CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 086 99 373 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924086199373 In compliance with current copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 1999 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF J.C. Traiitwine Jr. 1930 APR 1 9 .f£A tl 15 V You were kind enough to send me, some years ago, a copy of the Franklin Institute proceed- ings which contained the account of your Fa- ther's trip to the Republic of Coli.inibla in, I believe, 1852. I was in Columbia about forty years later and found the conditions exactljr as yoTir Father had portrayed them, with his usual accuracy of observation. Letter from M. J. Caples, (son-in-law of Edwd S Hutchinson) Vice-President, Seaboard Air Line Rway Oo-v Norfolk, Va. 1922 March 7. 1930 k?^ 1 9 \ ^to. tl ... '7 ^{i 1' / /; 1 /^-^ cS--^^Z- ^-{}f^c-~- a^ 1 ,p WM-^ X. -ff- l''.*l ./enrnnf Frnnkim fn^fitllff. • nv trkuii the Inyii trfrr rvr UOUGH NOTES EXPLORATION FOR AN INTER-OOE/'NIC CANAL ROUTE BY WAY OF THE RIVERS ATRATO AND SAN JUAN, IN NEW GRANADA, SOUJH AMERICA. By ^ JOHN C. TRAUTWINE, Cit. Eng., Philadelphia. PHILADELPHIA: BAUNARD & JONES, PKINTEKS, No. 10 Decatdr Street. 1S54. Kq PREFACE The following pages were originally printed in a series of numbers of the Journal of the Franklin Institute. This Volume is one of a few extra copies which were struck off, and bound in a separate form, for gratuitous distribution among the writer's friends. It was not prepared as a whole, before being printed ; but was writ- ten and printed ; literally page by page ; the greater part of it under a pressure of business which forbade any attentions to style, or choice of diction. Hence the want of method, which will be observed throughout; as well as the unsatisfactory conciseness with which many important points have been touched upon. JOHN C. TRAUTWINE. JcujiiuJ FrurMi/ilnsiifule M.XXy// JUWPI.!/,' I \, ■^- \ "Ni'iim" ""i^ A -^-'i -??&.-- «>v'- ■VS.- «^v, .^''-^^i^r'af"^:! 'unla Cairnau ^ 1 , Punta lir / 1 (If los MuKitcs^ B. MalunUibo-, S 4 } 3 1 O Ordinary rise and fizil of htif front /4 ro 2i- i/ir/i&y The jviuidihys are in /nlJuinw, at low mattr. Bottom , snnd and mud. ^ ^^iiii' Punla Arena t a bih cf P S Duval « Co tlii'ii'" ROUGH NOTES OK AN EXPLORATION FOR AN INTER-OCEANIC CANAL ROUTE BY WAY OP THE RIVERS ATRATO AND SAN JUAN, IN NEW GRANADA, SOUTH AMERICA. By JoJin C. TRAnTwiNE, Civ. Eng., PmLADEtpHu. From the Joini:TAL of the Franklut Institdte. Gentlemen : — I avail myself of your Journal, to communicate a few leading facts respecting the proposed Inter-oceanic Canal Route, by way of the Rivers Atrato and San Juan, in New Granada. They were elicited during a hasty exploration of that route, made by myself, in the year 1852, under the auspices of a few enterprising gentlemen in the city of New York, represented by Messrs. Belknap and James. Desirous to test the feasibility of the project, in a commercial point of view, these gentlemen contributed the necessary funds, on a liberal scale ; and desired me to undertake the task. The purely financial motives which dictated the survey ; combined with, the necessity for expediting it as much as possible, preventing me from devoting any attention whatever to objects of sc'ientific inquiry not having immediate reference to the principal question. This was, the availability of the route for steamers of about six feet draft, from ocean to ocean. Further than this, I was left unimpeded by instructions ; and at liberty to adopt such a course of proceedings, as I might deem most expedient. Since my return, professional engagements have prevented me from drawing up such an account of my observations as I should wish to make public; and my only apology ' for now presenting the following crude and immethodical statement of some of the more prominent fea- tures of the route, is the hope that I may thereby obviate the necessity of replying to the numerous communications on the subject, which lam constantly receiving from persons who have incidentally becoi^e ap* prized of my trip. It would aflTord me sincere pleasure to prepare a full and detailed nar- rative of my operations, embracing the numerous objects of interest that presented themselves during the exploration ; but more imperative dijties prevent my doing so at present. 1 at first determined to take with me but one person, Mr. Henry McCann, to act in the capacity of purveyor ; that my own time and at- tention might be exclusively devoted to the more important objects of my mission. Subsequently, however, I added Dr. Mina B. Halsted a young physician of New York, possessed of scientific attainments be- yond the mere requirements of his profession. Impelled by a desire to 1 investigate the botanical treasures of the valley of the Atrato, the Doctor expressed a wish to accompany me, if but as an amateur traveler, de- fraying his own expenses. To the first part of his proposition I assented ; but could not accede to the last. He assisted me very efficiently in many of my operations. His botani- cal researches were, necessarily, imperfect ; as I did not feel at liberty to prolong the exploration for considerations of secondary importance, how- ever interesting they might be in themselves. His results would have been incorporated in a full narrative of the expedition, had 1 had leisure to prepare one ; but, as such is not the case, I hope they may be made known through some other medium. Passing over further preliminaries, we will at once commence with the mouths of the River Atrato. The accompanying map, Plate I., of these mouths, which is prepared from my own observations, differs materially in many points from the best Spanish authorities that I could obtain. I pre- sume, however, that the discrepancies are more justly ascribable t6 actual changes, which have taken place in the interval that has elapsed be- tween the two sets of observations, than to error on the part of the observ- ers. This supposition is rendered the more probable from the fact that I found the map to be comparatively correct from the mouths to the very head of the river, a distance of nearly three hundred miles. I will premise, that my estimate of distances, along the streams, was based upon frequently repeated observations of the rate at which our boat was poled along ; and that, consequently, although not strictly correct, they may, at least, be assumed as very tolerable approximations to the truth. Allowing the utmost latitude for error, I am confident that they are generally within ten per cent, of the actual distances. The several branches by which the river discharges itself into the Gulf of Urabd, or Darien, are called canos, pronounced c4n-yos. The mouths themselves, or points at which these canos enter the Gulf, are called b6-cas, (Spanish for mouths.) It will be seen from the map, that all the mouths of the Atrato (nine in number) have their courses through an extensive region of swamp. At the immediate banks of the streams, the swamps are elevated a few inches above the water-surface, in its ordinary stages ; but at the distance of a few rods back, they are about level with it ; consequently, when the canos are swelled a foot or two, by either a rise of the river above, or by the action of the North winds in forcing the salt water of. the Gulf inland, this broad expanse of marsh becomes inundated ; presenting the appearance of an immense lake, studded with trees. The soil is composed of a black mud, and very fine sand, which sup- ports a vegetation of undergrowth and trees ; generally dense near the water's edge, but more sparse at some distance back from it. I observed that none of the trees attained more than a very moderate size. This is, probably, attributable", in part, to the effect of the salt and fresh water, in which their roots are alternately submerged ; for, above the point to which the salt water of the Gulf is sometimes driven, the trees are larger. Still, I do not rememberto have seen a single really large tree, (exceeding say, three feet in diameter,) growing throughout the entire course of the Atrato. The North winds sometimes back the salt water of the Gulf of Urab4 more than twenty miles up the river, or to some distance above its con- fluence with Cafio Urabd. It is evident that the attempt to locate a town, or settlement of any kind, throughout this extent, (or, as will be seen hereafter, for a great distance above it,) would be attended with excessive labor and expense. Build- ings would necessarily have to be elevated several feet above the surface of the soft marsh ; and the construction of streets and roads would be ex- tremely difficult ; and, together with the maintenance of a supply of fresh water, could be effected only by the expenditure of very large sums. The formation of these immense swamps has been the result of depo- sitions of mud, sand, trees, &c., which, for ages, have been accumulating and encroaching upon the waters of the Gulf ofUrabd. These deposi- tions are brought down from the upper country by the river itself, in times of flood ; and the process is still in active operation. It is quite apparent that the entire bed of the river, from near its very source, has been formed in this manner ; as it is confined throughout, between natural levees, backed by wide tracts of swamp land, considerably lower than the tops of the levees ; and annually overflowed by the floods of the river, which overtop the levees themselves to a height of some few feet. The current through the bocas, being checked on encountering the waters of the gulf, allows the mud and sand to subside, and thus form bars outside. Upon these bars floating trees and logs are lodged and retained, and by constant accumulation soon reach the surface, when vegetation commences and progresses with great rapidity. By this precess the mouths gradually advance themselves out into the gulf, through banks of their own creation. The accompanying sketch, Plate II., of the entrance into Boca Coq6ito will convey a tolerable idea of this operation of nature. Bars of sand and mud encircle all that part of the gulf coast within which the mouths of the river are comprised ; and may be regarded as extending some way up into the canos themselves, because the latter deepen considerably as we advance a short distance (rarely exceeding a few hundred yards) above their actual mouths, or points of effluence into the gulf. These bars, especially in front of the bocas most exposed to the North, are subject to great and sudden changes, depending on the alter- nate ascendancy of one or the other of two antagonistic forces which are constantly acting upon thera. From December to March, (both in- clusive,) during which interval the North and North-east winds from seaward prevail, and at such times as the river is not much swelled by heavy rains in the interior, the bars with a Northern exposure accumulate . rapidly, by the heaping up of sand from, the gulf, until they become nearly dry. Those mouths which are comparatively sheltered from Jhe effects of the Northers, and from the swell of the sea, are of courSe less liable to the heaping up of bars of sand from the gulf; and, consequently, their obstructions, although consisting of softer material, (Aud and fine sand, brought down by the river, instead of the coarse sand of the gulf bot- torn,) maintain a somewhat more permanent regimen ; and would, conse- quently, be more- readily susceptible of artificial improvement. When the more exposed mouths become thus obstructed, ihey pre- clude, for a time, the entrance of vessels drawing more than about three feet ; and even that limited depth is frequently confined within a very restricted channel width, and obtainable only at high water. But when, on the other hand, the river, in a high stage, is discharging a great volume of water through the bocas ; and when, at the same time, the seaward winds are comparatively quiet, (or succeeded by the milder Southers and irregular winds, which blow gently from April to Novem- ber,) the action of the streams partially wears down the bars, and trans- ports back again the sand of which they were composed to a considerable distance out into the gulf. At such times, channels of some hundreds of feet in width, and from one to two fathoms in depth, are opened across the bars, affording free ingress to vessels of moderate draft. When I visited Boca farena, about the middle of June, the sand-bar in front of it was entirely dry in many places, at a distance of a mile out into the gulf. This mouth is more exposed than any of the others, to the bar-forming agency of the Northers. At Bocas Candelaria and Piva, I found but two feet of water at one- fourth of a mile from shore ; and opposite Boca Matuntfibo, through which Cano Barbac&as discharges itself into the gulf, there were but three feet for a width of one-fourth of a mile, parallel to the shore; and distant from it, from a half to three-quarters of a mile. In all these cases, however, the depth increases rapidly on the seaward side, after crossing the bars. The little steamer Esmeralda, bound up the Atratb, on a gold-hunting expedition, crossed the bar of Matuntllibo a few months after I examined it ; and I was informed that she found a channel depth of nine feet where I had found but three. And sevtol years ago, a British Steamer, with diving machinery for under-^Vater gold explorations, and drawing (I was credibly informed) ^feight feet, Crossed the bars without any trouble, and ascended the river Tor about S50 miles. The bbat in which I ascended, and which is one of the largest that trade between Carthagena and Quibd6, drew but three '^nd a half feet ; and grounded at the mouth of Cano Coqdito ; so that ■^e wete 66mpelled t6 wait for high water before we could enter. . I had no opportunity for ascertaining the existence of oceanic currents "aloiigthis part of the Coast; and, consequehtly, can advance no opinibn 'as ,to 'What extent the alternate formation and destruction of these bars iiiay be Effected by their agenfcy.' I kno\»?, however, that if such currents 'i)b exist, their telbCity is very slight ; and can perform but a secondary ^art in thfe ptocess which interposes so formidable a barrier to the navi- gation of the noble Atrato. Thus, it is evident, that in the pfesefit tondition of these bars, no 'fechettie of navigation by steamers, or Vessels of greater draft than the fiver boats nOw in uSe, could be carried into effect, in case regularity of ttahsit constituted an essential element of success to the project. I have arranged, in the following table, the soundings across the seve- ral bars, immediately in front of the bocas, as I found them in June, ^ .- ^ xi:;^'„!wJia«a'i;:t--aw<^^MB' 1852 ; commencing with the most Northerly one ; or Tarena, and taking the others in regular succession: — Soundings in Feet at Low Water. •-■S '2 ■2 •a _C; a ci ^ a 3 a es s 3 • o o ?-. >^ -3 C4 V ,0 *± Names of Mouths. i E 4-> Uh a o a -^3 c 3 5 9 =1 "3 3 3 3 S i >= 3 Q) — •^ a s ° o ^ ^ -a ^ ^ 5 - 1,2. ■g cd ^ «3 c -I ^ sg |g I'i g-s < " 6 tH 12 w ^ C Tarena, . 25 16 13 12 10 7 6 2 70 CandeMria, 12 8 3 3 3 4 70 Pavi, 18 8 3 3 3 4 21 70 Matuntiibo, 18 13 10 8 9 6 3 3 18 70 Coqiiito, . 12 9 2 2 2 4 6 10 72 Coco Grande, . 22 12 3 3 3 4 32 Pantano, . . 18 11 J Urabi, 22 125 About the same as opposi c Coco Grilnde. Piquinde, . — Bocas Tardna and Matuntiibo discharge much greater volumes of water than any of the others; consequentlyj the balance of power be- tween their streams, and the waters of the gulf, takes place at greater distances from the shore ; making the most dangerous parts of their bars at about a mile outside of their entrance into the sea. Any attempt to improve either of these mouths, (or that of Pava or CandeMria,) so as to be, at all times, available for vessels of but six feet draft, would not only be attended with great expense; but would, in my opinion, involve the utmost hazard of ifailure. I have no hesitation in admitting that I am unacquainted with any scheme that can be confi- dently recommended for the permanent accomplishment of that purpose- and shall, therefore, not occupy time in discussing the various expedients that might be supposed applicable. All attempts of the kind, under simi- lar circumstances, have proved signal failures; and the resources of engineering science afford no aid in cases of such magnitade as would be involved in this instance. The other, and smaller mouths lying further inside the Gulf of Urabd are also subject, though in a less degree, to- the same class of impedi- ments. The one which I regard as most susceptible of improvement preference to any of the others, for adaptation to a system of improTe- ment on a small and inexpensive scale. These were, that its entrance is more sheltered from the effects of the Northers, by the Isla de los Muertos ; and therefore less liable to periodical changes, or obstructions, from that source. Indeed, from all I could learn, (and the representations made to me were sustained by appear- ances,) it is almost entirely free from them. The depositions which ob- struct its entrance, extend, it is truej to a considerable distance out from the shore ; (see Table of Depths, page 5.) But they consist of soft mud brought down by the river, and easily removed by the processes already 12 alluded to ; and when once removed, I conceive that the slight current generated in the artificial channel, would prevent their reproduction by forcing them out into deep water. It may be objected to this plan, that even in deep water, the process of deposition will still continue, and eventually require further appliances ; but admitting the force of the argument to the fullest extent, I still con- ceive that ages might elapse before serious difficulty would arise from that source. A minute survey might show that it would be a preferable plan, to cut an entirely new channel uniting Cano Urabd with the gulf, at a point about 3 miles south-west from its present mouth. For larger vessels than those contemplated in my survey, I am confident that this would be far better than to use Cano Coqdito ; and possibly it is so in any event. When we prepared to leave the gulf, in order to ascend the Atrato in the large river boat, in which we had made our voyage by sea from Carthagena, we had to wait for the hour of high water, before we could enter Cano Coqiiito. High water gave us a depth of but 3 feet 4 inches for some distance from the entrance, and as the loaded boat drew 3^ feet, and the rudder 4^ feet, we stuck fast. By unshipping the rudder, however, and putting a portion of the crew info the water to buoy up the vessel, while the remainder plied their pa- Jancas or pushing-poles, we passed through the mouth, when we instantly found ourselves in nearly two fathoms of water. Cano Coq6ito is two miles long, and has a width varying generally from 25 to 35 feet, between the bushes at its sides. In some few spots it is narrower, not exceeding 15 feet; and in others, as wide as 50 feet. It alTords a low-water depth of 10 feet, except over some few very short bars, caused probably by sunken trees. The shoalest of these bars occurs about 200 yards before reaching the junction with Caiio Barba- c6as. Here we found but 5 feet low-water depth ; extending, however, a distance of less than 100 feet. The soft mud and vegetation at the sides of this caiio, could be removed without difficulty, by a dredging machine, and some little chopping; and a channel-way formed of 40 feet in width and 10 feet of low-water depth, at an expense of labor and money, much lesf than would be required to improve the entrance to any of the other caiios. Subsistahce for laborers could be p^-ocured from either Carthagena, or Navy Bay. They should sleep in vessels prepared for the purpose. It will be remembered, that the only class of improvement to which I have reference in my remarks, is that adapted to small steamboats, or other river crafV, such as could at almost all times ascend the Atrato- to Quibd&, some 220 mile^, with a draft not exceeding 6 feet. 'The boat in which we traveled from Carthagena toi Quibdd, was 68 f(?et long from stem to stern; and 13 feet beam over all. Draft of hull, 3^ feet; of the rudder, 4^ feet. The convex sides of bends in the canos, (and, as I afterwards found, in the river also,) being shoaler than the opposite, or concave sides, give luxuriant growth to a species of coarse aquatic grass, here called gram- nial&te, which, in appearance, somewhat resembles young corn ; and also 13 to varieties of the arum, or spatter-dash. The greater depth of water on the concave sides, prevents the growth of these plants ; and the trees ap- proach to the very edge of the stream, which their branches overhang. The trees are frequently concealed by dense masses of vines which en- tirely envelope them, and in certain lights present plays of color com- parable only to those of the richest velvet ; and which, contrasted with the magnificent plumes of the pdngano and murapo palms, afford a dis- play of nature's handiwork, at once unique, gorgeous, and chaste. But like the plumes and velvet of the funeral pageant, they serve but to con- ceal and adorn corruption. Behind them stretches, far away, the pes- tiferous swamp, through the dreary wilds of which even the birds refuse to sport; and whose silence is broken only by the sighing of the breeze, or the growl of the roving tiger. The pinnated leaves of the palma pingana^re frequently from thirty- five to forty feet long ; and springing out from the trunk of the tree at only a few feet from the ground, they precisely resemble in shape and gracefulness, gigantic plumes of ostrich feathers. On our way along Cano Tarena, we came across a shelter of branches erected on the shore, and temporarily occupied by a family of blacks. Their occupation was fishing ; and hunting a kind of wild hog, (the Pec- cary,) which is occasionally met with in the swamps, during the dry season. Being the first amphibious human beings we had yet encountered, we made them a friendly call for a few minutes ; and purchased from them half a large peccary for half a dollar. These were the only persons we met with in any of the canos. Their canoes were constantly kept ready for a start, inasmuch as a very slight flood would suffice to drown them out. While descending this same cano in our canoe, we saw the planet Venus with perfect distinctness, and in an unclouded sky, while the sun was shining with full brilliancy, but a few degrees below it. The manati is abundant in these canos, and for a long distance up the river. It appears to feed chiefly upon the grammalote ; we frequently saw considerable patches of that grass gnawed off close to the water; and were told that it was the work of this animal. Although for some years employed in canos in New Grandda, abound- \ ing with manati, I never saw but one; and even that very indistinctly. It\ i was walking on the bottom of the cano, some feet under water, and passr j j ed beneath the boat in which I happened to be at the time. It was of the/ j size and color of a small dun cow. We did not see a .single alligator / until we. had ascended the river some leagues above Cano Urabd. They ^ appear to be somewhat rare in the Atrato. The only birds we met with in the canos were one or two cranes. Venomous snakes abound ; and are a source of dread to the river boat- men. They repose coiled up among the branches of the trees, overhang- ing the streams, and not unfrequently are precipitated into the boats by accidental blows of the paMncas, or pushing poles. The bogas, or crew, are constantly on the look-ont for them, and by long practice become wonderfully quick in detecting them. We kept our u guns ready loaded for the purpose ; and killed several almost every day, to the great gratification of the bogas, who always evinced their pleasure by loud "vivas." Those we shot were generally from four to six feet long. They became more scarce as we ascended. Wasps are another occasional source of annoyance ; and, like the snakes, are regarded with great aversion by the bogas. Our patron ap- peared to know every wasp's nest between the Bocas and Quibdd ; and always gave us timely warning to enter the cabin, and hang up blankets at the doors to prevent their entrance. The bogas, who at other times are constantly singing, preserve perfect silence on approaching a wasp's nest ; and take especial care not to touch with their pal^ncas, the trees in which they are built. By this means they generally escape being stung. The wasps are of two species ; the larger ones do not sting, unless pro- voked ; but the smaller ones are less considerate, and appear to fight for the fun of the thing. Instead of entering into a detailed description of the Atrato, I will con- fine myself to such an outline of its chief peculiarities as will suffice to convey a tolerable correct idea of its general character. In doing this, I shall adopt such subdivisions as suggest themselves to me at the moment of writing ; filling them in by remarks hastily taken from my several books of memoranda. The Natural Levees of the Atrato, extend from the Gulf of Urab5, or Darien, almost to the very sources of the river; or up to those points on its several tributaries, at which it begins to assume the character of a torrent. Although the banks or levees of the caiios, (as well as those of the river for a great distance above them,) consist of soft mud ; still they do not slope very gently towards, and beneath the surface of the water, as might be supposed. On the contrary, they descend quite abruptly to a considerable depth ; so that it is common, in straight reaches, to have nearly the same soundings close to the edges of the stream, and in its center. For miles at a stretch; we found depths of from 18 to 30 feet, within from 20 to 50 feet of the shores of the Atrato, as well as those of some of the caiios. Near the Gulf, where the tide rises generally about 18 'inches, the height of these levees varies from but a few inches, to a foot above the ordinary level of high water. Their height above the ordinary stages of the river increases as we ascend, but still is subject to variations of several feet throughout. The depth of their highest points below the highest flood-stages, appeared to be more uniform; being ordinarily comprised between one and three feet, throughout the course of the river. Thus at the mouth of the River Sdcio, which I estimate at 61 miles above the mouth of Cano Coq6ito, I found, by leveling, that the height of the greatest freshet known for 20 years, and which occurred in No- vember and December, 1851, was 8^ feet above the very low stage of water at the time we arrived at that point. Its marks were shown to us. 15 and it had overtopped the highest portions of the levees 3 feet. Conse- quently, the levees were 5^ feet above the same low stage of the river, which was as low as had been known for some four years. At Vigia Cubarad&r, 96 miles above the mouth of Coqiiito, the same freshet had risen 10 feet above the same low stage ; overtopping the highest levees about two feet. Opposite the mouth of the Napipi, the highest points of the levees are 11 feet above very low stages of the river ; and here I was shown the marks of the great flood of 1851, which proved to be 13 feet above a very low stage of water ; and overtopped the highest parts of this levee some two feet. This point is 135 miles, (by my estimate,) above the mouth of Cano Coqtiito. In Tevdda, 149 miles above the mouth of Co- qdito, the great flood of December, 1851, rose about 18 feet above the lowest stages of the river. At Quibdo, (220 miles above the mouth of Coqdito,) from 12 to' 15 feet above extreme low water, is quite a common occurrence ; and the former may indeed be regarded as about the ordinary stage of the river at that place. Approaching Quibd&, the levees are frequently full 20 to 22 feet above the lowest stages of the river, and are overtopped at times as much ss 2 feet, which gives for the height of the greatest freshets about 24 feet above the lowest stages. Above Quibdo, the levees gradually decrease in height, until near the head of canoe navigation they are but from 3 to 6 feet above the very beds of the streams. The sides of the levees which front on the river are generally quite steep ; but those on the land side, (or, more properly speaking, on the swamp side,) slope away gradually from the top. The trees which grow on the levees are both larger and much more numerous than those in the swamps. In the latter they are frequently very sparse and stunted, amounting to mere shrubs. It is manifest that but little space is available for the purposes of cul- tivation in Jhe immediate vicinity of the river. Being coqfined almost exclusively to the tops and land slopes of the levees, clearings rarely have a greater width than from thirty to fifty yards. Until we ascend the Atrato as far as the mouth of the River Sdcio, sixty-one miles above Boca Coqtiito, not the slightest attempt at cultiva- tion is seen, in consequence of the wet, spongy character of even the levees themselves. Indeed, the first huts to be met with are at the mouth of the Slicip. , ; . .i !Even above the Sdcio, we saw but one or two of the meanest description, until we reached Vigia Cubaraddr, which is ninety-six miles above Boca Coqdito. (See Pjate IV.) Above the Vigia they become much more numerous, several being frequently in sight at a time, each with its little patch of cultivated ground. Plantains, yams, sugar-cane, and corn are the principal articles raised. To these may be added a few beans, tomatoes, red peppers, yuca, lemons, oranges, cacao, and rice. Scarcely a mouthful more is produced 16 than will suffice for the bare subsistence of the occupants of the huts J 80 that considerable difficulty is frequently experienced by the boatmen in obtaining supplies during their trips ajong the river. After ascending some 140 miles above Boca Coqiiito, or five miles above the mouth of the Napipi, the monotony of the levees begins to be occasionally broken by lojv bluffs of stiff clay ; and still higher up by bluffs of clay and pebbles. Below that distance, I remember only the Cerro, or Hill of Tumarad&r, twenty-three miles above Boca Coqdito; and the Loma, or Hill of Caca- rica, thirt\'-four miles above the same point. The former is a small isolated cone, perhaps 100 feet high, on the east side of the river ; and the latter a low range of about the same height, and some five miles long, on the west side. It, together with other ranges much higher, and to the west of it, we saw stretching away Northwardly towards the Carribean coast. Views of spurs of the Cordil- leras frequently present themselves to the East. Many of them are striking, but none grand. The elevated bluffs just mentioned are sometimes selected as sites for the erection of huts ; but more generally these are built on the narrow summits of the levees, which are better adapted to the primitive processes of agriculture which prevail here, the soil being richer and more easily worked. The only farming implement employed is the machete, or long knife, which answers in turn for axe, carving-knife, plough, fighting, grave-digging, and various purposes to which more complex machinery is adapted by other people. The houses are necessarily placed on stilts, so as to be beyond the reach of floods ; and their floors, which are thus raised from three to six feet above the summits of the levees, afford an excellent gauge for de- termining high-water-level. During such floods as overtop the levees, and inundate all the back country for a great distance, not only the inhabitants, but also the dogs, hogs, and poultry take refuge in the huts, where they sometimes remain imprisoned for several days at a time. Once, in the dry month of August, when Dr. Halsted and myself de- scended the river, j^om almost its vety source, to -Quibdo, all the levees throughout that distance were submerged by a flood, and the huts resembled so many miniature arks, floating in the waters, ekcept that the unclean beasts greatly dutnumbered the dean": (See Plate V.) The material of wHich the' levees are composed undergoes a' gradual change as we ascend. Along the lower parts of the river it consists of soft mud mixfed'with leave'S'and'logs;' but further upj it by' degreesj as- sumes a more firm consistency, until, on approaching the' Napipi^ it pre- sents a soft, rich, loamy soil, filled with beds of dead leaves and logs. Still further up, it gradually acquires a clayey char^cteV,' niixed with sand and gravel. The water of the swamps is continually seen percolating through the porous soil of the levees into the river, when the latter is low. Neither a rock, nor a stone larger than common paving pebbles, is seen up to the very head of canoe navigation ; nor, indeed, up to the low hill W^" ■?