332 On a Commnn'i cation between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 



This enterprizing patriot, whose exertions deserved a better fate and a 

 brighter reward, was well aware that a passage from one point to another 

 with a single wind, was attended with less danger and required fewer 

 hands, than a passage through many latitudes, in many directions, and re- 

 quiring in consequence a variety of winds : — a fact established by the ex- 

 istence of vessels in the South Seas, of from seven to eight hundred tons 

 burthen, navigated by not more than from eight to ten men, whose labour 

 consists in little more than making sail at the commencement, and taking it 

 in at the termination of the voyage. The same trade wind which carried 

 ships from England to the mouth of the Atrato, would, if the navigation 

 were open, convey them by that river, the Napipi, and the canal, at once 

 into the bosom of the Pacific ; and across its waters, without shifting a sail 

 or slackening a brace, to the island of Bombay, or the mouth of the 

 Hoogley : while on their return from thence, by pursuing a northerly 

 course as high as the 4Uth degree of latitude, and taking advantage of the 

 westerly winds, which usually prevail there with a regularity little inferior 

 to that of the trades, they could reach the coasts of Mexico with little dif- 

 ficulty or danger, following the ordinary track of the Arcapulco ships j and 

 here the land wind, which invariably blows in the direction of from north 

 to south, would reconduct tiiem along the coast to the bay of Cupicil; 

 when, entering the canal, a steam boat might tow them to the entrance of 

 the gulph of Darien, whence their voyage home would be the same as it is 

 at present from other parts of the West Indies, Vessels bound to Nootka 

 Sound, and other parts of the north-west coast of America, would only 

 have to avail themselves of the trade wind, to such a distance from the 

 coast as their circumstances required ; after which, on their return, they 

 would derive the same advantages from the polar current, as vessels re- 

 turning in the manner pointed out from the East Indies. 



Should, however, tlie result of an accurate survey of the Atrato and the 

 Napipi, or any other river which may be selected, prove the impractica- 

 bility of affording to commerce an unbroken navigation, at a cost which 

 would reimburse the outlay and risk of the speculators, it may still 

 be possible to obtain some of the advantages proposed by a navigation 

 on a smaller scale, to the nearest practicable point of the Napipi, and 

 continuing the communication from thence to the Pacific by a rail-road and 

 locomotive engines. Ir this case, Carthagena would become the great 

 commercial depot of the trade between Europe and tho East, and would 

 soon vie with the ancient Alexandria in splendour, reputation, and com- 

 mercial and political importance. 



Here the ships from Europe, from the United States of America, from 

 Brazil, and other parts of the eastern coast of the New World, would dis- 

 charge the cargoes destined for the East, for the western shores of America, 

 or for the multitudinous islands scattered over the Pacific, and take on 

 board the return cargoes from those quarters which were awaiting their 



