•263 



are ignorant of the height of the point of parti- 

 tion between San Pablo and the Rio Quibdo. 

 We only know that there are some gold-wash- 

 ings in those countries, at the height of from 

 360 to 400 toises above the level of the ocean, 

 and that they are never found at a lower eleva- 

 tion than 50 toises. The position of the canal, 

 in the interior of the continent, its great dis- 

 tance from the coast, and the frequent falls 

 (raudalitos y choreras) of the rivers, which it is 

 necessary to ascend and descend, in order to 

 pass from one sea to another, from the port of 

 Charambira to the gulf of Darien, are obstacles 

 too difficult to be overcome, in order to establish 

 a line of great navigation across the Choco. 

 But that line, even without furnishing a pas- 

 sage for vessels of great tonnage, will not be 

 less worthy of the attention of a wise admi- 

 nistration ; it will give life to inland trade 



tails, because the maps confound the ravine of Raspadura, 

 which serves as a canal, with the portages of Calima and San 

 Pablo. The arastradero of San Pablo leads also to the Rio 

 Quibdo, but several leagues above the mouth of the canal of 

 Raspadura. The road of the arastradero of San Pablo is 

 usually taken for the conveyance of merchandize (generos) 

 sent from Popayan, by Cali, Tambo de Calima, and Novita, 

 to Choco del Norte, that is, to Quibdo (Zitara). The geo- 

 grapher La Cruz, calls the whole isthmus between the sources 

 of the Rio Atrato and the Rio San Juan, Arastradero del Tori. 

 (On the height of the Zone of Gold, Semanario de Santa Fe., 

 Vol. i, p. 19.) 