\.' JP^ 17 range which forms the line of partition between the waters of the Atrato and San Juan; and which itself consists of gold-bearing gravel and clay, without rock. I should except a heap of small boulders, at the water's edge, on the East bank of the river, some thirty miles above Boca Coqtiito. On the published maps these are marked "Pulgas," or "the Fleas." How they got there I cannot imagine. We passed on the opposite side of the river, and, consequently, did not examine them. Widths and Depths of the Atrato, between the Gulf of Dariin and Quibdd. — When once inside of the bocas, and above the shoal spots already spoken of in Caiio Coqdito, there is a sufficient channel for steamboats drawing six feet water, as far as Quibdo, (or 220 miles,) for about 300 days in the year. The intervals at which the river is lower are very irregular, and continue from a day to a week or more at a time, depending on its constant fluctuations. Up to the Vigia Curbarad6r, ninety-six miles above Boca Coqdito, measured by the windings of the river, the width generally varies be- tween 250 and 350 yards. In some few spots it is wider, and in others narrower. J%roughout this latter distance there is a channel of sufficient width and depth for the largest ocean steamers. At the River Sdcio, sixty-one miles above Boca Coqiiito, I found the width to be 1050 feet, with a low-water channel-depth of fifty feet. At seventy-five miles, the width was 950 feet — the low- water channel- depth, forty-five feet. At Vigia Curbarad6r, which I made latitude 7° 5' North, the width is 700 feet — the low-water channel-depth, thirty-six feet. In many intermediate spots, I found depths of from sixty to seventy- five feet; and by following a more serpentine course, so as to hug the concave sides of bends, a steamer could carry forty feet, at low water, up to the Vigia. For a few leagues above the confluence of Caiio Coqdito and the Atrato, we had occasionally but forty feet soundings, in spots where the river was widest. I do not hesitate, therefore, to assert, that at the very lowest stages of the Atrato, a perfectly safe channel-depth of at least thirty-five feet n^ay be carried up to the ^igia. , , , In the foregoing channel-depths I hayenot always given the deepest soundings at each gpot, but those which iaflbrd, at the same time, a width sufficient for the manoeuvres 'of large river steamboats. They have been selected frorn a greatnumber, merely, to show the rate of gradual dimi- nution of depth as we ascend. ; • ; 1. . ■ It was generally impossible to measure base-lines on shore, for deter- mining the widths of the river, on account of the soft deep mud and the dense vegetation at the water's edge, as well as from my unwillingness to cause any undue detention of the boat, which was loaded with mer- chandize for Quibd6. To obviate this difficulty, I was frequently obliged to assume the length of our boat (sixty-eight feet) as a base-line. At every stop, whether for 3 18 meals or other purposes, Dr. Halsted would perch himself at one ex- tremity and I at the other, each with a pocket sextant in his hand, and at the same instant (in order to counteract any trifling motion in the boat) take angles to some well defined object (generally a sapling) on the opposite side. Our instruments were capable of reading minutes; therefore I suspect that our widths are never in error more than ten or twenty feet. When- ever we could, we measured a base-line on shore. I mention this, (as I shall other expedients,) merely to enable the reader to attach what degree of confidence he may see fit to the results. We also took soundings, by means of our canoe, (with a line, care- fully adjusted every day,) whenever the boat stopped; as also whenever she crossed the river, in order to hug the convex sides of the bends, for the sake of the less rapid current. From Mr. McCann's expertness in this operation, it was generally performed by him, while I noted down the results. The small canoe, which we constantly towed astern, was brought into requisition very frequently. Dr. Halsted availed himself of it for gather- ing plants; and all three of us would occasionally use it together for examining a few miles of some tributary of the main river. When qui- etly towing in our wake, it answered for bath and wash tub; and after we had ascended above Vigia Curbarad&r, it was used for running out lines for pulling our large boat off from sunken trees, upon which she some- times stuck fast, as we hugged the shore. Below Quibd& these trees rarely extend out more than fifty feet from the banks; but, after ascending some leagues above that point, they ap- peared completely to cover the bottom of the stream. After passing above the VigIa Curbarad6r, a rapidly increasing shal- lowness is perceptible in the depth of the river, which at this point di- vides into two channels. ' These unite again about a league above the mouth of the Napipi; a distance of forty-two miles. The "Western one is called the Atrato, and the Eastern one the Caiio Tadia. ' . At both- the upper and lower junctions, Tadia has but about talf the width of the main stream. I saw no other portions of it, but was told that its depth was fully. equal to that of the principal branch. The space which they enclose is called the Island of Tadia. Commercially considered, the depth of the Atrato possesses interestj chiefly when regarded in ^connexion with the proposed intef-oceanic canal routes, by way of either the Napipi or the San Juan. ' ; Therefore, in my further remarks respecting it, I shall be guided by that consideration only; and instead of presenting a long series of sound- ings, varying alternately from shallow to deep, and from deep to shallow^ shall merely state the depths that may be carried from the Vigia to the mouth of the Napipi — to Quibd6 — and from Quibdb to the point of par- tition between the' waters of the Atrato and San Juan. Although I myself consider the project of a ship canal through either of these routes to be a perfectly Quixotic conception, there are some who do not coincide with me in opinion; and with the sincere hope that their views may be the correct ones, I cheerfully contribute what 19 little I can, to the data upon which the preliminary calculations must be based. We carried a very low stage of water with us all the way from the .bocas to near the mouth of the Napipi, as low as the patron of our boat had ever seen in twenty years, and his statement was confirmed by all the persons living along the river, whom I interrogated on the subject. Ordinary stages of the river are distinctly indicated by a line along the levees, below which no grass grows. This line was from three ,to four feet above the water, as we approached the Napipi. While at this very low stage, the most serious impediment, or rather the least limiting depth that occurs between the Vigia and the mouth of the Napipi, is eighteen miles above the former. The width of the Atrato here expands to 1100 feet, and the greatest low- water depth is fifteen feet for a chan- nel-width of 250 feet. Only a mile above this spot, the river contracts to 500 feet in width, affording a low-water channel-depth of 25 feet; and in many places be- tween the Vigia and the Napipi we had soundings of thirty-five feet. Still some two or three more places equally shallow with that just men- tioned occur before reaching the Napipi; so that we may regard fifteen feet as the minimum channel-depth, at the lowest stages of the Atrato, that vessels would encounter between the ocean and the mouth of the Napipi, a distance of 135 miles. It will be borne, in mind, however, that these lowest stages are of rare occurrence and of short duration; and that, for. the greater part of the year, eighteen feet might safely be assumed as the ordinary one. I think it probable that the most effective proceeding for obtaining an increased depth would be to stop up the upper end of Cano Tadia, about three miles above the mouth of the Napipi, assisting this process by dredging. The most sudden bend in the Atrato, below the mouth of the Napipi, is but a mile from the latter point. Even it, would allow the passage of river steamboats of the largest class. It is shown on the map, , (Plate VI.) • , , At half a mile below the Napipi, the Atrato is 925 feet wide; imnie- diately opposite that tributary it is 740 feet. Near the bocas the current appeared to vary from about, half a mile to nearly a mile per hour; but increasing gradually as we ascend, it be- came nearly two miles per hour, (at the low stage,) near the Napipi, ex- cept in narrow spots, where it was sometimes three miles. ..;^.[;^ V u■T^^ Napipi.— Having }now reached the mouth of the Napipi^ .and pointed out the capabilities of the Atrato for navigation to that point, we will, for a short time, take leave of the latter, while we examine a few miles of .the lower portion of the former. The stipulations of my engagement did not embrace or even contem- plate an exploration of the Napipi route to the Pacific; nor did I, when I left the United States, intend to devote my attention to it, fearing that I might thereby prolong my proper survey into the rainy season. But on arriving at the spot, and learning that above Quibd6 the rainy 20 season occupies the entire year, I found it impossible to restrain my de sire to take, at least,- a hasty glance at the lower portions of the Napipi I had seen no reliable description of that river, and wished to form some general idea of its capacities for the important purpose to which it is so generally supposed applicable. I, therefore, made arrangements for detaining our large boat at the mouth, while I should ascend the river in our small canoe. From this course, however, I was dissuaded by Seiior Cayatdno, a colored man, who resides about half a mile below its mouth. He owns extensive tracts of levee along this portion of the Atrato; and in his buildings, cultivation, and improvements generally, evinces a degree of intelligence and energy in striking contrast with the almost brutal apathy of bis neighbors. He assured me that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to ascend the Napipi with a canoe and paddles; and kindly lent me a boat of his own, with three men to pole her. This boat was 39 feet long, three feet beam, and fifteen inches deep; made, like all the boats here, from a single log. Dr. Halsted, Mr. McCann, myself, and the three bogas, together with a box of provisions, and a change of clothes, constituted our load. We sat off' without any definite idea of when we should return. That would depend upon the character of the stream. Should it prove to be a really fine one, we should cross over to the Pacific; otherwise, we should re- turn without doing so. We did return on the evening of the same day. The mouth of the Napipi is, by my observations, in latitude 6° 35' North; and 135 miles from Boca Coq6ito by the windings of the river. Its width is just 100 feet, as measured by our tape line. The low- water depth at the same place, taken at three equi-distant points twenty- five feet apart, is eight feet, five feet, and two feet; but at a short distance inside it is greater. The Atrato had risen, on the day of our arrival, four feet above the extreme low water stage with which we had ascended the river, therefore, the depths, as we actually found them, were twelve, nine, and six feet. i-;^: . Whenever we stopped, even for an hdiir, a gauge-pole was instantly planted, so as to inform us, several times a day, of the rate at which the river was rising or falling. , •• This was the first rise we had had since leaving the gulf,' and it sub- sided almost as rapidly as it had approached. We ascended the Napipi but eight miles. Along this portion I took the bearings and distaiices, as alccurately as I could, from the boat; and Plate VI. (map) exhibits a protraction of them, together with one of the ' Atrato from the Napipi to Tevdda, also from my notes. Throughout the eight miles which we examined, the ^idth of the .stream was pretty uniformly about seventy-five feet; and its depth, as ■we found it, twelve feet in the centre, six to nine feet on the convex sides of bends, and from fifteen to eighteen feet on the concave sides; being equal to a uniform depth of twelve feet. The depths were about equal throughout the eight miles; and are near the ordinary ones. '/ottrrtat Fra/tkU/v InjitAiU. Vo/XAV/f. J ^ Sfr.I'ia^rVJ JT . • - — :. ' - *- : "-'""T -lyL-Aw, rcg^-^^^^i ' ^ ^fc-.^'ftl^-V '"JftS--^^"^ iVli, rt . ^-^::^ri^^:^^^--4E •Hfe^^feJ* ■ '»i- _^-^:n:iiEr:T ^*^^3^!'^_-i_K;/j- -^c . ■'- t" VfX /•'■•'/i^.y --^ UHi of Po Duvsl 5- ■Jo ''^;U^ 21 There was a current of a trifle more than two miles per hour at the upper end of the eight miles. The levees were generally from four to five feet above the level of the ■water; and, like those of the lower parts of the Atrato, consist of soft mud, leaves and logs; though near the end of our observations they were becoming more firm. The freshet-marks were throughout about two feet higher than the tops of the highest levees. Bottom, mud, with an admixture of fine sand near the upper end. From the very mouth, we found the bed of the stream to be literally paved with sunken trees. In many places they nearly closed it, so that we had difficulty in getting our boat along. In some parts they formed rapids, along which we should scarcely have been able to force a short canoe by paddles only. We had four hours of pretty hard work in pass- ing up the eight miles, even with poles. About six miles up we noticed a short bluff on each side of the stream. They consisted of red and white clay, and were some twenty or twenty-five feet high. The branches of trees growing on opposite sides frequently interlock overhead. Among them we saw a few monkeys and toucdns. We also smelt alligators two or three times, but did not see them. Some of Senor Cayatano's men had several times crossed by this route to the Pacific. According to their statement, they generally occu- pied three days in poling up to near the head of the Napipi, and half a day more in walking from that point to the ocean. The whole dis- tance, I was told, however, had been traversed within two and a half days by persons in a hurry. They likewise informed me that gravel showed itself within a day's boating above where we had reached; and that there also the first habi- tations and cultivation were met with. When I turned back from ascending the Napipi, (although disap- pointed,) it was with a determination to revisit it on my return, and make a careful exploration of the entire route. But before completing my survey by way of the Atrato and San Juan, I had crossed to the waters of the Pacific, by three different paths, all of which had been represented as far preferable to that of the Napipi. On one , of them especially, it was insisted that no shadow of difficulty presented, itself. An eminent ecclesiastic even went so far as to state positively that I should find the point of partition to be but eighteen feet above the waters of the Atrato. Yet, on ascending the tributary so highly recom- mended, for miles after it had become a roaring brook, I leveled up the aforesaid point of partition for some 500 feet, before putting away my level in despaiir; and climbed over the remainder in unspeakable disgust. I had also found that the canal of Raspaddra, mentioned by Humboldt as having been made by a curate of N&vita, and throiigh which loaded canoes were said to have passed from the waters of the San Juan to those of the Atrato, was in reality a hill, across which canoes were 22 dragged, as they now are, not only at that point, but at many others in this region. A canoe was so transported at one of the partition points at which I crossed, and at the same time. There being no roads here, all traveling is done by canoes, which supply the place of the horse with us; with, however, the important dif- ference, that in bad places the traveler carries the canoe, instead of the canoe carrying the traveler. It may be readily imagined, that after proximity to the scene had so rudely dispelled the charm with which distance and false representation had' invested it, my anxiety to explore additional routes was sadly di- minished; and I may possibly be excused when having, for the third time, reached the shores of the Pacific by different paths, I preferred to turn my face homeward by way of Panama rather than toil for days up the San Juan, and again embark on the Atrato, to explore, at my own expense, other lines which I had every reason to believe were equally impracticable. In the absence of positive information respecting the upper portions of the Napipi, and the point of partition near the Pacific, it would be sheer presumption in me to pronounce that route impracticable for a ship-canal. I may, however, be permitted to offer a few humble sug- gestions respecting the portion which came under my notice : 1st. The soil of which the levees and swamps along the lower portions of the Napipi consist, is open and porous, being composed in great part of beds of dead leaves, logs, and entire trees, the accumulations of ages. No material could be more entirely unfit for forming canal banks, espe- cially for a ship-canal; or offer greater difficulty in the foundations of the locks, and other contingent constructions. AH along the Atrato, we noticed the water from the swamps percolating through it, very often in full gushing streams. 2d. The entire region for at least twelve (very probably for more than twenty) miles along the stream, is liable to overflow, from one to three or four times a year. At these times it is submerged several feet, and the back-water does not drain off for some weeks, during which periods all work would have to be suspended. How are embankments to be /made under these circumstances; or, admitting that they could be com- imenced, what precautions could be adopted for preventing their destruc- tion by every overflow, while in an unfinished condition ? 3d. Throughout tlie same extent; back from the Atrato, more or less rain may be safely calculated on for nearly 300 days in the year, and in -every week. How would embankments of soft marsh-mud, and leaves, stand under the destructive influence of these rains ? ■ Or, from what source could the earth be excavated for making em- bankments, when water would instantly fill the space from which each spade-full was removed .'' 4th. Stone and timber fit for construction are entirely wanting, and would have to be brought from considerable distances, at great expense. 5th. Even admitting, for the sake of argument, that laborers could 23 be set to work on these marshes, I suspect that \'ery few would live four months; or be able to render efficient service for more than as many weeks. Now, in order to frame some extremely rude idea of the cost of con- structing the Napipi route, let us endeavor to reduce a few of the more important items of expenditure into a somewhat tangible shape.* Let us assume, for instance, that in a good working day, under all the disadvantages of swamp-miasma and a burning tropical sun, an ordinary laborer could excavate, and with wheelbarrowsf form into embankment, three cubic yards of this marsh mud. We will suppose, also, that not- withstanding inundations and rains, he could work three days in the week, and that his cost to the company would be but $2-50 per day for every day, (including his passage to and from home, medical attendance, tools, expenses of pumping, bailing, &c.) At this rate he would, in one week, excavate nine cubic yards, at an expense of $17-50, or about $2 per cubic yard. Now, 300,000 cubic yards per mile is a moderate assumption for a ship canal, and gives us $600,000 per mile for excavation alone. To this we may add, for locks, for coffer-dams, for the exorbitant salaries necessary to induce officers to live (or, rather, to die) in these infernal regions, for a line of steamers and sailing vessels, for buildings, roads, &c., fully $200,000 more per mile, making a total of $800,000 per mile. Let us suppose the entire distance to be but thirty miles, and that the point of partition is a ridge two miles across, and rising 300 feet in the centre; also, that instead of making use of the Napipi, a straight line be cut, which I think would be the preferable plan, as it would shorten the canal to perhaps one-half its river length, and cost less. Then we shall have, say — Twenty miles, constructed through the Napipi swamps, at $800,000, - - - - . - - - . $16,000,000 Two miles of deep cutting, averaging 150 feet in depth, and containing 16,000,000 of cubic yards, at 50 cents, 8,000,000 Eight miles in better soil, and less unhealthy locality, at, ; say, $200,000, '- - - - - ■- - , l,6()0,00p Carried forward, - - '- 25,600,000 • The prices ivrhich I hare assumed will, doubtless, appear exorbitant to most of my .readers. . But, in' vindication of them, I will merely remark, that I was Chief Jlqgineer.of the Panama Railroad, for the first year of commencing its construction, and ft;om, the 'experience acquired there, I am perfectly convinced that they are entirely too moderate for the hcality, of the Napipi route. The Panama Railroad could have been constructed iii the United States for $25,000 per mile; its actual cost will not fall much, if any, short of $123,000 per mile. . The disproportion would be much greater on the Napipi canal. My ideas respecting the probable mortality of the employees are based upon the same experience on the swamp portion of the Panama Road, and are by no means over- wrought. t Horses and carts could not be employed. 24 Brought forward, - - - $25,600,000 Deepening the Atrato thirty-nine miles, to the Vigia Cur- barador, so as to secure a depth of twenty-five feet of channel-way, removing, say, 200,000 cubic yards per mile, on an average, at $1 per yard, including raising it over the levees and depositing it on their inland slopes, 7,800,000 Stopping up the upper end of Caiio Tadia, so as to force its waters through the channel of the main river, - 1,000,000 Improvements at Boca Urabd, 1,000,000 $35,400,000 Add, roughly, for interest on gradual expenditures during fifteen years of construction, ----- 15,000,000 $50,400,000 By this supposititious process, therefore, we arrive at the sum of fifty millions of dollars for the construction of the canal, a sum which I re- gard, however, as totally inadequate for the purpose. Whether water could be obtained for filling it, even if it should be constructed, I cannot pretend to say, but regard it as extremely doubtful. Were it as easy a matter to raise a few hundred millions of dollars as it is to talk about them, there would be no difficulty about water, inas- much as that of the Atrato itself might be used for locking down into the Pacific. I have coasted and boated along both sides of the region comprised between the Pacific Ocean, (from Panama to Buena Ventura,) on one side, and the Caribbean Sea, the Atrato, and the San Juan, on the olher side; and have crossed it both at the site of the Panama Railroad, and at three other points more to the South. From all I could see, com- bined with all I have read on the subject, I cannot entertain the slightest hope that a ship-canal will ever be found practicable across any part of it. When I employ the word practicable it is meant in a practical sense. From careful levelings (with a spirit level) at several points, I am confident that the fall of the Atrato, from the mouth of Napipi to Boca Coqdito, does not exceed 28 feet, or an average of about 2^ inches to a mile. The River Opogado enters the Atrato from the West, thirteen miles below the Napipi. I ascended it for four miles. Its width at the mouth is 120 feet; at four miles above, it is 100 feet. Depth near the mouth, two fathoms, which it retains for more than two miles, gradually shoaling afterwards to eight feet at the end of the four miles. It is very crooked, and encumbered by sunken trees. The bottom is of mud, so stickey that we could scarcely detach the heavy lead of our sounding line. Current near the mouth, 1^ mile per hour; at four miles up, two miles. The Atrato was low at the time. Widths and depths of the Atbato between thk Napipi and QuiBDo, a distance of 85 miles. After passing the Cano Tadia, five miles above the mouth of the Na- pipi, a marked improvement is perceptible in the river for some leagues. But from the number of shallov? spots which occur at wide places, this circumstance would not be available for the purposes of navigation, un- 4ess in conjunction with one of those stupendous systems of engineer^ ing which, although easily effected on paper, are never found advisable in practice. Opposite Tev4da, 14 miles above the Napipi, the river is 300 yards wide ; and here my soundings, reduced to extreme low-water, gave a ■depth of from 18 to 24 feet for three-fourths of the distance across. Al- though 9 feet above low-water at the time, the river was represented to be at about its ordinary stage for nearly the entire year. This would give for that stage atTevd,da, from 27 to 33 feet for three-fourths of the width. While in this condition, I found the fall to be precisely three-eighths of an inch in 500 feet, or four inches per mile ; and the current in the swiftest part, two and six-tenths of a mile per hour ; although in many places above, both the fall and the velocity of the stream were considerably less than this. But at a spot just below the Bojaya,) or 4 miles below Te- vdda,) where the river widens to full 400 yards, the deepest low-water is 15 feet ; and at another spot, 200 yards above the Bojayd, it is but 13 feet. At these points I found respectively, 24 and 22 feet for half the width, the river being at about its ordinary stage, as indicated by our tide-gauge table at the time, and afterwards verified by our observations at Quibd&, for the space of two months. About 13 feet, therefore, would be the shoalest deduced low-water channel-depth that would necessarily be encountered between the Napi- pi and the Bet^, which is 62 miles above it, or 23 miles below Quibdd. At the town of Bet6, about half a mile below the mouth of the river of the same name, I found the Atrato to be contracted by a gravel bluff to but 620 feet width in its ordinany stages ; or a little narrower than at any intermediate point above the Napipn. For one-half this width the ex- treme low-water depth would vary from 16 to 26 feet, or about 13 feet less than when we sounded in from 29 to 39 feet water, the river being rather high at that time. The Atrato makes a very sudden bend at Bete, and the current swept strongly around it, especially on the concave side, where I found the fall for a short distance to be at the rate of 19 inches per mile. Nowhere else below Quibdo did I find a rate of fall exceeding 6f inches per. mile, and that only for short distances in contracted spots. jEyen at. Qi^ibd^, when the river was IS feet above extreme low- water, mark, my lev^l showed a fall of but '024 of a foot in 515. feet, or about 3 inches per mile, with a current of just 3 miles per hour. , ,,; The Bete is an insignificant stream. When we. passed it, its mouth was 150 feet wide, but the soundings indicated that in very low stages it must be reduced to a mere run, or gutter, nearly dry; and this was sus- tained by the Patron and bogas, who had seen it so reduced as barely to admit a canoe. 4 26 From some three miles above the Bete, the Atrato rapidly becomes more shallow; and although there are yet many spots below Quibd6 having an extreme low-water channel of 8 or 10 feet, still, there are also many where it does not exceed 3 or 4 feet, and that only in narrow, circuitous channels, along which the river boats have to feel their way with care when they happen to encounter one of the short and unfrequent periods of very low stages of water. Sometimes, indeed, although drawing but 3 or 3^ feet, Ihey have been obliged to unload a part of their cargoes into canoes some miles below Quibd&. Six miles below Quibdb, at a spot called Penon de Estrclla, the Atrato is contracted from a width of 650 feet to one of 385 feet. On the east, or concave side, is a small isolated hill, perhaps 75 feet high, and con- sisting of stitr red clay, gravel, pebbles of basalt, &c.; on the west con- vex side is the levee of mud, leaves, slnd sand, about 20 feet above low- water. At this place we found the sxWftest current we had yet met with, viz: full 3^ miles per hour. This, I sUspect, must be increased to about 4 miles, in very high floods. The spreading of the water on overflowing the levees, would prevent it from being'much more than that. My sound- ings here gave a depth of 24 feet nearly all the way across, correspond- ing to an extreme low-water depth of 15 feet. At 400 yards below the Penon, we found 12 feet, and that only for a small part of the width ; so that at extreme low stages, the greatest depth at that spot is but 3 feet, while a great portion of the width is nearly dry. The same is the case in many spots between this and Quibd&, as well as at Quibd& itself, where, for a few days every year, the river is fordable by boys. I was assured by several intelligent persons in Quibd&, that the Atrato at that place was not lower than at the time of our arrival, (namely, 11 feet maximum depth,) for more than 30 days in the year ; but from my own observations for two months, I have every reason to consider ray informants mistaken on this point. Once during our stay the maximum depth was reduced to 6^ feet for three or four consecutive days ; and once to but 5 feet for two days, exposing, on both occasions, sand-bars, logs, &c., in the bed of the river. ^The very uncommon occurrence of three successive days, with no rain, except trifling showers at night, had immediately preceded, and had pro- duced the lowest of these two stages of water. ■ It is therefore altogether inferable, that a less depth than about 7 feet in mid-channel does not tjceur at Quibd6 for more than thirty days in the year. ■'' "pte ordinary stages, which we had an opportunity of observing for two months; afforded a good steamboat channel-width, with maximum depths ranging from time to time, between 10 and 16 feet. The fluctuations of the river are incessant, and altogether irregular, except that in every year there occur two periods, each of from two to five weeks in dura- tion, pending which, the river at Quibdb is liable to be reduced to its lowest stages several times, and for some days at a time. These are in June, ^sometimes the end of May, or beginning of July,) and in February (sometimes the end of January, or beginning of March.) The river repeatedly rose or fell 2, 3, or 4 feet in the course of twelve hours, during our stay; the most sudden risings generally occurring in the night. 27 The width of the Atrato opposite Quibdo, is 850 feet. The current ia about 2f miles per hour in the swiftest part of the section when the maxi- raum depth is from 8 to 12 feet ; and 3 miles per hour when about 20 feet deep. The latter is the greatest velocity that I observed at any time at Quibdd ; and about as great as at any other point above or below, ex- cept Penon de Estrella, where it was full 3^ miles, and where it doubt- less becomes about 4 miles per hour in high floods. Mr. McCann descended the Atrato from Quibd6 (in a Carthagena trad- ing boat) by the force of the current only, except a little occasional row- ing to avoid running ashore. The time consumed in so doing was 107 traveling hours, by day and by night. This gives for the average velo- city of the current between Quibao and the mouth of Caiio Coqfiito, a mere trifle over two miles per hour, assuming, as I have done, that Quid- do is 220 miles above said mouth. I regard this as a satisfactory proof that my estimate of distances is very approximately correct. But for the occasional rowing, the velocity of the boat would have averaged probably a trifle less than two miles per hour. Before speaking more fully of Quibdo, I will recommence at the Na- pipl, in order to introduce some few points that have been passed over. Three and a half miles above the Napipl (See Plate VI., Map,) is the little Island of Napipicito about half a mile in length, and the first one met with above the bocas, except the Island of Tadi^. A mile above Napipicito, on the east side of the river, is the southern entrance to Cano Tadid, which extends to Vigia Cubarad6r, enclosing between itself and the Atrato the Island of Tadia, 42 miles in length. This cano abstracts perhaps one-third of the entire volume of water from the main stream, and thereby materially injures its character for navigation, for that dis- tance. Ten and a half miles above the Napipi, or 146 miles from the Gulf of Urab^, the River Bojay^ (pronounced Bo-ha-yd) enters the Atrato from the west. This stream has been suggested as preferable to the Napipi for the purpose of an inter-oceanic canal. We examined it only for a mile and a half. At this distance from its mouth we found a width oif kbout 100 yards, with a channel varying from 15 to 24 feetin^Jdfepth, fot one half that distance across. The river -was 9 feet above its lovvest stage, trbieh occafflonally reduces the foregoing depths to 6 and 15 feet, and'tiite width to about 50 yards, fof some days at ti time. The 'streamfis h^re, bordered by -wide swamps, and wheb the Atrato is a little high,:ptfesfettte quite an imposing appearance as regards width. .:.,. . i; > ii'nonou Tlie natives Occupy five'days irt ascehdiog thfe BojayS: in a light fdtii^ to near its head, on their w'ay across to the Pacific. 