247 



entrepdt of Panama and Portobello, it is only on 

 account of the want of the means of transport, 

 and the extreme misery that prevails in those 

 towns, which were so flourishing at the begin- 

 ning of the conquest. The difficulties here 

 mentioned increase in conveying merchandize 

 from Carthagena or the West Indies, to Quito 

 and Lima ; and when sent up in the direction 

 from north to south, by the Rio Chagre, the 

 force of its current must be overcome, like that 

 of the winds and currents of the Pacific ocean. 



By rendering the Chagre navigable, employ- 

 ing long steam boats, establishing rail-ways, in- 

 troducing the camels of the Canaries, which, at 

 the time of my visit, had begun to multiply in 

 Venezuela*, by digging small canals in the 

 isthmus of Cupica, or on the neck of land that 

 separates the lake of Nicaragua from the coast 

 of the South Sea, the prosperity of American 

 industry might be increased, but very indirect 

 influence would be exerted on the general in- 

 terests of civilized nations. The direction of 

 the trade of Europe and the United States with 

 the fur const (between the mouth of the Colum- 

 bia and Cook river), with the Sandwich Islands, 

 rich in sandal wood, with India and China, 

 would not be changed. Distant communica- 

 tions require ships of great tonnage, that admit 



* See above, Vol. i, p. 78, 121 ; Vol. iv, p. 182—185, 



and Political Essay, Vol. iv, p. 14. 



