INTRODUCTION. 



^7 



is that which is best waterecP'* there are at least fifty 

 rivers, as large as the Rhine or Danube, whose names 

 are scarcely known, even to those who may be consi- 

 dered as well informed respecting South America. 

 These at some future day, will afford the means of 

 carrying on an internal trade, compared to which that 

 of China, so much boasted, will appear insignificant. 

 Those mighty rivers the Orinoko, the Amazon, the 

 Magdalena, the Plata, and their hundred arms, 

 stretching in every direction over the continent, will 

 afford facilities of intercourse between the remotest 

 regions. The points at which the two oceans may be 

 connected, have given rise to frequent speculation; I 

 shall probably in the course of this work, make some 

 observations on the subject; at present, I will only re- 

 mark, that from everything I hive been able to learn, 

 the most eligible is that from Guasacualco to Tehuan- 

 tepec.f Should this isthmus become the connecting 

 point, it will be a subject of great interest to the Uni- 

 ted States. New Orleans or Havanna, will then pro- 

 bably be the great mart of the East India trade. 

 From the Balize a steamboat would run down in a 

 few days to Guasacualco; and at farthest, two days 

 would suffice, for the transportation of merchandize to 

 the Pacific. By this means, a direct intercourse would 



* Burke's History of European Settlements. 



t Humboldt seems to be of this opinion. See his Essay on New 

 Spain. The deadly nature of the climate of the isthmus of Darien 

 is a serioub consideration: from thejiroximity of the two oceans, the 

 clouds gathered by the trade winds are continually settling on its 

 lofty summits, the rainy season is said to continue during two thirds 

 of the year, which under a vertical sun must render it peculiarly 

 unhealthy. 



