any information that might lead the English to the discovery of an
easy communication between the two seas. Alcedo, in his Dktionari.o His-
torico de hs Imlias that it was interdicted, on pain of death,
Ocddentales^ says
enen to propose opening the navigation between the two seas. En tiempo de
Felipe II. se proyectd cortarlo, y comunicar los dos mares por medio tie un
canal, y a este efecto se enviaron para reconocerlo dos Ingenieros Flamencos,
pero e.icontraron dificultades insuperables, y el consejo de Indias represento
los perjuicios que de ello se seguirian la moiiarquia, por cuya razon mando
aquel Monarca que nadie propusiese 6 tratase de ello en adelante, pena de ui
vida. The navigation of the Atrato also was interdicted, on pain of death.
ence until I actually saw it, after entering Boca Chica, when, finding the
great depth of water at ic:: mouth, and that it flowed almost directly from the
north, I became convinced that I had at last found the object of my search,
viz. a feasible route to the Atlantic, and thereupon immediately ascended it,
,
and crossed from Canasas to the sea-shore at Port Escocds and back, and
subsequently, in 1850 and also in 1851, crossed and recrossed, at several times
and by several tracks, the route from the Savana to Port Escoces and Cale
donia Bay, notching the barks of the trees as I went along, with a machete or
cutlass, always alone and unaided, and always in the season of the heaviest
rains. I had previously examined, on my way from Panama, the mouths of
Chepo, Chiman, Congo, and several other rivers, but found them all obstructed
by bars and sand banks, and impracticable for a ship passage, so that upon
seeing the Savana, I had not the least hesitation in deciding that that must
be the future route for iiiteroceanic communication for ships.
THE DARIEN CANAL ROUTE. Port Escoces, or Scotch Harbor, and the bay
of Caledonia, on the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Darien, present an
extent of six nautical miles, from s. E. to N. w., of safe anchorage in all
winds. These harbors are situated between Carreto Bay and the channel of
Sassardi, and are 140 miles E. s. E. of Limon Bay, and twenty-one miles
w. N. w. of Cape Tiburon, the N. w. boundary of the Gulf of Darien. Port
Escosces extends to the s. E. to lat. 8 50 and long. 77 41 and Golden Island, ;
or Isle de Oro, or Santa Catalina, which forms the N. w. boundary of Caledo

nia Bay, is in lat. 8 54 40",
and long. 77 45 30".
The channel extending from Caledonia Bay N. w. five

of Sassardi, also,
miles to the Fronton, or point of Sassardi, is sheltered from the winds and
seas of both seasons, and has good depth of water.
Twenty-two miles s. w. of Port Escoces is the site of the old Spanish set
tlement of Fuerte del Principe, on the river Savana, established in 1785, and
abandoned in 171)0. From thence the river Savana has nearly a by K. ,s.
course for fourteen miles to mouth, which opens into the river Tuyra,
its
Santa Maria, or Rio Grande del Darien, three miles above Boca Chica and
Boca Grande, the two mouths by which the latter discharges itself into the
Gulf of San Miguel on the Pacific.
Thus the distance from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, by the route
from Port Escoces or Caledonia Bay, to the gulf of San Miguel, by way of
the river Savana, would be thirty-nine miles. In a direct line, from Port
Escoces to the gulf, the distance is thirty-three miles.
In Considerations on the Great Ixtluims of Central America, read before
the Royal Geographical Society of London, on the llth and 25th Nov., 1850,
Captain Fitzroy, 11. N., says: Any route that could be made available be
tween San Miguel Gulf and Caledonia Bay, or the Gulf of Darien or Choco,
would have the advantage of excellent harbors at each end, and a gr^at
rise of tide in one of them (San Miguel). The river Savana is recommended
by Dr Cullen from personal examination, as being more navigable (for
canoes 5u ), and approaching nearer the north coast than the Chuquanaqua
does; though this does not appear in the Spanish maps. From the head of
the Savana, a ravine, about three leagues in length, extends to Caledonia
50
In its upper course, as it is navigable for large vessels nearly to Principe.
PASSAGE FOR THE PACIFIC TIDE. 713
Bay, and there (Dr Cullen says, having passed through it) he thinks a canal
might be cut with less difficulty than elsewhere, if it were riot for the opposi
tion of the natives. He also speaks of the Indians transporting their canoes
across at this ravine, and of the comparative healthiness of this part of the
Isthmus.
The whole work to be done, in order to make a ship-canal communication
between the Atlantic and Paciiic oceans by this route, would be to cut from
Principe or from Lara mouth to Port Escoces or Caledonia Bay, a distance
of from twenty-two to twenty-live miles, of which there would be but three
or four miles of deep cutting.
The canal, to be 011 a scale of grandeur commensurate with its important
uses, should be cut sufficiently deep to allow the tide of the Paciiic to flow
right through it, across to the Atlantic; so that ships bound from the Pacific
to the Atlantic would pass with the flood, and those from the Atlantic to the
Pacific with the ebb tide of the latter. Such was the plan recommended in
my report to Lord Palmerston. By such a canal that is, one entirely with
out locks the transit from sea to sea could be effected in six hours, or one
01
tide.
For the engineering and estimates of the cost of the work, I beg
details,
to refer to the valuable report of Mr. Lionel Gisborne, C. E., who, with his
assistant, Mr. Forde, was commissioned, last April, by Messrs Fox, Hender
son, and Brassey, to survey this route, which they found to be perfectly feasi
ble for a ship-canal communication, and fully as eligible as I had represented it.
51
It is ascertained, says Captain Fitzroy, that there is only a trifling dif
ference between the levels of the ocean at this Isthmus. A
rise of tide not
exceeding two feet i.s found on the Atlantic side, while in Panama Bay the
tide rises more than eighteen feet; the mean level of the Pacific in this par
ticular place being two or three feet above that of the Atlantic. It is high
water at the same hour in each ocean.
Colonel Lloyd says that the Pacific at high water is thirteen feet higher
than the Atlantic, while the Atlantic is highest at low water by six feet.
Baron Humboldt said, in 1809: The difference of level between the Carib
bean Sea and the Pacific Ocean does not, probably, exceed nine feet; and at
different hours in the day, sometimes one sea, sometimes the other, is the
more elevated. But this difference would be no hindrance, but, on the con
trary, a most important advantage in a ship-canal, since it would create a
current from the Atlantic to the Pacific during the ebb, and one from the
Pacific to the Atlantic during the flood-tide of the Pacific, and these alter
nate currents would enable each of the fleets to pass through at different
times, those bound from the Atlantic to the Pacific during the ebb-tide of the
latter, and those from the Pacific to the Atlantic during the flood-tide of the
former. This arrangement in the periods of transit would afford many advan
tages, such as obviating the meeting of the vessels, and the necessity of their
passing one another, and preventing their accumulation or crowding together
in the canal, as each fleet could be carried right
through in one tide, if not by
the current alone, at least with the aid of tug steamers. The alternation of
the currents would have the further beneficial effect of washing out the bed
of the canal, and keeping it free from the
deposition of sand or mud, so that
dredging would never become necessary; and would also render the degree of
width necessary for the canal less; though I do not reckon this to be a point
of moment, as the wider and
deeper it is cut the better, and the work once
finished will last to the end of the world, since the natural effect of the alter
nate currents will be a gradual process of deepening and
widening, which will
convert the canal into a strait.
It is needless to say that, under the auspices of Messrs. Fox, Henderson,

and Brassey, who, with that clear discernment and prompt decision, which
have placed them in the elevated position which they occupy, adopted this
route in December 1851, after a careful examination of my statements, the
great work of an interoceariic canal is sure, erelong, to be accomplished.
I trust that an attentive consideration of the advantages of this route
viz., its shortness, the excellence of its harbors, the low elevation of the land,
the absence of bars at the Savana and Tuyra mouths, the depth of water and
great rise of tide in the former, its directness of course and freedom from ob
structions, the healthiness of the adjacent country, the exemption of the
coasts from northers and hurricanes, the feasibiHty of cutting a canal without
locks, and the absence of engineering difficulties will fully justify me in as
serting it to be the shortest, the most and expeditious, and in

direct, safe,
every way the most eligible route for intermarine communication for large
ships.
An examination of the physical aspect of the country from Port Escoces
to the Savana presenting, as it does, but a single ridge of low elevation, and
this broken by gorges, ravines, and valleys, and grooved by rivers and
streams, with a champaign country extending from its base on each side
will prove the feasibility of making the canal entirely without locks, a supe
rioritywhich this route possesses over others, which all present insurmount
able physical obstacles to the construction of such a canal.
In fact, a glance at the map ought to convince the most sceptical that na
ture has unmistakably marked out this space for the junction of the two
oceans, and the breaking of the continuity of North and South America; in
deed, so narrow is the line of division, that it would almost appear as if the
two seas did once meet here.
DETAILS OF THE ROUTE PROPOSED. I shall now enter into a more detailed
description of this route, which I discovered in 1849, and proposed for a ship-
canal communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the Panama
Echo of February 8, 1850, in the Daily News and Mining Journal of May
1850;
2
in a paper presented to the Royal Geographical Society, and read at
the Edinburgh meeting of the British Association in July 1850; and in a report
to Lord Palmerston, of January 15, 185L
PORT ESCOCES. Of Port Escoces, Caledonia Bay, and the channel of
Sassardi, the Columbian Naviyator, vol. 3, p. 218, says:
Port Escoces, or Caledonia, lat. 8 51 long. 77 44 , ,
is a noble harbor;
very safe, and so extensive that a thousand sail of vessels may enter it.
Punta Escoces is the s. E. point of Caledonia Bay, the greater islet of
Santa Catalina, or de Oro (gold), being the N.w. Between point and point
the distance is four miles, and the points lie N.W. and S.E. (N. 40 w., and
S. 40 from each other; and in respect to this line the bay falls in one
E.),
mile and two thirds. In the S.E. part of this bay is Puerto Escoces (or Scot
tish Harbor), which extends inward two miles in that direction, and forms
good shelter. There are various shoals in it, which are represented in the
particular plan of the harbor, by which plan any vessel may run in, for the
62
And subsequent months, in a controversy with Evan Hopkins, Esq.,
C. E. & M. E.
SOURCES OF FRESH WATER. 715
depths are five, six, seven, and eight fathoms of water over a bottom of
sand.
Between Piedras Islet to the north, the west point of Aglatomate River
to th^j south, and that of San Fulgencio to the s.w., is formed the Eusenada,
or bay of Caledonia, and the channel of Sassardi.
CALEDONIA BAY. The Ensenada, or cove of Caledonia, is, strictly
speaking, formed by the points already mentioned, which lie with each other
N. N. w. f w., and s. s. E. f E. (N. 25 w., and s. 25 E.), one mile distant. This
bay is clean, and has good deep water; the greater part of its coast is a beach,
and near the middle of it disembogues the river Aglaseniqua. The point of
San Fulgencio is salient, scarped, and clean, and it also forms an indent with
little depth of water, bordered by mangroves and various kays at its western
part.
THE CHANNEL OF SASSARDI. Between San Fulgencio point, the great Oro
Island, Piedras Islet,and the Mangrove Kays, which are to the west of them,
the channel of Sassardi is formed; the s. E. entrance to this channel is off and
on, with four cables length in extent, from edge to edge, and with from nine
to twelve fathoms depth on oaze; and farther in, from eight to ten fathoms;
as also between the turn of the bank off Piedras Islet, and the bay of Cale
donia, the depth is from seven to fifteen fathoms; and the piece of sea which
intervenes between this bay and the Puerto Escoces is of a good depth of
water; but at a short mile S.E. by E. \ E. (s. 55 E.), from Piedras Islet the
sea breaks when the breeze blows fresh.
From its entrance the channel of Sassardi extends N. w. five miles.
The engineer has here, then, a wide scope for selecting a locality for the
Atlantic mouth of the canal, which may thus open anywhere from the s. E.
end of Port Escoces to the N. w. entrance of the Channel of Sassardi, an
extent of eleven nautic miles.
Escoce"s and Caledonia
Along a great extent of Port Bay, vessels can lie
so close in shore that no boats would be necessary in the taking in or dis
charging cargo; the same great advantage also presents itself at several
points in the channel of Sassardi.
Good fresh water may be obtained in abundance from any of the numerous
streams which fall into these harbors, particularly from the Aglaseniqua or
Aglatomate.
Port Escoces is entirely uninhabited, nor is there any settlement inland of
it; at Caledonia, near the mouth of the Aglaseniqua, there are five huts, in
habited by a few Indians of the Tule tribe, and about two leagues up the
riveris another small settlement; this, however, is at a considerable distance
westward of the projected line of canal.

From the sea-shore a plain extends for nearly two miles to the base of a
ridge of which runs parallel to the coast, and whose highest summit is
hills,
about 350 feet. This ridge is not quite continuous and unbroken, but is
divided by transverse valleys, through which the Aglaseniqua, Aglatomate,
and other rivers have their course, and whose highest elevations do not ex
ceed 150 feet.
The base of this ridge is only two miles in width; and from its south side
a level plain extends for thirteen miles to a point on the river Sc-vaiia, called
Canasas, which is about twenty miles above its mouth.

