ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 319 



tions respecting the configuration of Eastern Asia, but by 

 the local and positive reports of the natives, which he col- 

 lected on" his fourth voyage (May 11, 1502, to November 7, 

 1504). On this fourth voyage the Admiral went from the 

 coast of Honduras to the Puerto de Mosquitos, the western 

 end of the Isthmus of Panama. The reports of the natives, 

 and the comments of Columbus on those reports in the 

 "Carta rarissima" of the 7th of July, 15 03, were to the 

 effect that " not far from the Rio de Belen the other sea 

 (the South Sea) turns (boxa) to the mouths of the Ganges, 

 so that the countries of the Aurea (i. e. the countries of the 

 Chersonesus aurea of Ptolemy) are situated in relation to the 

 eastern coasts of "Veragua, as Tortosa (at the mouth of the 

 Ebro) is to Puentarrabia (on the Bidassoa) in Biscay, or as 

 Venice in relation to Pisa." Although Balboa first saw the 

 South Sea from the heights of the Sierra de Quarequa on 

 the 25th of September (Petr. Martyr, Epist. dxl. p. 296), 

 yet it was not until several days later that Alonso Martin de 

 Don Benito, who found a way from the mountains of 

 Quarequa to the Gulf of San Miguel, embar&ed on the South 

 Sea in a canoe. (Joaquin Acosta, Compendio hist, del 

 Descubrimiento de la Nueva Granada, p. 49.) 



As the taking possession of a considerable part of the 

 west coast of the New Continent by the United States of 

 North America, and the report of the abundance of gold in 

 New California (now called Upper California) have rendered 

 more urgent than ever the formation of a communication 

 between the Atlantic States and the regions of the West 

 through the Isthmus of Panama, I feel it my duty to call 



