ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 



313 



the rainy season, three days are required ; and 

 in the dry season it can be accompHshed in two 

 days. This difference is owing to the swelhng 

 of the river produced by rains. The journey 

 from Panama to Cruces is performed on mules, 

 being a distance of twenty-one miles, over a bad 

 road. In Cruces, there are canoes of all sizes 

 always in readiness, in which passengers embark 

 and descend the river to Chagres, the seaport 

 of the Isthmus, where they re-embark on board 

 of the first vessel which suits their convenience.* 

 The transit of the isthmus during the dry sea- 

 son is neither inconvenient nor unpleasant ; the 

 canoes are covered : provisions, fruits, &c. are 

 abundant along the banks of the river; the 

 temperature, though warm, is perfectly healthy, 

 and there is always personal security. During 

 the rains you are subject to great exposure and 

 consequent illness ; but, were a good road once 

 opened, and a steamer on the river, there would 

 be no danger at any season, and the journey 

 from sea to sea could be accomplished in eight or 

 nine hours, without the slightest inconvenience. 



* Steam-vessels not drawing more than twelve feet of 

 water, can navigate the Chagres to the junction of the 

 river Trinidad, at all times and seasons. The question 

 is, whether in the dry season a light steamer could reach 

 Cruces. At some part of the year it certainly might, 

 without deepening the channel artificially. 



VOL. II. P 