The river Savana, at Canasas, has a depth of six feet of water, but is ob
structed by ledges of a slate, called pizarra, or killes, for four miles, down to
the mouth of La Villa, up to which the tide reaches. At Canasas, there is
a forest a species of bamboo, so dense as to be impenetrable; and above it
of
there is a two feet, when the river is low, but after rains this entirely
fall of
disappears. The first fall, in ascending the river, occurs at Caobano, a little
above La Villa.
From La Villa, where there is a depth of ten or twelve feet, the river is
perfectly free from obstructions down to Principe.

At Fuerte del Principe, two miles below La Villa, there is a single ledge
of slate, visible only in a very low state of the river, which has here a depth
of three fathoms, and a rise of tide of six feet. The banks of the river are
elevated about ten feet above the level of the water, and are quite free from
swamp. The site of the old Spanish settlement is here indicated by a patch
of very dense scrubby bush, without high trees, on the west bank of the
river; but the only remains to be met with are some fragments of hotijax, or
water- jars. Principe is in lat. 8 34 and long. 77 56 by my observations;
, ,
it is only two or three hours journey from the mouth of the river.
The Savana River, called by the Indians Chaparti, is very direct in its
course, from Principe to its mouth, and free from sinuosities, playas, deep
elbows, shoals, rocks, snags, or other obstructions.
Its banks, elevated several feet above the level of the water, are quite free
from swamp and malarious miasmata, consequently the endemic fevers caused
by these in Chagres, Portobello, Limon, and Panama, would not prevail in
any settlements that may be formed in the neighborhood of the Savana.
Indeed, it cannot be inferred that the Isthmus of Darien is unhealthy,
because the towns on the Isthmus of Panama have all been settled in swampy
localities, and in the most unfavorable positions in a sanatory point of view.
A convincing proof of the freedom from swamp of the whole tract of coun
try, from Port Escoces to the gulf of San Miguel, is the total absence of
musquitoes, which invariably infest all swampy grounds m the tropics. The
great longevity of the people of Darien, and the large proportion of very old
men, also attest the healthiness of the climate.
From Principe to the mouth of Matumaganti, one mile s. s. w., the river
increases greatly in width and depth; there are some islands in this reach;
and on the west bank a very large cuipo-tree stands conspicuous, towering
above the adjacent forest.
From Matumaganti to the mouth of Lara, two miles, the river has a
depth of four fathoms, and a rise of tide of ten feet.
From Lara mouth to the islands in the second reach, four miles, the river
is very direct in its course, with a depth of five or six fathoms. A ridge of
hills runs parallel to each bank, at about two miles distance. Just below
this mouth, and above a widening of the river, called Revesa de Piriaki, is
Cerro Piriaki, a hill of about 400 feet elevation, and above this there is no
hill near either bank of the Savana. Above the islands, Estero Corotu, Rio
Corredor, and other streams fall into this, the Calle Larga, or Long Reach.
From the islands to Areti mouth, S.S.E., three miles, the river has great
width and depth; a ridge of hill here runs along each bank, at about two
miles distance.
RELATIVE WATER DEPTHS. 717
JUNCTION OF THE SAVANA AND TUYRA. From Areti mouth to the junc
tion of the Savana and Tuyra rivers, s., four miles, the river has a uniform
width of two miles, and a depth of from eight to nine fathoms.
On the west bank of this reach is Punta Machete, with a small shoal above
it, called Bajo Grande, and one below it, Bajo Chico. Both of these are close
in shore, and oysters are found on them.
THE SAVANA MOUTH. From the west point of the Savana mouth, in lat.
8 21 , long. 77 54 , the land rises into a ridge of hill of about 309 feet eleva
tion, running N. for about four miles parallel to the river, from which it is
separated by a strip of level land half a mile wide. There is a quebrada, or

which has plenty of fresh water in the
rivulet, in the ridge, called Laguadilla,
driest season.
Behind Nisperal, the east point of the Savana mouth, there is a low ridge
of hills;from the north bank of Iglesias, also, a narrow ridge follows the
course of the Savana for about three miles. This is the Cerro Titichi, which
gave its name to a mission of Indians at the mouth of the Chuquanaqua, the
last survivor of whom is a man named Marcellino, who resides at Piiiogana,
on the Tuyra. On the north bank of Iglesias is Quebrada de Tigre, and on
the Savana, above its mouth, is Quebradita la Monera, where fresh water
may be obtained.
At mouth of the Savana there are nine fathoms, at low water, and the
the
tide risesfrom twenty-one to twenty-seven feet.
Boca Chica and Boca Grande, the mouths of the Tuyra, are perfectly safe
entrances, and have a depth of thirteen to twenty fathoms of water respect
ively.
The gulf of San Miguel has good depth of water, and would hold the ship
ping of the world. Its mouth, between Cape San Lorenzo on the north, and
Punta Garachine on the south, is ten miles across, and opens into the Pacific,
quite outside the bay of Panama. Its direction inward is N. E. fifteen miles
to Boca Chica. Inside the bay of Garachine, the shores of the gulf approach
each other, and the width diminishes to four miles, between Punta Brava
and Morro Patino, with a depth of from nine to twenty fathoms, but again
increases, and then diminishes to Boca Chica.
Close to Cape San Lorenzo is a small shoal, called El Buey, which may be
easily avoided. There are several islands in the gulf, as Iguana, Cedro, Islas
de San Diego, etc., etc., which are all safe of approach. On the north side,
the rivers Congo, Buenavista; and on the south the Moguey, Guaca, Taimita,
and Sambu, open into the gulf; while the Tuyra and Savana fall into its
eastern end, the Eusenada del Darien, called by the Graiiadians Boca de
Provincia, or Mouth of the Province. Cullers Isth. of Darien.
From what has been said, it sufficiently appears that Nicaragua is a country
of great beauty of scenery and vast natural resources. She has, however,
attracted the attention of the world less on these accounts than because she
is believed to
possess within her borders the best and most feasible route for
a ship-canal between the two great oceans. The project of opening such a
canal began to be entertained as soon as it was found that there existed no
natural communication between the seas, as early as 1527. Since that period
it has furnished a
subject for much speculation, but beyond a few partial
examinations, until very lately, nothing of a practical or satisfactory charac

ter had been attempted. In 1851 a careful survey was made of the river
San Juan, Lake Nicaragua, and the isthmus intervening between this lake
and the Pacific, by Colonel O. W. Childs, previously engineer-in-chief of the
state of New York, under the direction of the now extinct Atlantic and
Pacific Ship-canal Company. Until then, it had always been assumed that
the river San Juan, as well as the lake itself, could easily be made navigable
for ships, and that the only obstacle to be overcome was the narrow strip ot
land between the lake and the ocean. Hence, all the so-called surveys were
limited to an examination of that part of the line. One of them was made
under the orders of the Spanish government, by Don Manuel Galisteo, in 1781 ;
another, and that best known, by Mr. John Baily, under the direction of the
government of Central America, in 1838. An intermediate examination,
quoted by Thompson, seems to have been made early in the present century.
53
The following table will show the results of these surveys as regards this par
ticular section:
r>istnr,no fro T n^o Greatest Ele- Greatest Ele-
Authorities. vation above vation above
Ocean. Lake.
Galisteo, 1781 17 miles, 200 feet. 272 feet. 134 feet.
Quoted by Thompson, 1829.. 17 320
" "
29G "
154 "
Baily, 1838 16 615 487

"
730
" " "
Childs, 1851 18 "3,120

"
159 "
47 ^ "
As the survey of Colonel Childs is the only one which can be accepted as
conforming to modern engineering requirements, it will be enough to present
the detailed results to which he arrived. The line proposed by him, and on
which all his calculations and estimates were based, commences at the little
port of Brito, on the Pacific, and passes across the Isthmus, between the
ocean and lake, to the mouth of a small stream called Rio Lajas, flowing into
the latter, thence across Lake Nicaragua to its outlet, and down the valley
of the Rio Sail Juan to the port of the same name on the Atlantic. The
length of this line was found to be 194^ miles, as follows:
Miles.
WESTERN DIVISION. from the port of Brito on the Pacific,
Canal
through the valley of a small stream called Rio Grande, falling
into the Pacific, into that of the stream called Rio Lajas, to Lake
Nicaragua 18.588
MIDDLE DIVISION. Though Lake Nicaragua, from mouth of Rio
Lajas to Fort San Carlos, at the head of San Juan River 56.500
EASTERN DIVISION. First Section. Slack-water navigation on San
Juan River from San Carlos to a point on the river opposite the
mouth of the Serapiqui River 90.800
Section.
>econcl Canal from opposite mouth of Serapiqui to port of
San Juan del Norte . .
28.505 -
Total, as above 194.393
ORIGIN OF THE CANAL GRANT. The charter of this company under

which Colonel Childs carried on his investigations is dated September 22,
63
Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala, by G. A. Thompson. Lon
don, 1829, p. 512.
DIVERSIONS OF THE CANAL. 719
1849, and was obtained for a term of eighty-five years from the completion
of the proposed canal. The surveys were to be commenced within one year,
and the whole to be completed in twelve years. The canal, by the terms of
the charter, was to be of dimensions sufficiently great to admit and pass ves
sels of all sizes with speed and safety. The company was to pay to the state,
during the period assigned for the construction of the work, the annual sum
of $10,000; to give to the state $200,000 of stock in the canal, on the issue
of stock; the state to receive, for the first twenty years, twenty per cent
annually out of the net profits of the canal, after deducting the interest on
the capital actually invested, at the rate of seven per cent; and for the re
maining sixty-five years, twenty-five per cent of the profits. The company,
on the other hand, were to receive fifteen per cent annually out of the net
profits of the canal for the first ten years after it should revert to the state,
provided it did not cost over $20,000,000; but if it should cost more than
that sum, the company to receive twenty per cent for twenty years. During
the period of constructing the canal (twelve years), the company had the
exclusive right of navigating the waters of the state by steam, and also the
privilege of opening a transit route through its territories, upon the principal
condition of paying ten per cent of the net profits to the state. There were
some other provisions as to lands, tolls, etc., of no special importance.
Under this charter, the company perfected its organization. It divided its
original shares into a considerable number, called canal rights, which
were sold, and their holders brought into the organization. The first instal
ment was paid, and in August 1850, just in time to meet the stipulation
providing that the surveys should be commenced within one year from the
date of the contract, a party of surveyors was sent out to Nicaragua. They
were under the direction (as already said) of Colonel 0. W. Childs as chief
engineer. He arrived in Nicaragua on the 27th of August, 1850, and so far
as his report is concerned, we are left to infer that he at once commenced
the surveys for the canal. His report is dated March 9, 1852.
THE LINE OF SURVEY. In the various projects for uniting the two seas,
the line of the river San Juan has always been contemplated as that by which
the great lake of Nicaragua is to be reached. From that lake to the Pacific,
various routes have been suggested:
1 .From Lake Nicaragua via the river Sapoa to the bay of Bolanos, in. the
gulf of Salinas, on the Pacific.
2. Via the Rio Lajas to the port of San Juan del Sur, or some point not far
from it, on the Pacific.
3. Via the Rio Tipitapa into the superior lake of Managua, and from this
lake to the Pacific at the little port of Tamariiido, the port of Realejo, or into
the magnificent gulf or bay of Fonseca.
By his instructions, Colonel Childs was limited to a survey of the direct
routes from Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific, provided either of them should
prove practicable. As a consequence, finding a route which, in his opinion,
was practicable, he made no surveys from the superior lake of Managua to
the Pacific. He, however, made some observations on the line of the con
nection between the two lakes by the river Tipitapa if a channel dry for
most, if not all, of the year can be called a river. This is a source of great
regret, especially in view of the deficiency, on the surveyed routes, of a good
harbor on the Pacific, while both Realejo and the gulf of Fonseca are all that
can be desired as ports.
Lake Nicaragua is estimated by Colonel Childs to be one hundred and ten
miles in extreme length by thirty-five in (average) width. Its nearest ap
proach to the Atlantic is at its southern extremity, from which, on a right

line, it is about eighty miles distant. The point of its nearest approach to
the Pacific is near the middle of its length, where, by the shortest line, the
distance is about eleven miles.
The San Juan River was found by Colonel Childs to be, following its
sinuosities, 119 miles in length. It has a great number of tributaries, gen
erally small, with the exception of the San Carlos and Serapiqui, which come
in from the mountains of Costa Rica on the south. The first of these enters
the San Juan at sixty-five miles, and the second ninety miles below the lake.
These streams flow through valleys transversely to that of the San Juan,
which is further intersected by ranges of hills, coming in both from the nortli
and the south, at the Rap ides del Toro, Castillo, Machuca, etc.
The lake of Nicaragua lies longitudinally, nearly parallel to the Pacific
Ocean, and is separated from it,for nearly two thirds of the length of the
lake, by hills of comparatively moderate acclivity and elevation, in most

cases capable of cultivation to their summits. Within this distance, also,
are several transverse valleys, extending nearly (Colonel Childs says quite)
across, with summits varying in height, and furnishing generally good oppor
tunities for direct communications by ordinary roads or by canal.
ROUTE VIA RIVER SAPOA. This line lies chiefly in the department of
Guanacaste, now in dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and actually
occupied by the latter.
The examination of this line by Colonel Childs only proved its impractica
bility for the purpose of a canal. He found that to pass the summit a cut
1 19 feet in depthwould be required, and an up-lockage from the lake of 350.5
feet, and a down-lockage to the Pacific of 432 feet. Water to supply the
xipper locks, it was ascertained, could only be obtained with difficulty, and
at great cost. Besides, a long rock cut of three fourths of a mile would be
required from low-tide mark in the bay of Salinas to deep water. In short,
the physical difficitlties on this line, if not of a nature to make the construc
tion of a canal impossible, were nevertheless such as to make it impracticable.
ROUTE FROM MOUTH OF THE Rio LA.TAS TO BRITO. The line from Lake
Nicaragua to the Pacific, to which public attention has been r.iost directed,
ij, one
starting from the mouth of the Rio Lajas, a few miles below the town
of Rivas, or Nicaragua, to the port of San Juan del Sur, or Concordia, on the
Pacific. As already stated, not less than three surveys had been made over
this line; one in 1781 by Galisteo, a Spanish engineer, and the last by Mr.
Baily, an Englishman, under the republic of Central America, published in

