434 Vojjage of the Novara. 



line to be left unused but for one twelvemonth, it would be 

 difficult to discover any trace of its existence, so completely 

 within that time would the whole district become once more 

 a wilderness ! 



The physico-geographical conditions of the Isthmus have 

 only latterly been made the subject of profound and exhaust- 

 ive study by a German naturalist, who has published the 

 result of his researches. The justly-dreaded climate was the 

 main cause of its having been so long left unexamined. To 

 that keen indefatigable savant, Dr. Moritz Wagner, my 

 whilom faithful travelling companion through Northern and 

 Central America, is due the praise of having first accurately 

 and analytically investigated the territory of the Isthmus, — 

 that dam which separates two ocean worlds as it may be 

 considered from one point of view, — that bridge which unites 

 two immense continents as it may be regarded from another, 

 — and who, in so doing, has contributed many new and im- 

 portant facts to our previous stock of statistics respecting the 

 hypsometrical and geognostic features of the Isthmus, as well 

 as to the geographical distribution of the forms of organic 

 life which are found there. 



In the course of constructing the railroad, the geological 

 profile of the country was laid open through a length of 47 

 miles. This fortunate circumstance the German naturalist 

 availed himself of as an excellent opportunity for carrying 

 out his design, but his labours were none the less beset with 

 difficulties, and only Ills indomitable perseverance could have 