'The potra is a Wy' light canoe, frequently but fifteen to eighteen inches i^ide,'and dr^tii^- but two or three inches. It resembfes a piece bf thrfee inch plati'k-hol-' lowed out in trongh-shape, and is iotiended fofWpid traveling in Wiy shallow water. We could never even get into 6ne for fear of tlpselting it. Mr McCamn, more determined npoii sutfc^sg than the test 'Of us, made three or four desperate attempts, but always got a ducking for his trouble. The fact that five days are required to ascend the BojayA, and but two 28 and a half days for the Napipi, appears to militate against the preferable- ness of the former. The map of Colonel Acosta represents the stream as turning to the south from the direction towards the Pacific, and run- ning nearly parallel to the Atrato for the greater portion of its length ; and t was told by natives living at its mouth, that such was the case. I determined to examine this river, as well as the Napipi, on ray re- turn ; but my subsequent observations so fully impressed me with a belief in the existence-of an insurmountable partition range, between these streams and the Pacific, that I abandoned the intention. The town of Tevd,da, (see plate VII.,) is situated on the west bank of the Atrato, 14 miles above the Napipi ; and, vyith the exception of Bete, is the only one before reaching Quibd&. At its southern end, is a low, isolated hill, perhaps 100 feet high, at the foot of which is the Church. The town contains about two dozen tumble-down huts with the usuaJ walls of cane, and roofs of palm leaves. They all seemed to be going to ruin, without receiving any attention as to repairs. The inhabitants ap- parently have nothing to occupy them ; and their most striking charac- teristic observable was an intense and unmitigated laziness. Although the gritas, or poling cries, of our boatmen must have apprized them of our approach for at least an hour before we arrived, and the advent of a Carthagena boat is quite an event, still not a soul stirred out of his den to look at us, or came on board until we had stopped for more than an hour. Even then, I doubt whether we should have had the honor of a visit, (our boat lying as much as 20 yards from the houses,) had they not learned that the Patron had on board divers demijohns of rum for Quibdo. The very dogs were too lazy to bark at us ; but silently re- garded us "with one auspicious and one drooping eye," as if doubtful whether to expect a bone, or a kick. Our efforts to procure supplies here were altogether unavailing, the result of two days' perseverance being rewarded by the purchase only of three eggs. Seeing a few cows and goats straying near the houses, we expected at least to obtain a little milk ; but, the eternal "no hay," (there is none,) was the reply to all our applications. Some of those who came on board were diseased to a frightful and most disgusting degree, that effectually deprived me of my appetite for dinner, besides furnishing an unanswerable commentary on the loose state of mor?il,s prevalent here. , At Tey^da, the boats bound up river generajly stop for two or three days, to rest the bogas ; and our Patron was not one to violate this time- honored custom, .i' > ir • . • •; : ' , . . I availed myself of. this delay to devote one day to ite River Mvirri. This stream enters;the.Atrato from the West, 1^ miles below Tev4, i ' eg : 1 59. r' ' Is) 1 || ^ 29 to about 100 yardsj and the foregoing depths to 3 and 9 feet. Three miles from the mouth, the width was still 450 feet, but the greatest depth was reduced to 12 feet which was afforded for half-way across ; and at low-water would give but three feet. At the town of Murri, (Plate VIII.,) 7 miles from the mouth, the stream, although reduced to but 120 feet in width has for nearly the entire year water enough for boats as large as that in which we were traveling to Quibd6. Occasionally, however, it becomes nearly dry here, for several days at a time. As we approached the town, the current gradually increased in force, until for the last half mile, it was a matter of difficulty to pole our ranch- ada against it. The stream was also beginning to be impeded by sunken trees. Beyond the town, it soon assumes the character of a torrent. Murri consists of a dozen poor huts, placed on a perpendicular bluff of clay and gravel, which is high enough to escape the floods of the river. It was nearly deserted at the time of our visit, all its inhabitants, except two or three, having gone further up the river, to wash for gold. This metal is found at the heads of all those tributaries of the Atrato which enter it from the East. These, as well as those of the San Juan, which also furnish much gold, all have their sources in the Western slope of the West- ern Cordilleras. This range extends uninterruptedly through a great portion of the Republic of New Granada ; and in every stream which heads in it, flowing into the Atrato and San Juan, gold is found. Near the mouth of the Murri, the levees are of rich vegetable mould ; but from 4 or 5 miles above, they gradually change to stiff red and yel- low clay, with beds of sand and gravel, intermixed with leaves, logs, &c. The rounded pebbles of the bars and bottom are chiefly of extremely hard basalt, with a small proportion of sienite, porphyry, and other igne- ous rocks. The bends of the stream are by no means abrupt ; and some of its straight reaches afforded pretty views of the Cordilleras of Antio- quia, distant perhaps some 30 miles. While at the town, we searched for the road to Antioquia which is laid down on the maps ; but could not find it. As it is only traveled on foot, and that very rarely, it is probably an undistinguishable forest path. On our return, the current carried us down to the Atrato in two hours, while our ascent had required four. , We saw a few flocks of fine wild ducks, 'but they did not get within range of our guns. : , . : ,. ;; \iq: f' -. There are:bouses built along ithe banks of Ahe Murri, at intervals of about half a mile. They are elevated- above the levees, like those ori the Atrato. The ;bccupants are almost exclusively negroes, !by whom clothing generally appeared to be.regarded; as a Veryjdispensable superfluityli«i«" : -.The day after iour return - from"^Murri being' klso spent at Tevdda,4<5,is1heitowa of Bet&j».on;ilipj3»est bank pf,thjeiAtratoJ;/;It.«ohtains;nearly,;40vhuts,!builtia'Bn irregulat, straggfrng manner, on a soniewbat singular bluff, of clay land graviel, ; which is in some parts a^ much as 50 feet above low water../ IThi^' gravel i^ the first we have seen along the banks of >the Atrato. , J;.^.i!;(,I^/ti -■'. Taking waiuing from our experience in Tevada, we did not' indulge in a stroll, here; but occupied ourselvesia measuring the width of the •nrer, leveling its fall, &c., during which we several times sunk almost to 32 our miJdles in llie sofl black mud of llie banks. We lay at Bete all night, on board our boat, as usual. The inhabitants seem, like those of Tevada, to be a dead-alive kind of mortals. No sounds of life or merriment were heard by night at either place ; two or three lights might be seen burn- ing in the town ; but the deep silence was disturbed only by the agonizing groan of a bull-frog, the chirp of a katy-did, the splash of a falling tree, the mutterings of thunder, or the vigorous snoring of our bogas. These lay, every night, stretched out on the bare deck, each completely en- veloped in his blanket, even to his head, insensible to heat, rain, or ex- posure of any kind. Some 10 miles above Bete, a little fine gravel on one of the sand playas, or bars, was the first we had seen in the river ; but before reaching Quibdo, the grating of the paldncas on the bottom indi- ca'.ed large quantities of coarse gravel and rolled pebbles. QuisDO. — At last, on Saturday afternoon, July 10th, turning a bend in the Atrato, we suddenly saw, within a mile of us, the long-desired, the much-talked-of Quibd6. A mere glance sufficed to put a most effective extinguisher upon any preconceived ideas we may have entertained of its splendor, or even comeliness ; for a view more tame, uninteresting, and destitute of the picturesque, than it presented, cannot well be imagined. —(See plate IX.) Our disappointment at its unpretending exterior did not, however pre- vent us from regarding Quibdb with very especial favor. For just one month, (it seemed like six,) had we been toiling up the Atrato, at an average rate of between 7 and 10 miles per day; almost daily exposed alternately to the fierce rays of a tropical sun, and the thorough drenchings of tropical rains ; deprived of almost every element that ministers to or- dinary comfort, or even to the requirements of common decency ; literally "cribbed, cabined, confined" in an oven, the heat of which was scarcely endurable, and reeking with that villanous compound of smells which codfish, semi-putrid jerked beef, unearthly cheese, and other odorous abominations of the cargo exhaled day and night ; sleeping in shape of a note of interrogation on a piece of thin floor-matting, spread over the loose boards of the cabin floor, and shared in common by roaches, whose name was legion ; tormented almost into sickness and fever by insects of microscopic dimensions, but of gigantic biting powers ; constantly drink- ing warm water from the river, mixed with the frightful rum of the coun- try, (most appropriately called •' mata bfirro," dr^' kill donkey ;,") eating our meals in a cabin three and a half feet high, where we were constrain- ed to assume the most uncomfortable positions; and where our «yes i were generally regaled with thc; smoke from the 'cook's fire, or offended by hind-shortened views of our black cook himself, perfectly -flaked, sitting in the entrance to our cabin, perhaps paring his toe-nails, picking his teeth with one of our foirks, or vigorously scrktching His well-popula- ted head over our stereotyped dessert of boiled rice. ■ ^ > In a word, we were tired out ; patience of ten-Job-power had been nearly exhausted ; we longed for rest ; and in the prospect that within an hour we should attain it, we were already forgetting our privations, when suddenly our boat brought up under full headway on a gravel bar, from which the efforts oflhe bogas for some hours were unavailingto remove her. Stf3E»pjivfBi»»!gSiW5 /•T? '/ ^ /aV^^ /^/'^i ■:.^/.' ^t#^ .-I -A 1^ fe- 33 Fortunately, a passing canoe carried the tidings of our mishap to Quib- do, and a ranch&da was despatched for our party by Lieut. Porras, who had been our fellow passenger as far as Tevada. At that point he had, for greater expedition, hired a ranchdda, and had already arrived in Quib- d& some days before us. I should gladly have followed his example, but as my object was to examine the river, I had to give the preference to the most slow and tedious mode of traveling. As evening was approaching when the ranchd,da arrived, Dr. Halsted and myself determined to remain on board all night, and proceed with our boat next day ; but Mr. McCann started ofT at once, in order, if pos- sible, to secure a house, cook, &c., for our stay in Quibd&. He succeeded admirably, having hired a new house, just finished, one of the most com- modious and pleasant in the town, beside being built on the very brink of the river's bank, thereby enabling us at all times to watch our tide-gauge from the balcony without even leaving the house. Owing to his prompt- ness we were enabled to take possession immediately on our arrival early next morning, a rise in the river during the night having floated our boat out of her difficulty. The position of our house was the more gratifying, as I had determined to remain at Quibdo long enough to observe the Atrato well in all its phases. We also needed recruiting before commencing our further exa- minations, which were to extend over some hundreds of miles, and be conducted in small canoes, in comparison with which our large river boat, bad as she was, might be regarded as a floating palace. We had scarcely been installed in our quarters an hour, before we re- ceived a visit from Senor Nicoraedes Cont&, Governor of the Province of Choco, accompanied by Dr. Key, a Scotch physician, who has for many years resided here, exercising the double calling of physician and mer- chant. We had brought letters of introduction to both from Carthagena, and I record with sincere gratitude, that during our stay at Quibd6 we received from both the most unremitting kindness, and every attention that the dictates of hospitality could suggest. Grateful as such evidences of good will are at all times, they become doubly so when, as in our case, one finds himself literally and emphatically a stranger in a strange land. They at once insisted upon sending to our house such articles of furniture as we most needed; and from them chiefly, I derived such items of information respecting -:>!::.. '' ,..- : The space occupied by the town could readily be drained by a judi- cious system, of ditching, and with but li^Ue 'labor .or expense. By this means an area of about a quarter or one-third of a square mile might; be rendered applicable to building purposes. As it is, we could stroll in no direction for more than five minutes without being turned back by swamps. High wooden clogs are in general use among such of the inhabitants as indulge in the luxury of boots or shoes, although I consider it very doubt- ful whether any of that class has ever walked about the town for ten continuous minutes unless on occasions of religious processions. Many of the better class, especially the females, live and die without having walked a mile at a time during their lives. Where the sphere of pedestrianism is restricted within such narrow lim- ■''■ji^r?"WFiF!Rra( *■■ 1 :|---& ♦ g- yC U -_L^-:-i--i^-.ccii-^ - h? I''"t" its, it might be supposed that the precaution of carrying an umbrella as an ordinary appendage, might well be dispensed with. But such is not 'the case, for the ftequency of showers, which come up with scarcely a moment's warning, renders an umbrella indispensable at all times on leaving the house for even half an hour. The authorities of the town have for a long time been compelled to forbid the washing for gold in the gravel on which it stands. But for this precaution the river banks would have been undermined, and the wfiole town plot filled with holes. It is true, that the gravel here is not very rich in this metal, nor, indeed, is it searched for in any part of the main Atrato below Quibd&, although found in quantities in the upper portions of all the eastern tributaries. On this account, I at first supposed that Quibd6 was so far removed from the sources of the gold in the west- ern Cordilleras, that the force of the current of the Cabi, and Quito had not been sufl5cient to transport the particles to that point. But, as I afterwards saw very rich deposits at greater distances from the place of origin, I was obliged to abandon this idea, and to substitute for it that of a casual inequality of distribution.- There are no wharves or other provisions for the convenience of dis- charging boats, further than a few stout stakes firmly driven, to which they may be secured. The river banks descend to the water's edge very abruptly, and one must crawl up, or slide down, the best way he can. Just after a shower, when the banks are particularly slippery, this is a feat requiring both care and agility. One of the landing places was just in front of our house, and I have frequently been obliged to use a pole in order to surmount it. It is dangerous to employ the hands for ascending the bank on all fours, inasmuch as every blade of grass has its colony of yavis, which attach themselves to the flesh, and unless detected and removed, insert themselves into the skin, producing a very troublesome itching for seve- ral days. The mere picking up of a stick to walk with, or the searching for specimens of any kind among the grass, was sure to be attended with this annoyance. How the natives become hardened to it, I cannot con- ceive, but so they do. We found yavis at every point of our explora- tion, from ocean to ocean. Sitting on our balcony, >yhich almost overhung the river, I could cozily smoke my early morning segar, while exchanging salutations with the young ladies who resorted to this spot about sunrise to bathe. No im- aginable impropriety was involved in these innocent chit-chats, as I am,> myself, a model of modesty; and the ladies, with the most becoming sense of decorum, rarely exposed their persons much more than half "way down, or if they did, were sure to tie a handkerchief in front, or throw one 6ver their shoulders. Sometimes, it is true, an antiquated specimen of the "strong minded woman," scorning the restrictive conventionalities of society, would divest terself entirely, and flounder about in purit ncUu- raliiiis, probably with a segar in her mouth. If the " woman's rights" advocates succeed in their rebellion, we may reasonably hope soon to see our own ladies adopting these tropical customs, in connexion with which, I would humbly suggest the gratification they would derive from learn- 36 ing to dive with a lighted segar in the mouth. Paradoxical as this pro- position may appear, the process is quite simple, and the art by no means difficult of attainment. Nothing is more common in many parts of New Granada, than to see persons of both sexes smoking with the lighted end of the segar in the mouth. This does not interfere with their volubi- lity, and I have repeatedly seen swimmers dive to a considerable depth, without extinguishing their segars, or supposing they were performing anything extraordinary. The water nymphs would sometimes indulge in a song, which, as they all affect a most distressing nasal twang, generally drove me into the house. It is difficult to imagine any thing (unless it be a choice pas- sage in the Italian opera,) more excruciating than a quartette vigorously emitted through the nose, with the force which none can apply as do these unsophisticated syrens of the Atralo. Nor is this peculiarity (which evidently has its prototype in their church music,) confined to^the females; the males, also, are afflicted with it. Our boat's crew were singing as they worked, from morning till night, and when occasionally a litde boy, a fellow passenger, actuated by a laudable spirit of rivalry, added his feeble treble to their sonorous sniffles, a harmony was produced sugges- tive of a duett on the nose between a lion and a tomtit. Our landing place was not only resorted to by bathers, but served as a kind of "Rialto where servants most do congregate." These would be seen, early in the morning, filling their earthen jars with drinking wa- ter for the- day, and chatting merrily with others, who, within ten feet of them, would be emptying and washing utensils ofa very different char- acter. The sensitiveness with which we recoil from certain associations of the agreeable and the disagreeable, in matters of culinary or gastrono- mic character, forms no part of the Granadian creed, at least among the commonalty. I actually, on one occasion, delected my black cook par- ing his toe nails with the carving-knife ; and have frequently seen the lower classes while eating with their fingers, suspend operations for a moment by particular request, to relieve the head of a neighbor from a few entomological specimens, without being at all choice as to the di- rection in which they were thrown when captured. The houses in Quibd& are, with very few exceptions, one story in height, and constructed chiefly of split palms and canes, with a small proportion of hewn timber. The floors of the poorer kind are of earth, while those of superior class are formed of split strips of the outer part of the palm, boards, or brick. Two or three, wTiich were formerly occu- pied by persons of wealth, while the country was subject to Spanish dominion, have floors of tessalated Italian marble, which forms an odd contrast with the perishable materials of the walls. The roofs are gene- rally thatched with palm leaves, but some are covered with earthen tiles made at the town. These tiles are merely laid on the woodwork of the roof, at a pretty steep angle, without any fastening, inasmuch as winds sufficiently strong to displace them are almost unknown in Quibd&. The constant heat of the climate precludes the necessity for glass in Ihe windows, which are merely protected by cross-bars of wood or iron. The entire details of construction would be considered very rude with us; 37 nevertheless, the buildings are comfortable and commodious, to one who can lay aside his predilections for finished workmanship, and become oblivious to the interstices in most of the partitions, -which conflict shock- ingly with our ideas of privacy. No precaution is adopted against fire, except the nightly patrol of a watchman, although the combustible materials of which the houses are built, would insure its destruction in a few minutes. Nearly every house is a shop, in which the systems of selling and bar- tering extend to every imaginable object that can be procured to sell or barter. Occasionally, by chance, a few articles of comparative luxury find their way here from Carthagena. Among these, Mr. McCann, after diligent search, discovered some sardines, bottled ale, and claret, the whole of which we purchased for our remaining trip, and, as the result proved, it was very fortunate for us that we did so. Some portions of the side-walks of the town are roughly paved with large rounded pebbles. About 70 years ago, Quibdb consisted of but two or three Indian huts, and was known as Citard,. It is still frequently called by this name, (and occasionally by that of Choc6,) in the neighborhood. The population is about 1500. Of these, the greater portion, (perhaps two-thirds,) are blacks, and the remainder Indians, with a few whites, as is the case in most parts of the Republic. Quibd6 is the emporium of foreign merchandise for a great extent of very sparsely populated territory. It is all procured from Carthagena, and some idea of its limited amount may be formed, from the fact, that its transportation requires but about one boat of from 20 to 30 tons burden monthly. The average value of the cargoes usually ranges between $2500 and $5000; so that $50,000 may be considered a lib°eral estimate for the amount of foreign merchandize annually consumed in Quibd& and the adjacent region. The great bulk of the articles is of inferior quality, adapted to the necessities and primitive tastes of the poor and semi-civilized negroes and Indians, among whom it is distributed. Of these, the former generally pay for their purchases in gold dust, and the latter in the produce of their little "rosas," or patches of cultivated ground. The Indians here are strongly averse to searching for gold probably a consequence of their traditional sense of the horrid barbarities which its possession entailed upon their ancestors at the time of the Spanish Conquests. They conceal all knowledge of rich localities, and even take the trouble to obliterate evidences^of their existence, when it is in' their power to do so'. The blacks, not being burdened with such disagreeable reminiscences, have no scruples in hunting for gold; in- deed, it constitutes the principal active occupation of the greater propor- tion of them ; many are refugees from justice from every part of the Re- public, who find a secure retreat from pursuit in the fastnesses of the forest-covered mountains, in the defiles of which their searches are con- ducted. It is needless to remark that their operations are carried on without the aid of science or system. Each one hunts for himself, and a calabash or wooden bowl comprises the inventory of his machinery. Aiming at nothing more than barely to supply the 'absolute necessaries of his vaga- 38 bond existence, (which exact but few more appliances than those pos- sessed by the beasts of the forest,) it may well be imagined that his exertions are light, and their result correspondingly insignificant. Still, Dr. Key informed me that in consequence of the numbers employed in this avocation, the gold dust annually brought into Quibd6, amounted in value to about $ 200,000. It is carried to the stores in very small quantities, frequently tied up in a leaf by the tendril of a vine. Thus gradually accumulated, it constitutes almost the sole medium of payment for the merchandize purchased in Carthagena. The store-keepers are careful to apprize the gold hunters of its real value, as estimated in coin. By this means strangers are prevented from making great bargains in the precious commodity, as they would have to pay for it, very nearly its actual value ; whereas, the store-keepers them- selves, obtain it in barter for their goods, upon which they fix prices " ad libitum." Beside the articles of foreign importation which are carried from Car- thagena to Quibd6, such as textile fabrics, groceries, crockery, &c., there are some provisions of home production, such as yams, rice, cheese, jerked beef, &c. Paucity of population, combined with indisposition to labor, prevent these from being raised in the immediate vicinity in quan- tities sufficient to supply the demand arising from 1500 stomachs. There is no cultivation whatever, immediately contiguous to the town, but the supplies of such articles of food as the natives raise, are brought from the little rosas prepared along the levees of the Atrato and its branches, for many leagues around ; and even from the valleys of the Cauca, Bau- d6 and San Juan. From the immense extent of country in which gold here exists in large quantities, in combination with the inducements offered to immigrants by the government of New Granada, I cannot doubt that when the lapse of a few years shall have served more full/ to extend the knowledge of these facts, an excitement and influx of foreigners to the slopes of the Western Cordilleras, will take place, exceeding even those attendant on the dis- coveries in California and Australia. Here, not only gold, but platina abounds; and in sections of the Re- public more to the eastward, mines of silver and copper have for a long time been profitably worked. Most of the platina is, at present, derived from the vicinities of San Pablo, N&vita, and Llor&. Near Bogot^ (the seat of government of the Republic,) are the celebrated emerald mines of Mussa, and no doubt can exist that when the country shall have been subjected to a proper geological examination, mineral treasures will te found as richly disseminated as in any known part of the earth. There is no reason, whatever, to doubt that an almost uninterrupted deposit of the prepious metals extends through the entire western portion of both Americas, from the extreme north to the extreme south. Perhaps the chief, if not the only, extensive interruption of this great deposit, will be ifound to be where the igneous rocks of the Cordilleras are replaced by the slightly elevated transition formations that occupy the region comprised between the Carribbean Sea on the northeast, and the Pacific Ocean on the southwest, and through which flow the rivers Gu- acuba, Atrato, and San Juan. 39 Through this region, there appear to me to be indisputable proofs that the waters of the Pacific and Atlantic were united at no very distant geo- logical period. The only rock I saw in place between the Gulf of Urab^, and the Pacific at Buenaventura, was a gray tertiary sandstone, of various degrees of induration, from that of merely semi-indurated arenaceous clay, up to hard, perfectly formed stone. In every instance it contained fossil shells. I met with it at both the points at which I crossed the partition ridge between the Atrato and the Pacific, as in all the low parallel lines of hills which I have represented on the Map, (Plate XI,) as bordering the Pat6, the Baud&, the Suricco, and the San Juan. The same rock is found at the same ridge in crossing from the Napipi to Cupica. Gold has, I believe, been nowhere found to the west of this transition ridge of partition ; but to the east of it, from below the latitude of San Pablo, it everywhere occurs in the diluvial gravel up to the very foot of the ridge. Near the head of the Surficco I saw negroes washing rich gold-gravel at an elevation of some 30 feet above the level of the streanp. These I conceive to be incontestible proofs that the gold-bearing diluvium has been spread over this region at a period subsequent to that of the elevation of this ridge. If so, it is inferable thatt he Western Cordilleras, themselves, have undergone, at least, a partial upheave since the eleva- tion of the partition ridge, as otherwise it would be difficult to suggest a tenable theory for the dispersion of the diluvium. Dr. Halsted, who had visited some of the gold regions of California, pronounced this spot on the Surflcco to be as rich as any he had ever seen, although it was near the extreme western limit of the auriferous , diluvium, and consequently, the farthest removed from the original place of deposit. Violent winds are of so rare occurrence about Quibdb, as to be almost unknown. Those from the north and north-east, which prevail during the months from December to March, near the Gulf of Urab^, lose them- selves in ascending the Atrato, until they nearly die away about the mouth of the Murri. To this point boats have ascended during the sea- son of the northers, by the aid of sails only. _ Situated so near the equator as latitude 5J degrees north, and at an elevation of less than 100 feet aboye the level of the sea,* it may readily be imagined that when the sun shines brightly, the heat at Quibd& is great. Fortunately, however, the almost constant prevalence of mists and clouds serves to mitigate its intensity to such a degree that I found the usual temperature in the open air to be less oppressive than at Car- • A comparison between two sets of careful in-door observations of my barometer, at C arthagena and Quibd6, give the elevation of the latter above the level of the sea, at about 70 feet; whereas, a mean of those taken at Tiirbo, gives about 100 feet. If we assume the average fall of the Atrato for 220 miles from Quibdo to the Gulf of Urabi, to be three inches per mile, (which cannot, possibly, be far from the truth,) we should have a total descent of the river itself of .55 feet, to which may be added about 15 feet' for the ordi- nary elevation of the town above the river, making 70 feet. Upon this data, I assume above, that Quibdo is not more than 100 feet above the level ot the sea. I regard the elevation deduced from my occasional levels of the descent of the Atrato, as more de- pendable than those derived from the barometer ; inasmuch as the indications of this in- strument are subject to many irregularities which prevent it from furnishing correct results. The mean of the three calculations gives 80 feet. 40 thagejia, and at other points at the same level in much higher latitudes, but possessing a clearer atmosphere. I suspect that there are few places on the face of the earth where rains are more frequent than in the region about Quibdo. It probably does not happen twenty times in a year, that twenty-four successive hours pass without more or less rain. During our stay of two months, it took place but twice, although once ■we had the very unusual occurrence of three consecutive days in which the only rain that fell was in light showers at night. The river empties itself rapidly during intermissions of rain about its sources, and this last occasion was attended by the lowest stage of water we saw at Quibd&, namely, about five feet in the deepest part of the channel in front of the town. Late in the afternoon of the last of these three dry days, there came on a tremendously heavy rain, attended by he most vivid, blinding, and literally incessant lightning, and the most prolonged and fearfully heavy peals of thunder, that I ever saw or heard. For one hour, I do not think there was, at any moment, an intermission of startling flashes for one second ; and during that time the roar of the thunder resembled the con- tinuous discharge of heavy batteries in the street, and on the roof of the house. At times the sound appeared to be between us and the roof, and we expected every moment to have the building down on us. The wind was quite moderate during the storm (which lasted only two hours) shift- ing first from east to west, and then to the north. The barometer exhi- bited no unusual disturbance either preceding or during the sto*m. Just one month after our arrival. Dr. Key sent in a hurry to inform me that the atmosphere was sufficiently clear to allow the Cordilleras to be seen from near his house. On going to the spot, I found them to be very plainly discernible, but a re-gathering of the mist shut them out from view in a few minutes. This was the only occasion in which they were visible from Quibdo during our two months' stay. It was not until the night of the thirty-sixth day after our arrival, that the sky was sufficiently clear to allow us to observe the stars for deter- mining the latitude of the town. This also, was the first night on which no rain fell.* I suspect that more than three-fourths of the rain falls during the night. The clouds generally begin to increase ip density some- time during the afternoon, and if rain do,es not commence at that time it is pretty sure to do so early in the evening, and continue during a great part of the night. • It was in consequence of the cloudiness of the nights, that we determined so few lati- tudes. Only that of Quibdd, which we had two or three opportunities of verifying by both northern and southern circumpolar stars, can be depended upon for accuracy. We wer« sometimes much troubled by the deposition of dew on the glasses of our pocket sextants, while observing, and as, from the construction of the instruments, we could not wipe them at a moment's notice, it is most probable that our other latitudes may be in error a few minutes. None of them vary more than five minutes from those given in Acosta's Map, except that of Vigia Curbarador, which I place fifteen minutes more to the south than he has it. Being confident, that in the case of Quibdd, he is sUghtly in error, I have also retained my other positions, notwithstanding their chance of inaccuracy. The position of the Vigia, moreover, agrees quite well with my protraction'of distances. The nights on which the observations were taken for Quibdd, were perfectly clear at the time. 41 The " dry season," emphatically so Called, is a period of but from 5 to 10 or 12 days, which occur during the veranillo de San Juan or short summer of St. John, generally some time in June. During this short in- terval, there is considerably less rain than usual, and the river gets down to its lowest stage. With this exception, and a somewhat similar one which generally takes place in February, the Atrato rises and falls with- in nearly the same limits in almost every month. The lower classes do not burden themselves with much dress ; and it is quite common to see laborers and boatmen walking the streets with no other vestment than a piece of rag tied around the middle. The Indians sometimes resort to the less expensive substitute of painting their bodies. The first specimen of this operation that fell under our notice, was at the mouth of the River Opagad6, where we stopped for one night. An In- dian dance was to take place that evening within a few miles ; and an In- dian woman, nearly naked, was painting a pair of black breeches on her husband, who was otherwise entirely destitute of clothing. Squatted on the river bank in front of their hut, with a calabash of black dye between them, she was liberally smearing the contents over him with her hands. • They resembled a brace of solemn baboons at mischief over a tar pot. He had a cable of strings of beads around his neck; while his wrists were graced with silver bracelets about six inches deep, resembling two beer mugs with the bottoms knocked out. When the breeches were finished, she added a pair of suspenders; and then by way of finale, applied two or three spats of color to his snout, when, lo! before us stood the beau ideal of the Indian dandy of the Atrato, — the "finished gentleman from top to toe." She regarded him for a moment with admiration, — "He, was all her fancy painted him." He, gazing for a moment at the neat fit of his pants, emitted a grunt of satisfaction; then seized his paddle, and with two bounds down the steep river bank, sprang into his little canoe, and shot away to the dance. ^ Black and red appear to be almost the only colors used, and thgir em- ployment, so far as I observed, was confined to the Indians ; the negroep not appearing to have much taste for this branchof tjie fine-^rts. ' On the San Juan, we afterwards met with some t,attQoed Indians. The passion for gambling pervades, more or less, all classes'. ■ Those of the lower grades seem to be actually injpatieijt to. get rid of their inpney as fast as they I earn it ; and surplus funds i^re^ure to vanish at ca'rfis, or a cock-fight, at the earliest opportunity that offers. > . juii.