Stephens Incidents of Travel in Central America. The lluo pursued by
both Galisteo and Baily was governed by the circumstance of a measurably
good port on the Pacific that of San Juan del Sur, the best ou the whole
line of coast from the bay of Salinas northward to Realejo. Baily s line is
sixteen miles and 730 feet in length, and the greatest elevation above the
lake 4S7 feet. That of Galisteo is seventeen miles 200 feet i:i length, and
the greatest elevation above the sea 272, and above the lake 134 feet. Baily a
EXPLORING FOR A LINE. 721
line, for half of its distance, involved 209 feet of average vertical cutting;
that of Galisteo, for half of its length, an average vertical cutting of 108 feet.
Thesefacts, and others, among which the absolute impossibility of supplying

thesummit levels with water, and the necessity of tunnels, combined to
make the construction of a canal on this line wholly impossible.
Colonel Childs seems to have been satisfied of the impracticability of this
line, after a very rapid examination, and to have devoted himself to the dis
covery of one more feasible. In doing this, however, it was found necessary
to abandon San Juan del Sur as the western terminus.
Starting at the point on the lake to the eastward of Rivas, levelling west
ward, through a transverse, moderately undulating plain, he ascended, on a
distance of six and a half miles, 326 feet, to the summit of a broad valley,
passing between the hills (which are here of moderate height), and connect
ing with another valley on the west side, which extends to a place on the
Pacific called Brito, where a stream, named Rio Grande, flows into the sea.
The quantity of water available for this summit being entirely inadequate,
and the cut altogether too formidable, on the plan of carrying through the
level, this route was abandoned. Another line, not far from this, was at
tempted, with very nearly the same result.
Colonel Childs next staxted from the mouth of the Rio Lajas, the same
point with his predecessors, and carried a line of levels to the summit of a
transverse valley lying about six and a half miles south of Rivas, and reach
ing between the valley of Rio Lajas and that of the Rio Grande, already
mentioned as flowing into the Pacific at Brito. This summit was found to be
only forty-seven and a half feet above the surface of the lake, as it stood on
the 23d day of December, 1850, at which time it was three and a half feet
above its lowest stages, and one and a half feet below the level at which it
ordinarily stands at the height of the rainy season. The length of this line
from lake to sea is about twenty miles. This is the route, and the only
direct one, between the lake and sea, regarded by Colonel Childs as fea
sible, and upon
this all his calculations respecting the proposed canal are
based. In his own language: The conclusion was arrived at that the line
bading from the lake, at the mouth of the river Lajas to the Pacific at
Brito, presented more favorable conditions for the construction of the canal
than any other; itwas therefore determined to survey and carefully to locate
a line across upon this route.
This runs through the valley of the river Lajas, the waters of
line, then,
a principal branch of which interlock with those of the Rio Grande, and,
through the valley of the latter, reaches the sea. The stream first named
has its origin about ten miles south-westerly from its entrance into the lake,
ou the eastern slope of the dividing ridge, and after running north- westerly
two miles, along the base of the hills, takes a northerly direction through
comparatively level savannas, a distance of six miles or eight miles, when it
bends to the east, and in a mile and three fourths enters the lake. The Rio
Grande rises on the eastern slope of the same range of hills, and two or three
miles north-west from the sources of the Lajas, and, after flowing some three
or four miles at the foot of their slope, bends to the west, and by a .narrow
and somewhat irregular valley passes through the ridge, and thence, in a
more capacious and uniform valley, into the Pacific.
WESTERN SECTION OF PROPOSED CANAL BETWEEN LAKE NICARAGUA AND

THE PACIFIC. The entire line of the canal proposed by Colonel Childs, and
\ipon which all his calculations and estimates are based, is therefore through
the valley of the river Sari Juan into Lake Nicaragua, across Lake Nicara
gua to the mouth of the Rio Lajas, through the valley of that stream, and
across the summit of forty-seven and a half feet which separates it from that
of the Rio Grande, and down the valley of the Rio Grande to Brito, where
that stream enters the Pacific.
Now, in order to understand Colonel Childs conclusions, and appreciate
the data which he gives, we must know what kind of a work he proposes.
He contemplates a canal but seventeen feet deep; and as he intends to sup
ply the western section, from the lake to the sea, by water from the lake, it
would be necessary to commence construction in the lake at a point where
the water is seventeen feet deep at mean stage. This point is opposite the
mouth of the Lajas, and twenty-five chains from the line of the shore. From
this point, for a mile and a half, partially along the river Lajas, the excava
tion will be principally earth; but beyond this, for a distance of five and a
half miles, which carries the line beyond the summit, three fourths of the ex
cavation will be in a trap rock. That is to say, the deepest excavation, or
open cut, will be sixty-five feet, and involve the removal of 1,879,000 cubic
yards of earth, and 3,378,000 cubic yards of rock. The excavation and con
struction in this five and a half miles alone are estimated at upward of
$6,000,000.
The summit passed, and the valley of the Rio Grande reached, the exca
vation, as a general rule, will be only the depth of the canal. Colonel Childs
found that the lake, at ordinary high water, is only 102 feet 10 inches above
the Pacific at high and 111 feet 5 inches above it at low tide, instead of 128
feet, as calculated by Mr. Baily. This descent he proposes to accomplish by
fourteen locks, of eight feet lift each, placed at proper points in the valley of
the Rio Grande, thus bringing us to Brito, the terminus on the Pacific.
The harbor of Brito, as it is called, or the point where the Rio Grande
enters the sea, is at best only a bad anchorage. There is here a small angu
lar indentation of the land, partially protected by a low ledge of rock, but
nothing adequate for the terminus of an important work like the proposed
canal, or capable of answering the commonest requisites of a port. To rem
edy this deficiency, Colonel Childs proposed to construct an artificial harbor,
of thirty-four acres area, by means of moles and jetties in the sea, and by
extensive excavations in the land. If, as he supposes, the excavations here
would be in sand, it is obviously almost impossible to get proper foundations
for the immense sea-walls and piers that would be necessary for a work of
this kind. On the contrary, if these excavations should be chiefly in a rock,
as seems most likely, the cost and labor would almost surpass computation.
Assuming the excavations for the purpose to be in earth and sand, Colonel
Childs estimates the cost of making a harbor at a little over $2,600,000.
MIDDLE SECTION OF PROPOSED CANAL LAKE NICARAGUA.
Proceeding
from seventeen feet depth of water in the lake, opposite to the river Lajas,
in the direction of the outlet of the lake at Fort San Carlos, there is ample
water for vessels of all sizes for a distance of about fifty-one miles, to a point
half a mile south of the Boacos Islands. Here the depth of water diminishes
THE RIVER SAN JUAN. 723
rapidly to fourteen feet. For the remaining five and a half miles to the fort,
the water is variable, averaging only about nine feet at low and about four
teen at high water. For this distance of five and a half miles, therefore, an
average under-water excavation of eight feet would be required to make the
channel, at low water, of the depth of the canal, or seventeen feet. But if
the lake were kept at high level, the under-water excavation would be but an
average of three feet.
Colonel Childs proposed to protect this portion of the channel by rows of
piles driven 011 each side, along its whole extent, and thinks, after the ex
cavation were made, a sufficient current would be established to keep the
channel clear.
EASTERN SECTION THE RIVER SAN JUAN. We come now to the section
between Lake Nicaragua and the Atlantic, through or along the river San
Juan. Excepting a small settlement at the Castillo Viejo, at the Castillo
Rapids, thirty-seven miles from the lake, the valley of the San Juan is wholly
uninhabited. This section, hitherto supposed the easiest, is, nevertheless, by
far the most difficult part of the proposed enterprise.
Colonel Childs carried a line of levels from the lake at San Carlos to the
port of San Juan, on the northern bank of the stream. The whole distance
from San Carlos to seventeen feet depth of water in the harbor of San Juan
is 119g miles; and the whole fall, from the surface of high lake to the surface
of highest tide in the harbor, is 107| feet to lowest tide, 10S feet.
Of the above distance, the first ninety -one miles, or from San Carlos to
half a mile below the Serapiqui River, Colonel Childs proposed to make the
river navigable by excavating its bed, and by constructing dams, to be passed
by means of locks and short canals; the remaining twenty-eight miles of the
canal to be constructed inland, or independently of the river. Of the whole
fall, sixty-two and a half feet occurs on that portion which it is proposed to
improve by dams, and on which there were to be eight locks, and the remain
ing forty-six and a quarter feet occurs on the inland portion of the canal, on
which were to be six locks fourteen locks in all.
Colonel Childs proposed to place the first dam at the head of the Castillo
Rapids, a distance of upward of thirty-seven miles from the lake, and to pass
the rapids by means of a lateral canal. By means of this dam he proposed to
raise the water, at that point, twenty-one and a half feet, and the entire level
of Lake Nicaragua rive feet above its lowest stages, or in other words, to
keep it at high-water mark. The fall at this dam would be sixteen feet. He
proposed also six other dams, four of eight feet fall, one of fourteen and a
half feet, and one of thirteen and a half feet. Between all of these there
would be more or less excavation in the bed of the stream, sometimes in
earth, and often in rock.
Colonel Childs proposed further to improve the harbor of San Juan by
moles, etc., and to construct an artificial harbor in connection with it of the
capacity of thirteen acres.
In respect of the amount of water in the San Juan, we have some interest
ing statistics. This amount, of course, varies greatly with the different
seasons. The quantity of water that passed from the lake at its lowest stage,
on the 4th of June, 1851, was 11,930 cubic feet per second. The greatest
rise of the lake is about five feet. When it stood at 3.43 feet above its lowest
the flow of water was 18,059 cubic feet

level, per second, being an increase of
aboutfifty per cent. Supposing the same ratio of increase, at high lake the
amount of water in the river would be doubled.
The river receives large accessions from its tributaries. Below these, and
above the point of divergence of the Colorado, flowing direct into the sea
from the San Juan, which falls into the harbor of the same name, the flow
of water was 54,380 cubic feet
per second, of which 42,056 passed through
the Colorado branch into the ocean, and 12,324
through the San Juan into
the port.
DIMENSIONS OF THE PROPOSED CANAL. Where the excavation is in earth,
Colonel Childs proposed (and all his estimates are founded on these dimen
sions) that the canal shall have a depth of 17 feet; that it shall be 50 feet
wide at the bottom, 86 feet wide at 9 feet above the bottom, and 118 feet
wide at the surface of the water. Where the excavation is in rock, the canal
to be 50 feet wide at bottom, 77 feet at 9 feet above
is
bottom, and 78^ feet
at the surface of the water.
LENGTH OF PROPOSED CANAL. The total length of the line proposed by
Colonel Childs, from San Juan del Norte on the Atlantic, to Brito on the
Pacific, is 194J miles, as follows:
Miles.
Canal from port of San Juan to its point of intersection with the
river, near the mouth of the Serapiqui 28.505
Slack-water navigation on the San Juan River, from the above point
to San Carlos, at the outlet of the lake 90.800
From San Carlos, across Lake Nicaragua, to the mouth of the Rio
Lajas 56.500
From mouth of Rio Lajas to Brito 18.588
Total, as above 194.393
ESTIMATED COST. The cost of the work is estimated by Colonel Chitds in

detail. The recapitulation, by divisions, is as follows:
Eastern Division (i. e., from port of San Juan to lake) .$12,502,346
Middle Division (through lake) 1,025,676
Western Division (from lake to Pacific) 13,896,603
$27,424,625
Add, for contingencies, 15 per cent 4,113,693
Total estimated cost of canal $31,538,318

