8 ALLAN HANCOCK ATLANTIC EXPEDITION REPORT 



A total of twenty-one stations were established in the Caledonia 

 Harbor area (see Chart no. 2), ten on the eastern lap of the voyage and 

 eleven on the western. Of these, one was dredging from the Velero III 

 outside Caledonia Bay in 28-29 fathoms, gray mud, at a point 2 miles 

 east of Isla de Oro; five were dredging from the small boat within the 

 bay in depths from 1 to 15 fathoms, mud, shell, and fine sand; four were 

 shore collecting, at San Fulgencio Point, on a reef near Outer Rock, and 

 at the Indian village ; two were seine hauls on the mainland beach oppo- 

 site the anchorage; two were dipping and netting from the skiff and one 

 diving with the helmet on the reef near Outer Rock; two were in brack- 

 ish and one in fresh water of Rio Aglasenigua; one was dipping at the 

 gangway light; one was handline fishing; and one was a purchase from 

 the Indians. In addftion to the above, collections were made of terrestrial 

 plants, insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles, to which no station numbers 

 were assigned, and several hundred items of ethnological interest obtained 

 at the San Bias Indian village. 



From Pta. Escoces, which marks the southeastern limit of Caledonia 

 Bay, the coast extends 18 miles in a southeasterly direction to Puerto 

 Obaldia, where the Miel River forms the boundary between Panama and 

 Colombia. 



Colombia West of the Magdalena River 



(Collecting Stations A11-A15) 

 Gulf of Darien 



The Gulf of Darien is 42 miles long on a line measured due south 

 from Pta. Caribana. Its west coast, from Cape Tiburon southward, pro- 

 ceeds for 33 miles to Pta. de la Revesa in the southeasterly direction 

 determined by the Serrania del Darien, the mountain range encountered 

 2 miles behind Caledonia Bay. The mountains recede from the coast 

 until they are 23 miles inland opposite Pta. de la Revesa, where the Cerro 

 de Tacarcuna reaches an elevation of 7,500 feet. 



Nine miles south of Pta. Revesa lies the delta of the Atrato River, 

 said to be the fourth largest in volume in South America. According to 

 the Coast Pilot, "This river resembles the lower Mississippi in grandeur 

 of proportion, with its long reaches, its width, varying from 500 to 800 

 yards, and its great depth, often exceeding 10 fathoms," Arising in the 

 Antioquian Mountains, it flows northward for several hundred miles. In 

 a survey conducted from a rowboat, no depth less than 28 feet was 

 sounded in 160 miles. Its lower banks are overflowed 10 months of the 

 year and cannot be inhabited. It empties into the Gulf of Darien through 



