PANAMA. 



197 



The tide is very regular here. The mean 

 actual rise and fall two days after full moon is 

 21.22 feet^ though between the greatest eleva« 

 tion and depression from occasional tides^ there 

 is a difference of 27.44 feet. It was formerly 

 supposed that the Pacific ocean was of higher 

 elevation than the Atlantic ; a notion which is^ 

 I think, incompatible with the laws of hydro- 

 statics. The narrow channel into which the 

 ocean is forced up the gulf of Panama, produces 

 in that place an apparently higher and lower 

 tide than at Chagres and Portobello on the 

 opposite shore, which present a bold open coast 

 to the sea. Humboldt and Lloyd have both 

 corrected this mistake. If similar situations 

 were subjected to observation on both coasts, 

 there is no reason to doubt, that in respect of 

 the rise and fall of the tide no difference 

 would be found, 



I have been here three weeks, and still there 