The canal
company published a pamphlet, in which the estimates for the
canal were made at New York prices, and in which the total was put down
at $13,243,099. The prices adopted in the estimate of $31,500,000, says
Colonel Childs, are made up with reference to the completion of the work
within six years from the time of breaking ground, and a commencement of
the settlement of the country in the vicinity of the line previous to letting
the contracts.
CAPACITY OF THE PROPOSED CANAL. The charter of the canal company
provided that the capacity of the work should be sufficiently great to admit
vessels of all sizes. And it is obvious that a work which will not pass freely
THE VIEWS OF COLONEL CHILDS 725
the largest vessels can but imperfectly answer the purposes of its construc
tion, or meet the requirements of commerce. But Colonel Chilcls proposed
only one 17 feet deep, 50 feet wide at bottom, and 118 feet wide at top a
capacity wholly inadequate to pass the larger classes of vessels, and one
which fails to meet the stipulations of the charter. The larger merchant-
ships, such as are generally employed in the eastern trade, have a draught
of from 20 to 25 feet, and would require, to say nothing of war vessels and
large steamers, a canal of from 25 to 30 feet in depth, which would involve

more than double the amount of excavation proposed, and probably treble
the amount of cost, and carry it up from $31,500,000 to $100,000,000. Here
isthe fatal deficiency in the whole proposition of Colonel Childs.
To make the canal capable of passing vessels drawing 20 feet of water,
Colonel Childs says, would increase to a very great degree the amount of the
excavation on the river section, and still more the expense. Any consider
able increase in the depth proposed (17 feet) would require under-water exca
vations between the lake and the Toro Rapids, a distance of 27 miles, to be
almost continuous; it would very much lengthen the cuts on the other por
tions of the river, and the liability of these artificial channels to receive
deposits of earth to such an extent as to obstruct navigation would be very
much greater. On the inland portion of the canal, continues Colonel Childs,
a depth of 22 feet of water would, with fifty feet bottom- width, give a trans
verse water-section about 45 per cent greater than a depth of 17 feet, with the
same bottom- width; and the expense of the inland portions would also, by
reason of the greater depth of excavation, be increased in a still higher ratio.
Colonel Childs seems sensible of the inadequacy of a canal of the proposed
dimensions, but thinks that by changes in model, etc., ships of great size
could be built to pass a 17-foot canal. That is to say, the world may build
ships for the canal, instead of the canal company a canal for the ships of the
world! He most steamers draw less than 17 feet, and quotes from
states that
Murray on Marine Engines to show that of 261 steam- vessels, prin

s Treatise
cipally English, 15 draw over 17 feet, 21 have 17 feet draught, and 225 less
than 17 feet. But he neglects to tell us that experience and economy point
to the construction of larger steamers than those now in use, and that such
as would be used in the eastern trade, in the event of the construction of the
canal, would be still larger than those of the Collins line, which draw over
22 feet. Besides, a canal of 17 feet is only adequate to the passage of vessels

of 15 feet draught. No canal ought to be contemplated with a less depth
than 25 and with proportionate top and bottom width.
feet,
The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal has a depth of 10 feet.
The Welland Canal is 28 miles long, 9 feet deep, 35 feet wide at bottom,
and 71 feet at top. It passes vessels of 350 tons.
The Caledonian Canal, between the eastern and western shores of Great
Britain, is 59 miles in length, of which 21^ miles is inland and 37^ through
lakes. It is 50 feet wide at bottom, 110 feet at top, and is 20 feet deep. It
is capable of passing frigates of 32 guns, and merchant- vessels of 1,000 tons.
The canal from Amsterdam to New Dieppe, in Holland, is 50 miles long,

36 feet wide at bottom and 124 at top, and is 20 feet 9 inches deep.
In respect of navigating the canal, according to Colonel Childs sugges
tions, steamers will propel themselves, and sail-vessels will be moved by tugs
726 INTER-OCEANIC COMMUNICATION.
constructed for the purpose, except on the portion west of the lake, and be
tween the river and port of San Juan, where the delay of the driving steamers
in passing the locks would make the use of animal-power advisable. Calcu
lating 24 minutes as the time required for a vessel to pass each lock, 60 ves
sels, it is calculated, could be passed in a day. The average rate of speed
with which steamers might safely move in the inland portions of the canal is
calculated at 2^ miles per hour, on the river portions 7 miles an hour, and
on the lake, 11 miles an hour. Sailing vessels propelled by horse-power might
move on the canal at the rate of two miles an hour, and on the river and lake
with an average speed of 4 miles per hour. For steamers, therefore, the pas
sage from sea to sea is estimated at 46.T hours, or about two days; for sailing
vessels, 77 hours, or 3| days.
FACILITIES FOR CONSTRUCTING THE CANAL. There are many considera
tions connected with an enterprise of this kind besides its feasibility in a
mere engineering point of view, such as labor, materials, etc., etc. To all of
these Colonel Childs seems to have devoted some attention.
Timber. As compared with those United States, the original for
of the
ests of Nicaragua are inferior in and the kind and quantity of timber
size,
proper for use less in proportion. The tree called the cedro, or cedar, is
produced in considerable abundance, and can be usefully applied. It grows
to a great height, and will produce timber 36 to 40 feet long, and 12 to 18
inches square. The roble, a species of oak, is also a tall tree, and furnishes
timber equal to the cedar in size. The nispero, laurel, madera negra,
and others, answer a very good purpose. The nispero is 29 per cent
stronger than white oak, and may be procured in sufficient quantities, in the
opinion of Colonel Childs, to be relied on as a substitute for all the purposes
in which oak is required. He thinks that, in the aggregate, the forests of
Nicaragua, in the sections traversed by the canal, will probably produce all
the lumber required.

Stone. Along the river San Juan, the rock is chiefly trap, graywacke,
and shale; in many but in others, Colonel Childs

localities too friable for use,
thinks, it may be found fit for the purposes required. On the west side of the
lake limestone quarries were found, capable of producing good lime in abun
dance. The between the lake and Pacific, on the proposed
stone, generally,
canal line, is was thought that in case of need it might bo
not good, but it
obtained from Granada, sixty miles to the north-west, and from a lower point
on the Isthmus. Very good and abundant clays were found, and a stone from
which water-lime of a fair quality may be obtained.
Labor.- -Colon el Childs concedes that the prosecution of the works of the
canal would be attended with vast difficulties, resulting from a lack of all the
essential requisites in the shape of mills, roads, carriages, etc., etc. He thinks
the oxen of the country may be obtained in sufficient numbers to do all the
necessary hauling of materials. But there yet a consideration of vastly
is
more importance, viz., labor. Colonel Childs apprehends that it would be

necessary to rely chiefly on foreigners. He says that, although the laboring
popidation of the country, when under compulsory circumstances, are capa
ble of great activity and of enduring much fatigue, in their ordinary avoca
tions they are tardy and irregular in their labor. An exception is, however,
made in favor of a class of boatmen employed on the river, some 400 iu
CLIMATIC TRIALS. 727
number, in whom we have an example of physical labor and exposure to the

elements scarcely equalled in any country, endured by them with no per
ceptible prejudice, but apparently with advantage to their health. These
men slespon a narrow plank across their boats, with no other protection than
a single blanket; yet there is probably in the world no class of men of more
athletic forms, and notwithstanding their indifferent attention to the con

ditions of health, more capable of hard service. So far as can be gathered
from Colonel Childs observations, it seems that he would rely chiefly on for
eign labor for the construction of the proposed work.
He seems to think it is not unlikely that foreigners, already accustomed
to hard labor,may, when thoroughly acclimated, and under no unnecessary
exposure, be capable of a fair amount of labor in this country, although not
as great an amount as in higher latitudes. He states that of the party en
gaged in the survey west of the lake, nine were unaccustomed to the climate.
After a few months, a slight fever, followed by ague, prevented some of the
number from continued daily exercise; but being in all cases under the con
trol of medicine, it was of short duration. During seven months in this part
of the state, illness in the party at no time interrupted a daily prosecution
of the survey. Upon the San Juan River, the surveying party consisted of
twelve persons, exclusive of native citizens. The survey occupied six and a
half months, from March to September. The party generally enjoyed good
health,and no individual was prevented by indisposition, beyond a day or
two, from full service.Of those engaged as axemen in clearing the line, two
were northern men, whose daily exercise exceeded that usual to men in canal-
work, without detriment to health or constitution.
Soil. From San Juan Harbor to where the proposed canal would strike
the river, the soil is vegetable mould, coarse sand, and sandy loam. Along
the river it is of a more mixed character, clay and loam predominating in the
valleys, and a gravelly clay, with detached stones, on the hills. West of
the lake, the central portion of the summit is principally clay; the remainder,
together with the soil through the valley to Brito, has a very nearly uniform
and equal intermixture of clay, sand, and gravel. The surface soil is gen
erally line, and contains enough of vegetable mould to render it capable of
great production.
Food. Among the staple articles of food that would, during the con
struction of the canal, be most required for consumption, may be named
maize, plantains, and beans. Of the former and latter two crops are annually
raised on the same ground, and the supply of plantains is constant. Besides
these are bananas, oranges, lemons, pineapples, cocoaiiuts, squashes, melons,
tomatoes, and other garden vegetables. Colonel Childs, while considering
these sources of supply in food, is nevertheless of opinion that salt meat and
flourwould have to be brought in large quantities from abroad. Fresh beef,
pork, and poultry are abundant in the country.
OPINION OF COLONEL ABERT AND LIEUTENANT-COLONEL TURNBULL. Al
though a different impression has been sought to be produced in the public
mind, yet the government of the United States had no direct interest in the
proposed canal, nor manifested any other than might naturally attach to any
enterprise of supposed general importance. The surveys of Colonel Childs
seem, nevertheless, to have been sent to the secretary of war, with a request
for the opinion of the government engineers. Mr Conrad politely referred

it to Colonel Abert and Lieutenant-colonel Turnbull, of the bureau of topo
graphical engineers, who give their opinion in a brief letter, dated March 20,
1852. Proceeding upon Colonel Childs data, they think his plan practi
cable, that his estimates for a canal of seventeen feet are liberal, and that
some reductions might possibly be made. They think that a shorter line
might be traced between the port of San Juan and the point of intersection
with the river, and recommend another survey of that portion.
OPINION OF ENGLISH ENGINEERS. The American minister in England,
at the request of the company, appears to have transmitted Colonel Childs"
surveys to the earl of Malmesbury, with a wish that he would submit it to

