86 
HYDE0GBAPH1C KEPOKTS. 
ly sounded to determine if the deepest water had been 
found. 
The chart has been constructed upon a scale of ^ooo * an< ^ 
as a continuation of the one already referred to of the river 
below Mina-titlan. The soundings are expressed in feet, and 
give the greatest depth in channel, reduced throughout to the 
lowest stage of the river. 
From this it appears that a greater depth than can be brought 
in over the bar can at all seasons be carried up to within about 
a mile of the junction of the Brazos Apotzongo and Mistan, a 
distance of more than thirty miles from the bar. At this point 
there is a small island, and above that an extensive mud 
bank, with nine feet in channel for a distance of more than a 
quarter of a mile. A deeper channel might easily be dredged 
out through this bank, and the increased depth probably made 
permanent by a dam built obliquely from the upper end of the 
island to the left bank above, so as to close entirely the smaller 
branch ; a dam apparently very cheap, efficient, and easy of 
construction, were it not for the periodical overflow of the 
river. 
In connection with the depth of water in the channel, the 
heights of the banks and the width of the river must be con- 
sidered to determine the proper head of sea navigation. If this 
obstacle be removed, the limits of sea navigation, so far as re- 
gards depth of water alone, will be extended to a point near the 
Rancho de Mariscal on the one branch, and to the mouth of 
the Estero Monzapa on the other, distances of near two and four 
miles respectively. Above them it would be impossible to go, 
for the greatest depth in channel decreases gradually with every 
mile in both branches. A depth of only three feet occurs before 
reaching Almagres or Hidalgo-titlan ; and opposite this in the 
Mistan, there is but four feet, till at length it is impossible to 
bring more than two feet into the main channel at La Horqueta 
through the Brazo Apotzongo, and three through the Mistan. 
With regard to the height of the banks, there exists no point, 
between Mina-titlan and the nine-feet shoal already referred to, 
* The published copy has been reduced to one -third the original 
