421 
Chap. XXV.—B. P.] CARKA TO JAVALI. 
and thus open out a much quicker and safer route 
for sending bullion and letters to England than that 
which is now adopted. Take the one now in use, for 
example: viz. from Javali to San TJbaldo, on the Lake 
Nicaragua, by mules, say two days; San TJbaldo to 
San Carlos, the point where the lake empties itself 
into the river San Juan, say another three days ; San 
Carlos to Greytown, on the Atlantic, two days; total, 
seven days; ’whereas, by the Carka route the jour¬ 
ney to or from Greytown and the mines might be 
made in about five and a half days, namely, three 
from the Javali to Kisilala, and two and a half from 
thence, via Blewfields, to Greytown; and which latter 
journey, moreover, would be performed at much less 
risk, cost, or chance of vexatious delay, now only too 
likely to occur in the passage through Nicaraguan 
territory. 
In taking leave of the upper part of the Blewfields 
Biver and the new gold district, I cannot refrain from 
commending an attentive study of this locality to 
those interested in mining, agriculture, colonization, 
or interoceanic communication. Here there is a field 
for any enterprising emigrant for some years to come, 
and here, I suspect, is the high-road by which Nica¬ 
raguan commerce, civilization, and prosperity will be 
developed. 
Columbus himself had a strong opinion of the me¬ 
tallic wealth of the Mosquito Coast, as is evidenced by 
his earlier correspondence with his sovereigns; he 
firmly believed that he had discovered the Ophir of 
Scripture. 
