the approach on either coast is safe, and interior water
communication most abundant, are, certainly, the points which should
be fixed upon and selected, in order to effect the object so important
to the whole world. The two points hitherto the best known, and
considered to be the best adapted for the purpose, are, first, the
line from Chagre on the Atlantic, to Panama on the Pacific; and
secondly, the line, perhaps the best of the whole, from the mouth of
the River St. Juan on the Atlantic, by that river and Lake Nicaragua,
to Rialejo, or Gulf Papagayo, on the Pacific.

The Panama line comes most properly the first point for consideration.
Here the survey, by Lieutenant Lloyd, in 1829, gives some certain
data, and some curious and important information. He tells us (p. 091)
pointedly, from actual observation, that which good Spanish maps
indicated, and what was more vaguely told by others. According to him,
on the eastern side of the province of Veragua, the Cordillera breaks
into detached mountains, their sides exhibiting only bare rock, almost
perpendicular. To these, as approaching nearer Panama, succeed
numerous conical mountains, arising out of savannahs and plains, and
seldom exceeding from 300 to 500 feet. "Finally," says he, "between
Chagre on the Atlantic side, and Chorera on the Pacific, these conical
mountains are not so numerous, having plains of great extent,
interspersed with occasional ranges of hills of inconsiderable
height."

Such is the Isthmus of Panama, where the distance from sea to sea is,
even according to the present charts, only 30 geographical miles, and
from the mouth of the Chagre to Panama, 33 miles.[18] Of this distance
the Chagre, which has a circuitous course, is navigable for 40 miles
to Cruces--distant from the sea in a direct line 21 miles, and from
Panama 14 miles. At its mouth the Chagre is one-fourth of a mile
broad, and at Cruces about 150 feet: in its middle course the depth is
24 feet. The current runs at the rate of from three to four miles per
hour. It is full of numerous, constantly shifting sand banks, and
sunken trees, which, with the current, render the navigation (p. 092)
tedious, difficult, and even dangerous. At its mouth the coast is very
sickly, as indeed the country through its course also is; but when the
land is cleared, it will doubtless become more healthy. When the
current is very rapid, it requires four or five days to reach Cruces.
The height of