THE COURSE OF TRAFFIC.

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 it is not to be assumed that all the trade, much less all the travel, treasure, and mails to the points which I have indicated, will, under any circumstances, 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, Panamá, 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 railway in effecting their reëmbarkation. 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. Squier's 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 journey of that remarkable man Paterson, and of the Spanish officer Don Manuel Milla de Santa Ella,[XXXIV-54] 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 and was enabled to lay down. No surveyor who reads his Journal and Report 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 Tofiño, Malaspina, Espinosa, Bauza, Córdova, and others, that were not adopted, if known, by French or English surveyors until afterward. Triangulation without the compass, bases obtained by angular measurements of known objects,[XXXIV-55] and the most perfect style of plan-drawing on true principles, were practised by Spaniards before this century commenced.

The south coast of the Great Isthmus and the interior of Darien were not explored and mapped sufficiently, because of the hostile Indians, and political 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 Chiriquí 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 boundaries, we can avail ourselves more readily of much Spanish interior detail; but it is exceedingly difficult to get at the original 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,[XXXIV-56] was stopped by the Indians in the Chucunaque River, and obliged to return without executing their orders to survey the region near Caledonian harbor; and this was the 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 and 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 16th century.

INJURY TO TRUTHFUL GEOGRAPHY.

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 topography 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 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 compiled.

In order to assist in now forming a correct opinion of Darien, a retrospective 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[XXXIV-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 transferred to Nombre de Dios and Panamá. This is said to have been done on account of the unhealthy site of Santa Maria de la Antigua, surrounded by marshes and mangrove jungles; but why Agla was abandoned does not appear, except by Paterson's narrative, whence it may be inferred that the settlers there were harassed by the Indians, and were too far from the sea-shore. Besides which, as intercourse increased with places on 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'[XXXIV-58] (Castilla del Oro). It was the principal portion of that 'tierra firme,' so famed afterward as the 'Spanish 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 mines for a time (early in the 18th century)—even those famous ones in the mountains of Espíritu Santo near Cana, from which alone more gold went through Panamá in a year than from all the other mines of America taken together. 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 reëstablished a few years previously.

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 advanced among the natives, and by their aid not only much topographical knowledge was acquired, but Spanish settlements in the interior were renewed and mines worked. But the Indians again rebelled; therefore, small forts were reëstablished at Yavisa, Molineca, and Santa Maria Real, with a new post (in 1780) at El Príncipe, or Ocubti, from which a road was cut by Arisa, leading toward Caledonian Harbor. The fort El Príncipe does not appear in the Spanish MS. map of 1774; it was built about 1785, when the Spaniards had again advanced into the interior Indian territory.

In 1788 Milla de Santa Ella, an officer of Spain, went from Caledonian Harbor to El Príncipe direct by the road then recently opened by the Spaniards; 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 1698.

The examination of no traveller, except Humboldt, previous to 1850, induced a belief that a canal might be cut directly through Darien. Dr Cullen's 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 Bogotá, 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 (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 Chucunaque, 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. But 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.

A HASTY SCRAMBLE.

It is hardly necessary to remark here that to make independent observations 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 magnificent 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 corresponding 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 independence 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 irritating 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 highlands between Costa Rica and Chocó, 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 exposing ground to the sun'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 influence 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 continuously exposed to the rains and heat. Active and temperate men have not found the climate very detrimental. Persons who have had many years' experience there assert that care and regularity will ward off such attacks of fever or dysentery as are common among thoughtless Europeans unaccustomed 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 Voyage of the Herald, recently published, gives so correct a description of such places that it deserves attention. He says (vol. i. 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 districts. Occasionally, extensive tracts are covered with the "Guagara de puerco," its fronds being as much as 10 feet high. Myriads of mosquitoes and sand-flies fill the air. Huge alligators sun themselves on the slimy banks, 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 climbing 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 impossible.' '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. Seemann 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 LONG-SOUGHT WAY.

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 Panamá 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 fifteenth 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, Cortés, Balboa, Gil Gonzalez, and the other Spanish mariners and adventurers, upon their long, arduous, and eventful voyages, and resulted in the discovery, conquest, and settlement of the American continent.

However long the voyage; however great the discovery; however boundless and rich the new countries that were subjected to the Spanish crown; however brilliant the prowess of a chivalrous soldiery—the emperor always asked, 'Have you discovered the way to the Spice Islands?' If not, he was unsatisfied, and the discovery and conquest were robbed of half their value. He was constantly reminding his brave and adventurous mariners that he desired above all things to discover the way to the Spice Islands, and promised great honors and rewards to the fortunate adventurer who should make the discovery. In 1523 the Emperor Charles the Fifth wrote to Cortés, earnestly 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, Cortés 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 interests and projects of my own for the fulfilment of this great object.' It was for the purpose of making this discovery that Gil Gonzalez fitted out the expedition that resulted in the discovery of Nicaragua.

