THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 37 



vivors, and one of the few who regained their native 

 shores. The second part of the expedition sailed be- 

 fore the fate of the first had been ascertained, and 

 the whole affair terminated most disastrously. 

 However much incidental causes might have contri- 

 buted to hasten the catastrophe — the jealousy of the 

 English merchants, and the bad faith of William III. 

 being amongst the chief of these — the shipwreck of 

 a scheme so flimsily based and rashly undertaken, 

 could by no skill or prudence have been long 

 averted. 



Having already occupied more space than we had 

 intended with the history of this country, we devote 

 the remainder of this chapter to a few brief remarks 

 on its topography. 



Panama embraces that portion of *the great 

 American Isthmus which lies between Darien on the 

 east, and Costa Rica on the west, and contains about 

 twenty-five thousand square miles. It is one of the 

 Provinces of New Grenada, forming the extreme 

 western portion of that state, and is the department 

 known as Istmo, comprising Panama and Veragua. 



This portion of the great Isthmus describes in the 

 main a curve, the convex border or coast, looking 

 North, being upon the Caribbean Sea, while its con- 

 cave, or Southern boundary, is on the Bay of Pana- 

 ma. 



The population of the Isthmus,- embracing Pana- 

 ma and Yeragua, is supposed to be about one 

 hundred and fifty thousand ; but this conclusion is 



