io8 A VOYAGE TO Book lir. 



followed by two veiTcls, dilpatched to Porto Bello. 

 Immediatel)' on their arrival, we jait on board the in- 

 ñrumcnís and baggage, belonging both to the French 

 gentlemen and ourlelvcs; an(.i on the 22d ot Decem- 

 ber 1735, departed from Porto Bello. 



The land wind being contrary to us, we rowed out 

 of Porto Bello harbour ; but the uritas fetling in at 

 nine in the morning, both veiieis got under fail ; and 

 a frcih gale brought us,, at four in the evening of the 

 iame day, to the mouth of tiic river Chagre, where vve 

 landed at tlie cuflom-huufe ; and the next day we be- 

 gan to row up the river. 



On the 24íh, we endeavoured to proceed in the 

 fame manner ; but the force of our oars being too 

 weak to fiem the current, we were obliged to fet the 

 veiTels along with poles. At a quarter alter one in 

 the afternoon, we meafured the velocity of the cur- 

 rent, and found it ten ioifes and one foot in forty 

 feconds and a half. In thisiiow toillbrae manner we 

 proceeded till the ayib, at eleven in the morning, 

 when we arrived at Cruces, the landing-place, about 

 uve leagues from Panama. As we advanced up the 

 river, we found a great increal'e in the velocity of the 

 current, which on the 23th was ten toiles in twenty- 

 lix leconds and a half: on the 26th, at the place 

 where we anchored for that night, ten toifes in 

 iburteen leconds and a half; and on the 27th, at the 

 tov^n of Cruces, the fame Ipace in fixteen leconds. 

 Confequently the greateft velocity of the water is two 

 hundred and eighty-three toifes, or about a league, in 

 an hour. 



This river, which was formerly called Lagartos, 

 from the number of alligators in it, thougli now better 

 known by that of Chagre, has its fource in the moun- 

 tains near Cruces. Its mouth, which is in the north 

 fea, in 9° 18' 40'' N. latitude, and 2*95^ 6' longitude, 

 from the meridian of Teneriife, was difcovcred by 

 Lopez de Olano. Diego de Aivites difcovered that 



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