competent English engineers for their opinion. James Walker, Esq., civil
engineer, and Edward Aldrich, captain of the royal engineers, were named
for this service. They seem not only to have examined Colonel Childs sur
vey, but to have subjected that gentleman, who was then in England, to a
very close personal examination. Taking his plans, measurement, and state
ments to be correct, their opinion is, on the whole, favorable. They think
that his estimates for work are ample, but regard the amount set down for
contingencies (fifteen per cent) too small by at least ten per cent, that is to
say, that it should have been twenty-five instead of fifteen per cent. Of all
the works of the proposed navigation, they regard the Brito or Pacific harbor
as least satisfactory. To use their own language: Presuming Colonel Childs
statements and conclusions to be correct, the Brito harbor is in shape and size
unworthy of this great ship navigation, even supposing the Pacific, to which
it is quite open, to be a much quieter ocean than any we have seen or have
any information of.
also object to the proposed size, and suggest a canal twenty feet deep
They
instead of seventeen, sixty feet wide at the bottom instead of fifty, and the
locks 300 feet instead of 250, as being one more efficient for the general pur
poses of trade, by steam or sailing vessels. This would, of course, be attended
with great additional cost; but, as they truly observe, if the junction of the
Pacific with the Atlantic be worth doing at all, it is worth doing well. They
conclude that, judging from the data, without presuming to vouch for their
accuracy, the work is practicable, and would not be attended with engineer
ing difficulties beyond what might naturally be expected in a work of this
magnitude; that the surveys have every appearance of accuracy, and they
are satisfied of the perfect fairness and candor of Colonel Childs; that the
works are generally sufficient for the purpose they are intended to answer;
and that the estimates upon the present value of money are adequate, in a
:
general way, so far as judgments can be formed from the documents produced
and the explanations of Colonel Childs.
OPINION OF BRITISH CAPITALISTS. We come now to a point not indicated
inthe report of Colonel Childs, viz., the refusal of the leading capitalists of
England to engage in the projected work.
It is well known that at least two expeditions or missions to England were
undertaken by agents of the canal company. At their first visit in 1851, they
were unable to present any specific data upon which to solicit the aid of capi
talists; they, however, made out a hypothetical case, which they submitted,
and received for answer, Substantiate your statements by facts, and no
REASONS FOR DECLINING. 729
difficulty will be experienced in securing the financial aid which you desire;
until then, we can return you no definite answer. This reply was not made
public in terms, but the agents, on their return, proclaimed that the great
European capitalists had engaged to furnish half the capital for the enter
prise. A few, andbelieved only a few, persons, considering the precise
it is
source whence this vaunt came, attached the slightest importance to it.
The second expedition was made in 1852, and this time the agents took out
with them both Colonel Childs and his surveys. The opinion of certain Brit
ish engineers (as we have seen) was procured, and the whole matter resub-
mitted to the great capitalists, who now, for the first time, thought it
sufficiently advanced to merit their serious attention. The result of their
examination was communicated to the company in a letter from Mr Bates,
head of the house of Baring Brothers, in August 1852, and consisted in a
declension to embark in the enterprise, for a variety of reasons, chiefly, of
course, financial.
1. The dimensions of the canal were not such as, in their opinion, to meet
the requirements of commerce, and the work could not be used except by
medium-sized steamers and small vessels.
2. That the proposed dimensions were not in conformity with those re
quired by the charter of the company, and that it could not be built of the
proposed dimensions without securing a modification of the charter, which,
in the existing state of feeling in Nicaragua, it was not likely could be
effected.
3. That, supposing the work not to exceed the estimated cost of $31,000,-
000, the returns, to meet the simple interest of the investment at six per
cent, must be at least $1,860,000 over and above its current expenses; or, to
meet this interest, and the percentage to be paid to Nicaragua, it must
reach, over and above its expenses, $2,269,200. Estimating the expenses of
repairs, superintendence, cost of transportation, etc., at $400,000 a year (a
sum regarded as too small), then the gross returns to make the work pay
must be $2,670,000.
4. But it is found, by inquiry and calculation, that little, if any, of the
European trade with the Orient would pass through the canal, inasmuch as
the passage by the way of Cape Good Hope is, on an average, 1,500 miles
nearer than by way of the proposed work.
5. That even if the distance were in favor of the proposed canal, its small
size would prevent nearly, if not quite, two thirds of the vessels engaged in
the Indian trade from passing it; and this objection would equally lie against
most of the vessels employed in the trade with western America, the only
trade in which the canal would prove serviceable to Europe.
6. That the heavy toll of $3 a ton on ships would prevent such vessels as
could pass the canal from doing so, inasmuch as on a vessel of 1,000 tons the
toll would be $3,000, or more than the average earnings of such vessels on
their voyages.
7. That a canal of the proposed size could oniy he used by small passenger-
steamers, the returns from which would not be adequate to pay the current
expenses of the enterprise.
While unhesitatingly conceding the immense local advantages of a canal
to the United States, these capitalists confessed themselves utterly unable to
discover how it could prove of compensating value to the men who should
invest their money in the enterprise. They therefore, for these and othe
reasons, declined to meet the views of the projectors and their agents.
GUARANTEE OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC. By the Convention of 1850*1)6-
tween the United States and Great Britain, a qualified guaranty was extended
to this enterprise, in common with several others. There was also a clause
inserted with direct reference to this company, which provided that it should
4
have a priority of claim over every other company to the protection of the
United States and Great Britain, on condition that it should, within one
year from the date of the ratification of the convention, conclude its ar
rangements and present evidence of sufficient capital subscribed to accom
plish the undertaking. The treaty was ratified, and the ratifications exchanged
July 5, 1850. No subscription of stock having taken place, and no evidence
of capital having been presented in the time specified, or indeed at any other
time, the company forfeited this special protection in July 1851; and as the
twelve years within which the work was to be constructed will expire in
1861, it may be assumed that its prosecution will depend upon new condi
tions and combinations. Indeed, it may be questioned if the opening of rail
ways between the oceans may not indefinitely postpone the project of a canal;
for, however desirable such a work may be, its realization will depend upon
precisely those practical considerations which apply to the simplest works of

public utility. It will not do to foot up the commerce between Europe and
Asia, and assume, as has generally been the case, that the totals will pass
through the canal, if constructed. Now, the simple truth is, that, so far as
Europe concerned, that part of her trade which goes to ports on the Pacific
is
coast of America, to the Sandwich Islands, Japan, the northern ports of

China, to New Zealand and Australia, is all that will be materially benefited
by the construction of a canal. As regards Australia, the principal advan
tage would be in having a safer, easier, and consequently quicker and surer
means of communication than is afforded by the Cape of Good Hope; for the
Pacific Ocean preeminently the sea of steamers, and where steam naviga
is
tion, in respect of speed at least, is destined to achieve its most brilliant suc
cess. So far as the United States is concerned, the advantages of such a work
would naturally be greater than to Europe.
Assuming a canal to be built across the Isthmus of Nicaragua, the follow
ing table will illustrate the relations of Liverpool and New York with the
principal ports of the east, in respect of distance:
Via ( ape of Via Proposed K xwrnin
t T * Gain *
Good Hope. Canal.
From Liverpool
To Canton 12,900 13,800 900
Calcutta 11,440 15,480 4,040
Singapore 11,880 15,120 4,240
Sydney 14,980 12,550 2,320
From New York
To Canton 14,100 11,820 3,280
Calcutta 12,360 13,680 1,320
Singapore 12,700 11,420 280
Sydney 15,720 9,480 5,240
[The distances to Sidney are calculated via Torres Straits.]
THE COURSE OF TRAFFIC. 731
The following table will illustrate the relations of Liverpool and New
York in respect to the principal western ports of America:
Via Cape Horn. Via Proposed Canal. Gain.
From Liverpool
To Valparaiso 8,700 7,500 1,200
Callao 10,020 6,800 3,220
Sandwich Islands 13,500 8,640 4,860
From New York
To Valparaiso 8,580 4,860 3,720
Callao...... 9,900 3,540 5,360
Sandwich Islands 13,200 6,300 6,900
But not to be assumed that all the trade, much less all the travel,
it is
treasure,and mails to the points which I have indicated, will, under any cir
cumstances, pass through a canal. The passengers between New York and
San Francisco, amounting annually to nearly 100,000, would never consent
to make a voyage of from 1,000 to 2,000 miles out of their way, to Nicaragua,
Panama, Darien, or Atrato, for the sake of passing through a canal, however
grand, when by a simple transshipment at Honduras, for instance, and a transit
of 209 miles by railway, they would be able to avoid this long detour, and effect
a saving of from 5 to 8 days of time; for even if steamers were to run to
any canal which might be opened, and supposing no detention on account of
locks or other causes (calculated by Colonel Childs at 2 days), even then it
would be necessary for them to stop, for coals and other supplies, more than
quadruple the time that would be occupied by the passengers over the rail
way in effecting their reembarkation. And what is true of passengers is
equally true of treasure, the mails, and light freight of small bulk and large
value.
I do not wish to be understood as arguing against a canal; what I mean
to illustrate is this: that,open a canal wherever we may, it will always stand
in the same relation to a railway as does the baggage-train to the express.
A canal would be chiefly, if not wholly, used by ships and vessels carrying
heavy and bulky freights; but as most articles of this kind are kept in stock
in all the principal ports of the world, it is not of so much consequence to
have rapidity as constancy of supply, and hence, unless the canal shall be
constructed so economically as to admit of a moderate tonnage rate, it is not
improbable that ships of this kind would find it more economical to follow
the routes now open. Squiers States of Cent. America.
In tracing, or attempting to trace, the routes of recent travellers in Darien,

there is extraordinary difficulty, although the locality in question does not
exceed a space of 40 miles by 30. Strange to say, the routes of the old
buccaneers, of Dampier, Ringrose, Sharp, Wafer, and Davis, the inland jour
ney of that remarkable man Paterson, and of the Spanish officer Don Manuel
Milla de Santa Ella, 5 * can be followed on the old Spanish maps, but not in our
modern ones, even the best; while there are no data hitherto published that
afford more than a guess at the tracks of modern explorers after leaving the
sea-coast. Mr Gisborne has compiled, or rather copied, the principal part of
the map, on which he has shown, in red, those portions which he himself saw
64
March 13, 1788.
and was enabled to lay down. No surveyor who reads his Journal and Re
port can doubt that he has given eye-sketches, aided by compass bearings
and estimated distances; but the estimation of a practised eye is not to be
undervalued. Dr Cullen can be traced up the Tuyra to Yavisa, and up the
Paya; also up the Savana, but no farther inland.
The state of our geographical knowledge of that exceedingly interesting
region is the following:
All examinations, all surveys, of the Great Isthmus were made by Spain
alone, while she held the country (till the years 1821-31). Very good maps
of much of the Spanish territory existed at that time; but they have been
copied and recopied by all manner of hands; scales and bearings have been
altered, not intentionally, but by mistake; names omitted or misspelled;
and absolute longitudes applied erroneously. Thus good original work came
to be so deteriorated by its transmutations as to be almost useless.
No surveys need be better than some of the Spanish works undertaken
toward the end of the last and during the beginning of this century.
Methods and instruments were used by Tofino, Malaspina, Espinosa, Bauza,
Cordova, and others, that were not adopted, if known, by French or English
surveyors until afterward. Triangulation without the compass, bases ob
tained by angular measurements of known objects, 55 and the most perfect
style of plan -drawing on true principles, were practised by Spaniards before
this centurycommenced.
The south coast of the Great Isthmus and the interior of Darien were not
explored and mapped sufficiently, because of the hostile Indians, and politi
cal reasons connected with the gold mines in that district. There was also
another source of error in that particular vicinity which has only recently
been eliminated; namely, the great difference of longitudes, according to the
maps, between places on opposite sides of the Isthmus which are really in
the same meridian. This amounted to more than 30 miles along all the coast
from Chiriqui to Darien. with respect to the corresponding southern coast-line.
Thanks to the far-seeing and indefatigable hydrographer to the admiralty,
Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, the British surveys have included much of the
coasts of Central America, and they are now placed in relatively correct
positions on our latest maps. Having therefore exact coast-lines, or boun

daries, we can avail ourselves more readily of much Spanish interior detail;
but it is exceedingly difficult to get at the oriyinal works.
A very neatly engraved and apparently complete map of the Isthmus has
been lately published at New Orleans by Dr Autenreith, but in reality it is
only a copy of Spanish documents and recent surveys made by England; it
is not an original work. There are in this country at present more materials
for a map of Darien than exist elsewhere. Bauza brought copies of all the
Spanish -American, documents to this country, with many original maps; but
there is still a great extent, nearly all the interior of the Isthmus of Darien,
unexamined by the eye of a surveyor.
In the last century (1780), a Spanish party of five engineers and surveyors,
under Donoso, escorted by a large body of troops, 56 was stopped by the
55
Masthead angles were taken in Cordova s voyage, 1 785-6.
66
Four hundred.
INJURY TO TRUTHFUL GEOGRAPHY. 733
Indians in the Chucunaque River, and obliged to return without executing

and this was the
their orders to survey the region near Caledonian harbor;
last attempt by Spain, or by any one, to make a regular survey of the interior
of that part of the Isthmus.
In the valuable collection of Mr Arrowsmith are many Spanish documents,
among which one plan, dated 1774, shows all the Spanish establishments,
military arid religious, as well as mining, at that date, in Darien. Others
show details of a previous century, and a few give the earliest settlements of
the IGth century.
And here allow one word to be said of the injury to truthful geography,
caused by copying all materials without acknowledgment, or by adding
imaginary topograpy without explanation. The map by Dr Autenreith has
much the appearance of an exact survey; there is no distinction made between
those parts for which there is authority and those which are partly the re-
results of imagination (the interior hill-work).
The public in general being unaware of the authorities for a map, the mere
copyist is often supposed to be the author of the work. Maps or charts that
are not original ought always to show from what data they have been com
piled.
In order to assist in now forming a correct opinion of Darien, a retrospect
ive historical glance at a few points is necessary.
The first settlement in all America was founded in 1509 at the mouth of
the Atrato. It was called Santa Maria de la Antigua. The next settlement on
the Isthmus was at Acla, or Agla, in 1514, a few miles inland 57 from that port
or bay now famed in history and romance, called by Paterson Caledonian
Harbor. It was from Agla that Balboa crossed to the South Sea, and that
the earliest expeditions to Peru were despatched.
In 1532 these two settlements were abandoned, and their population trans
ferred to Nombre de Dios and Panama. This is said to have been done on
account of the unhealthy site of Santa Maria el Antigua, surrounded by
marshes and mangrove jungles; but why Agla was abandoned does not ap
pear, except by Paterson s narrative, whence it may be inferred that the set
tlers there were harassed by the Indians, and were too far from the sea-shore.
Besides which, as intercourse increased with places 011 the Pacific coasts it
became, no doubt, more convenient to have a principal rendezvous on the
southern shore more accessible from the Pacific.
In those early days so famed was Darien for gold, that the province was
called Golden Castile 58 (Castilla del Oro). It was the principal portion of
that tierra firme, so famed afterward as the Spainish Main, the real
El Dorado to which Sir Walter Raleigh went in 1517-18, Sir Francis Drake
in 1557, troops of buccaneers in the 17th century, and the Scotch colony
in 1698.
Repeated aggressions on this auriferous district, where abundance of gold

