234 MR. NOBBS'S RETURN HOMEWARD. 
mander, being instructed to leave it in the 
charge of the Commander-in-chief on the 
Pacific, for conveyance to Pitcairn. 
Mr. Nobbs sailed from Southampton in 
the Royal Mail steam ship, La Plata, on the 
17th December, 1852, and reached the island 
of St. Thomas early in the year 1853 : from 
thence he proceeded in another steamer to 
Navy Bay. At the head of Navy Bay lies 
the town, which by the government of the 
Province, and in all official documents, is 
styled " Colon," but by the Americans, who 
are its founders and chief owners, is known 
by the name of " Aspinwall." There is the 
terminus of the railroad, by which the tra- 
veller is conveyed about 25 miles, at a high 
rate, to the station at Barbacoas, on the river 
Chagres. Thence there is a conveyance up 
the river by canoes, about 14 miles, to the 
town of Cruces. From Graces the journey 
overland to Panama, about 25 miles, is com- 
pleted on mules, over one of the very worst 
roads that exist in the known world. From 
the island of Taboga, near Panama, an ex- 
cellent steamer plies continually to Valparaiso^ 
touching at Callao, the Port of Lima. 
