67 
ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA'. 
from one another, and the depth of water was inserted in a sketch of the river 
which I was at the same time engaged in making. 
The river, its channel, and the banks, which in the dry season embarrass its 
navigation, are laid down in the manuscript plan with great care and minute- 
ness. It is subject to one great inconvenience, that vessels drawing more than 
12 feet water cannot enter the river, even in perfectly calm weather, on account 
of a stratum of slaty limestone, which runs, at a depth at high water of 15 
feet, from a point on the main land to some rocks in the midle of the 
entrance of the harbour, and which are just even with the water’s edge ; which, 
together with the lee current that sets on the southern shore, particularly in 
the rainy season, renders the entrance extremely difficult and dangerous. The 
accompanying plan of the harbour will sufficiently explain the inconveniencies 
it is liable to. 
The value of the Chagres considered as the port of entrance for all 
communications, whether by the river Chagres, Trinidad, or by rail-roads 
across the plains, is greatly limited from the above-mentioned cause. It would 
prove in all cases a serious disqualification, were it not one which admits 
of a simple and effectual remedy, arising from the proximity of the Bay of 
Limon, otherwise called Navy Bay, with which the river might easily be con- 
nected : the coves of this bay afford excellent and secure anchorage in its 
present state, and the whole harbour is capable of being rendered, by obvious 
and not very expensive means, one of the most commodious and safe harbours 
in the world. 
By the good offices of H. M. consul in Panamd, and the kindness of the 
commander of H.M. ship Victor, I obtained the use of that ship and her boats in 
making the accompanying plan of this bay. The shores are laid down trigono- 
metrically from a base of 5220 yards, the situation of which is marked ; and the 
soundings were taken by myself with the assistance of the master. It will be 
seen from this plan that the distance from one of the best coves (in respect to 
anchorage) across the separating country from the Chagres, and in the most 
convenient track, is something less than three miles to a point in the river 
about three miles from its mouth. 
I have traversed the intervening land, which is particularly level, and in all 
respects suitable for a canal, which, being required for so short a distance, might 
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