^j' •Allclasse^, when properly approached, evince an almost. innate cour- tesy, and desire to please. During, a residence of sex"?ral years in Ne^ Granada, I have been repeatedly brought into contact with .persons of every grade, from the; highest to the lowest ; and, from all alike tjiaVe invariably experienced the freest hospitality, and unfailing courtesy. This latter trait of character actually appears to be inborn, and iiof the result of education. Ask any little naked Senor Caballero Jesus,"pr equally naked little Senorita " Concepcion de la Virgen,"* whom you may chance to encounter in the street, to allow you to light your se^ar,by the one he or she may be smoking; it is instantly presented iii a graceful • " Gentleman Jesus ; " " Conception of the Virgin ; " not uncommon names. 5* manner, with a " con mucho gusto Sefior," (with much pleasure, sir.) The youngest child will never be seen to laugh at your deplorable efTorts at speaking Spanish; but will listen and reply to you with a decorous gravity that might shame a Senator. I never in all my Granadian experience, felt myself to be among ruf- \ fians ; and the only precaution necessary to ensure the kindness and good \ will of all, is, merely to conduct yourself in a manner deserving of them, s It is to be regretted that this simple means of attaining so desirable an , object should be so seldom resorted to by either the English or Ameri^ cans who travel among them, and who appearto rely more upon a snobbish i \ and vulgar assumption of superiority, which while it is almost invariably^ ,' endured with forbearance and politeness, fails in effecting more than a ' conviction, on the part of their auditors, that their guests are, at least, / extremely ill bred. A thousand times have I had reason to be ashamed at the contrast between my own countrymen and even the lowest classes of New Granadians, in point of conventional courtesies. John Bull and *\ Brother Jonathan, with all their boasting, are, so far as my opportunities of observation extend, the most unfit (money and courage excepted,) of alTthe nations of the earth, to travel with enjoyment to themselves and to tKose^th whom they are brought in contact. The French, Germans,' ' Spanish, indeed, the representatives of all the nations with whom I have ' met in my wanderings, enjoy an aptitude of assimilation, a certain faculty of being happy, and making others happy, an ease of conformity to the^ customs of the place in which they happen to find themselves, for which ^^ we look in vain, in the owl-like, stolid, self-suiEcent, bull-doggedness J of the Anglo-Saxon race. Among the Indian tribes through which I^ passed, I laid aside my pistols, and armed myself with a pocket full of segars; a present of an empty sardine box was more effective than a two- edged sword ; and a lump of our sugar to a papoose was a better pass- port than my government could have furnished. " As to musquitoes, we saw but few on the Atrato, except for the first few nights above the Gulf. Even these we should have avoided had our patron been willing to anchor his boat a little further out in the stream. Some portions of QuibdS, in which little attention is bestowed upon clean- liness, are troubled with them ; but Ido not remember to have seen one ^ in the house we occupied. There are a good many fleas, however, or a /ftafvvc^ species of diminutive sand fly, that at times annoy very much. }, The Republic of New Granada is divided into thirty-seven provinces, which sustain, towards the general government, a relative position, simi- . lar to that of our own States. These, again, are subdivided into cantons and parochial districts, corresponding to our own counties and townships. The province of Choc&, of which Quibd& is the capital, comprises the greater portion of the territory shown in the map, Plate XI. I have, unfortunately, mislaid the memorandum of its precise limits, as furnished by governor Cont&. According to the census of the Republic for 1851, a copy of which was kindly prepared for me by his order, the population of the province of Chocb is as follows : — 43 Canton of Atrata. District of Quibdo, . 8471 ArrayanSl, . 1125 " " Bebari, 4034 " Lloro, 4035 " Murri 2009 " " Murind<>, . 2007 " Turbo, 916 22,597 Canton of San Juan District of Ndvita, . 6097 " " Baud6, 3036 <• Noanami, . 3510 « Sipl, 2021 " " Tado, 6388 21,052 Total of Province of Choco, 43,649 According to the same census, the population of the entire Republic amounted, in 1851, to 2,243,730. After a stay of four or five days in Quibdo, I determined to prosecute my explorations by ascending the Pato, a branch of the river Quito, which heads in the dividing ridge between the waters of the Atlantic and Pa- cific. At Quibd&, the Atrato divides into two principal branches of about equal size. That to the east still retains the name of Atrato, while the western one is called the Quito. The tributaries of the Quito branch flow almost entirely through diluvium, and consequently its waters are yellow and muddy ; while those of the Atrato branch, having their sources in the Western Cordilleras, and flowing principally through channels of rock and pebbles, are quite transparent. For some distance below the junc- tion of the two at Quibdo, the line of separation between their respec- tive waters, is well defined. The Atrato, not being at all available for the object of which I was in pursuit, it only remained to ascertain what facilities were offered by either the Quito, or its tributaries, for ef- fecting a union with the waters of the Pacific. It had been suggested to meat Quibd6 that I should find the route by the Pato in conjunction with the 6aud6, which empties into the Pacific some 50 miles above the San Juan, to be preferable to that by way of the Quito and San Juan itself. On reference to Acosta's map, I found the Baud6 laid down as quite an insignificant stream, which fact argued badly for the successful result of that portion of my examinations. But as my authorities in Quibdd were unanimous in their assurances that I should find the Baudb to be a far more important river than the' map represented it, I resolved to hazard a few days in paying it a visit. The opinions as to the height which I should find the partition ridge to attain were somewhat diverse, varying between 18 feet, and 4000 feet. The first limit was stoutly maintained by Father Och6a, the high priest (stature about 5 feet 3 inches) of Quibd& and the adjacent precincts, " to whom we were indebted for several agreeable visits, pro and con, during our stay." "He had been a soldier in his youth, and fought in famous battles," which supplied him with a great fund of anecdote. The old gentleman had unfortunately acquired among his flock, a reputation 44 for shooting an " almighty long bow," but notwithstanding the several intimations to that effect that had been conveyed to me, I felt rather in- clined to pin my faith to his skirts, inasmuch as in our numerous conver- sations he appeared to evince habits of close observation; and I thought (my frish being father to the thought) that his asseverations might not only prove to be correct, but conduce to my achieving a small slice of immortality by the discovery of a feasible inter-oceanic communication. I was, however, somewhat staggered by the assurance, (accompanied by a diabolically ominous shrng of the shoulders,) of one person who had crossed it two or three times, who, although he could not pretend to speak with any certainty as to the precise height, yet assured me that it would prove to be " algo," (somewhat). The sequel will show that I found his estimate to be the correct one. I had supposed, like a simpleton , that in order to start on my pilgrim- age, nothing more would be necessary than to go down to the landing, engage a canoe, and two or three paddlers, — tell them to put my traps and a few plantains on board, and be off" at ten minutes notice. Conse- quently, early one morning, following the example of my thermometer, I rose with the sun, went to the landing, and accosting the owner of a canoe, bade him gird up his loins, and bring his boat around to our landing place, in order to load up with more facility. He very courteously asked me for a light, and after having gravely set his segar in operation, told me he could not comply. The voyage was a long one, and required a good deal of deliberation and consultation among his kinsfolk, — provisions were very high just then, — himself and his family were victims to all sorts of distressing maladies, — his canoe leaked arid would require repairs, — it was going to rain, (a truism at all tirbes in Quibdb,) and besides, to-morrow or next day, would be time enough. The inexperienced traveler on the Spanish Main is very apt to be continually annoyed by the dilatory habits and procrastinations of all with whom he has business to transact. This should not (as is usually the case) be imputed to them as a fault, but rather as a natural consequence, resulting from the heat of the climate, ahd the absence of those incentives io activity ehgendered by a more extended commerce, or a general devo- tion to agricultural pursuits. The traveler from colder regions should tlieriefpre iiiake ample allowances for these considerations, and temper .his impatience down to the standard of inactivity which prevails in all tropidal dimatts. Otherwise, hie will be kept in an incessant fidget and |iH huiinbr; for no li^atter bowjSrfessing may be the occasion, how solemn 'the promises, how Urgent his importunitieis, he is constantly met with the eternal "poco a poco," "mafiana ;"("by and bye." "to-morrow.") "Take ^it COplly " "dont hurry yourself," "dont do to-day what can be done ' to-iflorrow,^' "time comes as fast as it goes," constitute the grand funda- mental axioms of business operations, from the most important, down to the most trifling incidents of every day's occurrence. Do you com- plain ? You are consoled by the assurance that it is the "costumbre del pais," (the custom of the country.) And so it is ; therefore, the sooner you learn to conform to it, the sooner will you be relieved from a most prolific source of irritation. 45 After applying to two or three other canoe men, with a result as un- favorable as the first, I stated my case to Dr. Key and Governor Cont6, both of whom volunteered their services in my behalf. The consequence was, that by the end of five days more, I had secured a good trustworthy Indian patron, three bogas, and a ranch^da. The only shelter afforded by the latter from the inclemency of the weather, was a little "toldo" or covering made of bent pieces of vine covered with long "musa" leaves. This toldo was 9 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet high in the centre. The ranch^da was 43 feet long, by 12 inches deep ; and drew, with our load, 6 inches. Expecting to be absent only four or five days, we laid in but a small stock of provisions, a single change of clothing, our hammocks, and a gun. These, however, occupied so much space in the toldo, that it was impos- /sible to stow into it more than two persons in addition, and even they ^.required to be coiled up tightly.^ It was therefore decided that Dr. Hal- sted and myself only should go, while Mr. McCann remained behind to continue the observations on the stages of the river. It was nearly 11 o'clock in the morning when we started to ascend the Quito, and we reached a negro rancho near the mouth of the Pat6, a dis- tance of 17 miles above Quibd&, at 6 P. M. As there was no other stopping place for a long distance ahead, we landed here, and requesting permission to pass the night in, the house, received the invariable affirmative answer. The Doctor and I soon sat , about getting supper, and had we practised all the incantation of Pharaoh's magicians we could scarcely have excited more wonder on the part of our worthy host (a venerable negro) and his family. They had heard me address Halsted, as "Doctor," which is a word pregnant with mystery and great meaning among them, and prepared them ibr extraordinary things. Squatting around us on the floor of the hut, like so many stripped mummies, they watched with intense interest the mysterious process by which Dr. Halsted was preparing our coffee, while I opened a box ot sardines and a bottle, of claret. , , ,,,.' , .. "Holy Virgin !" at last exclaimed the old man, striking his.breast in an lagony. of astonishment, "can these blancos (whites) be men^ or are they .devilsljthey ppme into a ipoor man's house where there is.no coffee,.b,ut ^mey^iayel coffee in their pockets j they .pour some, watei^ ^a,lcoh9l)',Hn'der .ajWacJiine (portable coffee maker),,and, some itjto the"mact|ip&; ,the'y^s'et | iir!^ to, the. water uh,der the machine, with. ^re.whjch they ^cgrry^irija^'p^^ I l^f.pj^pef.jin theirj^pckete^ (It^c^^^ j g^ey; putjoiit the fire w,ith a sijlc. hafldkerchiefj" (thi^ Poclo^-exfinguisVed / g^e,,fi^mefby,|aying,his,ba^akerchieif pn it.^^ , ^^They must^be ^clevjl^r" ' ,f'tpey.ca^jry^^^v3fll them little, fish. i^ they hdve ^,in'e,^ihey bave bread, they liaveeyerything ; they mvist be deylls.'^V, As vfe.made ..him .share' with us, however, some portion ofour delipacies^, winding iip iisrith segarSj.and a calabash of. brandy and water, he .must. have cohclu- ded at least that we were a set of good natiired devils. Poor old fellow, I am afraid the Doctor kept him awake all night "by showing him before he turned in, our compass pointing to the north, while the compass-box was turned completely around ; and afterwards making the needle chase 6 46 a knife-blade : for as soon as this miracle was performed, he silently rose^ and without saying a word, went out, and squatted down on the river bank with his head between his hands, evidently lost in deep meditation. Next morning he refused any compensation for his kindness, except the claret bottle, and sardine box ; and I suspect felt relieved when our boat paddled away. The River Pato. The Pat6 is but an insignificant stream. Like the Napipl, it is very circuitous ; and we found its channel to be much en- cumbered by trees and logs from its mouth to its sources. I did not take the bearings of its sinuosities ; but merely estimated its length by repeated observations of our rate of motion. According to this process of computation, we ascended it for 34 miles, although in a straight line, the distance would certainly not have exceeded about one- half that amount. At three miles above its mouth, its width varies from 30 to 50 yards, with centre depths from five to eight feet at the time of our visit. At its lowest stages, the depth here occasionally becomes so reduced for days at a time, as barely to allow a free passage for large ran chad as.* Along here we noticed the first bamboos we had yet met with. We also passed a bluff of red and gray clay and gravel, 30 feet high. At six miles from its mouth, the Pat6 receives a branch called the Chiraguand&, coming from the south. At this particular point we found the width reduced to about eight yards by obstructions caused by a for- mation of hard cemented gravel ; while the depth was increased to ten or twelve feet. About here, the banks begin to be considerably higher than at the mouth, being generally from six to nine feet above the surface of the wa- ter, as we found it ; and in some spots, where the stream washes hillocks of stiff diluvial clay and gravel, the ground is elevated as much as from 15 to 30 feet. In this vicinity we also noticed the freshet marks on the trees, as high as 12 feet above the water, showing that the ordinary banks must at times be overflowed to a depth of several feet. At about 9, as well as at 11 miles above its mouth, the stream cuts through low ranges of diluvial hills of from 30 to 100 feet in height, and having a general direction nearly north and south. Along here, the average width is aboiit 25 or 30 yards; the current jtist two miles per hotar in the swiftest parts of the cross-seclion ; although to the eye' it ap- peared much greater, in consequence of the splashing over fallen -irees, logs,"&c. •^i.bOTethe'nine mile point, the firm diluvial banks are'^ fre- quently 'quite pei'pehdiCuTar to a height 6f from 20 to 60 feet. TThese Ve'rtical faCes, howeVe'r, are sometimes'clothed with vegetation, isiich 'as fertts, the pusa, (KbV In many cases they;appeared io'he^shinghi,' -as it vikttt, with the musa leaves, presenting an' bdd ahd interesting sight ' The musa leaf furnishes 'a very convenient as 'well as effective shelter f^in the'sun and rain. It generally attains a'length of about five feet * Wherever remarks of this kind arc made, the reader will understand that theyafe in accordance with the representations of my boatmen, or of the natives living anlhe banks of the streams. The former were well acquainted with the Patd, oind other streams ^vhich I explored. 47 fcnt we found some on Ihe Pato as much as seven feet long. It resembles somewhat the plantain leaf. There are two or three varieties. That commonly used is called the "' hoja blanca," or " white leaf." One side is smooth, but the other is •covered with a white fuzz, which sheds off rain perfectly. When the «anoe has a toldo, the top is covered with two or three layers of these leaves ; and when destitute of that luxury, a few of them are laid on top of the baggage and held down by stones. Sometimes our boatmen would insert one end of a leaf between the backs of their heads and their hats, letting the leaf fall down their naked backs as a protection from the chilly sensation produced by the falling rain-drops. Early in the afternoon, there was every indication of a very heavy rain, and we stopped for the day at an Indian hut, some 15 miles above the mouth of the Pat&. At this distance, the width of the stream diminishes to an average of from 50 to 75 feet, with an ordinary depth ranging from 4 to 6 feel in the channel-way. The proprietor of the house, with his family, consisting of wife and child, were absent when we stopped ; but we were readily admitted by his father-in-law, whom we found at home. The others, however, arri- ved about an hour afterwards in a canoe, in the midst of the rain. In passing from the canoe to the bank, the woman had to walk a floating log, a few yards long, and in order to have the free use of her arms to balance herself, she pitched the child (about eighteen months old) upon her back, to which it clung, as the young monkeys do, apparently by in- stinct, exhibiting as little apprehension as herself, as she with difficulty retained her footing on the rolling log. All the family were destitute of clothing, except that article of apparel which, with us, pertains exclu- sively to infants. The hut was about eighteen feet square, and raised several feet above the ground on posts. It consisted merely of floor and roof, without sides, or any protection from the wind or slanting rains. The Indians appear to be much less provident in this respect than the blacks; for the houses of the latter always have sides, while those of the former are generally without them. The floor was composed of rudely split strips of the palm laid loosely side by side ; and the roof, of palm leaves. ',.■..-' For furniture, they had two earthen pots, a few calabashes, a machete \ jor long knifcj a pebble for sharpening it, an extremely rude axe,, tliree ' pr ifour,twig baskets of their own manufacture, a small piece of homer made net^ a biow-gun, and a bow and arrows; wiile their jentiripvsrafd- rqbe. consisted of half a dozen ?mall pieces- of rag string up on the ppsts ofjhe hut. Their bedding comprised only two wide strips of ttejinner ,bark of die damagua .tree, and a few jshort, flattened logs for .pillows! Wheiitl^e Doctor and I had finished our supper of sardirips, .biscuit, and claret, we presented our hostess with the box and bottle. These splenditl articles were handed around, and greatly admired by the fam- ily, A few minutes afler receiving them, the woman went out in the rain, and soon returned holding a live chicken by the wing. This she offered to me as an evidence of her gratitude for the valuable present she had received, and appeared disappointed at my refusing to accept It, until I proposed that she should keep if for me until our retiirn. 48 On the opposite side of the stream, they had a small patch of plan- tains. This fruit, together with the results of their fishing and hunting, were their chief dependence for food. A few pigs and chickens are ge- nerally kept by the Indians, but these are reserved for special occasions of festivity, or scarcity of other means of subsistence. Early in the evening the Doctor and I hung up our hammocks, and turned in. Our boatmen enveloped themselves in their blankets, and stretched themselves out on the floor, each with a log pillow under his head; while our host and his family lay down huddled together on their strips of damagua bark, without any covering whatever. The rain was pouring in torrents, and the wind sent it flying through the hut, so that we were all very essentially ducked. The lightning was performing in brilliant style, and allowed me to seethe exposed condition of the mother and child, upon whom, however, the rain appeared to fall as unheeded as upon the palm strips upon which they lay. Still I could not endure the sight. One of my blankets was folded up under my head as a pil- low; and the other at my feet, as a reserve in case of feeling too cold before morning, as is generally the case. Converting one of them into a ball, I aimed at the broadest part of the lady's body, and fired; it took effect, for she bounced up, directing her vision towards the monster (not me, but the blanket,) that had so rudely' disturbed her slumbers. After enjoying her bewilderment for a moment, 1 explained the phenomenon, and endeavored to prevail on her to use the blanket to cover herself and child. She laughed good naturedly, and having quietly hung the blanket to a post of the hiit, lay down again : while I, disappointed in the result of my benevolent intentions, settled myself once more into my drenched hammock, inwardly resolved nevermore to be so excessively polite to an Indian woman ; a resolution the more easily kept, as they are stupen- dously homely. Next morning owr boatmen expatiated on thei pecuniary value of the blanket, and on my generosity in giving it away. The circumstance had 'evidently produced a favorable impression, and the entreaties that I should take the chicken with me were renewed. It was declined, how- ever, to the evident chagrin of the boatmep, who knew better than I that >ye should soon be glad to have it. ; ,- " With some difiiculty a feV dimes were forced upon, our host at startinjg. '''A-ift*^ hundred y^ards kbo'fe thei'h'utj'-we passed thefmcitijth of tb'^'rahc'h 'Pafiran(l&.^ At sope'2 6r'3 railed more''geiierally elevated, aticlpfesenfs maiiy isolated corneal hills' ;'yrhile tiie'Vjiv'er banks, are at times bltiffs'df froip '80 to full lOO feet in' height. These in some 'cases descend to the'streaip' by easy slopes, sind in bthers form Jjerp^ndicular faces of indurated grey arid. brown clay, apd sand; genierally, however, the banks for 15 miles above this Pavarand& are of niiid and fine sand, interlaid with beds of dead leaves, and branches. ''Sbbie pieces of the hardened clay on being split exposed black impressions of leaves ; arid "at 8 miles above the Pavarand& we found two or thi^e rolled pieces of compact black lignite. At this latter point, the average width 49 of the stream is about 50 feet ; and its depth, swelled by the hard rain of the previous night, about 5 feet in mid-channel ; ordinarily, however, it is bats or 3 feet. At 12 miles above the Pavarando, or 27 miles from the Quito, the Pat& again divides into two apparently equal branches. The men, however, told me that the northern one was merely a long wash, or quebrada. From this point, up to the head of the stream, boatmen have frequently to drag their ranchadas for nearly the whole distance. We, however, in consequence of the rain, still had 2 or 3 feet of water in the channel, with a current of full two miles per hour. We here saw freshet marks as high as 16 feet above the water surface. For some miles back the stream was frequenti}' so choaked up with fallen trees that we were compelled to gel out, unload, and force the boatunder them, or over them, as the case might be. Early in the afternoon, after having traveled about 14 miles, or 29 miles in all from the Quito, we came to an unoccupied, temporary, half ruined shelter of leaves, placed on forked sticks, and about six feet high at the highest part. Our patron advised us that as this was the last shelter we should meet with before crossing the partition ridge, and reaching the Baud&, rv^e had better stop here for the day, and thus havie the whole of to-morrow for crossing, and examining the country ; otherwise, as the navigation was becoming every hour more slow and fa- tiguing, we could go on a mile or two farther, and construct a shelter of branches ourselves. We preferred the former alternative, although our domicile offered but few attractions. It had no sides, — no floor except the wet ground, — nor were the sticks which supported the roof sufficiently high or strong to allow us to swing our hammocks. Indeed, the only favorable trait in its construction was the facility which the roof offered for the contemplation of the starry firmament, on those rare occasions on which it is visible. But "where there is a will, there is a way," so we made a dry floor of branches, and cut a few musa leaves to cover our- selves in case it should rain during the night. Then we built a fire, put on some plantains to roast for slipper, and took a bath. A stroH-was of course out of the question, here, as almost every where else in this region^ on account of the mud, and dense wild vegetation. We were therefore cotnpelled to resort for occupation to our segars, and surmises as to what to-m6*ro'«f'w6(ild bring forth; Soon after: dark our men talked themselves to sl^p with ^Appropriate 'discourses' about tigers and snakes ,;;'but"the noyelty'bf tour situation, and the exciting anticipations of to-morrow, 'in coiHiiejdoh'With the'pattering of the tain, and the flashes of lightnin^,-^^kept the Doctor and myself awake until midnight. It rained all night,! but not heaVilyi'SO that by shifting our positions occasionally, we managied'by telp'of-O'ur musa leaves to keep ourselves tolerably dry- Fortunately -we -had no tousqiiitos, andbut few sand-flies to trouble us; ^By early dawri we had made and drunk our coffee, and were prepared to start. By our patron's advice we took down our toldo, and left it behind, as the increasing number of fallen trees would render it impossible to preserve it as we forced the boat under them. We were now but 5 miles from the Cabacera, or place of disembarka- 50 tion, from which point we were to cross the dividing ridge between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific, on foot. In sight from our humble shelter of the previous night, and towering above the wet, rank, vegetation around us, two or three isolated conical hills, some 300 or 400 feet in height, reared themselves directly in our path, giving rise to unpleasant forebodings. Their slopes, although very steep, were densely covered with trees and undergrowth. At 1^ miles from our starting point we passed banks of soft gray ar- gillaceous sandstone, containing shells and a little lignite. Large bould- ers of this rock now begin to obstruct the stream in many places ; and at certain points its nearly horizontal strata constitute the entire bed. (See Plate XII.) At many points we barely cleared the rocks on each side by an inch or two; and the water flowed through channels which almost appeared to be artificially excavated in the solid stone. We had sometimes to un- load the ranchada, and assist the bogas to lift her up little cascades ; at other times we would walk in the stream, and help buoy her up in shal- low places, or press her down into the water to pass under large fallen trees. At 1^ miles below the Cabac6ra the stream divides into two nearly equal branches. The one to our left is called the Pat&; and that to our right, which we followed, the Pi6. The last two miles were by no means desti- tute of the picturesque on a moderate scale. Numerous little rain cas- cades, some of them 100 feet in height, leaped headlong down the perpendicular banks, scattering their spray over the ferns and festooned vines which clung tenaciously to a scanty foothold among the rocks. At other times they coursed wildly down the steep ravines of the high hill blufis, and mingling their waters with those of the pretty, transparent, little Pat6, gamboled frolicksomely among the boulders of indurated clay, and soft grey sandstone, which jn vain endeavored to arrest their pro- gress; or demurely pursued their penitential way though leyel pools created by the fallen trees. '^ . I judged the descent of the strefim for the; last mile to be between 50 and 60 feet, as nearly as I could estimate by an occasional use of my hand-level. Within the last half of its length, the Pat& has a gre:at number of small tributaries: we .counted ifuU 30 of them. . , - 1 oj ! -^1 yqtj., ; .Wewefe about four hours in traveling the last 5 miles t9ith.ei!P3l)^p,|r?i> atwhichpoint we arrived at 10 A. M. i;Here the stream agaJnisul^diyjdes ihtp .two rivulets, in neither, of which would our ranchada float .en^pty. p .['Asij^herewas nohut her?; we made a fire, i3nd. cooked lOwrib^^akCast, by. the side of the stream. . u'-mii;,,! U:.,\! oi;;,,;., ■,:.'- ,,m ;.,■,; •;;-,;;,oa -jdi ;This oyer, we dragged the boat to a pointvsuffic.iently high ;t9^sep.ure her Against floods during our absence ; and having concealednQurthe^yy iron cooking pot in the woods, ,th,e crew took our baggage on theif ,)?iackg, supporting it by ;a strap, around their foreheads; and precisely at PQPp, our unpretending expedition took up its line of march on foot for the wa- ters of the Pacific. Tlie Doctor, with his fowling-piece in one hand, snd a roasted plantain in the other, constituted the military ; — the tiiree bogas, — ^the baggage train ; and I, with a compass, tape-line, level, apd bottle of schnaps, filled the scientific department. /d^?^ ;/^<^,;^'^'/ % ■§1 * 51 For the first few hundred yards our path occupied the hed of the stream; then suddenly turning to the west, we began the ascent of the ridge of partition. It required but a glance to convince us that Father Ochoa's 18 feet must be remarkably long ones, (expanded perhaps by a tropical climate;) and I sullenly drew from my pocket that invaluable instrument for explorers, the hand-level of Dr. Locke of Cincinnati. With this instrument I at once began to level up the steep ascent, and continued to do so until we had attained a height of 500 feet. At this elevation I stopped levelling, but we rose I judged at least 200 feet more before we reached the summit. From the summit the descent towards the west was very abrupt, so much so that we sometimes descended 50 feet vertically in a horizontal distance of 25 feet, letting ourselves down almost perpendicular precipices of rock by aid of the vines and bushes that grew on them. A dog who accompanied us would stand howling piteously at the top before making his plunge, and then pitch down head over heels. The actual time consumed in walking across this ridge from the Pat& to within a few hundred yards of the River Baud&, was an hour and three-quarters, independently of rests. Our rate of progress being very slow, on account not only of the steepness of the path, but the mud, the Doctor and myself assumed the distance at about three miles. For near one-third of this, the route presented a somewhat novel feature to both of us, and one which I hope not to encounter again. The novelty consisted in a narrow path, varying in breadth from 2 to 8 feet; and bound- ed on both sides by nearly vertical descents of from 50 to full 200 feet. I am very subject to a distressing vertigo when looking down great depths, and can compare my sensations on this occasion to nothing but a fright- ful night-mare. The tendency to throw myself down the precipice was almost irresistible, and only counteracted by crawling over the worst places on all fours, with my face close to the ground. Dr. Halsted, on seeing to what extent I suffered, advised a retreat,f to which of course I could not assent. The men ofTered to carry me on their backs, which is a common mode of transporting travelers in this part of the world ; but neither did this species of locomotion meet my ap- probation. I told one of them however to walk but a single step in advance as I crawled along the worst spots, so that if by chance I should lift my eyes from the ground they should rest on him instead oif the descent be- fore me. Atone point 'however even this 'precaution nearly failed. For some few yards the path vtus scai-cely two feet in width, ^and 'I could not ^vbid isfeeing down the *abyss if I kept my eyes open. I ^elt as if sfis~ pended by a hair at an immense height, and was cotiopelled'to close iriy ^eyes. Dr. Halsted holding on by a sapling, leaned over, -and reported . ^o.souhdingsat less' than 200 feet. .'