On a Cotnmunicatio9i between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 329 



fifteen leagues above the mouth of the Atrato, while the article in the 

 Quibdo paper says, that " from Candelaria to the mouth of the Napipi, 

 following the windings of the Atrato, there are about sixty leagues, of 

 twenty to the degree."* Which of these is the correct statement, it would 

 be difficult to determine in the present state of oar knowledge. The 

 writer of the Quibdo article, who may be presumed to speak from a per- 

 sonal knowledge of the Atrato, informs us that from the bay of Candelaria 

 up to the town of Quibdo, there is not the slightest obstacle to its naviga- 

 tion, in vessels of thirty tons j and he adds, that " were it not for the shal- 

 lows at the mouth of the river, vessels of any size could come up to this 

 cityt (Quibdo) with perfect safety." With respect to the velocity of the 

 current, which he says is always the same in every part of the river, our 

 Quibdo authority fixes it at only two miles per hour — a velocity which 

 marks a A'ery trifling slope indeed in the bed of the river. In the letter 

 from Carthagena already quoted, the breadth of the Napipi at its confluence 

 with the Atrato is said not to exceed three hundred feet ; and its depth of 

 water is said to be only sufficient for the boats of the country called 

 ranchados, which are a kind of large canoe, varying in length from thirty 

 to forty feet, but only drawing from eight to nine inches of water. These 

 boats take three days to ascend the river, from its mouth to the disembar- 

 cadere, or landing place : its current, like that of the Atrato, is said to be 

 extremely slow, marking a country of little if any ascent. 



The Atrato is formed by the confluence of three small rivers, the Anda- 

 gada, Quibdo, and Zitara (or Citara)J, which have their sources in a little 

 mountain situated nearly in the sixth parallel of latitude. The junction of 

 these rivers takes place at no great distance from the capital of the province, 

 and their united vvatersflow,underthenameofthe Atrato, nearly in a straight 

 line from north to south, through a narrow valley flanked by two mountain 

 ridges of great elevation, whose sides are clothed with perennial woods, and 

 drenched for three fourths of the year with almost incessant rains : in a 

 course of about one hundred and fifty miles, it receives in succession the 

 tributary waters of several considerable streams ; among which mav be 

 noticed, on the right the Bavara§ and the Murry,|| and on the left, flowing 

 from the direction of the coast, the Napipi.^ Further on, its waters receive 

 a still greater addition, from their junction with those of the Sucio, which 



• Reverberacion Mercantil del Atrato, 20 Mayo, 18;54. 



f A distance of 114 marine leagues, or 342 sea miles, equal to about 3y() English 

 inilcK of Cyj to a degree of latitude. 



♦ It is from the two latter of these rivers, that the capital of the Choc6 is indiflfe- 

 rciitly termed Uuibdo or Citara. 



§ Latitude (J" 47', longitude 76" .'iO'. 



II Latitude 7" O.'i', longitude 76" 30'. 



II The position of the confluence of this river with the Atrato is uncertain, but is 

 placed in Humboldt's map in latitude 7° 28', and longitude 71° 00' west of Green- 

 wich. 



