Is a Ship Canal Practicable? / Notes, Historical and Statistical, Upon the Projected Routes for an Interoceanic Ship Canal Between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, in Which is Included a Short Account of the Character and Influence of the Canal of Suez, and the Probable Effects Upon the Commerce of the World of the Two Canals, Regarded Either as Rivals, or as Parts of One System of Interoceanic Navigation

by S. T. Abert

INDIANS.

Explorers in every part of the Isthmus, with the exception of Darien, give favorable accounts of the temper of the natives. Trautwine, who crossed the divide at several points in the province of Chócó, regarded a bundle of cigars as the best passport. General Michler depended on the natives for provisions during a part of his survey, and was never disappointed.

But the Darien and San Blas Indians have been permitted to threaten and murder with impunity. They have been further emboldened by the timid behavior, and exasperated by the conduct of expeditionists. Had the hostile demonstration of the savages against Codazzi and Gisborne, and the massacre of four of Capt. Prevost’s men, been promptly punished, subsequent exploring parties might now pass through the country unmolested.

Strain, who thoroughly distrusted them, acknowledges that in one case his suspicions were unjust. After dismissing his guides, he remarks that he “was afterward convinced that the Caledonia Indians, and their Sucubti friends, intended to lead them by the most direct route to the Savana, and that they were prevented doing so by the Indians of the Chuquanaque, or the Chuqunos, whom they met on the seventh day’s march, and whom from the first excited suspicion.” It would appear that this unfortunate expedition would have been better served by a little more confidence in these “formidable Indians,” as Gisborne calls them, and a little acquaintance with their language, than by the fortitude it afterward exhibited in encountering the trials which befell it.

When misfortune appeals so strongly to sympathy, as it does in this case, criticism becomes an ungracious task. Throughout this paper we have omitted much in observing the rule, laid down for ourselves, to indicate what should be done, rather than notice what should not have been done. We therefore quote with pleasure the following graphic account of the difficulty of cutting a way through the tropical undergrowth, which we find in Mr. Gisborne’s narrative:

Cutting the way, “we were wading along the river margin, or facing clusters of prickly stems sometimes backing this mass of vegetation. Every step had its difficulty, and every difficulty was attended with additional bodily suffering; but our hearts nearly failed when an interminable mangrove wood extended as far as the eye can reach.

“The twisted and interlaced roots, some eight feet high, grew out of a bed of slimy mud, left by the tidal waters, making progress a succession of gymnastic feats, in which the gift of balancing had no small share. Hand and foot were equally occupied, and every muscle was called into play; nearly an hour’s perseverance had only advanced us a few hundred yards.”

Another description of the same character will exhibit some of the difficulties: “Occasionally a swamp, growing an impenetrable mass of vegetation, delayed our progress and expended our energies in fruitless hacking. The only way to get through many of these cienegas was to fall on one’s back into the middle of the matted vegetation, and then compress a place the length of one’s self, which those behind trod down. After persevering in this manner for several hundred yards, an inlet would be reached with a soft, muddy bottom, and waist deep from the flood. On the other bank, the same mode of progress had to be adopted, until prickly palms, and still more prickly creepers, made a variety in the difficulty and suffering.”

Strain met with similar obstruction. “Hitherto, Strain had led the party, every day cutting a path with his cutlass. This was most laborious, and Mr. Truxton insisted on going ahead in his place. The undergrowth was exceedingly dense, and composed, for the most part, of ‘pinello,’ or little pine, a plant resembling that which produces the pineapple, but with longer leaves, serrated with long spines, which produce most painful wounds, especially as the last few days’ march had stripped the trousers from many of the party.”

The best way to clear these obstructions has been found to employ natives, with machetes. This method, invariably adopted in Central America, has been recommended by Admiral Davis, who also advises the explorer to carry with him a good supply of canned and concentrated provisions.