. '. •.„j£>j:o)/ ' ' Ittequired a desperaite effort on mypart to pass this spot, and in(i&in_g T)ut the ;fear of disgrace induced me to make it. The Doctor and ©ar bo- gas were 'hot in the least affected; indeed, the gratification, 'coolness, -and 'carekssness of the former appeared to vary inversely 'as the width of the path; While the latter, trudging along unconcernedly with their loads, were entirely at a loss to comprehend the cause of my undignified manojuvr^s. The feature which most astonished us was, that a great portion of' ^his abominable route, instead of rock, consists of clay and gravel, support- 52 ing a vegetation not only of grass and shrubs, but of full sized trees. The only cause I can assign for the permanence of those high steep slopes-, of such materials, is the absence of frost. The rock^which showed itself at various points, both of the ascent and descent of the ridge, as well as at its summit, is the soft grey tertiary sand- stone with fossil shells, before alluded to. Among the broken boulders near the head of the Pato we saw many portions of large fossil conch shells, and selected several specimens to bring home, but as we did not return by this route, they were left behind. Throughout the entire exploration, we had, in compliance with the request of friends at home, maintained a diligent, but unavailing search for land and fresh-water shells. Perhaps the fact of the frequent inun- dations is unfavorable to their development ; as may also be the muddy condition of the water in times of flood. In crossing from the Pat& to the Baud&, we did not see a single bird, or wild anirpal of any kind ; and but two or three small birds along the upper part of the Pat& itself. At the western foot of the ridge we found a large hut consisting only of floor and roof; raised several feet above the ground as usual, to avoid the floods of the Baud&, which flows within a few hundred yards of it. This hut had no regular tenant, but had been constructed for the accom- modation of persons traveling this route. We found it empty; and at once took possession for the day. As soon as we arrived, I sat the men to work to clear away a few trees for observing the latitude in case the night should be clear, as it promised to be. Having only their machetes, however, this proved to be slow work. The largest of the trees in falling came very near crushing the hut to pieces ; but worst of all, just as we had cleared a space suflScient for our purpose, the heavens became suddenly overcast with clouds, and so continued, with occasional showers all night. By degrees, as evening closed in, other travelers made their appearance at our hut, in the shape of natives who had ascended the Baud& with canoe-loads of plantains, which they were taking to .Quibd6 for sale. They carry all their produce on their backs over the route we bad just passed; and when occasionally they have larger cargoes than they can transport at one load, they make the trip two or three times in t;he same day. , Yet the entire valjie-of the Joad carried byeach pne probably averages but a dollar ,in;Quibd&, after having ,been ^transported 50 or .75 miles.:! As there ria-noregular;. system ofiCanoes on the opposite •sides.of)the|ridge,,in ther.eyent^ojfv^nding iio boat on, the side. opposite jfhatifroin' which .jjipy came, they.#p,nstruct smajl i;afts of ^branches tied together by vines, and thus drop down the streafp with their ^pads. ,'.', • .flhey, and we were of mutual assistance to each pther;j for as,! had .determined not.Jo recrpss the. ridge by the same villainous route,'tliere was a prospect, that we might have to build a raft for navigating t^p.Bad- db, jjptil'We should chance upon, some other pathway back. ;. So,we told themthey mighthave our large boat, on condition of delivering, it, safe at Quibd6 ; and they in return put us in the way.pf p;:pcui;ipg one suffi- cient fpr our purposes; ., When we retired for the night, we formed an interesting group, consist- i)0 ing of 2 whites, 18 naked negroes and Indians, (among them one woman,) and 2 dogs, all stretched out on the floor of a hut 20 feet square. The dogs probably enjoyed the night less than any of us ; for the bi- peds soon found that when a dog lay down near him, he attracted more than his due share of sand-flies ; a very natural consequence of which w'as that at intervals of about every half hour during the night a dog was pitched or kicked headlong from the floor down to the ground. In ap- preciation of the compliment he would entertain us with a short seren- ade, and then come back to try his luck with some other sleeper ; but always with the same result. Before we left Quibdo, Governor Conto had considerately prepared for HS in his official capacity, a written document, enjoining upon those to whom we might have occasion to present it, a due consideration for our necessities, and the conferment of such aid as we might reasonably require of them. He regarded the object of our mission as one that might eventually contribute in some measure to advance the prosperity of New Granada, and neglected no means that would conduce to the furtherance of our examinations. Had it not been for this paper, we should probably have been com- pelled to resort to a raft ; but by its aid, backed by a liberal compensa- tion, we next morning obtained the ranchada, of which our friends of the hut had spoken the previous night. We of course engaged to send it back when we should have done with it. A quarter of an hour's stroll through the muddy woods brought us from the hut to the Baudo, where lay the ranchada. This was but two feet wide, and one foot deep ; and with our load drew full 8 inches, leaving but 4 inches above water. We soon discovered to our great disgust that she was badly addicted to rock- ing and leaking; which qualities, combined with the absence of all shelter from the sun and rain, rendered her anything but a desirable craft for a voyage of nearly 100 miles. But we had no alternative. To our great surprise, we found this stream to be (instead of the in- significent creek which we had expected) a really fine navigable river, even at the point at which we struck it ; and at which we had been led by the map to suppose we should encounter its very sources. How far it reaches above this point we could not ascertain ; but I have, in my map, (Plate XI,) given it the least extent that I considered , at all war- rantable by its magnitude at our place of embarkation. Our patron lived on the Okimunguidb, (sometimes abbreviated to Munguid6,) which enters the Atrato a short distance below Quibd&. He informed me that there is a much traveled path leading from the head of that stream, across the ridge of partition, to the Baudo. He was very desirous I should examine that route, until he found that I pronounced the partition ridge at the head of the Pat6 (in connexion with other con- siderations) to be an insurmountable obstacle. He reluctantly admitted, that at the head of the Okimunguid& the ridge was much higher and wider than where we crossed it ; and consequently, he desisted from his importunities that I should examine it. Here we made a careful measurement of the width, and found it to be 210 feet ; and the depth nearly all the way across 14 feet. Yet we were told that the water was rather below than above its ordinary stages ; and 54 so indeed the line of no vegetation, which was above the surface, showed it to be. The current was scarcely two miles per hour in the swiftest part of the cross-section. The banks at the same time varied in height from 5 to 10 feet above water, and consisted of mud so soft that I had to use a pushing pole laid flat on it, to prevent me from sinking into it as I measured a base with my tape-line. We were told, however, that the river occasionally falls so low as to have here a channel depth of but 5 or 6 feet for some days at a time; while, on the other hand, in high floods, the depth increases to full 25 feet, overflowing all its banks. Back from the river, on both sides, the ground is soft and muddy, but the levees are by no means so marked as in the Atrato. As we descended, the ground gradually became more swampy. From what I had heard at Quibd& of the limited depth of the San Juan at San Pablo, and for a considerable distance below it, I now felt pretty confident that the Baud6 was in itself the better river of the two, for the purpose of an inter-oceanic Canal, provided we should be able to find a low pass through the partition ridge, for uniting it with the Quit&. Under this conviction, I at once determined to examine it carefully to its mouth; and immediately commenced taking its bearings, distances, and sound- ings. The first two features are shown on the map (Plate XI,) which has been protracted from ray notes: and our subsequent exploration of the river for 78 miles to its mouth, proved that I was not mistaken as to its general character. In no cross-section below the place of embarkation, (except near the mouth,) did I find a less maximum depth than 14 feet for the same stage of the river, even in wide places. The width, however, is by no means so variable as that of the upper portions of the Atrato, which circumstance tends to a greater uniformity of depth. Still there are certain compara- tively contracted spots, at which the yielding nature of the river bed in- sures a proportionate increase of depth. Thus, at about 17 miles below our starting point, at an Indian hut, where we stopped for the day, we found the narrowest part of the river we had yet met with. Here the width was contracted to less than 150 feet, by a bluff of the soft grey tertiary sandstone, or, more properly speaking, indu- rated sandy clay, with shells, before spoken of; and the depth on the concave side of the bend was 33 feet, diminishing to 9 near the convex hank. But thus far the river had preserved a remarkable uniformity, not only of width and depth, but of the height of its banks. Even here we found the most rapid part of the current to be but full 2 miles per hour. To-day we passed a few alligators ; also some sunken trees, the removal of which would be necessary should steamboats be introduced on the river. We also saw a few of that diminutive species of monkey called the titi ; and shot what is here called a wild turkey. Being no ornitho- logist, I can venture no farther than to say, that, although not a wild turkey, it sufficed to make a capital supper for us all. We stopped early in the afternoon in consequence of a very heavy rain, to which we were fully exposed, inasmuch as our boat had no toldo. Some musa leaves laid on our baggage, kept it dry ; and by constant bailing with a calabash, we kept the boat afloat for an hour after the rain 55 began, until we reached the hut, which was only the fifth one we had yet passed on the river. The posts on which the floors were raised were usually from 4 to 6 feet above the ground. The small number of huts was explained by our bogas as a consequence not only of the want of elevated spots on which to erect them, but of the swarms of sand flies and other insects which infest the low marshy margin of the stream. Of the justice of this argument, we had ample demonstration whenever we got among the bushes to measure base lines. . On such occasions we generally shipped a full load of them, and always found it hard work to get entirely rid of them for some time after starting again. The hut was open on all sides, and was occupied by quite a large family of Indians. One of the men we noticed was taller than any In- dian we had yet seen ; but on measuring him he resulted in but 5 feet 7 inches. The dress of both sexes was the fashionable one of a solitary rag. It appeared that they had recently been successful in their hunting, for the remains of several wild hogs and some large fish were suspended from pieces of vine in all directions across the hut, diffusing an odor very unlike those of Araby. On a layer of clay placed on the palm-strip floor, a fire was burning, apparently for preserving the meat. The smoke from it filled the hut, notwithstanding the want of sides; and with the smell arising from some dozen hogs which resided a few feet below the open floor, forcibly re- minded us of the cabin of our river boat on the Atrato. Here, as at every other stopping place since leaving Quibdo, the cloudi- ness of the night prevented us from observing the latitude. The rain to- night raided the river four feet. The flood marks here were 12 feet above the water of last night, or 8 feet above that of this morning. Our host told us'that the ordinary stage of the river might be considered as com- prised between these two limits. The next day we descended the river 21 miles further, or about 38 miles in all from our place of embarkation upon it. Thus far the river retains its average width of but a litde more than 200 feet ; but occasionally •widens to 300 for short distances. The latter was the width at our se- cond stopping place. On taking soundings here, I was surprised at its great depth, inasmuch as a shallow channel was naturally to be expected at so broad a point. From the banks the soundings increased to about 45 feet at the distance of 100 feet from each shore, while the inner 100 feet gradually increased from 45 feet at the edges up to 51 feet in the centre. Yet at a point but a mile below, where the width was the same, we found a maximum depth of but 21 feet, and the transverse area of the cross-section but one-half that of the upper one. On reflection, I was led to ascribe the great depth at the former point to the action of the remolinos. These are currents near the banks, which run (in many in- stances rapidly) in a direction contrary to the downward one of the central portions of the river. These upward currents are very common throughout all the rivers of New Granada that I have seen, as, for instance, the Chagres, the Magdalena, the Atrato, the Baud&, the San Juan, &c. The boatmen always avail themselves of them, and it is not uncommon, in some of them, to see, at the same time, boats droppmg rapidly down 3G the river by the central stream, and others passing as rapidly up it, with ho other propelling power than the remolinos of the side channels. Some of the remolinos of the Baud& struck me as being by far the most remarkable I had ever seen ; and in the deep section to which I have first alluded, they were beautifully illustrated. The two upward cur- rents occupied full two-thirds of the entire width, and appeared nearly to equal the central one in velocity. I conceive that we may regard these remolinos as virtually reducing the width of the channel-way of the descending stream, and thus tending to induce a corresponding increase of depth. This suggestion is ofiered with due diffidence, inasmuch as I am not aware that this deepening effect of the remolinos has ever before been observed, or at least ascribed to that cause. The various tributaries which enter the Baud'j, appear to affect its width but little, until we descend a considerable distance below the town of Baud&. Their action operates chiefly in increasing its depth. Although it rained hard for several hours last night, the river fell 4 inches. This afternoon the rain commenced at five o'clock, and continued with intervals during the night. The river, however, fell four inches. Early next morning, after a cup of coffee, we started with the inten- tion of breakfasting in Baud&, which we were told was about half a day below. Some two miles below our starting place, we passed a rock bluff, fifty feet high, composed of the gray indurated clay, with fragments of shells. At noon, having traveled sixteen miles, we reached the mean little town, village, or whatever it may be called, of Baud&. (See Plate XIII.) It is situated on the west bank of the river, fifty-four miles below where we embarked upon it ; and, as we afterwards found, twenty-four miles above its outlet into the Pacific. Thus far we have seen the Baud& in about its ordinary stages, or per- haps a trifle below them, inasmuch as the line of no vegetation was every where a little above water. With the exception of those spots at which low hill spurs, or bluffs, presented themselves, the adjacent land on both sides was flat and swampy, especially a little back from the banks. The height of the levees above the water, as we saw^ it, generally ranged between five and ten feet as extremes ; and throughout all their extent they are occasionally overtopped by the floods. At the village, we found the bank at the water's edge to be ten feet above the water when we arrived ; but were shown marks of a freshet which had submerged it from six to eight feet, rising about three feet above the floors of the high- est huts. The narrow strip of soil between the levee and the foot of the hills immediately back of the town is all swampy ; and even the top of the levee is kept so soft by the incessant rains, that rows of stout poles are laid along it by way of paving. Here the width of the river is 110 yards ; and this limit is rarely ex- ceeded between the town and the ocean. Precisely opposite the village, the little River Pep6 comes in from the East. (See Map X.) ':*«1W»'!'^,.=*5'J '■■ J .•■ ■-. ■■'.':'irc^ ';?i..,-;v/' -■■'.,-;-..- , ^ >-i:'. :!S "-^ A few rods above their junction, the Baudu gave soundings of twenty feet for nearly half its width ; and at a few rods below, of thirty feet for the same distance. The current was 2-J miles per hour at this time ; but when, some days afterwards, we reached here again from the Pacific, the water had risen about five feet, and the current had increased to near 2J miles per hour in the swiftest part of the cross-section. We were told that when the Baudo was at its very lowest stages, the influence of the Pacific tide was sensibly perceived, not only here, but for some distance above. This I presume to be the fact, for I suspect that the average fall of the Baud& from the village to the ocean, cannot exceed about three inches to a mile, or six feet in all ; while I found the rise and fall of the Pacific tide at the mouth of the stream to be but about eight feet, instead of some twenty feet, at Panama. The village contains a church, (seen on the left of the sketch;) and about a dozen cane huts, with floors elevated three or four feet above the top of the levee. The largest and least inconvenient of these belongs to Senor Antoine Posso, a Frenchman, who, after having for several years resided in various parts of New Granada, at last took it into his head to settle down like a frog in this piece of swamp, some three feet below high-water mark. It is utterly inconceivable how any rational being, and especially a Frenchman, can prevail on himself to abjure civilization, and deliberately resolve to vegetate away his life in a horrible out-of-the- way hole like this. But Sefior Posso appears to be charmed with it; per- haps on the principle of " better be first in a village than second in Rome." He was standing on the bank when we arrived; and on otjr hailing hitn in bad Spanish, to inquire where Senor Posso lived, he responded in equally bad English, that he was that individual. We had a letter of introduction to him from Governor Conto; but before we had time to present it, we had been cordially welcomed, and ushered into his abode. Our provisions had entirely given out the day before, — the mustard only remaining faithful to the last. We were therefore constrained, rather late in the afternoon, to venture a gentle insinuation that we had not yet breakfasted. To our dismay, we ascertained that Baud& was the last place in the world in which to replenish our exhausted larder ; and were compelled to the unpleasant conviction, that not only would it be entirely out of the question to procure supplies here for our remaining voyage, but that it even subjected our kind-hearted host to no little inconvenience to administer to our immediate wants, especially as we were regarded as coming decidedly under the head of "illustrious strangers." Senor Posso contrived, however, to procure a chicken, which, with some rice and plantains, made us an excellent breakfast. The afternoon and night being showery, and suggestive of in-door contemplation, Senor Posso concocted the essential elements thereof, in shape of a mixture of mata burro or kill donkey, panela or coarse brown sugar, manteca or liquid lard, and hot water. He then despatched an emissary, to invite the Cura to partake with us of his good cheer. The invitation was accepted, to our great gratification, inasmuch as the Cura 58 proved to be an agreeable, well informed, and highly estimable person. His pastoral charge is one of considerable extent, embracing stations widely distant from each other. Among them are Baudo and Noanim4, the latter, an Indian village on the San Juan, and his head quarters. We passed the evening very agreeably, in desultory conversation, chiefly respecting our several countries. During intervals, I took lessons in segar-making from master Napoleon Posso, a bright, intelligent looking, little son of our host and a native mother. Society here is characterized by a nonchalance, of which occasionally the most agreeable feature to our uninitiated selves was its novelty. An instance of it occurred to interrupt our conversation this evening. A strapping, naked black fellow very unceremoniously entered the room, and without as much as a "by your leave," lay down on a table a few feet from us, to take a snooze. The position he assumed was such, that had he been a bomb, an accidental discharge would have placed our lives in imminent danger, inasmuch as he completely commanded our position, and would have raked our table fore and aft. Under ordinary circumstances, this incident would probably have passed unnoticed as an every day occurrence ; but under the actualities of the occasion, Senor Posso very properly deemed it but a courteous concession to the clerical position of the Cura, and a manifestation of respect to the Doctor and myself as strangers, not to let it pass without a reprimand. He accord- ingly read the brute a sharp lecture on the impropriety of his conduct ; but received for a reply, that the intruder considered himself a true citi- zen, and a thoroughgoing "Democratico," and as such, did not choose to inconvenience himself by any squeamish respect to the Cura, the strangers, or any one else. This said, he instantly brought his guns to bear even more fully upon us, by way of a practical illustration of his sentiments. Hereupon, the Cura calmly, but with severity, addressed him a few words, which evidently staggered him. I then threw in a cross-fire, telling him that we had many Democrats in our country ; but that they did not, like him, consider a Democrat and a blackguard synonymous terms ; and that in my opinion, his appropriate dormitory was the pig- pen. Our triple alliance prevailed, for the fellow sullenly rose from the table, and without a word of reply quietly left the house. As he did so, a very emphatic sniggering outside proved that popular sentiment was with us, and that the decency party had achieved a glorious triumph. This was the only specimen of the genuine blackguard I ever met with in New Granada. When we retired for the night, the room assigned to our use was ten- antless, save by ourselves ; but when we awoke at early dawn, we found ^at during the night the rain had driven about a dozen outsiders into it through the windows. Next morning, after one more ineffectual effort to procure provisions for our voyage, we took a cup of chocolate; and started off for the mouth of the river, trusting to our fowling-piece for breakfast and dinner. Notwithstanding the rain of the night, the river fell three feet. Some five miles below Baud6, at a spot where the river is 100 yards wide, we found a depth of but 14 feet for nearly the whole width; with, 59 however, a narrow channel-way of 18 feet near the concave side. This is about as unfavorable a section as any we had rnet with since entering the Baud&, except near the upper part, where we occasionally had but 14 feet as the greatest sounding. This spot is about one-third of a mile below the entrance of the Misard or Negud, a stream of 100 feet in width; and the shoalness is probably caused by the deposition of matter brought down by that tributary. I doubt whether, in the very lowest stages of the river, there is ever less than nine feet depth of channel-way even here. All our other soundings between the town and the ocean, gave channels of from 20 to 30 feet, until we reached the little bay at the mouth. This bay is about one and a half miles long, by three-fourths of a mile aver- age breadth ; and at low water, has but from four to nine feet depth over almost its entire area. Outside of the mouth of this bay is a bar which completely precludes the entrance of any thing but the fishing canoes of the natives. We ap- proached this in many places as closely as the breakers would permit, into three feet water, but saw it completely dry throughout the greater part of its extent; and reaching, as nearly as we could judge by eye, a full mile out from the beach. The rise and fall of the tide was between eight and nine feet ; instead of about twenty feet as at Panam^; and we afterwards found about the same at the mouth of the San Juan, some fifty miles more to the south. At the mouth of the river, and on the beach, we saw several very large caymans or alligators. There are also tigers in the hills bordering the banks. Frequently, under cover of darkness, both animals visit the huts and abstract an unfortunate porker. The people are very apprehensive of attacks not only from tigers, but from alligators. My own opinion, however, is, that their fears are nearly, if not entirely, groundless. I have, on numberless occasions, been fully exposed to both ; but have never perceived the slightest disposition manifested by either, to attack human beings. It is not imprabable that, under the instigation of extreme hunger, they may do so ; and perhaps, some such occasions have given rise to the fear that so universally pre- vails in all parts of this country that I have visited. // The hills, shown on the Map, (Plate XI,) and which the Baud6 gen- erally intersects nearly at right angles, are laid down correctly in num- ber, and very approximately so in position. None of them appeared to exceed above 300 feet in height, and many of them were less than 100 feet. They are all densely covered with trees and undergrowth. The intervals between these hills is swamp-land, like that bordering the other portions of the river. For some five leagues above the mouth, the wetness of these swamps precludes all attempts at cultivation ; nor are any huts erected throughout that distance, except the two or three miserable ones at the very mouth of the bay. The only .spots available for this purpose, would be the sides of the hills. From these, also, fiiel for steamboats would have to be cut, as there is scarcely any fit for the purpose in the low grounds. We reached the mouth of the river after dark, on the same day that we left Baud6, GO We however caught a glimpse of the broad Pacific, just as the sun was setting gloriously into its placid waters. It was the first sunset we had seen for about two months; and none but those who had been for a long time deprived of the noble sight, can imagine the emotions it awakens. Doctor Halsted and myself, waxed sentimental on the occa- sion for a few minutes, and should probably have indulged in some bril- liant rhapsodies, had not our empty stomachs positively forbidden such ebullitions of fancy. Not a single breakfast had we seen fly across the river during the whole day; and as the sunset was immediately succeed- ed by dense clouds and pitchey darkness, we were very reasonably be- ginning to despair of shooting any game for the day. But " nil despe- rawdwOT ;" just as the last ray of hope had vanished into utter darkness, we thought we descried through the dim obscure, something white, which we judged might be within gunshot. Fearing, however, it might be a shirt on a human being, (although the whiteness almost forbade the supposition) we hailed. Receiving no answer, the Doctor fired at it, whereupon it subsided with a pathetic squeak. Paddling to the shore, we found, by aid of a lucifer match, that it was a large spoonbill duck, a species of bird which lives chiefly on fish, and which I had on more than one previous occasion endeavored in vain to eat. The hungry bo- gas, however, insisted, that with the aid of our mustard, it would, under existing circumstances, be " magnifico ;" therefore in our despair we took it on board, and went on prowling our way in the dark, running our boat upon logs, and into bushes and mud for some time. At last we heard a response to our signal guns of distress ; and guided by this, we let our boat stick on the next mud flat she pitched into ; and having secured her to something or other, that we thought would not float away, we waded, up to our knees in mud, in the direction of the voice, which at last brought us to the hut of which we were in search. A young man with whom we had met in Baudo the day before, had kindly given us a letter of introduction to his mother, who existed here; and as we emerged from the mud on to what appeared to be firm bottom, we saw the old lady herself, under bare poles, holding on high a flam- beau for our guidance. She had been roused by the unusual sound of our signal guns. They had, indeed, created quite a sensation in this ob- scure spot, which, above all others, is entitled to be held as the " utter- most part of the earth." She stood at one of the sideless sides of her habitation, and held the light at the top of the long notched post which served as its entrance-steps. As we clambered up, we endeavored to quiet any apprehensions she may have entertained of hostile invasion, by assuring her that we were peaceful strangers, and moreover bearers of a friendly letter of introduction from her son. Having made our salaams, we devoted a few minutes to praises of the house, its position, &c., (for which I hope wemay be forgiven hereafter;) and then delicately broached the subject of breakfast. This our worthy hostess cheerfully volunteered to prepare, provided we had any thing to prepare it from ; at the same time expressing her regret that she had not a mouthful to offer us. Although we were traveling in search of infor- mation, this was not exactly the kind we wanted ; but to put; the best 61 possible face we could on Ihe matter, we ostentatiously paraded our spoonbill. By aid of hot water and garlic, the old lady managed to con- vert this into something diabolical, a little before midnight. We forced it down, in the dark ; and then, hanging up our hammocks to the posts of the hut, were soon pelted to sleep by a drenching rain, accompanied by very loud thunder, and magnificent lightning. We occupied the next day in making observations on the bay, bar, tides, &c. The result was an entire, although most reluctant conviction, that the obstacles here to be encountered, must effectually prevent the Baudo from constituting a portion of an inter-oceanic canal route. This unfortunate prostration of our hopes was, however, attended by one slightly mitigating reflection, viz. that it absolved us from the obli- gation of prosecuting further examinations of the partition ridge in search of a low pass, between the tributary waters of the two oceans. My sole reliance for a canal, even of the limited dimensions of that of which I was in search, was now centered in the facilities that might be presented for that purpose by the upper portions of the Atrato above Quibdo, in connexion with the San Juan below San Pablo. At the same time, I entirely abandoned, as sheer nonsense, my last lingering aspirations for a ship canal. When, on ascending the Atrato, I found that the sudden deterioration of that stream above Vigia Cubarador, (produced by the abstraction of much of its water through Cafio Tadia,) forbade all hopes of navigating by ships beyond that point, I at once struck out a new route for myself. This will be found laid down on the map (Plate XI,) extending from the Vigia to the Bay of Cupica; and was intended to be fed from the Atrato. Misled by the falsehoods communicated to Humboldt, and since that time received as truth by all interested in an inter-oceanic communication, I had hoped that perhaps an almost unbroken plain did really exist in that latitude, stretching from the Atrato to the Pacific. But after having found a partition ridge of more than 500 feet in height at the head of the Pato; and learning from the patron of our ranchada, that the same ridge was still higher at the head of the Okimunguido ; and from those who had frequently crossed it, at the head of the Napipi, that it attained a for- midable elevation at that point, I relinquished all ideas of its practica- bility.* Nature had kindly permitted some half dozen cocoa-nut trees to grow near our hut; and by means of this fruit, and some fine fish which by good luck were caught just in time for us, our hostess managed, by pre- ternatural exertions, to have breakfast ready by 3 o'clock in the after- noon. This night, also, was cloudy, but as there was no. rain until towards morning, the Doctor and I watched until long after midnight, hoping that the clouds would break away, and allow us to observe the latitude ; but ' A rude estimate, since made, of its cost, based upon the supposition that the ground to be traversed would not be more difEcult than that in the latitude of the Pat6, amounts to MI $325,000,000. A friend in London recently sent me a.prospectus for the formation of a Company to construct a ship canal by the Atrato and Napipi route, at an estimated expense of $15,000,000, or less than one-twentieth of my estimate!! 