On a Communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 327 



in the Reverberacion Mercantil del Atrato, of the 20th of May, 1834, 

 published at Quibdo, the capital of the Choco, informs us, that " the Napipi 

 does not oflFer so good a navigation as the Atrato, higher than five leagues 

 from its mouth ; this decreases naturally in its ascent, so that it ceases at 

 length to be navigable at the Tando de Antado, about twelve leagues above 

 its mouth J but its waters continue flowing towards the Pacific, to within 

 two leagues and a half of the bay of Cupica." Hence we may take two 

 English miles as the fair average distance between the nearest navigable 

 points on each side : that this is not too small an estimate will farther ap- 

 pear from the length of time required to traverse the distance, and the 

 obstacles presented to travelling over an uncleared track, destitute of even 

 the semblance of a pathway. Humboldt* informs us that the first person 

 who called the attention of the Spanish government to this point, was a 

 Biscayan pilot of the name of Gogueneche, in the year 1799 ; and he adds, 

 that " persons worthy of credit, who had made the passage with him from 

 the Pacific sea to the embarcadere of Naipi, assured me that they saw no 

 HILL in that isthmus of alluvial earth, which they were ten hours in cross- 

 ing." The article already quoted from the Quibdo paper informs us, that 

 "from the point of Antado to this bay (Cupica), a man generally goes on 

 foot in six or seven hours," remarking very properly, that " it should, 

 however, be borne in mind, that this journey is performed along a part 

 which eludes the eye of the inexperienced traveller, and requires the prac- 

 ticed scrutiny of the Indian to detect. Throughout the whole of the tract 

 which divides the Atrato from the Pacific in this direction," continues our 

 Quibdo authority, " the soil is naturally dry, fertile, and low, interrupted 

 only by a few mounds ; so that an excellent road might be made at a tri- 

 fling cost." 



The Carthagena correspondent already quoted, in his letter of the 24th 

 of January, 1835, states that the Indians cross this isthmus on foot with a 

 load of cocoa nuts and other articles on their backs four times a day, making 

 two trips ; from all which it is evident that the direct distance cannot vary 

 much from what has been stated; that by deepening the Napipi, and im- 

 proving its navigation beyond the Tando de Antado, this direct distance 

 might be farther considerably shortened; and that the obstacles to the 

 formation of a road are not greater than are every day encountered in the 

 formation of turnpike roads in England. 



In confirmation of tliis view of the case, we have the evidence of the 

 singular but successful expedition performed by this route, in the beginning 

 of tlie year 1820, by Colonel Cancino, an ofiicer in the service of the South 

 American patriots, accompanied by Captain Joaquim Andrade, the surgeon 

 of the patriot frigate Andes, and another individual of the name of Dese- 

 rein. From the article in the Quibdo paper, it aj)pcars that the Spaniards 

 having concentrated their forces towards the interior of New Granada, and 

 • J'crs. Narr. vol. vi. \t, 250. 



