302 National Geographic Magazine. 



nomical work incident to the survey of these grants and it was 

 intended that I should visit both Darien and Chiriqui, but the 

 contract term expired about the time of the completion of the 

 work in Darien, which was taken up first, and it was deemed 

 prudent for various reasons, the chief of them being the un- 

 healthiness of the locality at that season of the year, about the 

 middle of April, not to remain longer on the Isthmus. If it had 

 been possible to work as expeditiously as in this country there 

 would have been ample time to have completed the necessary 

 astronomical work for both surveys, and without understanding 

 men and methods peculiar to a tropical country I started out with 

 this expectation, but soon found out that any efforts looking 

 towards expediting any particular matter were not only useless 

 but were detrimentally reactive upon the person putting forward 

 such efforts. Thus it was nearly the first of March before I 

 reached Darien, having sailed from New York a month previously. 

 Passage was had from Panama to Darien in a steamer chartered 

 for the purpose. Sailing across the Bay of Panama and entering 

 the Tuyra River at Boca Chica, we ascended the river as far as 

 the village Real de St. Marie. At this point the steamer was 

 abandoned and further transportation was had in canoes. 



Darien is a province of the State of Panama and its boundaries 

 as given by Lieut. Sullivan in his comprehensive work on " Prob- 

 lem of Interoceanic Communication," are as follows : " The 

 Atlantic coast line is included between Point San Bias and Cape 

 Tiburon ; that of the Pacific extends from the mouth of the 

 Bayano to Point Ardita. The eastern boundary is determined by 

 the main Cordillera in its sweep across the Isthmus from a posi- 

 tion of close proximity to the Pacific, near Point Ardita, to a 

 similar position near Tiburon, on the Atlantic. The valleys of 

 the Mandinga and Mamoni-Bayano determine its western limit." 



The Darien hills as seen from the Atlantic side present to the 

 view an apparently solid ridge of mountains, although there are 

 in reality many low passes which are concealed by projecting 

 spurs. 



The dividing ridge hugs close to the Atlantic, and the rivers, 

 of which there are a great many on this side, plunge abruptly to 

 the sea. On the Pacific side the rivers have a much longer dis- 

 tance to flow before reaching the sea, and the territory bordering 

 on the ocean is low and swampy. The tidal limit of the Tuyra 

 River is neai'ly fifty miles from its mouth, and on this river and 



