252 ISTHMUS OF CUPICA. 



this isthmus^ leave me in no doubt whatever 

 that the above account is correct. Nothing is 

 now wanted but to ascertain with precision the 

 distance from the mouth of the Atrato to the 

 point where it is joined by the Naipi^ the 

 capacities of these rivers^ and their relative 

 position to the bay of Cupica.* 



* Since my return to England, I met at the Geo- 

 graphical Society in Waterloo Place, a gentleman of 

 the name of Watts, who was for ten years British vice- 

 consul at Carthagena. He delivered to the secretary of 

 the society a written statement on the subject of the bay 

 of Cupica, and practicability of a canal at that point. 

 This statement, as well as the conversation I held with 

 him, confirms the opinion I had formed when on the isth- 

 mus, of the facility with which a canal might be made, 

 by joining the Naipi to the South Sea. He said 

 he was well acquainted with a gentleman who had an 

 estate on the Naipi, and who was in the habit of travers- 

 ing the isthmus to the bay of Cupica. He stated the dis- 

 tance between the bay and the river to be only twelve 

 miles, and the rise being gradual, and in the whole but 

 150 feet, it may be considered, for all practicable purposes, 

 a perfect level caused by a transversal valley or natural gap 

 in the Andes, as if nature had intended herself, that the 

 junction of the two seas should occur at this spot. Mr. 

 Watts stated that the Indians were in the habit of carrying 

 their canoes from the bay of Cupica to the Naipi, a fact 