62 in vain. Thus we have been baffled in this object every night (nine in all) since we left Quibdo. It is not to be inferred, however, that the season was especially wet ; on the contrary, it presented but a fair aver- age of the weather for the whole year, ioT in this region the occurrence of twenty-four consecutive dry hours is something of a rarity ; and two or -_three dry days in succession, are phenomena but seldom witnessed. Next morning, we started back for Baudo, inasmuch as I had deter- mined to ascend the Pepe, and by that route to reach Quibdo a second time. We left without a mouthful of provisions, and with a tolerably good prospect of another day's fasting. A few small tree-ferns to-day, near the mouth of the river, were the first we had yet seen ; and in many spots we saw tall bamboos. Vege- tation is every where dense, to the water's edge. For fourteen miles, or about eight hours, we did not pass a single hut. The ground is too swampy, and liable to overflow, to induce their erec- tion, or any attempt at cultivation. We saw a few flocks of teal and ducks. Luckily, I shot a fine duck during the morning ; and towards evening, at a negro hut, we expostu- lated half a dozen eggs from a dirty old hag, (I beg her pardon, " dark eyed Senora" is the term.) Soon after, we reached another but, where we stopped for the night; and where, by an excess of good fortune, we procured a few plantains, two or three yards of sugar-cane, and a little mata-burro. Upon these and our duck, we breakfasted at nine in the evening ; and if the merits of a breakfast are to be estimated by the gusto with which it is eaten, this was a capital one. We retired in the midst of rain No. 10. About noon, next day, we reached Baud6 ; not without feeling a little shabby at the reflection, that, although we should be very glad to see Mr. Posso again, Mr. Posso could not, by any possibility, be very glad to see us. Under this conviction, the Doctor and myself would have pre- ferred, even at the risk of starvation, merely to pay him a ceremonious farewell call for a few minutes, and then push on up the Pepe ; but the bogas, who bad evidently made up their minds to spend the remainder of the day here, discarded all such excess of refinement, and strenuously opposed the proposition. They hoped that another effort to procure sup- plies might be more successful than their former ones; and in addition, pleaded excessive fatigue, and a wish to stop some of th^ leaks in the boat. Our sentiments of delicacy yielded to their piteous arguments, and we decided once more to quarter ourselves upon Senor Posso for the re- mainder of the' day. It had happened, most fortunately for us, that we had previously stop- ped at a hut a few miles below Baud6, to inquire for something to eat. Neither love lior money, however, could extort any thing in that line ; but Dr. Halsted, finding a very sick child in the hut, gave its mother his professional advice regarding it, adding some appropriate medicine, which he happened to have m his trunk. Now, a real live "Medico" is here considered the greatest man in all creation, except, perhaps, the Cura ; and I never failed to prefix a very emphatic " Doctor" whenever I addressed Dr. Halsted in presence of the natives. His gratuitous ser- 63 vices on this occasion proved more availing than our exhibition of money, although backed by the enticing display of some half dozen empty claret bottles ; for the mother forced upon him a bunch of plantains in grateful acknovfledgment of his kindness. Our ability to contribute this addition to the common stock, served in some measure to mitigate our grief, as we again crossed Senor Posso's threshold. We received, however, that cordial welcome which only those who have " roughed it" themselves, know how to extend to others. On the morrow, at daybreak, we took leave, and commenced our ascent of the Pepe ; without having been able, in the meantime, to pro- cure anything eatable for the voyage. At four miles from the Baudo, the Pep6 is full 100 feet wide, with a centre depth of from 14 to 18 feet; which at times becomes reduced to 6 or 10 feet. At thirteen miles from its mouth, it receives the Sand&, coming from the South. At the junction, this branch is about as wide as the Pepe. It is sometimes traveled by canoes to near its sources, beyond which is a pathway, crossing a ridge which divides its waters from those of the Di- purdfi, a branch of the San Juan. (See Plate XI.) From the Baud6 to the Sando, the average width of the Pep6 is 100 feet. At 15 miles, the width becomes reduced to about 80 feet ; the cen- ter depth 10 feet for a width of four or five yards only ; and but five or six feet for two-thirds of the entire width. At sixteen miles up, we first saw semi-rock at the water's edge. It was the indurated gray clay, containing a little very fine sand, and com- minuted fragments of shells. It afterwards occurs at four miles above, and then at many points along the stream. At the first point, its strata dipped eastwardly, at an angle of about forty-five degrees. On this rock lie the diluvial grey and yellow clays ; the latter over the former. Up to this point, the banks consist almost entirely of mud, frequently overflowed ; and backed by swamps, as in the other streams. Beyond here, however, the clay banks begin to show themselves frequently, and at a greater height than below, being now from three to six feet above the present surface of the water, which is rather above the ordinary stage. Beds of leaves are interlaid between those of the mud and clay. Here, too, fine sand begins to take the place of the mud b()ttom, which now soon gives way to coarse sand and silicious gravel. The stream also begins to be much obstructed by old logs and trees, which occasionally gave us a good deal of trouble. ~ At 20 and 21 miles above the mouth, we passed two low ranges of hills, (see Map, Plate XI,) abutting on the south bank; and at 22 and 23 miles, two others, abutting on the north bank. They all trended some- what west of north ; and did not appear to exceed about IQO feet in the highest points. By four o'clock in the afternoon, having gone 22 miles, we drew up at an Indian hut for the remainder of the day. (Plate XIV.) The Pep6 is here still about 80 feet wide. Its greatest depth at the time was four or five feet ; but it frequently falls so low as barely to allow free passage to a large ranchada ; while occasionally in floods it rises ten 64 or twelve feet higher, overflowing its highest banks, and inundating the swamps back of them. The current was IJ miles per hour. We had shot a couple of fine so-called wild turkeys during the after- noon, and having fasted all day, we readily accepted the offer of our Indian hostess to cook them for us. We found here a small patch of plantain trees and sugar cane, and so fared sumptuously. Our hostess was evidently a good housekeeper, for everything about the primitive establishment was scrupulously clean. The whole family presented an air of cheerfulness and good nature, that was quite exhilarating. The afternoon was a lovely one; a pleasant breeze played through the hut; and every thing tended to inspire such a sense of independence, and perfect abandonment of care, that as we lolled in our hammocks, smoking listlessly, until breakfast should be ready, we felt as if we should like to be Pepe Indians ourselves. One of our bogas was troubled with tooth-ache, and our host offered to extract it for him, assuring him that from long practice he was quite expert in the dentistry line. His implements, although decidedly primi- tive, were very effective. They consisted of a stick of hard wood, pointed at one end, and a round pebble of some four or five pounds weight. The boga, however, declined his services. The lady of the house was a good deal puzzled what to do with the plates, knives and forks, &c., with which we furnished her for preparing our lowly table on the floor. She had never meddled with such outland- ish contrivances before, and was much amused at watching us use them. It rained hard early in the evening, and at intervals during the night. When about starting next day, we asked our friend how many hours it would require to reach the headof the Pepe. He did not understand this, and our patron explained that he did not know what an hour was. We then asked how many leagues we had to go, but this troubled him quite as much, for neither did he know what a league was. But on in- quiring when we should get there, he replied, "about quarter way be- tween mid-day and sunset. We gave him some segars and several bright silver dimes in return for his hospitality. The first w^ere highly prized ; but he handed the latter to his little, children, who at once signified their determination to convert them into a necklace for their pet pup. About a mile and a half above the hut, or nearly 24 miles from the Baud&, we passed the branch Beniguad&, which supplies about half the water of the Pep6. Like the Sandd it runs towards the San Juan, and heads (so our men said) near that stream. , Beyond this point the Pep6 deteriorates rapidly as a boating stream, alternately contracting and expanding, and becoming extremely circuit- ous. Some of the bends are so sharp as to trouble a long ranchada to pass them. The passage is also much obstructed by logs, and over- hanging trees. , A few miles above the Beniguad6 we found other ranges of hills, as shown on my map ; these were higher than those seen yesterday, rising in places to full 200 feet. Their general direction was the same, viz. nearly north and south, or a little west of north. "^'^f "t&y^ 65 About 11 miles above the hut, or 33 miles from the Baudo, we reached, at 1 o'clock, P. M., the point at which the Atravesia, or path across the dividing ridge, commences. Here the Pep6 varies in width from 20 to 40 feet, and we generally managed to pick out a boat channel of about 2 feet in depth. It is fre- quently, however, reduced to a mere gutter with a few inches of water. For some miles back, the banks were sometimes bluffs of from 20 to 50 feet high ; but generally they ranged between but 6 and 10 feet above the very bed of the stream. The ground on which stands the rancho at the Atravesia, is 12 feet above the present water, but is covered at times by floods. The current at our place of disembarkation was about If miles per hour. We did not see a sitigle monkey on the Pepe. Birds also v/ere very rare; but among them were two or three Eagles of moderate size ; and a few Toucans. The rancho at which we stopped was quite a large one, with three or four good sized rooms; and, inasmuch as the proprietor was a negro, the sides of the building, as well as the partitions, were closed. We saw no attempt at subdivision into apartments in any Indian habitation ; but in those of the negroes, the practice appeared to be general. The latter usually aim also at the possession of certain rudely made articles of fur- niture, such as tables, boxes for clothes, &c., to which the Indians seem- ed entirely indifferent. The gravel of the upper portions of the Pep6 was silicious ; some of the pebbles were as large as a man's fist, but none larger; neither did we see throughout the stream, any boulders, or the appearance of perfectly formed solid rock. Nor, up to this point, did the Pep6 exhibit any of the wildness of the sources of the Pato, the scenery being very tame throughout. We had kept a look-out for the India-rubber tree, but did not see one. The vegetation- generally resembled that along the other streams, including a few bamboos. , As we had the whole afternoon before us, and found that we could not procure a boat on the other side of the ridge until next day, we de- voted a few hours to bathing, and to washing our clothes. Not having an- ticipated so long a trip when we left Quibdo; and having brought but one change with us, we were obliged to do our own washing on several occasions.- .■:■"■■■■ -' ■■.■; "• . '.•-•.-■ •■■.-. One of the women of the house having crossed the creek as we were bathing, 'communicated the fact to the others, and we were honored by visits from all of them in turn. The only chance they should proba- bly enjoy of seeing white human bodies was not to be thrown away, and they remained until their curiosity was fully gratified. During the evening, several Indians who had been hunting in the vi- cinity, came to the house to spend the night. They had killed a variety of birds, monkeys, a peccari, &c. Their arms were lances, and bows and arrows. The latter were poisoned, according to the invariable cus- tom here. A good deal of mystery appears to be involved in the preparation of their poison, and we could not get at the true nature of its ingredients,- 66 although we had repeatedly made inquiries on the subject. Our bogas insisted that a small green frog furnished one of the elements; and on the Pato, our patron had pointed out to us one of these animals, assuring us that it was extremely venomous, and cautioning us particularly not to touch it. Doctor Halsted had, however, all along entertained but an indifferent idea of the venom of either the frog, or of the poison itself; and without heeding their cautions, caught the frog, and played with it in his bare hands for some time, to the great horror of the bogas. They sagaciously ascribed his immunity from danger to his being a "Medico," and, consequently, endowed with a charmed life ; an assumption that was confirmed by my declining the Doctor's pressing invitation to take the little dear in my own hands. To verify his suspicions of hum- bug in the poison business, the Doctor had taken the precaution to pur- chase supplies of it at our various stopping places ; and I must admit that his subsequent experiments with it, went far to bring me over to his views. We certainly could kill nothing with it, nor did it even produce sickness in the different animals which we subjected to its operation. Moreover, we observed that all the birds, monkeys, &c., that we liad seen killed with the poisoned arrows, had received wounds that would have effectually deprived them of life without any extraneous aid from poison. Confident that the collection of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences could not boast the scull of a Pepe peccari, I at once struck a bargain for the one brought in this evening, with a view of adding it to the museum of that Institution. The entire skeleton would have been troublesome to prepare in time, or it also would have been secured. The only pro- viso exacted in the premises was, that the women should first be allowed to convert the head into soup by boiling it ; and as the boiling process was precisely what was needed to prepare it for transportation, I gave my consent. Poor peccari, little did he dream, as on that eventful morn he washed himself in the tributaries of the Atlantic, and lunched at those of the Pacific, that ere another dawn he should figure in the double ca- pacity of soup and science, in the hands of the ruthless Anglo-Saxon. Forgive me, if, Peccari, peccavi. Soon after our arrival, two of the bogas started off across the partition ridge, in search for a boat. They succeeded in procuring one at a hut some few miles down the Surdcco, the tributary by which we were to reach the San Juan ; and moved her up stream to within a league of where we were on the opposite slope of the ridge. Next morning we sat off before sunrise, our host having informed us that by so doing we should reach San Pablo late on the same afternoon, be- fore the rain s)wuld begin. He was desirous that we should accept a present of cacao nuts, of his own raising, for preparing chocolate on our way; but as we had determined to press on ail day without stopping to cook, we declined his offer. He would not, however, let us off before taking a cup of chocolate with him. The women had even risen long before day to prepare breakfast for us ; but as habit had rendered it impossible to eat at so early an hour, we were compelled to resist their kind solici- tations to partake of it. It required many protestations on our part to allay the feeling of mortification to which our refusal evidently gave rise. We 67 were, however, most efficiently sustained by our patron, who not only assured them that we eat almost nothing, but exhibited a praiseworthy zeal in atoning for our short comings, by swallowing, at intervals between his sentences, plantains, boiled peccary, parrot, and monkey, sufficient for the whole party.* We had arranged with our sable friend to take care that our boat should be safely delivered to Seiior Posso, at Baud6; he having, on his part, undertaken to return her to her owner. As our bogas had left us the day before, to have a canoe in readiness for us on the Surdcco, we engaged two or three of our host's retainers to carry our baggage across the atravesia, or pathway over the ridge. This we found to be about three miles in length, as nearly as we could judge by the time required to walk it; namely, an hour and a half, at a very slow rate, the way being muddy, and the air extremely close and sultry. My previous observations at the mouth of the Baud&, and along the Pepe, having fully convinced me of the futility of any canal scheme by this route, I did not consider myself at liberty to consume time in making any exact measurements, which, ailthough possessing interest as solving a geographical problem, must necessarily postpone the period at which I could submit, to those in whose service I was employed, my final report as to the feasibility of this project. I therefore aimed at nothing more than to disprove the existence of the high mountain chain which has hitherto been supposed to lie between, and parallel to, the San Juan and the Pacific Coast. The non-existence of such a range is not only ren- dered probable by the moderate elevation at the point at which we crossed; but is, I conceive, fully demonstrated by the fact that none was visible from either the Baud6 or the San Juan. The broad level tracts to the west of the San Juan, or to the east of the Baud6, would frequently have afforded an uninterrupted view of any important elevation ; especially when we were descending reaches of the river, running nearly north-west and south-east ; in the same manner that those of the Atrato had enabled us to trace the course of the Western Cordilleras, at a far greater distance. The ridge of partition here presents a character essentially different from that of the atravesia at the head of the Pat&. We found the rate of ascent from the house to near the summit, to be very gradual. Through- out this portion, the pathway runs nearly parallel to a rivulet-branch of the Pepe, the fall of which is by no means precipitous. Its bed does not show the round siliceous pebbles of the main stream, "but merely flat ones of the indurated gray clay. At the head of this little branch we came to the ridge itself, which is bu): a trifling hill, apparently less than 150 feet in height, where the path crosses it ; and even some 30 or 40 feet lower within a few rods distance. Large canoes are frequently dragged across here, with very little trouble. Two had thus passed the day before. We did not see any siliceous peb- bles in crossing the western slope of this ridge, which consists chiefly of • Trifling incidents of this kind are mentioned, not with a view of imparting a cha- racter of personality to my narrative, bufmerely as confirmatory of my previously ex- pressed experience of the hospitable disposition of the inhabitants of this region, when properly approached. 68 gray and yellow clay. The pathway down the eastern slope is steeper than on the western ; and at points where the stratification was exposed to some depth, we found the lowest strata to be perfectly formed hard rock, consisting of cemented sand, gravel, and paving pebbles. Their strike appeared to be about N. E. and S. W., with a dip to the S. E. of about 55 degrees. We saw no boulders on either side. At the east foot of the hill we found our men waiting with a boat, in a small creek, called the Arastradero, tributary to the Surdcco ; but as the stream then afforded too little water to float the loaded canoe, we had to follow it about half a mile down, on foot, before we could embark. Its name is derived from the Spanish "arastrar," to drag ; and probably has reference to the portage across which canoes are dragged. It runs about eight miles before uniting with the Suriicco; and throughout this distance, it is but barely adapted to large canoes. After receiving the waters of the Suriicco, it becomes a very respectable ranchada stream ; while the addition of the Basurii, at some four and a half miles above the entrance into the San Juan, gives it an ordinary width of 50 feet, with a mid-channel depth of 4 or 5 feet. Before reaching the San Juan, the average width becomes about 100 feet; but it is much obstructed iu places by logs and bars. I have before alluded to the partition ridge as having, in my opinion, interposed a barrier to a further dispersion westward of the gold bearing drift, or diluvium, which, descending from the Western Cordilleras, has, like an immense flood, swept over the face of the intermediate region, showing itself at all points except where the more recent alluvial accumu- lations have covered it. In proof of this, we descended the Arastradero but a very short distance before meeting with the gold-bearing clay and gravel. We stopped for a short time at the hut at which our men had, on the preceding day, obtained the boat we were now using ; and on my re- marking to the colored master of the house, that the appearance of the soil indicated the presence of gold, he told me that the women of his family were at that moment washing for it in the immediate vicinity ; and on my expressing a desire to see the operation, he somewhat reluctantly offered to accompany me to the spot. This we found to be a deep deposit of gold-gravel and whitish clay, at least 25 feet thick, that being the height to which we ascended it above, the level of the stream. As our party emerged from the bushes on one side of the field of ac- tion, we caught a glimpse of the loose ends of some half a dozen diapers, " streaming like meteors to the troubled air," as the sable damsels who wore them, startled by our approach, suddenly dashed into cover on the opposite side. The old man, however, after much persuasion, and an assurance from our patron, that we (the Doctor and myself,) intended him no harm, took up one of the wooden . bowls, and filling it with the gravel, washed it hastily and presented the result for our inspection. In doing so, he trembled to such a degree that I thought he would let the bowl drop. He evidently mistook us for government spies, or some other obnoxious officials ; and to my question as to how much gold a person could collect in a day, he replied in a deprecating tone, not more than one or two dollars. 69 Convinced, from the sample he had shown, that this was entirely under the mark, and wishing to obtain some rude data for estimating the rich- ness of the deposit at this distance from its place of origin, I offered him two dollars if he would wash for me for a quarter of an hour. He de- clined, however, in the most positive manner. We afterwards witnessed the same repugnance in other localities; and on several occasions should have failed in our endeavors to purchase specimens, but for the timely intercession of our patron and bogas. About four miles above the San Juan, we passed the Rock of the Virgin of the Sur(icco. This is a vertical face of tough gray sand-stone, about 25 feet high, on the north bank of the stream. It is dedicated to the Virgin; and in a rudely dressed little niche, half-way up it, burning candles are frequently deposited to her honor, and to propitiate her pro- tection during the navigation of the stream. Three were burning in it as w^e passed; and as our men expressed a desire to stop a few minutes from motives of respect to the sanctity of tlie spot, we permitted them to Jo so ; and at the same time we ascertained the strike of the strata to be about N. 30° E., with a nearly vertical dip. We reached the San Juan at 3 o'clock, P. M., having expended four hours in actual boating, at the rate of about three and a half miles per hour. This gives 14 miles, measured along the sinuosities of the stream; or, as we judged at the time, about 8 miles in a direct line from the eastern foot of the dividing, ridge to the San Juan; or 11 miles from where we left the Pepe. Throughout the greater part of its course, the lands adjacent to the stream are flat and wet; especially for some few miles before reaching the San Juan, where they are perfect marsh. We found the mouth of the Surdcco to be about two and a half leagues below the town of San Pablo. On account of the current, and some bad rapids which occur in this interval, we required three hours of hard poling to traverse it ; still, we arrived at the town, as our friend at the Pepe had predicted, a little while before the afternoon rain commenced. Regarding this outline of our detour by way of the Pat&, Baud&, and Surdcco, as an episode in the narrative of the main route from ocean to ocean, by way of the Atrato and San Juan, I will terminate it at this point; and recommence at Qiiibdo, at which place we had diverged from our prescribed path. \: We returned to Quibd& by way of the Santa Monica, the San Pablo, and the Quito, which under these names form the main westerly branch of the Atrato. (See Map, Plate XL) Throughout our absence of seventeen days, we had, with but very few exceptions, escaped the annoyance of heavy rains during the day ; but as we approached within two or three miles of Quibd&, at 3 o'clock, P. M., it seemed as if the old town was determined to reassert, at once, its su- premacy in the matter of water privileges; for the rain actually appeared for a while to descend in a solid mass, completely shutting out the river banks from our sight; and causing us a good deal of trouble to keep our boat afloat by bailing. I suspect that the pre-eminence which we accorded to Quibd6 over the adjacent region, in the rain line, is not owing to a casual excess dur- 9 70 ing our stay; but more probably to its position at the confluence of three considerable streams, which, in the aggregate, expose a large superficies of water to the action of the atmosphere. I have frequently had occasion to remark, in tropical regions, that the prevalence of rain in particular localities, is very sensibly affected by the presence of sheets of water, even when of quite restricted dimensions. I may instance, for example, a la- goon some ten or twelve leagues inland from Carthagena, New Granada, in which I once spent several consecutive months of a dry season, on board of a dredging-machine. During this period, we had more or less rain, sometimes very violent, and frequently attended with much thunder and lightning, for three or four days in every week ; while, at the dis- tance of but 6 or 8 miles from us, in dry localities, not a drop of rain fell throughout the entire interval. On another occasion, I was stationed for some months about midway between two small lagoons eight miles apart. Here, during the dry sea- ■ son, three or four morning rains would fall over one of the lagoons, and three or four afternoon ones over the other, almost every week ; while the midway station would receive but one or two light showers, generally of but a few minutes duration, in the same time. The constant humidity of the air, at Quibd& especially, is a source of many annoyances. The store-keepers experience much difficulty in pro- tecting their dry goods from its injurious effects; and frequently sustain losses from mould, and from the running together or fading of the colors of many of their fabrics. Many articles of groceries likewise deteriorate rapidly under its influ- ence. Your table salt is semi-fluid; and spices generally, after being a short time on hand, might almost be mistaken for ingenious imitations in white pine, as they nearly lose all flavor. The clothes in our trunks were copstantly damp and mouldy, although we spread them out in the sun whenever an opportunity presented itself. Satin and velvet appeared to be soonest injured. Also, any article of leather or morocco, such as boots, dressing and instrument cases, &c., contracted mould with great rapidity; and bad to be overhauled and cleaned every day or two. Even the strongly scented Russia leather with which I had taken the precaution to have my note-books bound, suQered much from this source, although kept in a close box, and well wrapped in paper, • IJad iiot Mr. McGinn attended carefully to the airing of the effects left behind by Dr. Halsted and inyself dpring our absence, I suspect that IjQost of tl^e.m \yould have been ruined. ifhe blue-line^ of oiir ruled paper soon became nearly obliterated, although the red ones did i>ot appear to be affected. The rust had to be cleaned froEQ the steel, portions of my drawing ipstryments whenever X used tbem; and inany minor articles,, "warranted to keep in any climate,"' such as soft water-colors, Seidlitz powders, water-proof lucifer matches, &cl, soon became iiearly worthless. I should certainly recommend a portable s^eet-iron stove as a very essential contribution to not only the comfort, but the health, of any per- son who may be doomed hereafter to undergo a sojourn of even a few 71 weeks at Quibd&. Its use would, of course, be confined chiefly to the drying of wearing apparel and bed clothes. With the exception of light chills and fevers, the climate was repre- sented to us as by no means very prejudicial to the health of the natives; and we certainly saw nothing to suggest doubts of the assertion ; neither did any of our party (all, however, previously well acclimated,) experi- ence any sickness. But of some few foreign travelers coming from the in- terior, whom we encountered here, all were prostrated by fever. It is true, that in their cases, the sickness was probably induced or aggra- vated in a great measure by the privations and fatigue necessarily attendant on traveling across this country ; still, I cannot conceive that this region can be other than prejudicial to the general health of those who, having previously lived on dry land, suddenly find themselves compelled to as- sume an amphibious nature and habits. A great number of the lower classes are, it is true, affected by cuta- neous eruptions covering their whole bodies, and probably incident upon their constant exposure to wet ; but I did not perceive that they suffered pain, or even inconvenience therefrom. We could not, however, fail to observe a prevalence of mild chills and fevers, among this class espe- cially. On arriving a second time at Quibdo, I immediately sat about making arrangements for reascending the river to San Pablo, and from thence prosecuting my exploration of the San Juan. Our patron, Pedro Rociles, had so strongly recommended himself to us by his untiring industry, fidelity, and acquiescence to all our wishes, that I at once re-secured his services, and commissioned him to engage a boat and bogas; or more properly, peones, as the term bogas applies more strictly to those who manage the large trading boats from Cartha- gena. ' • The understanding was, that all should be ready within three days ; but, as usual, one difficulty after another presented itself, detaining us in Quibd& for twelve days. Time hung heavily on our hands during the interval ; for, as the suc- cessive procrastinations were but for a day or two, we could not devote them to boating excursions of sufficient extent to be of siervice ; and, as to pedestriauisiti, there is no ground to walk on. During oiie of our delays, however, Dr. Halsted distinguished hiniself by a skilful ainputatioh of an arm of apdor boga, who was accidentally shot in sport, by one of his comrades.