was procured by black slave labor, after the aborigines had been diminished
in numbers by oppressive cruelties, induced Spain to close and abandon the
57
Five leagues from the shore. Sp. MS.
58
The arms of Santa Maria de la Antigua were a golden castle between a
jaguar and a puma.
mines for a time (early in the 18th century) even those famous ones in the
mountains of Espiritu Santo near Cana, from which alone more gold went
through Panama in a year than from all the other mines of America taken to
gether. These Cana mines were sacked in 1702 and 1712 by English, in 1724
by French, and by the Indians in 1727. Nevertheless, in 1774 the mining
operations were again going on, having been reestablished a few years pre
viously.
When Cana was taken by the expedition (as narrated by Davis) sent from
Jamaica by Colonel Beckford in 1702, there were about 900 houses (probably
most of them mere huts); therefore, the population could hardly have been
less than 3,000 at that time. From 1719 to 1727 there was a great and general
resistance of the Indians, who attacked the Spaniards in all directions, and
drove them out of all the detached settlements. Some years afterward peace
was made (in 1740), missions of the Jesuits advancedamong the natives, and by
their aid not only much topographical knowledge was acquired, but Spanish set
tlements in the interior were renewed and mines worked. But the Indians
again rebelled; therefore, small forts were reestablished at Yavisa, Molineca,
and Santa Maria Real, with a new post (in 1780) at El Principe, or Ocubti,
from which a road was cut by Arisa, leading toward Caledonian Harbor.
The fort El Principe does not appear in the Spanish MS. map of 1774; it
was built about 1785, when the Spaniards had again advanced into the in
terior Indian territory.
In 1788 Milla de Santa Ella, an officer of Spain, went from Caledonian
Harbor to El Principe direct by the road then recently opened by the Span-
i vrds; but as he did not think it advisable to return the same way, he went
down the Savana, and up the Chucunaque to the Tubuganti and Chueti
rivers, whence he crossed to his station at Caledonian Harbor by the same
route, undoubtedly, that Paterson traversed on his visit to the Indian great
chief at Ponca in 1 698.
The examination of no traveller, except Humboldt, previous to 1850,
induced a belief that a canal might be cut directly through Darien. Dr
Cuileifs personal inspection of Caledonian Harbor, and of the Savana River,
with their neighborhood, added to the information he obtained orally and
by reading, led him to the conclusion that the lowest summit level between
those places did not exceed 300 or 400 feet, while it might be very much less.
Feeling so confident that a lower level existed, he went there again to explore;
but while collecting further information and arranging preliminaries, at
Bogata, the seat of government in New Granada, Mr Gisborne (an engineer
employed by Messrs Fox and Henderson) made short excursions from each
side of the Isthmus, which satisfied him that the lowest summit level does
not exceed 160 feet above the sea.
According to the most authentic map of this district, Mr Arrowsmith s
last printed, not yet published, the distance across in a direct line between
deep water on each side is about 33 miles. The windings of a canal may
require nearly a third more, and if so, the whole distance to be canalized is
about 40 miles a shorter distance than can be found elsewhere,
Mr Gisborne s examination of the principal features of this line across
Darien, however incomplete, is a material advance toward certainty. We
have his two bases of operations, at Caledonian Harbor and San Miguel
A HASTY SCRAMBLE. 735
(entrance), nearly determined by recent government surveys, and we have

his character as a guaranty for the value of those details which he has given
in his Report. There may be a few miles of distance to settle, and there
may be doubts whether the river near his watershed, or summit level, called
by him Caledonia, may not be another river, perhaps the Chucimaque, or
one of its tributaries; and moreover, that the range of heights supposed by
him to separate those rivers is not truly placed, while his river Caledonia
(otherwise the Golden River, or Aglatomate) winds through a more northerly
area. 13ut these are trifles compared with his barometric measurement of
the summit level, and his own overlapping eye-views of the country which
he did not traverse.
If indeed the mouth of the Savana be not accurately laid down, or assumed
by him, if it be much farther west than he supposed, his surveys may not
have overlapped; and he may have looked across two different plains; in
which case there may be yet another ridge or watershed beneath the rivers
which he actually touched. The expedition employed by our government to
survey this coast did not examine the mouths of rivers running into San
Miguel. Only the western part of that gulf was examined in continuing the
coast line. Hence the position of the Savana may be less accurately known
than is generally supposed.
It is hardly necessary to remark here that to make independent observa
tions for latitude, longitude, distance, and accurate triangulation requires
more time and instruments than can be carried in a hasty scramble through
a wild country.
Mr Gisborne s examination of the geology and mineralogy is valuable.
Far from discovering any remarkable impediments to cutting a canal, he
states that there are no particular engineering difficulties with respect to the
ground; that there is much stratified shale-rock, easy to quarry, and fit to
line a canal. There is abundance of fine timber. Mangrove forests, rather
than jungles, surround the waters of the gulf. Densely matted underwood
follows on drier ground; and then, on the elevated country, there are magnifi
cent timber-trees very little encumbered by underwood.
Having thus endeavored to take a general view of this question, we may
perhaps ask ourselves what are the greatest impediments to the excavation
of a canal -impediments exceeding those that would attend any correspond
ing work in Europe.

Supposing that political arrangements are satisfactorily completed, the
claims of other parties compromised or barred, and adequate funds disposable,
the only peculiar and important impediments will be two the natives and
the climate. The native or Indian question, as connected with the inde
pendence and rights of the aborigines, should be considered deliberately.
That the Indians may be overawed and conciliated by proper management,
there is no doubt; but their reasonable claims must be satisfied, irrespective
of all jurisdiction assumed over them by New Granada a jurisdiction which
the natives of Darien repudiate. Fair dealing, while an overpowering force
is in sight, will prevent any attempt to have recourse to arms, or to molest
the parties employed about a canal, and would therefore obviate any irritat
ing and probably prolonged guerrilla hostilities.
It is estimated that there are about 5,000 independent Indians on the
Isthmus east of Costa Rica. Of these, it may be presumed that there are not
2,000 capable of bearing arms; a small number when dispersed in the high
lands between Costa Rica and Chocd, but quite enough to molest small parties
of workmen very seriously.
For defensive purposes, as well as for the general order and discipline of
very large bodies of laborers, in a wild country, some degree of military
organization and an acquiescence in military discipline would seem to be
indispensable.
Whether convicts might be employed advantageously may be a subject
for grave consideration. In clearing the wood of a tropical forest, and expos
ing ground to the sim s rays for the first time, much pestilential sickness may
be caused, as has been repeatedly proved (at Pulo Penang, Fernando Po, and
many other places). It cannot be doubted that convicts would be peculiarly
liable to the infhience of such diseases, and therefore it might be unwise to
make such an experiment. Natives of tropical climates, or Chinese, would
probably be able to stand the malaria of newly cleared ground far better than
Europeans.
The most formidable, because permanent and irremediable, obstacle is
unquestionably the climate. There is no doubt that rain prevails about two
thirds of the year, even on the higher grounds of Darien; while it is no less
certain that in the gulf of San Miguel (where mangrove jungles bound low,
muddy shores, and the great fall of tide exposes extensive mud-banks) there
is a continued succession of rains, more or less heavy, except during short
intervals. Examine any travellers accounts, read their narratives they
themselves bear witness to the undeniable fact, although in general terms
they may say there is not so much rain, and it is not so unhealthy, as has been
supposed.
Many Europeans state they did not suffer, although much and continu
ously exposed to the rains and heat. Active and temperate men have not
found the climate very detrimental. Persons who have had many years ex
perience there assert that care and regularity will ward off such attacks of
fever or dysentery as are common among thoughtless Europeans unaccus
tomed to tropical regions.
It is possible that the great rise of tide on the south side of the Isthmus
may tend to purify the air on its shores, and this effect, in such a place as
San Miguel Gulf, may be very beneficial.
On
the Atrato, at Chagres, at Portobello, and other notoriously unhealthy
places, there is little or no rise of tide; and the air among the mangrove
jungles becomes at times pestilential. Seemann, in his Voyaye of the Herald,
recently published, gives so correct a description of such places that it de-
serves attention. He says (vol. L p. 249): The sea-coast, and those parts
influenced by the tides and the immediate evaporation of the sea, produce a
quite peculiar vegetation, which is generally characterized by a leathery,
glossy foliage, and leaves with entire margins. In all muddy places, down
to the verge of the ocean, are impenetrable thickets formed of mangroves,
which exhale putrid miasmata, and spread sickness over the adjacent dis
tricts. Occasionally, extensive tracts are covered with the "Guagara de
puerco,"
its fronds being as much as 10 feet high. Myriads of mosquitoe?
and sand-flies fill the air. Huge alligators sun themselves on the slimy banks.
THE LONG-SOUGHT WAY. 737
lying motionless, blinking with their great eyes, and jumping into the water
directly any one approaches. To destroy these dreaded swamps is almost
impossible.
Again (pp. 251, 252), he says: Forests cover at least two thirds of the
whole territory. The high trees, the dense foliage, and the numerous climb
ing plants, almost shut out the rays of the sun, causing a gloom which is the
more insupportable as all other objects are hidden from view. Rain is so
frequent, and the moisture so great, that the burning of these forests is im
possible. From
reading the highly colored accounts with which many
travellers have endeavored to embellish their narratives, the European has
drawn, in imagination, a picture of equinoctial countries which a comparison

with nature at once demolishes.
Speaking of the vegetable ivory, and referring to the climate, Mr. See-
mann says (p. 222): It grows in low, damp localities, and is diffused over the
southern parts of Darien and the vicinity of Portobello, districts which are
almost throughout the year deluged by torrents of rain, or enveloped in the
thick vapor that constantly arises from the humidity of the soil and the
rankness of the vegetation.
Describing the appearance of one of these mangrove forests, as they may
be called, the same author observes (p. 73) The trees were actually in the
:
water. The tall mangroves, with roots exposed for 12 or 14 feet, formed a
huge tangled trellis-work, from which the tall stems rose to a height of 60 or
70 feet. Fitzroy s Further Considerations on the Great Isthmus of Cent. Am.
March 1853, in Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc xxiii. 176-87.
,
The project of uniting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by a canal large
enough to permit the passage of sea vessels has attracted the attention and
enlisted the earnest sympathies and efforts of the Old and New World, from
the discovery of the Isthmus of Panama down to the present time. The
great historian Prescott says: The discovery of a strait into the Indian
Ocean was the burden of every order from the government. The discovery
of an Indian passage is the true key to the maritime movements of the fif
teenth and the first half of the sixteenth centuries. The desire to discover
this passage, which was confidently believed to exist, and thus give to Spain
the dominion of the seas, and pour into her treasury all the wealth of that
marvellous land of exaggeration, the Spice Islands, sent Columbus, Pizarro,
Cortes, Balboa, Gil Gonzales, and the other Spanish mariners and adventur
ers, upon their long, arduous, and eventful voyages, and resulted in the dis
covery, conquest, and settlement of the American continent.

