GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1868. 



297 



Fuego (14,700 feet) is the highest summit in 

 Central America, and the volcano de Agua 

 (12,620 feet) is the next. Pacaya and Atitlan, 

 both volcanoes, are nearly 10,000 feet high. As 

 to the productions of the State for export, the 

 indolence and indifference of the inhabitants 

 render their commercial condition very far be- 

 low what it should be with their fine soil and 

 genial climate. Cochineal is gathered in con- 

 siderable quantities, and a moderate amount 

 of tar, spirits of turpentine, and other products 

 of the resinous woods, and dye-stuffs, are ex- 

 ported, though far less than should be. The 

 principal crops of the State are maize, black- 

 beans, rice, bananas, Chili pepper (capsicum), 

 etc., which are consumed by the people, and 

 form almost their entire food. With a great 

 variety of fibrous plants, natives of their soil, 

 and of every preparation, the infltobitants for 

 the most part confine themselves to cotton 

 fabrics generally, blue and red, and their 

 garments of these are scanty in number and 

 size. 



Mr. John Collinson, an English civil engineer 

 of great courage and skill, succeeded in 1867 

 in making a very thorough exploration and 

 spirit-level survey from Lake Nicaragua to 

 the Atlantic Ocean, the first, it is said, across 

 Central America except that for the Panama 

 Railway. He found a pass through the moun- 

 tains from the lake to the Atlantic favorably 

 situated for a railway at an elevation of only 

 620 feet above the ocean-level, and one on the 

 other side between the lake and the Pacific 

 Ocean, only 615 feet in height. This survey 

 settles the practicability of a new railway across 

 that isthmus. Mr. Collinson also gained much 

 information concerning the quadrupeds of 

 Central America, and the languages of the In- 

 dian tribes. 



Mr. A. S. Cockburn, English commissioner 

 to the Belize, has communicated to the Royal 

 Geographical Society some interesting particu- 

 lars relative to his explorations of the Belize 

 River and the adjacent coasts. It would seem 

 that the tract drained by the Belize River, 

 comprising the greater part of British Hondu- 

 ras, is one of the most rainy regions in the 

 world. " The average rain-fall in Belize," says 

 Mr. Cockburn, " for the last four years was 67i 

 inches per year, and it often rains in the inte- 

 rior when not a drop falls upon the coast." He 

 estimates the annual rain-fall of the district, 

 from 50 to 100 miles from the coast, as above 

 100 inches, and the water falling into the river 

 and its affluents, from a district 90 by 30 miles, 

 at 39,128,101,745 gallons, equal to 17,467,929 

 tons. Of this vast amount, he estimates that 

 about two-thirds go off by evaporation, but 

 the quantity of 5,413,680 tons, which is dis- 

 charged into the sea, brings down with it such 

 quantities of detritus from the soft and recent 

 deposits of that region, that the bed of the 

 river and its delta are filling up with consid- 

 erable rapidity. 



M. Lucien de Puydt, a French engineer and 



geographer, communicated to the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society of London, in 1868, an ac- 

 count of two tours of survey and exploration 

 made by him in 1861 and 1865, by order of 

 the French Government, across the Isthmus 

 of Darien, to ascertain the feasibility of an in- 

 teroceanic canal across that isthmus. The 

 route which he took in his last tour was one 

 hitherto unknown : following toward its source 

 in the mountains, first the Tanela (a stream 

 discharging into the Atlantic south of the 

 Atrato), and finally its southern affluent. They 

 found the latter flowing through a pass in the 

 Nique Mountains (the local name of the Cor- 

 dilleras, at this point), at an elevation, M. de 

 Puydt believed, not to exceed at the highest 

 140 feet above the ocean-level. From this pass 

 there was a gentle descent to the plain on the 

 west, through which the Tuyra, another small 

 river, flows into the Pacific. This is by much 

 the most feasible route yet found for an inter- 

 oceanic canal. 



Recent observations, continued for a series 

 of years, indicate that the reputation for un- 

 healthiness of the island of Hayti, and espe- 

 cially of Port-au-Prince, is due to the excess 

 of moisture in the climate. A rain record, 

 kept in that city during the period from 

 August, 1863, to January, 1868, gives the fol- 

 lowing facts: In 1864, there were 145 days 

 during some part of which rain fell, and the 

 number of inches of rain-fall during the year 

 was 60.57. Of this amount, nearly 11 inches 

 fell in the month of May, and about 9 inches 

 in August. In 1865 there were 157 rainy 

 days, and 66.76 inches of rain fell during the 

 year ; and of this, more than 18 inches fell in 

 the month of May, and about 12 inches in Sep- 

 tember. In 1866 there were 179 rainy days, 

 and 67.43 inches of rain fell during the year ; 

 of this, 14 inches fell in April, nearly 9 inches 

 in May, and from 5| to 7 inches in each of the 

 other months, except December, January, and 

 Eiebruary. In 1867, there were but 126 rainy 

 days, and only 50.2 inches of rain. Of this, 

 about 13 inches fell in May. There was thus 

 an average rain-fall of 61.25 inches during 

 each of the four years, and an average of 152 

 rainy days to each year. 



A series of deep-sea soundings, made in 

 March and April, 1868, by Captain R. A. Ham- 

 ilton, of H. B. M. ship Sphinx, in the neigh- 

 borhood of Santa Cruz, demonstrates that 

 island to be the apex of an immense subma- 

 rine mountain. Off Ham's Bluff, one and a 

 half miles from the shore, the lead sunk 1,000 

 fathoms without reaching bottom. 



Hon. E. G. Squier, a very high authority 

 in all statistics relating to Spanish America, 

 published in December, 1868, the following 

 statement of the population of the States of 

 SOUTH AMEEIOA, and the Hispano-American 

 States of North and Central America, in 1867 

 or 1868, with the amount of the trade of the 

 United States with them in 1858 and 1866, re- 

 spectively : 



