476 



COMMERCE. 



the preferable port, when the dique or canal 

 now making, is rendered navigable, by which 

 a water communication will be effected, from 

 Carthagena into the Magdalena, during the 



over it, though not numerous enough to impede fresh settle- 

 ments, are sufficient to afford them such aid as their infant 

 state necessarily requires. 



" The province of Carthagena contains excellent lands, 

 especially on the banks of the Magdalena, the advantages 

 and disadvantages of which have been already stated. There 

 is, however, one spot which peculiarly claims attention ; this 

 is the port of Savanilla, at the mouth of the Magdalena. The 

 lands here are finely timbered, and the temperature refreshed 

 by strong breezes ; but the principal advantage consists in 

 its being the natural port of the Magdalena, in which capa- 

 city, there is little doubt, it will one day become the empo- 

 rium of the whole trade of the interior ; though it is closed at 

 present, by order of the government, for the purpose of fa- 

 vouring Santa Martha, which would be abandoned, should 

 commerce be left to its natural channel — the communication 

 with the latter being troublesome and circutious, through 

 the canals which unite with the Cienaga ; v/hereas Savanilla 

 is the mouth of the river itself. Its chief defect as a port is 

 the shallowness of the river immediately above it, which is 

 caused by the number of mouths through which the Magda- 

 lena discharges itself into the ocean ; even flat-boats, when 

 loaded, have, in the dry season, some difficulty in ascending 

 from Savanilla to Baranquilla. It is probable this defect 

 might be remedied by closing up the mouth called Boca 

 Viega ; but the country is not at present ripe for such an un- 

 dertaking." — Colonel F. HaWs Pamphlet on Colombia, 



