APPENDIX. 375 
a length of time, which is not only inconvenient for commercial objects, but which 
m some degree cuts off the British settler from correspondence with his friends 
and family, and unnecessarily prolongs the period of receiving such intelligence 
as the British Consuls in those quarters may find it expedient to convey to the 
Government. Whereas the passage by Panama might, with ease, be effected in 
the following periods : 
Days. 
From Valparaiso, - -- - . - - - 62 
" Lima, ...----..51 
" Guayaquil, ..--..--46 
as the following details will show : 
From Valparaiso to Lima, ...--.. 11 
" Lima to Payta or Guayaquil, - ... - 5 ^ 
" Payta to Panama, - - - . - -- 10 
Across the Isthmus, ----.--. 1 
Thence to England, touching at one of the Windward Islands 35 
Making in the whole, . - 62* 
Taking Lima as a central position, by this calculation, it appears that the differ- 
ence of time in conveying correspondence from the western coast of South America 
to England, may be thus stated : 
Days. 
From Lima by Cape Horn, ------ 110 
" « Panama, 51 
Difference of time in favor of the route by the West Indies, 59 
The passage from Panama to Chagres is perfectly easy, being only twenty-one 
miles by land, and the remainder by a river, safe and navigable for boats and ca- 
noes. This was the route by which the several towns and provinces on the 
Pacific Ocean made their communications with Europe, before the separation of 
the Colonies from Spain ; but the frequent revolutions which have taken place in 
South America, and the consequent poverty and want of enterprise in the Spanish 
part of the population, seem to have put a stop to the regular and periodical com- 
munications between these places, which were formerly established by public 
authority. 
The following table demonstrates that a vessel, sailing from England, and 
doubling the Cape of Good Hope, has to sail as follows : 
I. 1st, for Ceylon, - . . 10,760 miles (geographical.) 
2nd, for Calcutta, . . . 12,770 « 
3rd, for Port Jackson, . - 16,950 " 
4th, for Canton, ... 16,700 " without touching at the Indies. 
5th, for Panama, . . . 24,140 « 
II. That the same sailing from England, and doubling Cape Horn, wiU be : 
1st, for Valparaiso, 
10,840 miles. 
2nd, for Panama, - 
15,716 " 
3rd, for Canton, - 
23,156 " 
4th, for Ceylon, - 
26,616 " 
5th, for Port Jackson, . 
20,840 « 
* This IS unnecessarily long. The journey, by way ef the Isthmus, has been accomplished &oin Lima to 
Liverpool in 46 days 
