304 National Geographic Magazine. 



ence of a strait, and tlie entire coast on each side of the new 

 world was diligently searched. The Cahots, Ponce de Leon and 

 Cortez interested themselves in this search and it was not until 

 about 1532 that all expectations of finding the strait were aban- 

 doned. The idea of a direct natural communication between the 

 oceans being thus dispelled, the question of an artificial junction 

 arose, and in 1551 a Spanish historian recommended to Philip II. 

 of Spain the desirability of an attempt to join the oceans by 

 identically the same routes to which the attention of the whole 

 civilized portion of the world is now being drawn, that is, 

 Tehauntepec, Nicaragua and Panama. From this time up to the 

 commencement of the work of the Isthmian expeditions sent out 

 by the United States, and which lasted from 1870 to 1875, but little 

 geographical knowledge relative to Darien was obtained. The 

 United States expeditions undoubtedly did a great amount of valu- 

 able exploration and surveying, and while the names of Strain, 

 Truxton, Selfridge and Lull will always be held in high esteem for 

 what they accomplished in this direction, still it is to be regretted 

 that with all the resources at their command they did not make a 

 complete map of the country. And just here I want to bring 

 forward the suggestion that all that has been accomplished and 

 more, could have been accomplished if the various explorers had 

 known, or practically utilized, a fact that my own experience and 

 that of other topographers, in this country and Darien, has im- 

 pressed upon me ; and that is, that it is easier in a rough and 

 mountainous country to travel on the ridge than in the valley. 

 In Darien they were looking for a low pass in the Cordillera and 

 this was what should have first been sought, directly. Having 

 found the low passes the valleys of the streams draining there- 

 from could have then been examined, and thus all necessary infor- 

 mation could have been obtained and the subject exhausted. The 

 plan followed by the Isthmian expeditions was to ascend a stream 

 with the hope of finding a suitable pass. The pass might be 

 found or it might not, and if not, so much labor as far as the 

 direct solution of the problem was concerned was lost. A pass 

 of low altitude was of primary importance and should have been 

 sought for in an exhaustive way. 



Humboldt said in substance, " Do not waste your time in run- 

 ning experimental lines across. Send out a party fully equipped, 

 which keeping down the dividing ridge the whole length of the 

 Isthmus, by this means can obtain a complete knowledge of the 



