i2tj BEITISa ASSOCIATION FOR THE 



fhis is not the case : experience has taught that vessels coming from the eastward,, 

 steering their course about 2° (120 nautical milesj to the southward of Cape Fare- 

 well, seldom or never fall in with ice before they have rounded Cape Farewell and 

 got into Davis Strait, which is a certain proof that there does not exist even a 

 branch of the Arctic current which runs directly from East Greenland towards the 

 banks of Neiufoundland. 



EXPLORATIONS THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE ATRATO TO THE PACIFIC IN SEARCH 

 OF A ROUTE FOR A SHIP CANAL, BY MR. F. M. KELLEY, OF NEW YORK. 



Several surveying expeditions have l^ensent by Mr. Eelley into this region, and 

 much valuable information has resuhe \. But the chief result is a conviction of 

 the feasibility of a 6hip-canal through t^e isthmus. The most recent of Mr. Kelley's 

 explorers, Mr. Kennish, proposes to enter the .Atrato by the Cano Coquito. The 

 greatest depth on the bar is about 4 ft. at low water ; the soundings gradually 

 deepen and become 30 ft. within 2 miles, when the depth increases to 47 ft., and 

 s nowhere less up to the Truando. The width varies from a quarter of a mile to 

 2 miles, and the remoral of the bar would allow of the transit of the largest 

 steamers. The confluence of the Truando is about 63 miles from the Gulf, and 

 that river forms the channel of the proposed line for 86 miles. The line then fol- 

 lows the valley of the Nerqua through rock-cutting, and passes the summit by a 

 tunnel of 3^ miles. It reaches the Pacific through the valley of a small stream.) 

 and debouches at Kelley's Inlet. In the valley of the Atrato, 300 miles long and 

 To broad, and lying between the Antk>chian mountains on the east and the Cor- 

 dillera of the Andes on the west, rain falls almost daily ; which accounts for the 

 immense supply of water in that region. On the Pacific side of the Cordillera 

 there is scarcely any rain for eight months of the year. The greater . portion of 

 the rain falling in the Atrato valley is caught above the confluence of the Truando. 

 Fifteen large tributaries and numerous smaller streams fall into the Atrato and 

 contribute to the immense lagoons, which form natural reservoirs and a super- 

 abundant store of water throughout the year. There are various cogent reasons 

 or selecting the confluence of the Truando as the best point from whence the pas- 

 sage from the Atrato to the Pacific may be effected. In the first place there is no 

 point of junction with the Atrato by western tributaries so near the lerel of high 

 water on the Pacific as that of the Truando. It happens to be 9 ft. above the 

 Pacific at high water, and it is therefore of sufficient elevation to prevent the Pa- 



ific at high water from flowing through the proposed cut into the Atrato ; while 

 it is not so high as to cause the current from the Atrato to the Pacifie at low water 

 to pass through the cut too rapidly. In fact, the elevation of the Truando con- 

 fluence just preserves a preponderating balance on the side of the Atrato. The 

 Atrato, at the junction of the Salaqui, is only 1 ft. above the level of the Pacific 

 at high water ; but the dividing ridge is 1,063 ft. high and 80 miles wide, according 

 o a survey of that route by Mr. Kennish and Mr. Nelson. Should any of the rivers 

 at the mouth of the Atrato be selected, without reference to the height and width 

 of the dividing ridge, it may be observed that the maximum tidal wave in the Pa- 



ific being 25 ft. and that on the Atlantic only 2 ft., the Pacific at high tide would 

 flow into the Atlantic with a current equal to a head of 11-^ ft. ; and at low water 

 in the Pacific the Atlantic would flow into it with a similar current. In the inlet 

 sf the G-ulf of Micuel, recently called Darien Harbour, the action of the tide is so 



trong, that H. B. M. steamship Virago, commanded by Capt. Prevost, dragged 



