cale. On the contrary, a railroad
would continue its usual traffic, and afford great assistance. Fortunately
the obstruction to the admission of vessels into Chagre harbour, on the
Atlantic side, may be obviated, as will appear from the following passage
in Mr Lloyd's report--a point of extreme importance in the prosecution of
any ulterior design; but even then the great difficulty remains to be
overcome on the Pacific shore:--

"The river Chagre," says the Colombian commissioner, "its channel, and the
barks which in the dry season embarrass its navigation, are laid down in
my manuscript plan with great care and minuteness. It is subject to one
great inconvenience; viz. that vessels drawing more than twelve 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 fifteen
feet, from a point on the mainland to some rocks in the middle of the
entrance into the harbour, and which are just even with the water's edge.
This, together with the lee current that sets on the southern shore,
particularly in the rainy season, renders the entrance extremely difficult
and dangerous. The value of the Chagre, considered as the port of entrance
for all communication, whether by the river Chagre, Trinidad, or by
railroad, across the plains, is greatly limited owing to the
above-mentioned cause. It would, in all cases, prove 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 be easily connected. 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 in the world."

After expressing his gratitude for the good offices of her Majesty's
consul at Panama, and the services rendered to him by the officers of her
Majesty's ship Victor, with the aid of whose boats, and the assistance of
the master, he made his survey of the bay of Limon, obtained soundings,
and constructed his plan, (the shores of which bay, he says, are therein
laid down trigonometrically from a base of 5220 yards)--Mr Lloyd remarks
thus, "It will be seen by this plan that the distance from one of the
best coves, in respect to anchorage, across the separating country from
the Chagre, and in the mo