ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 



37* 



Chagre, where we landed at the cuftom-houfe ; and the next day we began to row 

 up the river. 



On the 24th, we endeavoured to proceed in the fame manner, but the force of our , , , 

 oars being too weak to ftem the current, we were obliged to fet the veflels along with '^ ' ^^' 



poles. At a quarter after one in the afternoon, we meafured the velocity of the cur- -Qf^'*'''^^ ^ 

 rent, and found it ten toifes and one foot in forty feconds and an half. In this flow .^j,^^ we^ 

 toilfome manner we proceeded till the 27th at eleven in the morning, when we arrived 

 at Cruces, the landing place, about five leagues from Panama. As we advanced up 

 the river we found a great increafe in the velocity of the current, which on the 25th 

 was ten toifes in twenty-fix feconds and a half: on the 26th, at the place where we 

 anchored for that night, ten toifes in fourteen feconds and a half: and on the 27th, 

 at the town of Cruces, the fame fpace in fixteen feconds. Confequently the greateft 

 velocity of the water is two hundred and eighty-three toifes, or about a league, in 

 an hour. - ^ 



This river, which was formerly called Lagartos, from the number of alligators in 

 it, though now better known by that of Chagre, has its fource in the mountains near 

 Cruces. Its mouth, which is in the North Sea, in 9° 1 8' 40" north latitude, and 

 295° 6' longitude, from the meridian of Teneriffe, was difcovered by Lopez de Olano. 

 Diego de Alvites difcovered that part of it where Cruces is fituated ; but the firffc 

 Spaniard who failed down it, to reconnoitre it to its mouth, was Captain Hernando de 

 la Serna, in the year 1527. Its entrance is defended by a fort, fituated on a fteep 

 rock on the eaft fide near the fea fhore. This fort is called San Lorenzo de Chagres, 

 has a commandant and a lieutenant, both appointed by His Majefty, and the garrifon 

 is draughted from Panama. 



About eight toifes from the above fort, is a town of the fame name. The houfes 

 are principally of reeds, and" the inhabitants negroes, mulattos, and meftizos. They 

 are a brave and active people, and on occafion, take up arms to the number of triple 

 the ufual garrifon of the fort. 



Oppofite, on a low and level ground, ftands the royal cuftom-houfe, where an 

 account is taken of all goods going up the Chagre. Here the breadth of the river is 

 about one hundred and twenty toifes, but grows narrower gradually as you approach its 

 fource. At Cruces, the place where it begins to be navigable, it is only twenty toifes 

 broad ; the neareft diftance between this town and the mouth is twenty-one miles, and 

 the bearing north-weft 7° 24' wefterly ; but the diftance meafured along the feveral 

 windings of the river, is no lefs than forty-three miles. 



It breeds a great number of caymanes or alligators ; creatures often feen on its 

 banks, which are impaflable, both on account of the clofenefs of the trees, and the 

 bufties which cover the ground, as it were with thorns. Some of thefe trees, efpecially 

 the cedar, are ufed in making the canoes or banjas employed on the river. Many of 

 them being undermined by the water, are thrown down by the fwellings of the river ; 

 but the prodigious magnitude of the trunk, and their large and extenfive branches, 

 hinder them from being carried away by the current ; fo that they remain near their 

 original fituation, to the great inconvenience and even danger of the veflels ; for the 

 greater part of them being under water, a veflel by ftriking fiaddenly on them is fre- 

 quently overfet. Another obftru6tion to the navigation of this river is the races, or 

 fwift currents over the fliallows, where thofe veflels, though built for that purpofe, 

 cannot proceed for want of a fufficient quantity of water j fo that they are obliged to 

 be lightened, till they have pafled the fliallow. 



3 B 2 The 



