242 



The Canal of Raspadura, between the Rio 

 Atrato and the Rio San Juan of Chqco, 

 (lat. 4° 58'-5° 20'.) 



Such is the happy position of these five points, 

 of which the latter will probably be always eon- 

 fined to the system of small navigation, or inland 

 communications, that they are placed at the 

 centre of the New Continent, at an equal dis- 

 tance from Cape Horn and the north-west 

 coast, celebrated for the fir trade. Opposed to 

 each (in the same parallel), are the seas of 

 China and India, an important circumstance 

 in latitudes where the trade- winds prevail ; all 

 are easily entered by vessels coming from Eu- 

 rope and the United States. 



The most northern isthmus, that of Tehuaii- 

 tepec, which Hernan Cortez, in one of his let- 

 ters to the Emperor Charles 5th (of the 30th 

 October, 1520), calls the secret of the strait ,has so 

 much the, more, of late years, fixed the attention 

 of navigators, that during the political troubles 

 of New Spain, the trade of Vera Cru& was di- 

 vided between the small ports of Tampico, 

 Tuxpan, and Huasacualco *. It has been cal- 

 culated that the navigation from Philadelphia 

 to Nootka, and the mouth of the Rio Columbia, 

 which is nearly 5000 marine leagues, taking the 

 ordinary way round Cape Horn, would be 



* Balanza del comercio maritimo de Vera Cruz correspond 

 diente el ano de 18.11, p. 19, N° 10. 



