ILLUSTRATIONS (18). CALIFORNIA. 433 



(boxa) to the mouths of the Ganges ; so that the countries of 

 the Aurea (/>.. the Chei jus Aurea of Ptolemy are 

 situated, in rel ition to the eastern shores of Veragua, a^ Tor- 

 tosa (at th^ mouth of the Bbro Lb in relation to Puentarabia 

 (on tli«' Bidassoa) in Biscay, or as Venice in respect to Pisa." 

 But, although Balboa first Baw the s« »iuli S a from the heights 

 of the Sierra de Quarequa, on the 25th of September,* it was 

 eral days laic- before Alonzo Martin de 1' >n 1! oito, who 

 had discov< red ap • from the mountains of Quarequa to 



the gulf of San Miguel, embarked on the South Sea in a 



canoe. j- 



The recent acquisition of the western coast of the New Con- 

 tinent by the United State- of North America, and the fame 

 of the golden treas u*< - of New now called Upper ( California, 

 have rendered the question of forming a direct communication 

 between the shore- of the Atlantic and the western regions, 

 by the isthmus of Panama, more urgent than ever. I, there- 

 fore, c insider it my duty here once more to direct attention 

 to the fact, that the shortest route to the shores of the 

 Pacific, a- pointed out by the Datives to Alonzo Martin 

 de I><>n Benito, is in the eastern part of the Isthmus, and 

 led to the Grolfo de San Miguel. We know that Columbusj 



BOUght for a narrow pass estrecho de tierra iirme : and in 



the official documents extant, of the dates of L505, 1507, and 

 (specially in that of 151 1. mention is made of the Bought-for 

 opening abertura), and of the pass passo , which, in this 



district, should lead directly to the "Indian Land of 



Spices." A channel of communication between the Atlan- 

 tic and the Pacific, is a Subject which has more or less 



Occupied my attention for the space of forty years: and in my 

 published works, as well as in th al memoirs which, with 



honourable confidence, the Free States of Spanish America 

 have requested me to write. 1 have constantly recommended 

 a hypso metrical survey of the Isthmus throughout its whole 



length, hut more especially at two points, viz., where at 



Darien and what was formerly the deserted province of 

 Biruquete, it joins the South American Continent, and where, 



* Peter Martyr's Epist. <lxl. ]>. 29 



+ Joaquin Aeosta, Compendia hist, del Descubrimiento de la 

 y ic ■■<! Granada, p. 4;t. 

 £ Vida del Almirantepor Don Fernando Colon, cap. 90. 



2 F 



