78 ISTHMUS OF DARIEN. [May 12, 1856. 



4. Extracts from a paper on the Isthmus of Darien, 

 By Dr. Cullen. 



Near Cana, on the river of the same name, which is an affluent of the Tayra, or 

 Santa Maria, from the west, was situated the famous gold mine known as 

 *' Mina Reale," in the Cerro del Espiritu Santo, the richest that ever was worked. 

 I read (he says) by permission of the governor, Don Jose de Obaldia, in the 

 archives of the Treasury of Panama, the account for a number of years of the 

 sums transmitted to Spain for the King's vientaro, or twentieth, from this 

 mine (the Royal quinto, or fifth, having been reduced at an early period to 5 

 jDer cent.). They averaged upwards of 3,500,000 dollars per annum, which 

 would give upwards of 70,000,000 dollars per annum for the whole produce ; 

 a prodigious return, considering that there never could have been many more 

 than 300 or 400 negro slaves mining. The town, Santa Cruz de Cana, had 

 two bakeries, a strong garrison, nine villages or missions, and many farms and 

 hunting establishments in its vicinity ; a vestige of it does not now remain. 

 My guide, and one of the four Indians whom I employed to clear a path, were 

 bom in it, but left it with the last remnant of its inhabitants, more than 

 twenty years ago (1850). In the course of my journey I got out of various 

 spots, where 1 picked and dug, upwards of 3 lbs. of gold, 22 carats fine ; and 

 I found the soil on the banks of all the streams where I dug to be much richer 

 than any I had met with on the branches of the San Joaquin or the river 

 Mariposa in California, and I found several pieces of rock with veins of gold. 



The Mina Eeale was closed while in a high state of productiveness by order 

 of the King of Spain, in 1685, on account of the incursions of the Buccaneers. 

 Besides the Cerro del Espfritu Santo, several mountains in the vicinity are very 

 rich in gold, as the San Juan, San Jos^, Tumbasabe, Setegante, &c. &c. About 

 the sources of the river La Marca, which is an affluent of the Tayra, about 15 

 miles from its mouth, and especially at Tayecua, the finest gold is procured ; 

 and on the Eio Balsas, which flows into the same river, about 3 miles above 

 the La Marca, gold is found abundantly near the villages Camoganti and 

 Tucuti. I found auriferous soil in many places, as at San Bartolome, Juan 

 Dias, Mariprieta, Pan de Azucar, &c. ; gold is likewise got at Penonome, 

 and there are very productive mines at Santiago, and Concepcion in Veragua : 

 near Santiago, on the estate of Senor Romero, ex-governor of Veragua, the 

 average return last December was 5 lb. of gold for 25 lbs. of auriferous dust. 

 During the years 1800-1804, there were introduced from the provincial trea- 

 sury, from the river Concepcion audits tributaries, 2067 lbs. of gold to pay the 

 3 per cent, due on the produce of these washings. But none of these can 

 compare with those of the Isthmus of Darien. The wealth which the old 

 Spaniards derived from this isthmus, and the consequent importance they 

 attached to it, may be estimated by the number of forts which they maintained 

 in various parts. About Boca Chica only there are the ruins of four — the 

 Fuerte del Principe, commanding the old road from the Pacific to the Atlantic, 

 is situated near the head of the Tayra, about 25 miles from the giilf of San 

 Miguel ; and at Yavisa, on the river of the same name, also called the Chico, 

 a tributary of the Chuquanaqua, is a fort large enough to require a garrison 

 of 200 men. 



The earliest settlement in South America was at Santa Maria del Darien, 

 near the mouth of the Atrato, and from this Vasco Nuiiez de Balboa crossed 

 the Isthmus, and on the 26th of September, 1513, discovered the Pacific in the 

 gulf of San Miguel, most probably at Morro Paterio, near Plaza Guadara and 

 the river Moguey, both perhaps named by him. 