- We' also experimented, unsiicbessfully, on various animals, with the Iiidian'^^ poison. As an ' apology for its' inefficiency, I shoiild, however, statfe that 'theiy' are said 'to employ a'more deadly kind wlieh wicti are 'the game pursued. They use both kinds, not only on thci'long arrows of their 'bbwis, but oh the short ones oF their bodoqueras, or'bldw-gtinSj in the' uise of which they are very expert. These blow-giins are made by tieing together two strips of pdlm, some three or four yards long ; in each of which a serai-circular groove, about an inch in diameter, has been previously hollowed out with great care. At this period, too. Father Och&a, (nothing abashed by the inauspicious 72 result of his communications respecting the height of the ridge between the Pat& and the Baud&,) endeavored to prevail on me to take him with me to explore the routes by way of the Arquia and Cacarica lagoons, near the mouth of the Atrato. The only pre-requisite insisted on was, that I should provide him with a few hundred bright gold dollar pieces, for propitiating the favor of the wild Cunos Indians who inhabit the interior mountains of that region; and over whom he assured me he could ex- ercise unlimited control. On this condition, he guaranteed to carry me from the Atrato to the beach of the Pacific, within the time that I could smoke a single segar. There is a magnificent route for you, gentle reader ; and a brilliant chance for distinction, for some future explorer. Many speculations have been urged upon the public respecting these routes, as well as those by way of the Napipi, and the San Juan. I imagine that they have their origin in the following circumstance : the mountains to the west of the mouth of the Cacarica, suddenly deviate from their north and south trend, and, making a great bend to the south- west, stretch over towards the Pacific ; leaving an immense expanse of marsh between themselves and the Atrato. (See Map.) • Spread over this marshy tract, are interspersed many lagoons of con- siderable area. These are drained into the Atrato by several Cctnos which enter that river at points comprised between the Tequerre on the south, and the Arquia on the north. The last is not shown on my map, inas- much as I did not see it, probably from its entrance being-hidden by the long grammalote grass. It enters the Atrato not many leagues above the mouth of that river. Now, to a person looking westward from any point on the Atrato, south of the Cacarica, the mountains appear to become lower, and finally to subside altogether, as they approach the Pacific. There are not, how- ever, tlie slightest grounds for imputing this effect to any other cause than the optical illusion which invariably attends all such cases ; and the assumption of it as proof of a depression in the mountains, is at least un- tenable. I certainly could not perceive, from either the Atrato or the Pacific, the most faint direct indication of the existence of any such depression. ■ The Indians of the mountains, and of the Pacific shore, do certainly . visit the Atrato with their canoes, passing through all the canos above mentioned. No one, however, could inform me, positively, whether they ; employed different sets of canoes on the opposite sides of the isthmus; or ■whether they dragged them across the intervening ridge. Even the latter case ^ould constitute no argument whatever, against the existence of a continuous inountain range ; inasmuch as the transportation of their ca- qoes across mountains is not here regarded as at all an onerous task. . I do not, however, doubt that the mountains can be much more readily crossed almost any where along this great bend in their course, than at any point more to the north ; and there is every reason to suppose that the Indians have here atravesias, or crossing-places of comparatively easy transit. A perfect level depression mat/ exist, but there is no reason to suspect it. 73 At the end of the first stipulated three days, Pedro called to inform us that his wife was sick, and probably would not recover for at least two days more ; and, of course, that respite was allowed. When it had expired, he again visited us with the announcement that his children had been at- tacked with the chills and fever. In consideration of this fresh affliction, we postponed our departure for two days more. But when they had passed, the family had not recovered sufficiently to justify Pedro in leav- ing them to their own resources on the banks of the Munguid6, where attentive neighbors were not only few and far between, but endued withal with that peculiar temperament which would have derived much more gratification from guzzling guarapo over the mortal remains of his pro- geny, during the absence of their honored sire, than from presenting them to him in restored health on his return. His own inventive faculties, however, suggested a resource in this dilemma. He had a bosom friend, who, in consideration of three reales (about 30 cents) a-day, would remain with his wife during our trip, and show her every attention that she could receive from himself. As I considered this very cheap, in view of the arduous services that the lady would probably exact, I sent Pedro forth to inform his substitute that I would cheerfully contribute the three reales per day. But, in consequence of the immense extent of Quibdb, or perhaps from having sunk in a marsh, or being lost in a fog, or some other equally credi- ble reason, he did not find his way back to our house untiLnext day. He had, however, had an interview with his friend during the interval; and had ascertained that the undying affection of his Pythias was some 70 per cent, more valuable than he had estimated it at, and was not to be hired out under five reales per day; the two additional ones being (theo- retically) to be applied to the payment of his meals while sojourning at his friend's house. Being very impatient to start, I, of course, did not demur at the strike; but at once despatched Pedro with the most strict injunctions, to have every thing ready for our departure by sunrise on the next morning. Possibly, I did not express myself in v^ry good Spanish ; for instead of next morning, he came the next evening; and instead of having every thing ready, hie had nothing ready. He had however just now recol- lected, that the boat had no toldo; and as to-morrow was Saturday, it ■would be utterly impossible, save by superhuman energy, to complete one in time for Monday, inasmuch as the peones whom he had engaged were pious men, and could not be induced to work at it on the Sabbath. But fortunately they had authorized him to state, that if I would allow them double pay for Saturday, they would put forth the super^Jiuman effort required, and by doing two days' work in one, would be ready by sunrise on Monday. ■• I at once advanced the extra pay; but on receipt thereof, the religious zeal of the peones waxed faint. They indulged in a spree on Saturday; but atoned for it by working at the toldo, like Trojans, on Sunday ; and brought the boat to our landing on Sunday evening. Having experienced much inconvenience from the want of height in our other toldo, w^hich did not admit of our sitting upright under it, we 74 had especially enjoined upon Pedro the necessity of making this one about four inches higher, and had given him a twig four inches long as a guide. We found, however, that it was precisely the same as the other; and on censuring him for the oversight, he referred us to the peones, who had constructed it, and to whom he had communicated our orders. They assured us that they could not do otherwise than they had, inasmuch as the present height was in conformity with the " costumbre del pais." This is an argument that admits of no rejoinder, and we had to be content accordingly. The boat was no larger than the one we had used before, and as in view of our longer intended absence this time, we were burdened with more baggage, it again became necessary to leave Mr. McCann behind. His detention, however, was attended by the satisfaction that we thereby secured a more extended series of observations on the river, inasmuch as he kept a regular table of its fluctuations. Although Dr. Halsted and myself were in readiness by daylight, yet our peones contrived to delay our departure until near noon. They had put off their purchases of provisions until now, on the plea that perhaps we might, after all, change our minds and not go. We had every reason to believe that the unexpected shuffling conduct of Pedro had been dictated (on the principle of sharing the spoils,) by one of our best apparent friends, whose station should, in the most special manner, have shielded him from any such imputation. It is even probable that we should have been subjected to still further delay, had it not been for the interference of the Governor, and Dr. Key. When we descended the river twelve days before, we saw it in a stage of high flood ; but now as we commenced our ascent of it, at noon of August 17th, it was at rather a low one, giving but eight feet in mid- channel at Quibdo. It will be remembered that I now refer to the W^estern branch of the River, which at Quibd&, takes the name of Quito; that of Atrato being retained. by the Eastern branch. I have before stated, that the ordinary stages of the Atrato at Quibd& may -be regarded as fluctuating between ten and sixteen feet in mid-chan- nel; and- that there are probably not more than thirty days in the year, (of irregular recurrence,) when it affords less than seven feet in thedeep- est'part of its cross-section at that place; although liable, for a few days enrerygrearj-tb become reduced to but scant three feet, .which mayalsO' be regarded as the least extreme low water channel '■ depth at any 'point beloijffi the: town; but of course occurs at more frequent intervals above it; ■ , ,,. '^ ■. , - ,^ ,. THKiQuiTo; rKOM.QaiBD&, to the Pato. While the river was in this ' low stage of but eight feet maximum depth at Quibd6, we found that seven feet could be carried up the Quito all the way to the mouth of the Pat6v onseventeen miles. By far the -longer portion of the distance in- deed, gave us greater depths, as we nearly every where could pick out a channel with from eight to ten feet, thus proving that at ordinary times the Quito would thus far afford at least ten or twelve feet. 75 When the stream was in high flood, at the time of our descent, some two weeks before, we had found as much as 18 feet, not only from the Pat& to Quibd&, but above the Pat& as far as the junction of the Certigui and San Pablo, or 32 miles above Quibd&. At that time, the current -was about three miles per hour in mid-channel at both the Pat& and the San Pablo, and, indeed, up to the head. It must however be borne in mind, that as we ascend, the channel becomes much narrower, as well as more circuitous, and encumbered with bars ; and would consequently require skilful pilots to navigate it with security. In many places we found the eight or nine feet channel depth, to be confined within a width of from 75 to 100 feet ; and with a shifting bed. The width of the stream varies a good deal; but for some miles below the Pat& it may generally be regarded as frpm 100 to 150 yards. At the Loma de los Palacios, or Hill of the Palaces, (a gravel bank about half a league below the Pat6,) it is contracted to 70 yards ; and at one spot just below the Paymado, it was but 100 feet when we ascended. The descent of the Quito, taken with the spirit-level at a point about three miles below the Pat6, was at the rate of 20 inches per mile. At the time of this visit, the bar at the mouth of the Pat6 was bare; and some twenty black women and children were washing fine gold dust from the gravel thus exposed. We had also seen a party similarly engaged, with their calabashes and wooden bowls, on a bar some two leagues above Quibd6, In this immediate vicinity, they can only work to advantage vehen a low condi- tion of the water exposes shoal places in the bed of the river. In other positions, the marsh mud, and other alluvial deposits, have buried the wide spread auriferous diluvium beyond their reach, except in certain spots where it shows itself in elevated bluffs along the river. But, until we ascend to near the sources of the streams, where the water is at nearly all times shallow, these bluffs almost universally form the steep sides of sudden bends, and, descend precipitously into too great a depth of water to admit of being worked by the primitive means at the dispo- sal of these people. I believe I have before stated, that gold is obtained in small quantities from the river gravel at Quibd&, whenever the water becomes suflSciently low for the purpose ; and that the authorities had been compelled to forbid the digging of holes around the town, vrhich is situiaited on a bluff, of gold-bearing gravel. " ■:■,;. r-. The entire bed of the Quito, together with those of its eastern tributa- ries, and of all the streams between it and the Western Cordilleras, are througbout, rich in gold. It is not, however, until we approach to within a few leagues of the Cordilleras, that the particles assume a size larger than what is generally known as gold dust. I procured specimens from many localities far apart, and invariably found them to be accompanied by the black ferruginous sand ; and, generally, by platina. In all cases, the gold was remarkably pure. Wherever bluffs of gravel show them- selves along the river above Quibd6, they contain gold. 76 The Quito, from the Pato to the confluence of the San Pa- blo AND Certigui, a distance of 15 miles ; or 32 miles above Quibd6. Above the confluence of the Certigui, the Quito loses its name, and is called the San Pablo. Its width here is but about one-half as great as at the Pat&, being on an average but about 50 or 60 yards. Its bed, however, is depressed to nearly the same distance below the tops of the average levees at both points, namely, some 18 or 20 feet in mid channel. Consequently, inas- much as the highest floods barely overtop these levees by some two feet, the greatest depth of channel-way in heavy freshets, is nearly uniform throughout the intermediate distance. But a greater ordinary channel depth than some seven feet, could not be safely calculated on, although by the removal of a single short gravel bar about a mile below the con- fluence, this might be increased to nine feet; or nearly as great as that assumed up to the Pat6 ; and with nearly as great a width, or from 60 to 80 feet. Ordinary depths of from 10 to 14 feet, however, are by no means of unfrequent occurrence up to here, the bed being quite irregular. We had carefully observed the bends of the stream, and judged that at ordinary stages, a steamboat 150 feet long could pass around all that we had seen up to this point. Our spirit-level, here indicated a fall of about 2J feet to a mile. Thus it appears that, were it not for the incessant fluctuations of this stream, which, within a few hours, frequently reduce it from its ordinary ample channel depth, to one of but 5 or 6 feet, and sometimes of but 3 or 4 feet, the Quito would present a magnificent steamboat thoroughfare to this point, which is, by my computation, 252 miles above the Gulf of Urab^, at Boca Coqulto. But at these low stages, which recur at periods altogether irregular, the width, as well as the depth, of channel-way becomes very much reduced; converting the Quito, indeed, into a mere respectable brook, barely suf- ficing for the larger ranchadas of the country. Moreover, the fluctuations in this branch of the Atrato are subject to much more frequent changes than the portion below Quibd& ; the latter being maintained in a compa- ratively equable regimen by the more constant and copious rains which fall on the Western slope of the Cordilleras. , The shifting of: the bars, and the number of sunken trees, which in- creases as we ascend,"tend still further to embarrass the navigation at low stages of water.* 'Great numbers vof these trees would have to be re- moved, were steamboats, even of small size, to be introduced. '• Above the Certigui, the bed of the stream maybe said, without exaggeration, to be literally covered with them. ' • , rrffi :>.-{iwfn'>'-t(!j; i.-'Wf)-' '?:■'■ ' , '"•■":; ■■''■, "■ ■ ".-■■-■.- '■, si,:',, >. -,; h The San Pablo from the Certigui to the Confluence of the Ras- PADUEA AND Santa (Monica, a distance of twenty-one miles. ■Approaching the confluence of the Raspadura and Santa ISfonica, the San Pablo has an average width of about 100 feet, but in many places is restricted to 60 feet. The width of the boating channel, however, here becomes reduced between 10 and 20 feet, with ordinary depths of some 3 to 4 feet. Near the Raspadura, the average depression of the bed of the 77 stream below the average summit of the regular levees, is about 9 to 12 feet. Consequently, the extremes of depth range from this latter limit, as a maximum, down to some 18 inches in the lowest stages, as a minimum. The bed, however, is much w^orn into pools with deeper water. An old negro, living on the banks of the San Pablo, but a mile above the en- trance of the Certigui, told me that even that far down, he could, at times, in almost every month, wade across with the water not above his middle, in mid-channel. At a point 4 miles below the Raspaddra, where the fall of the stream appeared regular, I found it to be at the rate of 4 feet to a mile ; but at another place, some two miles above the confluence of the Santa M&nica, at which also it appeared to be a fair average, a careful leveling of 300 yards in length gave a descent of 10 feet per mile. On arriving at the confluence, I wished to ascend the Raspadura, in preference to the Santa Monica, inasmuch as the former is the branch by means of which the Cura of N&vita is said to have connected the waters of the Atlantic with those of the Pacific, in the year 1788, as stated by Humboldt, on the authority of other jier sons. Our peones, how- ever, who were well acquainted with both streams, dissuaded me from the attempt, by assuring me that in the present condition of the water, we could not possibly force our boat up it, although she drew but eight inches. We afterwards found that we had to drag her along portions of even the Santa M6nica. So far as we could see up a short reach of the Raspaddra, from the place of confluence, it certainly appeared inferior to the Santa M&nica; being more encumbered by fallen trees, and exhibiting a more rapid de- scent and current. Having been assured, not only at Carthagena, but by old and intelligent persons in Quibd&, thatthe story of the Cur^s Canal was an exaggeration, I felt the less scruple in yielding to the confirma- tory representations of our peones, to whom I had not previously spoken on the subject ; having purposely omitted to do so, in order to obtain their unbiassed opinion ; and they were too much fatigued when we reached here, to select the more laborious route. The water of the Raspaddra was very muddy from the gold washing operations that were going on farther up the stream. We had passed small parties engaged in this occupation, at short intervals, all the way from Quibd&. Gold occurs more abundantly on the Raspaddra, than on the Santa Monica, in accordance with the general law of increase, in proportion as the streams head nearer to the Cordil- leras. The And^gueda has the reputation, throughout this region, of furnish- ing greater quantities, and particles of larger size, than any other of the tributaries. It will be seen from the Map, that this stream descends by several ramifications, from the spurs of the very Cordilleras. The gravel of its bed, especially in the more elevated sections, is re- presented as being surpassingly rich. Its collection, however, is attended with great labor, in consequence ofthe precipitous character of the stream. This has washed its bottom into a succession of deep pools, in which the most valuable depositions of the metal occur, but from which they are proportionately hard of extraction. 78 Dr. Key informed me that some years ago, a diving bell was brought over from England, by some adventurers, to be used in the deep pools of the Anddgueda; but for some reason or other, it was never applied to its intended purpose. At the distance of a few miles above the Certigui, the River Tarido enters the San Pablo from the west. At its head is an atravesia com- municating with the Charid6, a small branch of the Baud&. Similar pathways across the ridge occur at the heads of nearly all the principal tributaries of the Atrato which enter it from the west : inasmuch, as they all have their sources opposite to, and within a few miles of, streams leading to the Pacific. See Map. From the confluence of the San Pablo and the Raspaddra, to the head of canoe or ranchada navigation, a distance of eight miles, (or 281 miles in all from the mouth of Cano Coquito, or 61 miles above Quibd&,) the stream loses the former name, and is called the Santa Monica.* This is a mere brook, very serpentine, and fluctuating in its depth almost every few hours. Its bed is much worn into pools, so that in low stages a great portion of its length presents a channel, continually vary- ing from a few inches to two, three, or four feet of water. Near the con- fluence, its width between the banks generally ranges from 80 to 100 feet; and the depth of its bed below the tops of levees, from 6 to 10 feet; but as we ascend to the head of canoe navigation, these dimensions all be- come reduced about one-third part. The boating channel, however, usu- ally occupies but a small proportion of the width, frequently, indeed, but two or three yards. By leveling portions of its bed, and removing a great many trees, the Santa M6nica would become well adapted for flat boats ; but I should consider any further improvement a waste of money. The numerous depressions, or rather interruptions, of the levees of the Santa M6nica and San Pablo, caused by the entrances of tributaries, or of wide marshy tracts on the same level, appear to me to render hope- less all ideas of improvement in the depth of those streams by any pro- cess of embankments, either with or without accessory locks and dams. Frequently, portions of even the natural levees are precipitated into the river by the combined action of undermining, and of hydrostatic pressure of the back-water attendant on the rspid subsidence of the streams after an overflowing freshet. "VVhen we descended the Santa M(3nica, in a flood stage, a boat draw- ing three, or perhaps even four feet, could have navigated it in safety, notwfithstanding the great number of trees which cover its bed. But in ascending it now, the trees, for a few miles in the upper part, gave us a great deal of trouble ; and the water being in many places but 5 or 6 inches deep, we had to get out and drag our boat for considerable dis- tances at a time. The peones had occasionally even to scoop away the gravel with their hands in advance, to enable us to force her along. •The most erroneous map of the Atrato that I have seen, is one recently published by a. Member of the Royal Geographical Society of London. In it, the Atrato is said to be laid down from recent observations by the Chief Engineer of the New Granadian Gov- ernment. My own protractions confirm the superior accuracy of Col. Acosta's repre- sentation of that river, to a remarkable degree ; proving that neither he nor I can be much in error, although I was far from aiming at scrupulous accuracy in my survey of it. 79 After a few hours of this species of navigation, they became completely exhausted, and could proceed no farther ; so that at 2 o'clock, P. M., we were compelled to stop for the day, at a negro hut, less than half a mile below our intended place of disembarkation. Had I known we were so near it, we should have shouldered our baggage, and navigated on foot ; but the peones felt a delicacy in informing me of the fact, lest I should insist upon taking the boat along. We had the comforting a!ssurance, however, of experience, that we should not have to wait long for rain enough to allow us to proceed ; and, accordingly, as evening closed in, it came down in true tropical style. Although it slacked off considerably before morning, it still left us some three feet of water, so that by sunrise we were at the " tambo." This word, strictly interpreted, means a tavern ; but throughout Span- ish America, so called, it applies to any building erected at an erabar- cadero, or place of embarkation. All such erections necessarily partake, more or less, of the character of places of public entertainment, even though they afTord entertainment of no kind whatever ; or, (as in the case of that at the western end of the atravesia from the Pat6 to the Baudo,) cannot so much as boast of a regular tenant. This, however, which is called the Tambo de San Pablo, or of St. Paul, has a tenant; and serves as a receptacle for the accumulation of goods and produce while waiting either for bipedal beasts of burden to transport them on their backs across the atravesia or crossing place, to San Pablo; or for boats, or water sufficient to carry them down the stream. Here we were told that the Santa M&nica became as reduced as it was yesterday, (that is, to a few inches,) in nearly every month of the year ; and that in the Veranillo de San Juan, it in many places presented a channel but 3 or 4 feet wide, and 3 or 4 inches deep. Even up to this point, the immediate banks were levees, a little higher than the ground back of them. As we reached here on Sunday morning, we at first determined to make it a day of rest, prior to commencing our measurements and levels across the atravesia to the San Juan, on the next morning. But finding, after an hour's sojourn, that the character of the individuals just then congregated there, was not such as to invite overtures towards a cordial fraternization, we concluded to walk over to San Pablo, which is, by our measurement, but three and three-qnarter miles distant by the path; or three and a quarter in a straight line. Short as this distance is, yet when the pathway happened to be very muddy, immediately after a heavy rain, it sufficed for an extremely fatiguing walk. We were, in several places, compelled, while in a state of profuse perspiration, to enter water three feet deep ; and for a great portion of the distance to trudge through stifT mud, reaching to near the tops of our boots, and clogging them with some pounds of extra weight. Once we were full two hours and a half in crossing. It is true, poles and small squared timbers are laid along parallel to the path for much of the way, ostensibly for the convenience of travelers ; but they are usually so narrow and slippery, that I rarely availed myself of them. Yet this is the most traveled road or pathway in this region. Preparatory to setting off, I ascended the stream for a few hundred 80 yards from the tambo, to bathe. While enjoying this luxury, I was some- what startled for an instant, by the sudden apparition of a venerablcj grave-looking, white-haired, negro woman, who came wading slowly down the creek, holding a small totuma, or calabash bowl, carefully in her hands. In the surprise of the moment, I might have mistaken her for a respectable old baboon, taking a morning stroll, with a cocoa nut in its paws, had it not instantly occurred to me that that animal, with all its sagacity, had not yet adopted the practice of wearing diapers, or smoking segars. After an exchange of salutations, I approached her in as delicate a manner as the peculiar circumstances of the case permitted ; and, with more curiosity than politeness, begged permission to inspect the contents of the totuma. She consented; and I found it to be a small quantity of gold dust which she had just collected from the bed of the stream. Nearly the whole surface of the country is covered by a thick layer of the gold and platina bearing diluvium. Even the hill of Barro Blanco, (or white mud,) which is the highest ground between the Tambo and San Pablo, rising 144 feet above the former, and 247 feet above the latter, (See the "Route of the line of Levels" on the Map,) appears to consist exclusively of it; and there is not a single stream from the bed of which these metals may not be extracted. I conscientiously believe, from all I could learn of the richness of this strip of country, that were it in the United States, the gold that might be collected from the necessary excavations, would defray the entire cost of a first class railroad. This may appear to many to be the language of exaggeration ; but I can assure the reader that it conveys my sincere convictions. I will even tax his credulity still further, by asserting that gold dust is actually daily collected, (almost indiscriminately as regards details of locality,) over an area of at least some two thousand square miles of the Western slopes of the Western Cordilleras ; while the exportation of it from the Eastern slopes of the same range, annually amounts to some millions of dollars, even now. In many places, the banks of the streams exhibited layers of semi- bituminized leaves and branches in contact with the gold gravel ; in some cases above, and in others, either below it, or alternating with it. It is not the Atrato and San Juan alone, that penetrate to the EI Dorado of New Granada. The Great Magdalena, together with its great tributary the Cduca, "roll down their golden sands" from the same inex- haustible repository of nature's treasures. In the valleys of these latter streams some few rude attempts have been made at mining the gold and silver veins in a somewhat systematic manner ; and the exports of gold from them annually, amounts to some three or four millions of dollars. It goes chiefly to France and England. The hill of Barro Blanco is a singular isolated elevation, half a mile long, and but from three to five yards wide on top, with very steep sides, covered thickly with trees and undergrowth. In conformity with the " costumbre del pais," the pathway is carried over the entire length of the summit of this hill, instead of following the depressions that present themselves at the distance of but a few rods on either side of it, and apparently 60 feet lower, as nearly as we could judge by eye. 81 This circumstance, by the bye, reminds me that in speaking of theatra- Vesia from the head of the Pato to the Baudo, I accidentally left it as a matter of inference, instead of making it one of direct assertion, that that pathvvay also was traced upon the same principle ; and that ground some 200 feet lower appeared to us, at the time, to have been attainable for crossing the summit. The peculiar configuration of the hill of Barro Blanco, is not confined exclusively to it, but characterizes several of the other short ranges shown on my map. It will be observed, on referring to the " Route of Levels" attached to the map, that the waters of the Santa Monica, and of the Creek of Citar^, head close together. At this point, however, they are mere trick- ling runs when there is no rain ; although they afTord from one to three feet of water during, or for a few hours after heavy falls. Now, it is not only possible, but even quite probable, that a Cura, in- terested in the boating business, may have exercised sufficient influence over some of the gold hunting members of his flock, in the immediate vicinity of the spot, to induce them to cut down a few bushes, and hollow out a short gutter between some two similarly situated little runs on top of the ridge near the head of the Raspadiira ; and such a ditch may have been used as part of a canoe-slide across the intervening eminence, until filled up again by the rain-washes. That nothing more was done, is evident from Humboldt's remark that "when the rains are abundant, canoes loaded with cacao pass from sea to sea." Precisely the same kind of canal could now be made by a dozen ex- pert laborers, in a few days. But if done, it would be difficult to com- mand the energy required to keep it open. A few months' rain would fill it with gravel; the people would shrug their shoulders, and pronounce it a case of "Dios lo quiere," (God wills it ;) and the peones, rejoicing in the failure of the innovation, would again strap their heavy burdens to their foreheads, and trudge along contented, according to the "costumbre del pais." I was at San Pablo in 1852, or but 64 years after the date given to Humboldt as that at which the Gura's canal was dug ; yet persons living near the spot, both before and ever since that period, told me they had never heard of it ; nor did I meet with one, out of more than 50 persons familiar with the RaspadAra locality whom I interrogated on the subject, that had. This is not to be construed into a proof that no ditch was dug ; but merely that it was a work of such entire insignificance as to create little or no impression even in a region where internal improvements are entirely unknown. All, however, confirmed the statements made by my friends in Quibd& and by my Indian peones, and supported by what very little I saw of the Raspad(ira near its mouth, that that stream was both more rapid and more shallow than the Santa M6nica ; and that the atravesia between its head ■waters and those of the little Quebrada leading to the San Juan, was higher than that across which I ran my line of levels. The best evidence of this fact, however, is afforded by the circumstance that the Raspaddra route has, for many years, been entirely superseded by that of the Santa Monica, for both travel and transport. 82 The town of Sa\ Pablo contains about thirty houses or hutSj one story in height, built chiefly of pahn strips. Many of them are raised on stilts to avoid the freshets of the San Juan. Through the courtesy of Senor Abadia, one of the principal men of the place, we were accommodated with one belonging to him, and adjoining his own. Through the crevices between the rough palm strips of the partitions, we could see and hear, or rather, could not avoid seeing and hearing, all that transpired in the houses of our neighbors on both sides. Our previous tropical experience, however, had thoroughly inured us to such things; and we could, consequently, dress and undress with the most stoical indifference, under a battery of a dozen brilliant black eyes manoeuvred by inquisitive senoras and senoritas, equally black. Our baggage boxes served for chairs and tables ; and our meals were prepared for us, and sent to our house by a senora store-keeper, with whom we had made an arrangement for that purpose. They were, how-' ever, generally handed over to our peones; as from the style of cooking, we found it impossible to eat them, so long as we had a reserve of sar-' dines, crackers, and claret to fall back on. In most of the houses small shops are kept, the scanty supplies of which, are chiefly brought from Carthagena, by way of Quibdo. While the Pacific lines of British steamers touched at Buena Venttira, some little commercial intercourse was maintained between that point and San Pablo, by way of the San Juan. This, however, has now ceased; and the gold dust and platina, collected in the vicinity of San Pablo, now find their way chiefly to Carthagena, and thence to Europe and the United States, in payment of imported goods. The collection of these metals employs, more or less directly, nearly all the inhabitants of San Pablo and the adjacent region. The town stands on the east side of a small creek, about 100 feet wide, called the Quebr^da of Citara, which here fluctuates generally between one and five feet in depth, depending on the duration of the constantly recurring showers. Every year there occur high freshets, which give it a depth of twelve or fourteen feet, rising to near the floors of the houses. Senor Abadia told us that about thirty years ago, a flood in - the San Juan, aided by a simultaneous one in" the Quebrdda, raised the waters of the latter more than 20 feet above its bed, covering the floors of many of the houses to a depth of four or five feet. On the opposite side of the creek is a hill, apparently: nearly a hundred yards high. ' Dr. Halsted made the latitude of San Pablo five degrees nine minutes north; his opportunity lasted for but a quarter of an hour ; sufficing only fijr a single observation; and even it, he thought, might be in error some two or three minutes, I had no chance to observe for myself. We were not at all annoyed by mosquitoes while at San Pablo ; and but little by hejenes, (or gnats.) Very few birds were seen in the neigh- borhood ; nor did we encounter a single wild quadruped, or a snake of any kind, although we passed and re-passed between San Pablo and the Santa M6nica several times. / The town itself appeared to be somewhat infested by a few of that j loafing class, who regard time only as an essential element in smoking IK w-,T*-i-?