INTEODUCTION. 
The Isthmus of Panama, that part of New Granada which, Hke a bridge, connects the 
two great continents of America, their Flora, Pauna, and races, hes between the fom'th 
and tenth pai'allels of north latitude and the seventy- seventh and eighty-third of west 
longitude. It comprises the districts of Panama, Veraguas, Darien, and Boca del Toro, and 
is in its narrowest part only twenty-seven miles across. Bounded on the north and north- 
east by the Caribcan Sea, on the south and south-west by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by 
the rivers Atrato and San Juan, and on the west by Mosquitia and Costarica, it presents the 
configuration of a bow, and an extent of surface, including the islands, of 34,700 square miles, 
an area nearly equal to that of Portugal. 
The adjacent oceans are happily free from the visitations of those fearful tempests which 
render the seas of China and both Indies so dangerous. But they are favourable to the 
formation of waterspouts. A cloud is seen rising, the wind shifts into another quarter, and 
navigators behold a tubular body of water with a gjTatory motion from right to left, the 
same direction as that of the hurricanes of the northern hemisphere. Excitement prevails 
on board : the sails are trunmed, the helm is put down, all means ai'c used to escape. 
However, at times before the preventive measures can be completed the waterspout is near ; 
it comes closer and closer, till at last it overwhelms all, the sails, the ship, the men. Directly 
the phenomenon is past, the wind returns to the former quarter, and everything assumes 
its usual aspect*. The water seldom loses its glassy smoothness. During the rainy season, 
when calms and light winds mostly prevail, it often looks hke an inland lake. Pelicans 
are seen in great numbers, some fishing, others quietly sitting on the surface, their large 
bills giving them a grave, almost dignified, appearance. Now and then, as a boat passes, 
yellow water-snakes will suddenly erect their heads, and show their fangs with an angry 
hissing, as if to chide their disturbers ; occasionally shoals of grampus enliven the scene, 
splashing, leaping, and hunting dexterously. 
* The sliips of Columbus, when on tlie coast of Veraguas, were often endangered by waterspouts ; the 
Pandora, the tender of the Herald, was struck by one near Punta Mala. 