The interest in the interoceanic communication was not confined to the Spanish emperor, or his adventurous mariners. It extended to the learned men of Spain, and seriously engaged their attention. Francisco Lopez de Gomara, one of the earliest writers on America, in his chapter on 'the possibility of a shorter passage to the Moluccas,' in his work on the Two Indies, 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 Panamá, over which space of territory they proceed in carts, flows to the sea-coast of Nombre de Dios; 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 of New Spain (Mexico) tow and drag barks from one sea to the other. The distance from Nombre de Dios to Panamá is seventeen leagues, and from the gulf of Urabá to the gulf of San Miguel twenty-five, which are the two most difficult lines.' Cortés was in favor of the first of these routes, Gil Gonzalez of the second, and Pizarro of the third. Herrera, royal historiographer of Spain, writing of the events of 1527, refers to the routes via Nicaragua and Panamá, 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 28, 1520, to the court of Valladolid, asking permission to search 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 Gonzalez, 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 ascertain the truth of this conjecture until 1529, when Pedrarias de Ávila, then governor of Nicaragua, sent an expedition of soldiers and Indians, under Martin Este, to explore lakes Nicaragua and Managua; when they had penetrated 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 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'S ACCOUNT.

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 brigantine 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 Tenderí, and of the district about Lake Masaya. They embarked 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 is seldom 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.'[XXXIV-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 present. 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 Carthagena (de la Indias) arrived at Granada, and discharged her cargo, reloaded, and started on her return. On her voyage back, the river was found unnavigable 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 returned 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 Nicaragua 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 details, further than that he adopted the report made by Galisteo.

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 Örsted, of Copenhagen, made a survey in 1848, and published a map of the country. He selected the bay of Bolaños, 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 committee declined to recommend the enterprise, believing it would be unprofitable, 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 seizing Greytown 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 established, 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 matter. During the next year several propositions relative to the construction of the canal were made to the federal government by parties in Europe. 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.

MR. CLAY'S ASSURANCE.

On the 8th of February, 1825, Don Antonio José Cañas, 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 coöperation of our government in the work, upon the ground that 'its noble example had been a model and protection to all the Americas,' and entitled 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 effectually secure its advantages to the two nations. Mr Clay instructed Colonel John Williams, U. S. chargé d'affaires in Central America, to assure that government 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 government, 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 receiving 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 conditional, 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 reimbursed 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 documents 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 government. 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 organized for the construction of the canal. Mr Palmer went to England in 1827, and endeavored, but without success, to obtain the coöperation 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 patronage 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, commissioners 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 Belgium, and the separation of Holland, terminated this enterprise. The federal 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 1832 made ineffectual efforts to renew negotiations with Holland for reviving that company, and enabling it to complete its contract.

In the mean time, the efforts and representations of Mr Clay, De Witt Clinton, 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 expediency 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, President 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. chargé d'affaires, obtain all public papers, and copies of the laws passed, and all papers and information relating to the canal. He was also to go to Panamá, 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.

ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT.

The government of Central America now determined to survey the route for the canal, and thus demonstrate to the world its practicability. In 1837 President Morazan employed Mr John Baily to survey the route, which he did, as already stated. In 1838 a convention between Nicaragua and Honduras authorized Peter Bouchard to make an agreement in France for the organization of a company to construct the canal. He did not succeed in accomplishing 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 abandoned.

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 interoceanic 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 Panamá, and to which the United States have accredited ministers or agents, for the purpose of ascertaining or effecting a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, by the construction 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 Panamá 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 Francisco 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 unsuccessful as its predecessors. In 1846, Mr Marcoleta, Nicaraguan chargé 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 de 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, William 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 citizens of New York, and General Muñoz, 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 Greytown 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 control and dominion over the only possible route for an interoceanic canal.

On the 21st of June, 1849, Mr Hise, U. S. chargé d'affaires to Nicaragua, concluded a convention with commissioners appointed by that republic, giving 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 chargé d'affaires to Guatemala, with special commissions to the other states of Central America, "with full power to treat with them separately on all matters affecting their relations with this republic." Upon his arrival in Nicaragua, 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 government of Nicaragua and the agent of the New York company, and afterward ratified on the 23d of September following, containing the following provisions, viz.:

1. That the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company may construct a ship-canal, at its own expense, 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 completed 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 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.

FURTHER CONTRACT PROVISIONS.

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 employés of the republic 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 alienating 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 protect 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 del Sur to San Francisco.

The new contract made with United States citizens, and ratified and enforced 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 Nicaraguan government, in which he stated the boundary claimed by his government as follows: 'The undersigned, her Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires in Central America, with this view, has the honor to declare to the minister of foreign relations of the supreme government of Nicaragua, that the general boundary line of the Mosquito territory 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 this boundary 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.