Chap. VII. SLOPE TO THE PACIFIC. 101 
has changed since the time of my visit, it can only have 
been for the worse. 
From what seemed to have transpired as the result of 
a preliminary survey, it was stated by persons in connexion 
with the engineers then at work on the isthmus of Rivas, 
that the canal would follow the line of deepest depression 
between the mouth of the Rio de las Lajas, on the lake of 
Nicaragua, and a place called Brito, on the coast of the 
Pacific. As I wished to form a general idea of the nature 
of that section of the country, I took a horse and guide 
and set out in the direction of the designated locality. 
I do not pretend to give an opinion in reference to the 
great object contemplated in the survey which was in 
progress of execution at that time. An official report of 
this survey has since been printed, and to this authentic 
document I must refer the reader for reliable information 
on the matter. According to my impression, the principal 
difficulty here, as on any other of the different lines that 
have been proposed within the territory of Nicaragua, 
must consist in the insufficiency of the quantity of water 
which may be required for feeding a canal deep and wide 
enough for all the vessels which would avail themselves of 
the advantage of this passage between the two oceans. 
For even if a cut was made through the isthmus between 
the lake of Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean deep enough 
to supply the canal from the lake, the question still re- 
mains to be decided, whether the additional drainage thus 
produced would not lower the surface of the lake at a rate 
which would render the plan impracticable. This con- 
sideration I know does not contain an absolute impossibility, 
in as far as the quantity of water leaving the lake by the 
San Juan river might, under certain circumstances, be 
regulated in such a manner as to reduce the drainage in 