However long the voyage; however great the discovery; however bound
less and rich the new countries that were subjected to the Spanish crown;
however brilliant the prowess of a chivalrous soldiery the emperor always
a,ked, Have you discovered the wayto the Spice Islands ? If not, he was
unsatisfied,and the discovery and conquest were robbed of half their value.
Ha was constantly reminding his brave and adventurous mariners that he
desired above all things to discover the way to the Spice Islands, and prom
ised great honors and rewards to the fortunate adventurer who should make
the discovery. In 1523 the Emperor Charles the Fifth wrote to Cortes, ear
nestly urging him to search for a shorter way to the Indian Land of Spice,
and for a shorter and more direct passage between the eastern and western
coasts of Central America. In answer to the emperor, Cortes wrote: It
would render the king of Spain master of so
many kingdoms that he might
consider himself lord of the world. In 1524, in obedience to the emperor s
wishes, he fitted out an expedition to discover it. Columbus wrote to the
emperor: Your Majesty may be assured that as I know how much you have
at heart the discovery of the great secret of a strait, I shall postpone all in
terests and projects of my own
for the fulfilment of this great object. It
was for the purpose of this discovery that Gil Gonzales fitted out the
making
expedition that resulted in the discovery of Nicaragua.
The interest in the interoceanic communication was not confined to the
tSpanish emperor, or his adventurous mariners. It extended to the teamed
men of Spain, and seriously engaged their attention. Francisco Lopez de
Gomara, one of the earliest writers on America, in his chapter on the pos
a shorter passage to the Moluccas, in his work on the Tivo Indies,
sibility of
published in 1551, says: The passage would have to be opened across the
mainland from one sea to the other, by whichever might prove the most
profitable of these four lines; viz., either by the river Lagartos (Chagres),
which, rising in Chagres, at a distance of four leagues from Panama, over
which space of territory they proceed in carts, flows to the sea-coast of Nom-
bre de Bios; or by the channel through which the lake of Nicaragua empties
into the sea; up and down which (the Rio San Juan) large vessels sail; and
the lake is distant only three or four leagues from the sea; by either of these
two rivers the passage is already traced and half made. There is likewise
another river which flows from Vera Cruz to Tecoantepec, along which the
inhabitants ofNew Spain (Mexico) tow and drag barks from one sea to the
other. The distance from Nombre de Dios to Panama is seventeen leagues,
and from the gulf of Uraba to the gulf of San Miguel twenty-five, which are
the two most difficult lines. Cortes was in favor of the first of these routes,
Gil Gonzales of the second, and Pizarro of the third. Herrera, royal his
toriographer of Spain, writing of the events of 1527, refers to the routes via
Nicaragua and Panama, and the possibility of other connections between the
two oceans. Martin Behaim, a geographer of Nuremberg, Germany, was
probably the first who suggested the possibility of a natural communication
between the Atlantic and Pacific. So Magellan stated in his memorial of
November 1520, to the court of Valladolid, asking permission to search
28,
for such a channel. It was granted, an expedition was fitted out, and he
discovered the Straits of Magellan, bearing his name.
Soon after the discovery of Nicaragua by Gil Gonzales, it was declared
and believed by many that there existed a navigable channel, connecting

Lake Nicaragua with the Pacific, and that vessels would be enabled to pass
from one ocean to the other. But no systematic attempt was made to ascer
tain the truth of this conjecture until 1529, when Pedrarias de Avila, then
governor of Nicaragua, sent an expedition of soldiers and Indians, under

Martin Este, to explore lakes Nicaragua and Managua; when they had pene
trated into a province called Voto, a little north of Lake Managua, they were
attacked by a large body of Indians, and compelled to return. They reported
that they saw from a mountain top a large body of water (doubtless the gulf
of Fonseca), which they supposed to be another lake. Don Diego Machuca
OVIEDO S ACCOUNT. 739
soon afterward fitted out another expedition in the same year, which he
accompanied and commanded. It resulted in the discovery of the river San
Juan as the true outlet of the lakes. He sailed down that river to the
Atlantic. Machuca Rapids take their name from him.
Oviedo says that in 1540, at St Domingo, he met Pedro Cora, a pilot who
had been attached to the expedition of Martin Este, and subsequently to that
of Captain Diego Machuca. He gives a long and interesting account of the
second expedition, as narrated to him by Cora. Cora said that at the port of
Nombre de Dios he met with some old friends who had built a felucca and
brigantiiie on the shores of Lake Nicaragua at an expense of several thousand
dollars. Among them was Diego Machuca, who had been commandant of the
country of the Tenderf, and of the district about Lake Masaya. They em
barked on these vessels on Lake Nicaragua for the purpose of exploring it.
Captain Machuca, with two hundred men, advanced along the shore, keeping
in sight of the boats, which were accompanied by several canoes. After some
days they entered the San Juan River, and passed down to where its waters
appeared to flow into the sea. Being ignorant of their locality, they followed
the sea-coast in an easterly direction, and finally arrived at Nombre de Dios,
where the pilot Cora met them. They were arrested at this place by Doctor
Robles, who desired to found a colony at the mouth of the San Juan River,
and thus reap the benefit of their labor and discoveries, as is the custom,
says Oviedo, with these men of letters; for the use they do make of their
wisdom is rather to rob than to render justice. For this outrage he was
deprived of his office. The pilot, though strongly importuned, refused to tell
Oviedo where the river emptied into the ocean.
Oviedo says: I do not regard the lakes as separate, because they connect,
the one with the other. They are separated from the South Sea by a very
narrow strip of land This lake (Nicaragua) is filled with excellent fish.
But what proves that they are both one lake is the fact that they equally
abound in sea fish and turtles. Another proof is, that in 1529 there was
found in the province of Nicaragua, on the banks of this lake, a fish never
seen except in the sea, and called the sword-fish. I have seen some of these
fish of so great size that two oxen attached to a cart could hardly draw them.
. The one found on the shores of this lake was small, being only about twelve
. .
feet in length The water of the lake is very good and healthful, and a large
number of small rivers and brooks empty into it. In some places the great
lake is fifteen or twenty fathoms deep, and in other places it is scarce a foot
in depth; so that it is not navigable in all parts, but only in the middle, and
with barks specially constructed for that purpose. ... It has a large number of
islands of some extent, covered with flocks and precious woods. The largest
is eight leagues in
circumference, and is inhabited by Indians. It is very
fertile, filled with deer and rabbits, and named Ometepec, which signifies
two mountains. It formerly contained a population much more numerous than
now, divided into eight or ten villages. The mountain in this island toward
the east (Madeira) is lowest; the other
(Ometepec) is so high that its summit
isseldom seen. I passed a night at a farm belonging to a gentleman called
Diego Mora, situated on the mainland probably near the site of Virgin
Bay. The keeper told me that during the two years he had been in that
place he had seen the summit but once, because it was covered with clouds.
59
There are many evidences that the channel of the San Juan River was
once much deeper and freer from rapids and obstructions than it is at pres
ent. At one time, sea vessels passed regularly up and down the river. It
would be impossible for them to do so now. The river is too shallow, and
the rapids are too many and difficult. In 1648 a Spanish brig from Cartha-
gena (de la Indias) arrived at Granada, and discharged her cargo, reloaded,
and started on her return. On her voyage back the river was found unnavi-
gable at one point, and the vessel returned to Granada; the cargo was taken
out, and the ship laid up, and finally broken to pieces. Thomas Gage, an
English monk, who visited Nicaragua in 1665, says that vessels often arrived
at Granada, from South America, Spain, and Cuba, and reloaded and re
turned to those countries by way of the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua.
In 1781 Manuel Galisteo, by order of the Spanish government, examined
the country, and carefully surveyed a route for a canal between Lake Nicara
gua and the Pacific. He estimated the level of the lake above the Pacific to
be one hundred and thirty-four feet. The route selected by him was from
the mouth of the Rio Lajas in the lake to San Juan del Sur. Early in the
present century, a survey was made by an engineer name Thompson, of which
we have no than that he adopted the report made by Galisteo.
details, further
In 1837 Mr
Baily was employed by the federal government of Central
America, and made a careful survey of a route for the canal. He spent much
time and a considerable sum of money in making the surveys, but was never
paid for his services. Dr Andreas Oersted, of Copenhagen, made a survey in
1 and published a map of the country. He selected the bay of Bolaiios,
848,
thirteen and a half miles from Lake Nicaragua, as the Pacific terminus of the
canal. In 1851 Colonel Childs, an Englishman, made a thorough survey and
estimate of the whole work. He selected Brito as the Pacific terminus.
According to his estimates, the actual length of water navigation, including
the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, would be one hundred and ninety-
four and one half miles. He submitted his plan and surveys to the British
government, by which it was referred to James Walker and Edward Aldrich,
royal engineers, who reported unfavorably. The plan and reports were then
laid before a committee of English capitalists, with the purpose of raising the
necessary capital for the work. But after a careful investigation, the com
mittee declined to recommend the enterprise, believing it would be unprofit
able, and more for the benefit of the United States than of Great Britain.
This survey, and the action of the British government upon it, furnish strong
confirmation of the general opinion, as to the purpose of that government, in
seizingGrey town and the bay of Fonseca. A survey was made in 1850 by the
Central American Transit Company.
After the independence of the Central American states had been estab
lished, Manuel Antonio de la Cerda, afterward governor of Nicaragua,
represented to the federal congress, in July 1823, the urgent necessity for
opening the canal without delay. But no action was then taken in the mat
ter. During the next year several propositions relative to the construction
of the canal were made to the federal government by parties in Europe.
59
Squier s Nicaragua, vol. i.
p. 195.
MR CLAY S ASSURANCE. 741
Barclay &
Co., of London, made a proposition, on the 18th of September,
1824, to open a canal, between the Atlantic and Pacific, by way of the San
Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, at their own cost, if the government would
assist them in certain particulars. On the 2d of February, 1825, Charles
Bourke and Matthew Llanos addressed a communication to the government,
stating that in the preceding December they had sent an armed brig with a
party of engineers to Greytown, to survey the route, and praying that they
might be granted: 1. An exclusive proprietorship and control of the canal;
2. An exclusive right to navigate the lakes and dependent waters by steam;
3. Free permission to use all natural products of the country necessary for
the work; 4. Exemption from duty for the goods and materials introduced
by the company during the pendency of the work. They offered to pay the
government twenty per cent on the tolls received, and to surrender the work
at the end of a certain number of years.
On the 8th of February, 1825, Don Antonio Jose Cafias, then minister from
the federal government to the United States, addressed a communication to
Henry Clay, then secretary of state, upon the subject of the canal, soliciting
the cooperation of our government in the work, upon the ground that its
noble example had been a model and protection to all the Americas, and en
titled it to a preference over any other nation in the merits and advantages
of the proposed undertaking. He proposed by means of a treaty to effect
ually secure its advantages to the two nations. Mr Clay instructed Colonel John
Williams, U. S. charge d affaires in Central America, to assure that govern
ment of the great interest taken by the United States in an undertaking so
highly calculated to diffuse a favorable influence on the affairs of mankind,
and to carefully investigate the facilities afforded by the route, and transmit
the intelligence acquired to our government. Colonel Williams never made
any report of his action under these instructions.
During the year 1825, many other propositions for the construction of the
canal were received by the federal government from Europe. The attention
of the government was thus strongly attracted to the importance and value
of the proposed canal, both as affording a considerable revenue to the govern
ment, and aiding in the settlement of the country, and development of its
resources. In June 1825, the federal congress passed a decree defining the
terms and conditions upon which the canal might be constructed. Another
decree, published at the same time, fixed the period of six months for receiv
ing proposals for the work. The time was much too short, and but few offers
were received. Among them was one from Mr Baily, the surveyor, as agent
for the English house of Barclay, Herring, Richardson, Co., which was con
ditional, and one from Charles Beninske for Aaron H. Palmer, of New York,
which was accepted. The contractors, under the name of The Central
American and United States Atlantic and Pacific Canal Company, agreed
to open a canal through Nicaragua, which should be navigable for large ships,
and to deposit two hundred thousand dollars in the city of Granada, within
six months, for the preliminary expenses of the work; to erect fortifications
for its protection; and to commence work within one year. The contractors
were to receive two thirds of the tolls from the canal until they had been re
imbursed for the full cost of the work, with ten per cent interest; afterwards
to have one half of the proceeds for seven years, with the right to introduce
steam-vessels. The government agreed to place at their disposal all the docu
ments in its possession relating to the canal; to furnish laborers at certain
wages; and to permit the cutting and use of the timber in the country. If
the canal was not completed, all the work done was to be forfeited to the gov
ernment. This contract was dated June 14, 1826. The contractors had not
sufficient capital for the construction of the canal, and failing to obtain it in
New York, addressed a memorial to the United States congress, praying the
assistance of the government in their work, which they represented to be of
national importance. The memorial was referred to a committee, but never
reported on. The enterprise excited considerable attention in New York,
and the grant obtained from the federal government of Central America was
believed to be valuable. Mr Palmer executed a deed of trust to De Witt
Clinton, Stephen Van
Renssalaer, C. D. Clinton, Phillip Hone, and Lynde
Catlin, constituting them directors of the company which was being organ
ized for the construction of the canal. Mr Palmer went to England in 1 827,
and endeavored, but without success, to obtain the cooperation of English
capitalists. All his efforts were ineffectual, the necessary capital could not
be raised, and the enterprise was abandoned. Mr Clay, then secretary of
state, earnestly advocated the construction of the canal, believing it would
be of great advantage to this country.
In 1828 an association of capitalists in the Netherlands, under the patron
age of the king of Holland, undertook the construction of the canal. In 1829
the king sent General Verveer, as plenipotentiary to Guatemala, with special
instructions relative to the canal. In October of the same year, commis
sioners were appointed by the federal government to confer with General
Verveer, and on the 24th of July, 1830, they agreed upon a plan, which was
to be laid before the federal congress for its approval. The conditions were
much the same as in. the contract with Mr Palmer. The revolution in Bel
gium, and the separation of Holland, terminated this enterprise. The fed
eral congress had been stimulated to greater anxiety for the construction of
the canal by these various proposals and contracts, and believing that there
was more likelihood of its being made by the Dutch company than any other,
in 1S32 made ineffectual efforts to renew negotiations with Holland for reviv
ing that company, and enabling it to complete its contract.

In the mean time, the efforts and representations of Mr Clay,
De Witt Clin
ton, and other distinguished men had awakened public interest in the people
and government of the United States in the proposed canal, and convinced
them that it was important that our government should, if possible, control
the work, and reap the benefits and advantages which it was believed would
result to our commerce from it. On the 3d of March, 1835, the United States
senate adopted a resolution, requesting the president to consider the expedi
ency of opening negotiations with the Central American states and New
Granada for protecting by treaty stipulations companies undertaking to open
a canal across the Isthmus, connecting the two oceans, and of securing its
free and equal navigation to all nations. By virtue of this resolution, Presi
dent Jackson, appointed Charles Biddle, and directed him to go to San Juan
del Norte, and thence across the Isthmus to the Pacific, by the proposed
route; to proceed to Guatemala, the capital, and with the aid of Mr De Witt
Clinton, U. S. charge" d affaires, obtain all public papers, and copies of the laws
ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 743
passed, and all papers and information relating to the canal.

