370 Geographieal Notices. 
Arr, XLIL—Geographical Notices. No. IV. 
The Expedition to verify certain Surveys on the rivers Atrato and 
Truando, in the Republic of New Granada.—As no complete offi- 
cial report of this survey has yet been published, it is only possi- 
ble to give at the present time some general information respect 
ing it oa: 
- The expedition was organized to verify the survey of the 
“ Atrato inter-oceanic canal route,” made by Capt. Wm. Kennish, 
of New.York, and published under the auspices-of a company 
already organized for the prosecution of the enterprise ; Lieut. 5. 
A. M. Craven, U.S.N., and Lieut. N. Michler, of the topographi- 
cal engineers, were selected to conduct the party—the former 
being intrusted with the care of the hydrography, and the latter 
of the topography of the route. 
ey sailed from New York in the U. S. surveying schooner, 
Varina” on the 16th of October, 1857, and arrived in the 
of Darien off the mouths of the Atrato early in December. 
On the 8th of that month they entered the Cafio Coquito, one 
of the mouths of the Atrato, ae continued up the main stream 
for a distance of about ninety miles, as far as the mouths of the 
rivers Sucio, Salaqui, and Truando. ogee 
The Atrato, throughout this entire distance, was found to be 
a large and beautiful stream, flowing nearly due north, of an 
average depth of from forty to fifty feet, and a width of from one 
to two thousand feet, presenting no obstacle to uninterruptee 
navigation, excepting at its mouths. ) 
In the Cafio Coquito, the mouth which has been proposed as. 
the outlet of the canal, the average depth of the water is much less 
than in the main stream, shallowing to only a few feet on the bar 
clear of the soft deposit which now chokes it i“ ¢ The velocity 
alf to two miles 
per hour, as in the whole distance traversed by the party ee 
Tise in elevation is exceedingly gradual, haying been estima 
at from twenty to thirty feet. | 
_ Leaving the Atrato, the party next ascended the Truando as 
ar as the river Nercua, thence following the latter stream, 1n 4 
‘ortherly direction, for about twelve miles to the river Hingador, 
ot Sa the route diverged to the westward, crossing ba 
the Cordilleras. For a few miles above its junction Wt 
ruando flows mostly through extensive age § 
; way in a narrow channel through the ; 
