16 
appropriate place for an oceanic communication, very justly 
observes that one of the most important is its salubrity. He 
says : 
" However great might be the saving of time effected by 
" steering through the Isthmus, it would always be shunned by 
*' vessels if it were to prove a charnel-house." 
The climate of the isthmus of Panama is acknowledged to 
be dangerous, a fact confirmed by the accounts of Humboldt 
and other writers. The fear of its unhealthiness was one of 
the causes that prevented the assembling of a Congress there, 
after the emancipation of the States of Spanish America, in 
order to establish a system of general policy suited to the 
interests of the American nations. The same fear pre- 
vented the engineers, Lloyd and Falmarc, remaining in the 
Isthmus a sufficient time to complete the labours of the 
exploration, which they undertook in 1827 and 1828 by order 
of General Bolivar. To this grievous cause is likewise to be 
ascribed the paucity of population and the want of the neces- 
sary means of existence in that isthmus. 
The Isthmus of Panama has been lately explored by M. 
Garella, an Engineer appointed by the French Government, 
and, (whilst this work was still in the press) the results of his 
investigations have been given to the public in the Journal des 
Debats dated the 15th January this year, (1846). 
The following are the most remarkable facts contained in 
that Report, and they decidedly confirm the opinions now ge- 
nerally entertained that the cutting of a Ship Canal is an im- 
possibility across the Isthmus of Panama. 
M. Garella first, gives his opinion that a Ship Canal across 
the American Isthmus at any of the points spoken of can 
alone satisfy the wants of Commerce and the just expectations 
of the civilized World ; but if such a work cannot be accom- 
plished, then he says distinctly that it would be money and 
pains thrown away to do anything more than to keep open a 
common well constructed road. A railroad would be quite 
preposterous over such an unhealthy country as the Isthmus 
of Panama. The only interests to be benefitted by such an 