He was also to
go to Panama, and ascertain all about that route. Mr Biddle did not go
to
Nicaragua, and died soon after his- return to the United States. His mission
was a failure.
The government of Central America now determined to survey the route
and thus demonstrate to the world its practicability. In 1837
for the canal,
President Morazan employed Mr John Baily to survey the route, which he
did, as already stated. In 1838 a convention between Nicaragua and Hon
duras authorized Peter Bouchard to make an agreement in France for the
organization of a company to construct the canal. He did riot succeed in ac
complishing anything. Don Jorge Viteri, bishop of San Salvador, was sent
as ambassador to Rome, and make like efforts, but without success. In the
same year, a company of Americans in New York and New Orleans sent Mr
George Holdship to Central America. He made a contract with Nicaragua,
which had seceded from the federal republic, for the construction of a canal,
the establishment of a bank, and the introduction of colonists. This scheme
was extensive, but amounted to nothing, as the enterprise was soon aban
doned.
In 1838, Aaron Clark, Herman Leroy, William A. Duer, Matthew Carey,
and William Radcliff, citizens of New York and Philadelphia, addressed a
memorial to congress, representing the necessity for the opening of the inter-
oceanic canal. It was referred to a committee, of which Hon. Charles F.
Mercer was chairman, who, upon the 2d of March, 1839, reported upon it,
recommending the following resolution, which was adopted:
Resolved, That the president of the United States be requested to consider
the expediency of opening or continuing negotiations with the governments
of other nations; and particularly with those the territorial jurisdiction of
which comprehends the Isthmus of Panama, and to which the United States
have accredited ministers or agents, for the purpose of ascertaining or effect
ing a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, by the con
struction of a ship-canal; and of securing forever, by suitable treaty
stipulations, the free and equal rights of navigating such canal to

all nations,
on the payment of reasonable tolls. The president and senate, acting under
this resolution, negotiated and made a treaty between the United States and
New Granada, by which our government guaranteed the neutrality of the
Isthmus, and New Granada conceded a free transit across it. The Panama
Railroad Company was organized by virtue of this treaty; and, as we all
know, the existing railroad across the Isthmus was built by them; with what
labor, and cost in money and human life, it is foreign to our purpose to
inquire.
Between the years 1838 and 1844, Central America was distracted by civil
wars, and all action relative to the canal was suspended. In 1844, Don Fran
cisco Castellon, minister from the republic of Nicaragua to France, made a
contract with a Belgian company, acting under the patronage of the king of
Belgium, for the construction of the canal. But this contract was as unsuc
cessful as its predecessors. In 1846, Mr Marcoleta, Nicaraguan charge
d affaires to Belgium, made a contract with Louis Napoleon (the present
French emperor), then a prisoner at Ham, for its construction. With his
characteristic vanity, he stipulated that it should be called Canal Napoleon
cle Nicaragua. Napoleon wrote and published a pamphlet in London, upon

the subject, and made a feeble attempt to awaken the attention of capitalists,
but without success. His pamphlet had only a limited circulation, but was
afterward republished by M. Belly. On the 16th of February, 1849, Wil
liam Wheelright made a proposition in behalf of an English company for
the construction of the canal, but it was not acted upon.
On the 14th of March, 1849, Mr D. T. Brown, in behalf of certain citi
zens of NewYork, and General Munoz, commissioner for Nicaragua, entered

into a contract for the construction of a canal, but it was neither ratified by
the executive of that republic nor by the company in New York, within the
stipulated time. The seizure of Grey town by the English, in 1848, and the
pretext of a Mosquito protectorate, were rightly regarded by the Nicaraguan
government and our own, as directed to obtaining command and permanent
controland dominion over the only possible route for an interoceanic canal.
On the 21st of June, 1849, Mr Hise, U. S. charge d affaires to Nicaragua,
concluded a convention with commissioners appointed by that republic, giv
ing the United States a perpetual right of way through that republic, of
erecting forts, and protecting the transit. This convention was not approved
by our own government, or by that of Nicaragua. On the 4th of March,
1850, General Taylor was inaugurated president of the United States, and
soon after sent Mr E. G. Squier to Central America to supersede Mr Hise, as
charge d affaires to Guatemala, with special commissions to the other states of
Central America, with full power to treat with them separately on all mat
ters affecting their relations with this republic. Upon his arrival in Nica
ragua,Mr Squier found an agent of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and others of
New York, who was endeavoring to obtain a grant from that government for
the construction of a canal. The government was at first indisposed to
listen to his overtures, until assured by Mr Squier that the United States
government would guarantee any charter, not inconsistent with our public
policy, that might be granted by Nicaragua.
On the 27th of August, 1850, a contract was signed between the govern
ment of Nicaragua and the agent of the New York company, and afterward
ratified on the 23d of September following, containing the following provis
ions, viz.:
1. That the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company may con
struct a ship-canal, at its ownexpense, from San Juan to Realejo, or any
other point within the territory of Nicaragua, on the Pacific, and make use
of all lands, waters, or natural materials of the country for the enterprise.
2. The canal shall be large enough to admit vessels of all sizes.
3. The grant is for eighty-five years from the completion of the work; the
surveys to be commenced within twelve months; the work to be completed
within twelve years, unless interrupted by unforeseen events. If not com
pleted within the stipulated time, the charter will be forfeited, and all work
done shall revert to the state. At the end of eighty-five years the canal shall
revert to the state; the company, nevertheless, shall receive fifteen per cent
annually of the net profits for ten years thereafter, if the entire cost of the
canal does not exceed twenty million dollars; but if it does, then it shall
receive the same percentage for twenty years thereafter.
4. The company to pay the state ten thousand dollars per annum, during
FURTHER CONTRACT PROVISIONS. 745
the progress of the work, and to give it two hundred thousand dollars of the
capital stock, and to pay twenty per cent of the net profits for twenty years,
and twenty-five per cent thereafter.
5. The company to have the exclusive right to navigate the interior waters
of Nicaragua by steam, and within twelve years to open any land or other
route, by means of transit or conveyance across the state, and pay ten per
cent of the net profits of such transit to the state, and transport on such
transit, and the canal, when finished, the officers and employes of the repub
lic free of charge.
6.The canal to be open to the vessels of all nations-
7. The contract and the rights and privileges conceded by it to be held
inalienably by the individuals composing the company.

8. All disputes shall be settled by commissioners appointed in a specified
manner.
9. All machinery and other articles introduced by the company into the
state, for its own use, to enter free of duty; and all persons in its employ to
enjoy all the privileges of citizenship, without being subject to taxation or
military service.
10. The state concedes to the company, for purposes of colonization, eight
sections of land, on the line of the canal, in the valley of the river San Juan,
each six miles square, and at least three miles apart, with the right of alien
ating the same under certain reservations. All settlers on these lands to be
subject to the laws of the republic, being, however, for ten years exempt from
all taxes and from all public service so soon as each colony shall contain fifty
settlers.
On the same day Mr Squier negotiated a treaty with Nicaragua, which
provided that citizens, vessels, and merchandise of the United States
should be exempt from duty in the ports of Nicaragua; and that citizens of
the United States should have a right of way through the republic. The
government of the United States agreed to protect the company in the full
enjoyment of its rights from the inception to the termination of its grant.
The rights, privileges, and immunities granted to the government and citizens
of the United States shall not accrue to any other government, unless it first
enter into the same treaty stipulations with Nicaragua as the United States
has done. This treaty was ratified by the Nicaraguan legislative chambers
on the 23d of September following, but was not acted upon by the United
States senate, to which it was sent by President Taylor. This treaty was
opposed by the British minister at Washington, who energetically exerted

himself to secure its defeat.
The Clayton-Bulwer treaty between the United States and England

guaranteed the neutrality of the canal, and both governments agreed to pro
tect any company undertaking the work. The object of our government in
this convention was to put an end to the Mosquito protectorate.
In August 1850 the company sent a party of engineers from New York
to Nicaragua to survey a route from Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific, near the
line taken by Galisteo and Baily. Soon afterwards the steamer Director was
sent from New York to Lake Nicaragua, and smaller boats were sent to the
San Juan River. A new road was opened to the Pacific from Virgin Bay on
the lake to San Juan del Sur. A line of steamers was established from New
York to Greytown, and from San Juan uel Sur to San Francisco,
The new contract made with United States citizens, and ratified and en
forced by treaty with our own government, was not consistent with the wishes
or policy of Great Britain, but the generosity of our government in throwing
open the proposed canal to all nations disarmed hostile criticism, and deprived
Europe of any pretext for opposition or protest. It quickened England into
new energy, in the assertion of her claims under the Mosquito protectorate.
On the 15th of August, 1850, the British consular representative in Central
America addressed a note to the Nicaraguaii government, in which he stated
the boundary claimed by his government as follows: The undersigned, her
Britannic Majesty s charge" d affaires in Central America, with this view, has
the honor to declare to the minister of foreign relations of the supreme gov
ernment of Nicaragua, that the general boundary line of the Mosquito ter
ritory begins at the northern extremity of the boundary line between the
district of Tegucigalpa in Honduras, and the jurisdiction of New Segovia; and
after following the northern frontiers of New Segovia it runs along the south
eastern limits of the district of Matagalpa and Chontales, and thence in an
easterly course, until it reaches the Machuca Rapids, to the river San Juan.
If thisboundary line had been allowed, as claimed, it would have placed the
only possible route for the proposed canal in the occupation and control of
Great Britain. Daniel Cleveland s Across the Nicaragua Transit, MS., 118-42.

Xxxiv.: Communication

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Xxxiv.: Communication

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Xxxiv.: Communication

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

CHAPTER XXXIV.

ANCIENT IDEAS ON THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE FROM PERU TO LA PLATA

No sooner had lands been discovered to the west

direction; nor would they abandon it until long after

I have elsewhere presented a full account of explo

Yet he gave to Captain Crozier, second in command

triteand Plover, 1852-5; McCormick in 1852; Rae in 1853-4; Anderson in

McClure with the Investigator was shut in during the

The necessity of shorter communication between

Franklin sailed up Wellington Channel to 77, descended by the west side of

most favorable conditions for a forced or artificial

Tehuantepec. There are several lakes and lagoons.

Tehuantepec, connecting the rivers Coatzacoalcos and

Chimilapa. Honduras. III. River San Juan de Nicaragua: 3. River

action having been taken toward constructing a canal

struction of a ship canal. Davis Report, 5-G. In officers of the U. S.

America from the crown, the canal scheme has ever

connection of the lake with the Pacific to be impracticable. In 1701 La Bas-

This arrangement gave rise to complications with

to Port Brito, traversing the Bio Grande Valley.

Since that time many schemes have been contem

This survey was considered reliable. English engineers pronounced

pany, in a contract of May 1858 with the Nicaraguan government, purposed

31-48; Ivi. 32-4.

Atlantic to San Miguelito, on the eastern shore of

ragua and American citizens to bring about the ac

complishment of the long-expected canal, under the

made to afford facilities, but the American congress

Nlc., Garcia, Dec. 12, 24, 1863; Nov. 9, 1867.

between the two governments with reference to a canal

canal, and 130.82 navigation by Lake Nicaragua, the

One of the four routes suggested by Antonio Galvao

to the king of Spain, for cutting a canal to join the

studied the Istlnnus under a commission of the French

The attention of the United States government was

road, or a railroad from Portobello to Panama. Capt. Kellet, being informed

of sovereignty arid property over its territory. At 24

last an American company, being stimulated by the

great traffic across the Isthmus, took up the matter of

city of Panama, quite clear of the suburbs. The work

struction account, was eight million dollars. The road

But the idea of an interoceanic canal was ever pres

subject was discussed in 1875 at the congress of geo

the route of the railway, though keeping closer to the

tha,ta large portion of the original capital was wasted,

This is not the piace in which to speak of the sev

thinks there is no insurmountable obstacle. The following newspapers con

Coban to the Polochic River. However, these pro

possible that in the future the republic may be placed

Aninon, Discurso, Izaguirre, Relation, Duarte, Relation, and Criado de

in communication, by railway, with the Atlantic,

The whole line from Momotombo to Corinto was yield

The five Central American republics are intersected

Jan. 15, 1885, in Costa R., Caceta Ofic., 4, 1885.

cation by submarine cable with Central America and

The question of interoceanic communication by

geographical miles of the Antillean shore of the Isthmus, westward of Cape

or Isle de Oro, or Santa Catalina, which forms the N. w. boundary of Caledo

Childs, 1851 18 "3,120