57 



PANAMA, ISTHMUS OF. 



PANAMA, ISTHMUS OF. 



northern riaes much higher. Theae hills are generally covered with 

 thick and almost impenetrable forests. The valley of the Chagres is 

 rather narrow, but the river itself U navigable to a considerable extent. 

 [CHAGRES.] The climate in this portion of the isthmus differs con- 

 siderably in the north and in the south. At Puerto Velo, on the 

 northern coast, the roius are almost continuous, and generally descend 

 in torrents, a circumstance which renders that place very unhealthy. 

 At 1'auam.i and in the valley of the Chagrea the seasons are pretty 

 regular. From December to March inclusive rain scarcely ever falls. 

 From April to June showers occur at regular intervals. As the season 

 advances the rain increases, and is incessant during July, August, 

 September, and October. In November the nights are always rainy 

 and cloudy, but during the days the sky begins to break. At Panamd 

 the thermometer in the rainy season is 82" during the night and 87 

 during the day. In the dry season the temperature rises to 90 and 

 even 93" in the day-time, and the days are very sultry ; but the land- 

 winds at night are cool, coming chiefly from the adjacent mountains. 



West of the vicinity of Panama to the Qulf of Parita the country 

 exhibits different natural features. It is, properly speaking, a plain 

 which rises from both oceans with a very gentle ascent towards the 

 middle of the isthmus. In the northern part numerous isolated hills 

 however, rising from 300 to 500 feet above their base, are dispersed 

 over the surface of this plain. In the iniildle of the region merely 

 a few isolated riuges of hills of inconsiderable height occur. The 

 hills are generally covered with trees, but the plains and low grounds 

 which surround them are savannahs, or prairies, destitute of trees, but 

 covered with grass, which supplies pasture to numerous herds of cattle 

 and horses. Though the vegetation of this region U generally much 

 leas vigorous than in the country farther east, there are several culti- 

 vated tracts and others which may be cultivated. The climate also is 

 more healthy. The principal rivers of this region are the Trinidad 

 and the Caymito, or Chorrera. The Trinidad enters the Chagres about 

 twenty-four miles from its mouth, after a course of about sixty miles. 

 It rises near the south coast, not far from the town of Chorrera, and 

 is navigable in the greatest part of its course as far up as the town of 

 Capua. The Caymito, or Chorrera, is formed by several petty streams 

 which descend from the eastern declivity of the table-laud of Veragua, 

 and though its course is short, it U navigable to the town of Chorrera. 

 There is a harbour at its mouth, but the anchorage is bad and exposed. 



West of this region U the table-land (mesa) of Veragua. Its eastern 

 ascent is formed by lofty mountains which rise abruptly, and frequently 

 exhibit an almost perpendicular face of bare rock. The surface of the 

 table-land itself is very uneven, and several summits on it rise to a 

 great height. The Peak de Veragua is stated to attain nearly 9000 

 feet. In some places however there are plains of considerable extent 

 The general elevation of this table-land appears to be at least 3000 

 feet above the sea. It approaches the Caribbean Sea within a few 

 miles, and is separated from it by a narrow and slightly hilly tract 

 But on the side of the Pacific the mountains approach close to the 

 sea, and between the Gulf of Parita and the Bay of Montijo project 

 in a wide and mountainous peninsula into the Pacific. This peninsula 

 terminates iu the capes called Punta Mala and Punta MarUta. Little 

 is known of the interior, but it is more populous than the lower part 

 of the isthmus, and is probably favourublo to agriculture and to the 

 health of the inhabitant*. The rivers which descend from this table- 

 land are interrupted by rapids and cataracts, and bring down great 

 quantities of earthy matter, which they deposit at their mouths. All 

 these rivers accordingly have a bar, with a very few feet of water on 

 it, which renders them incapable of receiving vessels above 100 tons 

 bunl 



The most western portion of the Isthmus of Panama 1 begins at the 

 western declivity of the table-land of Veragua, and extends to the 

 boundary line of Costa Rica. The northern part is occupied by the 

 Chiriqui Lagoon, a sheet of water above ninety miles in length from 

 east to west, and on an average twenty miles wide. It is separated 

 from the Caribbean Sea by a series of low, swampy, and wooded 

 islands, between which there are three deep passages for vessels. The 

 middle portion of the lagoon is occupied by low woody islands, but 

 at each extremity a considerable space is free from islands, and affords 

 excellent anchorage, as the lagoon is deep, and the swell of the Carib- 

 bean Sea is broken by the intervening islands. The country contiguous 

 to the southern shores of the lagoon, for a distance of about twenty 

 miles, U low and swampy, the soil being covered with a thick layer 

 of alluvium produced by the annual innundatious during the rainy 

 season. At the back of this low tract, which is generally wooded, 

 the country rises, and though it contains plains of some extent, it 

 continues to rise gradually for forty or fifty miles from the lagoon, 

 where it is bordered by a continuous ridge of high ground. This 

 chain, which is called the Cabecares Mountains, rues above 4000 feet 

 above the sea, but it is of very inconsiderable width. The southern 

 slope of this ridge is much more rapid, occupying only about ten 

 miles in width, and terminating on the Pacific in tolerably level 

 tracts, which however are many feet above the level of the sea. The 

 whole country north of the Cabecares Mountains is a continuous 

 forest of lofty trees, but along the Pacific there are several woodless 

 tracts.' It is only in the last-mentioned district that the whites have 

 formed a few establishments, the extensive country north of the Cabe- 

 cares Mountains being in possession of the native tribes, especially the 



Valientes. This may be attributed to the climate, which on the coast of 

 the Pacific resembles that of Panamii, being subject to regular changes 

 of the seasons, and therefore healthy. But the low country about the 

 Lagoon of Chiriqui is drenched with rain nearly all the year round : 

 the more elevated tract however between it and the Cabecares Moun- 

 tains has more regular weather, and is considered tolerably healthy. 

