482 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



with an English schooner under convoy : — 

 spoke her ; all well. 



April 30th. Anchored in Port-Royal, Ja- 

 maica, just before sunset. 



During the leisure afforded by my voyage, 

 so different from the daily toil and bustle in 

 which I had been perpetually engaged whilst 

 in Colombia, I had ample scope and time for 

 reflection on all I had seen of the country, and 

 its advantages, soil, climate, extent, popula- 

 tion, internal government, and resources ; and 

 I throw my ideas on paper, as they naturally 

 occurred to me, without asserting that all my 

 arguments are correct, or my positions unde- 

 niable ; only claiming the right to be believed 

 until I am proved to be wrong. 



This Republic, including the Isthmus of Pa- 

 nama, comprehends the north-west division of 

 South America, extending to the fifth degree 

 of latitude south of the Andes, and to the 

 British settlement of Essequibo to the east- 

 ward. Its extent on the coast of the Atlantic 

 is two thousand miles, and on that of the Pa- 

 cific twelve hundred. It has a surface of nine 

 hundred thousand square miles. Its ports in 

 both seas are excellent, and its communication 