^v^^-Ti *«;^i^ !_ . r 1^ J ■v^ ,.^p»i5^ji^^i^f,ij|^^Ti^w«frvii»«j;Tii.T«iJsMKTfl^^ :sy^-^iii^^im,T^::)t, ^it-X-i'L'L^'tL^ C^-'T- 83 and lounging ; and who, having no business of their own to attend to, intrude themselves into that of others. About a dozen of the most confirmed of these nuisances, some with, and some without shirts, and of all ages and sizes, selected our room, doorway, and window, as their stand, as soon as we had installed our- selves ; and here they maintained their position from morning till night, during our entire stay, except when a shower would scatter them for a "while. Although their visits were intended rather as complimentary than otherwise, we should have considered the custom much "more honored in the breach than in the observance." We found the price of provisions to be very high here ; plantains were selling at two cents a-piece ; shelled corn for bollo (a kind of corn bread, or more properly, a kind of corn putty,) at fifty cents an almoud (about twenty five pounds ;) and other articles in proportion. Such river floods as overtop the levees, frequently overthrow and de- stroy the crops of corn, and some other kinds of produce, along not only the San Juan, but also the Atrato, Baudo, &c. There is no church in San Pablo, which is the only Granadian town I ever saw without one. The sabbath is here, as in all Catholic countries, devoted not only to religious observances, but also to recreation, visits, and amusements of every kind. At San Pablo it is more especially marked by the arrivals of canoes loaded with produce from the negro ranchos along the levees of the San Juan. The proprietors of these usually avail themselves of the occasion to treat the females of their families with a shopping visit to the town; ■while they themselves engage in the nobler pursuits of drinking and cock- fighting. Although the stock of most of the shops comprises little more than half a dozen bottles of mata burro, a few handfulls of segars, and some three or four yards of coarse gaudy cotton handkerchiefs, yet some contain very fair assortments of such cheap crockery, dry goods, hardware, and groceries, as are in demand hereabouts. Our line of levels (see Map) showed that the bed, or bottom, of the San Juan at San Pablo, was 103 feet below that of the Santa M&nica at the Tambo of San Pablo, or head of canoe navigation; and that the low- est intervening ground at the summit between the two is about 183 feet above the former, or 80 feet above the latter. I say about, in reference to the height of the summit, because our levels were actually taken along the pathway over the hill'of Barro Blanco; and the depth of the depres- sions at the side of the hill was merely estimated by eye, inasmuch as its exact determination was a matter of no importance whatever in view of the great question af issue. The highest point attained by the pathway over the summit of the hill itself, is 144 feet above the Santa Monica, and 247 above the San Juan ; and the depression at its side, where the sources of the two Quebrddas approach nearest together, appeared to be about 64 feet below the sum- mit ; which would make it about 80 feet above the Santa Monica. The width of the San Juan at San Pablo, we found to be 450 feet. The depth, at the time we sounded it, was just five feet for nearly the entire distance across ; and the current in raid-channel, was three miles 84 per hour.* The adjacent banks were from four to nine feet above the then stage of water, making the depression of the bed itself from 9 to 14 feet below the tops of the banks. This was almost precisely the same depth that we had found at the time of our first visit. Sometimes, however, it becomes so reduced, that boys can readily wade across the river, as they do across the Atrato at Quibdo; while, on the other hand, in high floods, it overtops its levees some two or three feet, and inundates large tracts of back lands. This occurs every year; and generally, several times a year. From all I could learn, the ordi- nary depth in mid-channel at San Pablo, may be considered as ranging between five, and seven or eight feet. The bed of the river above, and for some leagues below the town, consists of large rounded paving pebbles of sienite, porphyry, and other primary rocks. The reader is now possessed of the most prominent facts bearing upon this locality in reference to the construction of a canal. To even the least initiated in engineering science, it must be self-evi- dent that the idea of a ship canal cannot be entertained for a moment ; while those better qualified to form an opinion on the subject, will, I doubt not, coincide with me in the assertion that the expenditure neces- sary to consummate a canal for steamboats of but six feet draft, could not be justified by any remunerating intercourse that could be anticipated between the two oceans by this route. After the mineral riches of this region shall have gradually drawn to- gether a new population of hardy and enterprising foreigners, (and this period, I venture to predict, is not very far distant,) then the necessity for a more regular medium of transport along the upper waters of the Atrato, and across the dividing grounds between them and the San Juan, •will force itself upon those pioneers. Then we may expect that slight im- provements, such as will afford an uninterrupted navigation of the streams by boats of some 18 inches, or two feet draft; and short connecting roads transitable by horses and wagons, (or by tjje loaded boats them- selves, placed on wheels,) will be made. But to look beyond this period, demands the gift of prophetic inspiration. It is to be regretted that, of the various representations that have been submitted to the public, as to the feasibility of the several inter-oceanic canal routes through this region, none have emanated from practical civil engineers. The authors of most of them, apparently, shelter themselves in the shadow of the illustrious Humboldt; and discard the evidence of their own senses, in favor of mistatements, however gross, innocently promulgated by that truly great man. Humboldt never visited any of these proposed routes, and is, therefore, no more qualified than any other person to advance arguments respecting them, requiring a personal acquaintance ; nor has he pretended to do so. I yield to none in veneration for the august name of Humboldt ; but I must beg leave to enter my protest against the silly parade of it as autho- rity, in cases in which he himself distinctly disavows all pretensions as such. The fact is, that his informants, as well as those of more recent • I suspect, however, that the velocity here would have been greater, had not a shoal existed a shoit distance below. 85 dale, have, either wilfully or through ignorance, slurred over difficulties, which, in the ordinary sense of the word, may be pronounced insur- mountable. As a rule of almost universal application, the superficial ob- servations of unprofessional travelers, have led to the propagation of erroneous ideas on all similar cases pertaining to the province of the Civil Engineer. Among the principal difficulties to be encountered in the construction of even a canal for small boats, of say 3 feet draft, is, first, that the San Juan is 103 feet below the head of canoe navigation on the Santa Monica; and that the lowest depression in the dividing ridge between the two streams is ahotit 183 feet above the former, and about 80 feet above the latter. We therefore should have (on the most economical mode of pro- ceeding,) 103 feet of lockage ; in conne.xion with a long cut of some 80 or 90 feet in depth at the centre; and a reservoir for supplying the sum- mit level. Besides these, the Santa Monica would require a good deal of im- provement, as before hinted; as would also the upper portions of the San Pablo, before they would be available for a tolerably regular system of navigation by boats of even 3 feet draft. Second; — The entire year may be regarded, practically, as one continu- ous rainy season. On this account, it would be altogether impossible to assign any limit to the period that would be required for the execution of the work; or to frame even an approximate estimate of its cost. Num- berless secondary inconveniences attendant on this source will suggest themselves to an experienced engineer; especially those of sickness, and the impassable condition of the soil for vehicles employed in transporting stone, timber, &c., for construction. It is well known that on the Panama railroad, the rainy season com- pels a comparative suspension of operations for nearly half the year; and the rains at the site of our canal, are fully as heavy as on the Isthmus of Panama; beside extending through the whole year. We also know that we may safely .state the cost of ^he Panama railroad at not less than about five times as great as if it had been in the United States : and if we as- sume but the same propprtion for :pur small boat canal, we shall arrive at an expenditure of abojit.five millions of dollars. " ., • " The interest, pa th'^'^m.iiaj^ddifipnjto^the expense pf anpual je^sirs, lock-teiiders,i|ge?jte, &ci,,V9Hy negroes stood by, anxiously watching every mouthful, with expressions of astonishment that we did not hurt ourselves with our knives and forks: for in this section of country, the adage, "fingers were made before forks," still applies in full force, except among a few families in the large towns. During the afternoon we had two or three smart showers ; but at dusk it began to rain hard, and so continued until midnight. The river however, fell nearly a foot. The next morning we started at sunrise, a thin mist hanging over the river, and adjacent marshes. The current was still full three miles per hour, so that with but one peone paddling at a time, and that very lazily, we made four and a half miles. At a mile below our starting place, we passed the mouth of the Dip- urdti, which here appeared to be. a mere creek, some fifty feet wide, and full of old logs. At its head is an atravesia communicating with the Sand&, a branch of the Pepe. A mile below the Dipurdd, in a straight reach of uniform cross-section, and where the width of the San Juan was at about its average of 200 yards, we found a mid-channel depth of nine feet for full half the width. ' Judging from the line of no vegetation alon^ the sides of the levees, I Vc' consider this^s what may be called a low ordinary stage, but which is doubtless frequently reduced to some six feet. At about nine miles, (or thirty-six miles below San Pablo,) we passed the river Sipi, or San Augustin, the largest tributary of the San Juan. About 12 miles below the San Augustin, or 48 miles below San Pablo, we passed the village of Noanamd, opposite which I stopped the rancha- da for a few minutes in order to make the sketch Plate XVI. Here the San Juan is about 250 yards wide ; and the current was full three miles per hour, notwithstanding the moderate stage of the river. Owing to the acceissioh of the waters of the San Augustin, we here found the depth oh the convex side of a bend at Noanamd to be thirteen feet for hatf -the Tfidth'of the Stream, thence gradually dncreasing to '27 feet near the concave sidel' Part of the banks for several leagues above, as -well as dlose to the town, consisted of the indurated tertiary grey clay, ^yith smaU fragriients of shells. " At Noanamd the.^istrike of its strata was'NE., •whha dip of some 15 or 20 degrees io;the SE. In other places wefound different dips to this same formation, Tanging from horizontal 'to vertical ; but the ^ strike generally appeared to be 'S. Eastwardly. , ■"'■[: As we paddled past Noahamd, our poor peones hailed every one they saw on the banks, (as they had done all the way down,) to inquire for plantains, or anything else that a poor half starved mortal could 'eat. But nothing was to be had. About sunset we again stopped for the day at a miserable negro hut, some 13 miles below Noanama, or 61 miles below San Pablo. Unfor- tunately for our hungry peones, the destitution of comestibles was here greater than at any of the numerous huts at which we had unsuccessfully applied during the day. 00 Iq vain did I suggest to the patron, the expediency of resorting to a heat little " ruse,^' which I had before known to be eminently successful in similar emergencies, viz; to walk around the premises, and by the most singular accident conceivable, to cut off the heads of two or three chickens by a single stroke of a machete aimed at an imaginary snake rustling in the adjacent bushes. He assured me, with a doleful face, that a most thorough reconnoissance had failed in detecting a single chicken track near the house. I then appealed to his best sympathies by uttering the single word, " platanos," (plantains.) He replied by the single word, " tampoco," (neither.) To my " nada.'" (nothing?) he despondingly sighed, " nada !" F*inally, I suggested the pleas of hospitality, religion, the Governor's letter, and, last of all, the respect due to the patron's own official position as a Judge, or Justice of the Peace, (which he actually held.) The Judge stood up to the suggestion like a man, and poured in a volley of hospitality, religion, letters, and respect for the laws, that might have melted the heart of a stone. But our hostess did not happen to be a stone; but merely the stump of a segar, attached to something resembling the out- lines of a mummyfied orang outang. While the Judge feelingly quoted the injunctten to " feed the hungry," and expiated upon the fine oppor- tunity that now presented itself, for a practical application thereof, the segar complacently persisted in evolving the most contemptuous volumes of smoke imaginable ; while the aperture in which it was inserted, auto- matically marked the termination of each tender appeal, by a grunt of " no hay nada," (there is nothing.) And, in fact, there was nothing ; so the Doctor and myself were com- pelled to provide for the whole party from our own scanty supplies. The only rain that fell to-day was a few drops early m the morning, and a thunder shower of half an hour's duration in the evening. The river fell two feet in the course of the night. Next morning we gladly left this inhospitable spot an hour befpre sun- rise, and proceeded on our way, hailing every hut we passed in hopes of finding provisions. On these occasions, the colloquy between the patron and the people on the banks, was usually in this style : Spanish. English. . Patron. Adios Amigosi How do you do, friends t ,',Dogs. Bow, wow, wow. The same. Hut. Adios senores. How do you do, gentlemen. Patron. Hay platanos 1 Have you plantains ? Hut. iNo hay- We have none. Patron. Una gallina 1 A hen 1 Hut. Tampoco. Neither, Patron. Hu^vosl > Eggs J Hut. Tampoco. Neither. Patron. Ca£a 1 Sugar-cane % Hut. Tampoco. Neither. Patron. No hay nada t Have you nothing t Hut. Nada absolutamente. Absolutely nothing. Patron. Valga meDios. Adios Amigos. God help me. ' Good bye, friends. Hut. Adios Senores. Que vayan, us- Good bye, gentlemen; may you go with tedes con felicidad. happiness. Bogs. Bow, wow, wow. 91 Fortune, however, smiled on us at last ; and at an Indian ranclio we ^ purchased chickens, eggs, and plantains, sufficient for all hands ; beside shooting a wild turkey. At another Indian hut, about 24 miles below Noanamd, we stopped to cook our breakfasts. The proprietor was a grave, and very respectable looking old man, somewhat sleek and rotund; and altogether decidedly civilized and aldermanic in his general appear- ance, which presented a striking contrast with the usual semi-barbarous aspect of his countrymen. He had been indulging rather too freely in guaripo the night before ; and was still asleep when we entered, although it was 10 o'clock. Unaldermanlike, however, he was on top of a table, instead of under it. A handsome silver-headed cane reposed by his side ; and about a dozen massive silver rings graced each ear. From this, I inferred that he was a kind of chief, or ring-leader of a tribe. At last he awoke, and sat upon the table in a state of semi-consciousness, while his wife washed his face, and swabbed him down with a rag. Revived by this operation, he began to look stupidly around him ; and I at once apologized for having ventured to intrude upon his domains ■without permission. He smiled good naturedly, and merely replied in a bland tone " the old man is your servant." We generally found the Indians to be taciturn, as regards putting questions to us, although they invariably replied to ours with entire readi- ness, and in a kind friendly tone. They also appeared to be as devoid of curiosity as our own Indians ; and never annoyed us in the least de- gree by intrusiveness of any kind. They speak both Spanish, and their own peculiar idioms; but the Negroes speak Spanish only. At, and below Noanama we passed many painted, and a few tattooed Indians. Some of the latter were perfectly diabolical looking objects ; and our sense of propriety was at times severely tested in refraining from laughter at their comico-lugubrious phizes. Along here, the sand-fly gnats began to be troublesome on shore, whicK is becoming lower and more entirely swampy, except where broken by hills. The rivers Cucuruppi and Cop&ma, which we passed to-day, appeared to be each about 100 feet wide at their mouths. The Guapdgara seemed to be but a small creek ; as did also the Decordb,* the Jusiad6, and the Panamd,. The Munguid6 has a, width of perhaps 200 feet at its mouth, anJ* looked like a fine stream. At half a league below the Munguid&, commences an island half a league in length; which, by a slight oversight, is incorrectly shown on the map. At its lower end we found a negro rancho, at which we stoppied at sunset, having descended the river about 90 miles below San Pablo, or 42 miles below Noanamd. Miscalculating the length of our trip from Acosta's map, we had ex- pected to reach the Pacific to-night ; but we were here told that a full day's voyage yet remained to be performed. ■ At this point we found the current to be about 2^ mile's per hour. The • The terminating " do," means river, in the Indian dialect. Quibdo, is the river of gravel ; Murind6, the river of mud ; Mungnidd, the river of mosquitoes, &c., as given to me by Lieutenant Porras of Quibdd. 92 island was some 6 or 7 feet above the surface of the river ; but our host, who has lived on it for a quarter of a century, told us that the San Juan sometimes rises here as much as 10 feet above the stage in which we saw it ; submerging the island, the levees, and a very wide tract of back country on both sides. We noticed many bats flying about the house, and clinging to its ceiling ; and were much annoyed by gnats. There was rain for about an hour in the middle of the night. When we started next morning, our host accompanied us. We were pretty certain that we should not reach the ocean until after dark ; and as the river has several mouths, and our peoneshad never been here be- fore, there was a reasonable chance of losing our way, unless provided with a guide. I therefore proposed to the master of ihe house, that he should go with us in that capacity ; and he good naturedly consented. A set of soundings taken about four miles above the confluence of the Caliraa, at a place where the width of the San Juan was some three hun- dred yards, gave but three feet of water, extending from one bank to near the centre of the stream. The other half of the width, however, varied from 20 feet deep near the sides, to 45 feet in the centre. Our new pilot told us that the river did not fall sufficiently low to expose the shallow portion of the bed, more than three or four times a year. The clay and mud levees about here, were generally from three to five feet above the ordinary stage of water as we now saw it. The River Calima enters the San Jtian about nine leagues above Chi- rambira. When we returned from the Ocean, we ascended it several miles on our way to Buena Ventdra ; and I will refer to it more fully in the proper place. At four leagues below the Calima, or five leagues above Chirambira, we reached the point at which the San Juan bifurcates into the two chan- nels which constitute the northern and southern boundaries of the delta at its mouths. The principal volume of water flows through the southern branch, which still retains the name of San Juan. Its width appeared to be about the sanme as for some miles above the point of divergence, namely, near 300 yards ; with a mid-channel depth of between six and seven fathoms. This branch, however, is not used, on accountof the' formidable obstruc- tions of bars at its mouth. The inorthern branch is called the Cano ChirambirS.; and has, ^' its junction with the southern one, a width of but 160 yards; with.a jnid- channel jdepth of three fathoms. > ^ B^fpre, reaching the Oceari, this cano separates into other tranche^, which discharge into the Pacific, through their respective jmouths, as .shown on the Map. Plate XVIII. At about two leagues from the Ocean, Cano Estevanico diverges to the south ; and at one league, Caiio Chogororad passes off to the north. At the last point, Cafio Chirambira has gradually attained a width of some 200 yards ; but its channel-depth has diminished to ten feet at ordinary low tide of the Pacific. At half a league from the sea, CaSo Chirambird turns to the southward, and enters (in a distance of a few hundred yards) 93 the head of the insignificant bay of the same name ; while Cano Churi- mdl, forms the straight continuation of the principal body of the water. See Map, Plate XVIII. This branch widens rapidly as it approaches the sea. Both Caiio Chirambir^ and Caiio Estevanico, are nearly dry at low wa- ter, near their respective entrances into the bay. It is, indeed, only by a stretch of geographical courtesy, that this sheet of water can be called a bay. At extreme low water, more than three- fourths of its area are dry. It is, moreover, rapidly filling up with mud brought into it by Canos Chirambir^ and Estevanico ; as well as that from thf; circumjacent mangrove swamps. Senor Carcdche, the proprietor of Chirambira, has resided in this purgatory for twenty-two years ; and he informed me that he has seen large ships float at anchor at low water, in portions where they would now ground at the highest tides. At that time there existed, according to his statement, an ample depth of water over the bar, for the entrance of merchant ships; while the bay itself, constituted a safe and capacious harbor of refuge, to which vessels fre- quently resorted in stress of weather. He assured us, moreover, that a good entrance channel, with some four or five fathoms of water, still re- mains. Of this, however, we perceived no indication from any point to which we could venture out in pur boat, after having taken the precau- tion to convert her into a " bolsa," by lashing stout poles to her sides, to prevent upsetting. On the contrary, the whole coast, as far as we could see, for several miles above and below the bay, appeared to be defended by continuous parallel lines of bars and breakers. The sketch (Plate XVIII,) which I have given of the bay, is an extremely rude one, based merely upon rough estimates of distances by eye, aided by compass bearings, taken from a canoe as it was being paddled around close to the shore at high water. The soundings were made near the time of ordinary low water, and are tolerably approximate for that stage. A reference to the sketch will show that a small part of .the bay has a sufficient depth to render it available as a harbor of refuge, in case there should really be an entrance to it across the outer bar. On this point I am not prepared to give a definite opinion ; for, on the one hand, I am uhwillihg to assume that Senor Carc^che's long residence at Chirambir^ had rendered him indifferent to the doctrine of future punishment ; while, . on the other, I could see no interruption in the long lines of outside bfealcers sufficient to warrant the suspicion that he was correct. We did'' oui-'besf to determine the point by actual sounding; btjt were driven back by the roughness of the sea. We could procure no vessel larger than dill: small ratichada; and, in view of the hopelessness of an inter- oceanic canal,, as established by my examinations^ in the San Pablo re- gion, I did not consider it worth while either to incur any serious risk, or to remain at Chirambira for a perfectly calm day. Chirambird consists only of the dwelling of Seiior CarcAche, and a few wir6tched out-huts, without sides, for his dependants; (see Plate XVII.) It occupies a short narrow strip of low sand beach, the only habitable spot around the bay. All the adjacent country is mangrove swamp, overflowed by high tides. Indeed, the buildings themselves are occa- 12 94 sionally insulated by extreme high water; so that it would be difficult to imagine a more ineligible spot for a habitation. Had it not been for the precaution of taking a pilot, we should certainly have dropped down Cafio Churimal, and gone to sea ; for the night was perfectly dark for some time before we reached the point at which Cafio Chirambird diverges at right angles from the larger Churimdl branch; and as the rain was at the same time pouring in torrents, we could not see the proper course. Our pilot, however, found it by some instinctive faculty ; and very soon the tossing of our boat proved that we were near the ocean. After half an hour's uncomfortable expectation of being upset in the dark, we at last landed at the only spot where landing was possible, in front of the huts. All the occupants had retired for the night ; but our pilot " knew the ropes," and guided us to the largest one. Of a portion of this we took possession, and were soon asleep on the hard lloor, supperless, and unmindful of the trickling streams that fell on us from the holes in the roof. Our observations at Chirambird, which are embodied in the Map, Plate XVIII, occupied us for two days; and early on the morning of Thurs- day, September 2d, we left it for Buena Venttara, via the San Juan and the Caliraa. I had remained well during the entire trip, until, singularly enough, while in the act of drawing in my lead line, after taking the last sound- ing in the bay, I was attacked by a severe chill. The reflection, how- ever, that I had fully accomplished the object of my mission, served to alleviate what would otherwise have proved a very harassing incident; and, as I stretched myself out on the palm strip floor, during the subse- quent paroxysm of fever, it was with the independent feelings of one who could now aSbrd to be sick. It rained every day and night while we were at Chirambird, ; not con- tinuously, but in a succession of hard showers during the day, and pretty steadily throughout the night. As we ascended the San Juan on our return, I had an opportunity of supplying some compass-bearings and distances, which the darkness of the night had prevented me from ob- taining as we descended. Traveling against the current, we gained but 20 miles the first day, although we kept on until after dark. We should have done better bad •we not stopped for half an hour to enable our pilot to pay a flying visit to a friend living on the bank. Two of our peones accepted a pressing invitation to accompany him ; the consequence was, that they all imbibed so much guardpo as to prevent the pilot from returning at all ; while the peones, for the'remainder of the day, were continually " catching crabs" •with their paddles; and turning summerisets, sometimes into the boat, and sometimes into the water, from which we had to fish them out. The hut at which we passed the night, consisted of but one room ; / and was occupied by five families. They did not, however, lie about the floor' promiscuously ; but each family, on retiring, spread for itself a separate tent, each about five feet long, and three and a half feet high. Delicacy forbade my lifting the side of a tent, to see how they packed themselves away, but from their numbers it must have been much in the cozy style of boxed herring. 4,-- ./ "is'^ -It" f lOjf< tZtiu-mil- J'^vjcklin. InstUaie' VoLXXym.34 SerFlaf^yAOTf. F.S.Buiral.i!Cii.JuamUti^fr€tt,F/ia^ 95 It rained heavily during the night until daybreak. At 9 o'clock next morning, we reached the mouth of the Calima, and commenced the ascent of that stream. I had been quite unwell all the preceding day, and still continued so. It was only by extremely unpleasant exertion that I could continue, and note down the few very superficial observations that I made respecting the Calima, and the remainder of our route to Buena Ventfira. This branch of the San Juan enters the latter at about 9 leagues from the Pacific. Its width at its mouth is above 200 feet ; ,and this width it preserves for four or five miles, with a mid-channel depth of full 12 feet at ordinary stages. At 10 or 12 miles from iis mouth, it has an ordinary mid-channel depth of 10 feet ; and a width generally varying from 125 to 175 feet. Its levee-banks, as far as we ascended it, were clay and mud, containing beds of old leaves and branches of trees. Back of them the ground was swampy. Gravel shows itself in a bluff near the mouth, and also some ten miles above it ; and throughout, low bluffs from 15 to 20 feet high occur. We saw no nearer approximation to rock than the indurated gray clay occasionally. At 5 o'clock P. M., we stopped for the day, nearly 6 leagues from the San Juan. From here upwards, gravel becomes more abundant, bo\h in the bed of the stream and in the banks. No rain to-day or to-night! ! At about seven leagues from the San Juan, we left the main Calima and entered one of its branches, called the Guineo. Up to this point the Calima was rarely under 40 yards wide. We followed the Guineo but about a mile, and then entered a branch coming from the S W. This latter is a trifling stream, averaging from 6 to 8 yards wide : very serpentine, and with but from one to two feet of water when we ascended it. Its very bed is generally between five and eight feet below the tops of the banks; and is full of old fallen trees, and Jogs. The banks themselves consist of clay, mud and layers of old leaves. At a few spots we saw the indurated gray clay, disposed in nearly horizontal strata, and occasionally containing so much coarse sand and gravel, as to constitute a species of soft sandstone. This little branch we ascended for some eight miles to the place of debarkation. Here we left our boat, and walked across a pathway about one and a half miles long, to the stream which was again to carry us to the Pacific, at Buena Ventfira. , Before leaving Chirambird,, I had communicated to the patron and peones, my intention not to return to San Pablo and Quibd6 ; but had secured their services to accompany us across the atravesia, at which we had now arrived. Here they strapped to their foreheads the little baggage which Doctor Halsted and myself had brought with us, and started off for the Puerto de Guineo, half a league distant. At my request, the Doctor accompanied them, in order, if possible, to secure either a canoe for proceeding at once to Buena Ventdra ; or a l)lace in which to lodge for the night. Being myself excessively weak Irom fever, I did not wish to impede our progress. The walk of a mile and a half occupied me two full hours. The pathway is across an ele- vation which I judged to be less than 100 feet above the stream we had just left ; and still less above that to which we were going. The soil is 9G clay, resting on the indurated tertiary gray clay. I saw no fragments of shells in the latter, at this place. When I reached the other end of the atravesia, I found that in conse- quence of the approach of rain. Dr. Halsted had not been able to induce the boatmen of the Puerto to take us to Buena Ventura, (distant 4 hours,) that evening; but he had secured a very good lodging place in one of the half dozen huts which constitute Puerto de Guineo. Next morning at 6 o'clock, we bade farewell to our faithful patron Rociles, and his peones; and entering a canoe we reached Buena Ven- t6ra at 10 A. M. This is a mean hole, about as large as Quibd&, consisting chiefly of one main street, and containing about a hundred huts, and tumble-down frame houses, many of them two stories high. It stands on one side of the little bay of the same name, between which and it there is no paral- lel thoroughfare; but, at low water, a wide mud-flat. The town itself stands on dry land ; and there is a slight hill of the gold-bearing diluvi- um in its rear. AH else is marsh. The visiter who ascends the hill, will be rewarded by a birds'-eye view of the town, and the bites of a thous- and y^vis, or minute seed ticks. After a delay of five days, we took passage in a little coaster, (a cross between a tub and a sieve,) for Panama, where we arrived safely in a few days.