 The numerous rivers which run from the northern slope of the moun- 

 tains into the Chiriqui Lagoon are impeded by many rapida and 

 cataracts until they reach the low country, where their course is 

 gentle, and where they may be navigated by large boats ; but they 

 have bars across their mouths, with little water on them. 



The coast along the Caribbean Sea from the Bay of Candelaria to 

 the Bay of Mandingo, does not present a single harbour for large 

 vessels. It is lined by a continuous series of small keys, or rocky 

 islands, lying from half a mile to a mile from the continent. The 

 inner passage thus formed U full of coral rocks and reefs, but the 

 water is so clear that they are easily seen and avoided in the day-time, 

 and it affords a safe anchorage during the prevalence of the north- 

 western winds (from December to April), as the swell of the sea is 

 broken by the islands. The first harbour which occurs on this coast 

 is that of Puerto Bello, or Velo, which is about 2 miles long, and ou 

 an average 1000 yards wide. It is of considerable depth, and, beiug 

 surrounded by high hills and mountains, affords excellent and safe 

 anchorage for vessels ; but though it once was a place of great trade, 

 it is now rarely visited, on account of its excessive unhealthiness. 

 About 20 miles farther west is the Bay of Limoues, or Puerto de Naos, 

 now best known as NAVY BAY, which has an entrance 5 miles wide, 

 free from danger, is several miles deep, and affords secure anchorage 

 for 300 vessels. A few miles farther west is the deserted harbour of 

 CHAOHRS. Farther westward there is no harbour, except those afforded 

 by the Chiriqui Lagoon. 



The harbours on the shores of the Pacific are all within the Gulf 

 of Panama.. The opening of this Qulf is between Punta Francisco 

 Salano on the continent of South America and Puuta Mala, where it 

 is about 150 miles wide, which breadth it preserves for about 10 milea 

 northward, when it begins to contract. In the northern and narrower 

 portion of the gulf there is a group of islands, called Archipelago de 

 las Perlas, on account of the pearls which were formerly procured in 

 the adjacent sea in great abundance, and still are obtained to a con- 

 siderable amount. The largest of these islands, called lala del Hey, 

 rises to a considerable elevation. Moat of the rivers which full into 

 the gulf admit vessels of considerable burden. They have indeed 

 bars across their mouths, on which there is rarely more than 2 feet of 

 water at low tides, but as the tides here rise 18 feet, the bars may be 

 passed at high-water, and inside of them the harbours are deep. The 

 riven most visited by vessels are the Pacora, about 18 miles east of 

 the town of Panamii, and the Kio Grande, which enters the sea about 

 1 mil-* west of that town. 



Great additional interest has hecn imparted to Panamit by the con- 

 struction across the Isthmus of the railway connecting the coast? of 

 the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The great commercial advantages 

 likely to be affurded by a ship canal, which should connect the two 

 oceans, and so shorten the voyage from the ports of Europe and the 

 United States to the ports on the Pacific, China, &a, early directed 

 attention to the narrow neck of land which connects North and 

 South America. The Isthmus of Panamii was one of the first places 

 which suggested itself, but the belief that it was traversed by the 

 chain of tho Andes, seemed to interpose an almost insuperable 

 obstacle to such a work. Humboldt, as may be remembered, suggested 

 the Gulf of Darien as the most likely place ; while others looked 

 rather to the west, and saw in the Lake of Nicaragua and the Rio de 

 San Juan a line marked out as it were by nature for the purpose. In 

 1827 however. Bolivar, president of the republic of Columbia (of 

 which Panami then formed a department), directed Mr. Lloyd, an 

 English engineer, to survey tho country, not apparently for the pur- 

 pose of forming a canal, but with a view of improving the communi- 

 cation across the Isthmus. HU report showed how difficult the 

 formation of a ship canal would be, but he pointed out how excellent 

 a harbour was the unfrequented Bay of Limones, or Navy Bay, a few 

 miles east of Chagre*), and how readily a short canal might be cut 

 through the low country from it to the navigable river Chagres. That 

 river would then be ascended to its junction with the Trinidad 

 River, and the latter to a place which appeared well adapted for the 

 formation of wharfs and landing places, thence he proposed to form 

 a railway to Pauamd or Chorrera. Subsequent events destroyed all 

 hope of any such scheme being carried out by the government, while 

 however feasible it might appear, it hardly presented sufficient promise 

 of success as a commercial enterprise to induce foreign capitalists to 

 undertake its execution. But the remarkable discoveries of gold first 

 in California and subsequently in Australia, again called attention to 

 the subject, and the project of an Atlantic and Pacific Canal or railway 

 wen eagerly canvassed. Mr. Lloyd's survey was remembered and its 

 general correctness verified ; but as rapidity of transit was now the 

 chief desideratum a company was formed in New York for construct- 

 ing a railway quite across the Isthmus and nearly over the^route 

 which he had indicated ; and American and English capital was freely 

 embarked in the undertaking. A town named Aspinwall was founded 

 in NAVY BAY, and this was made the starting point of the railway on 



