In 1788 Milla de Santa Ella, an officer of Spain, went from Caledonian Harbor to El Príncipe direct by the road then recently opened by the Spaniards; but as he did not think it advisable to return the same way, he went down the Savana, and up the Chucunaque to the Tubuganti and Chueti rivers, whence he crossed to his station at Caledonian Harbor by the same route, undoubtedly, that Paterson traversed on his visit to the Indian great chief at Ponca in 1698.
The examination of no traveller, except Humboldt, previous to 1850, induced a belief that a canal might be cut directly through Darien. Dr Cullen's personal inspection of Caledonian Harbor, and of the Savana River, with their neighborhood, added to the information he obtained orally and by reading, led him to the conclusion that the lowest summit level between those places did not exceed 300 or 400 feet, while it might be very much less. Feeling so confident that a lower level existed, he went there again to explore; but while collecting further information and arranging preliminaries, at Bogotá, the seat of government in New Granada, Mr Gisborne (an engineer employed by Messrs Fox and Henderson) made short excursions from each side of the Isthmus, which satisfied him that the lowest summit level does not exceed 160 feet above the sea.
According to the most authentic map of this district, Mr Arrowsmith's last printed, not yet published, the distance across in a direct line—between deep water on each side—is about 33 miles. The windings of a canal may require nearly a third more, and if so, the whole distance to be canalized is about 40 miles—a shorter distance than can be found elsewhere.
Mr Gisborne's examination of the principal features of this line across Darien, however incomplete, is a material advance toward certainty. We have his two bases of operations, at Caledonian Harbor and San Miguel (entrance), nearly determined by recent government surveys, and we have his character as a guaranty for the value of those details which he has given in his Report. There may be a few miles of distance to settle, and there may be doubts whether the river near his watershed, or summit level, called by him Caledonia, may not be another river, perhaps the Chucunaque, or one of its tributaries; and moreover, that the range of heights supposed by him to separate those rivers is not truly placed, while his river Caledonia (otherwise the Golden River, or Aglatomate) winds through a more northerly area. But these are trifles compared with his barometric measurement of the summit level, and his own overlapping eye-views of the country which he did not traverse.
If indeed the mouth of the Savana be not accurately laid down, or assumed by him, if it be much farther west than he supposed, his surveys may not have overlapped; and he may have looked across two different plains; in which case there may be yet another ridge or watershed beneath the rivers which he actually touched. The expedition employed by our government to survey this coast did not examine the mouths of rivers running into San Miguel. Only the western part of that gulf was examined in continuing the coast line. Hence the position of the Savana may be less accurately known than is generally supposed.
A HASTY SCRAMBLE.
It is hardly necessary to remark here that to make independent observations for latitude, longitude, distance, and accurate triangulation requires more time and instruments than can be carried in a hasty scramble through a wild country.
Mr Gisborne's examination of the geology and mineralogy is valuable. Far from discovering any remarkable impediments to cutting a canal, he states that there are no particular engineering difficulties with respect to the ground; that there is much stratified shale-rock, easy to quarry, and fit to line a canal. There is abundance of fine timber. Mangrove forests, rather than jungles, surround the waters of the gulf. Densely matted underwood follows on drier ground; and then, on the elevated country, there are magnificent timber-trees very little encumbered by underwood.
Having thus endeavored to take a general view of this question, we may perhaps ask ourselves what are the greatest impediments to the excavation of a canal—impediments exceeding those that would attend any corresponding work in Europe.
Supposing that political arrangements are satisfactorily completed, the claims of other parties compromised or barred, and adequate funds disposable, the only peculiar and important impediments will be two—the natives and the climate. The native or Indian question, as connected with the independence and rights of the aborigines, should be considered deliberately. That the Indians may be overawed and conciliated by proper management, there is no doubt; but their reasonable claims must be satisfied, irrespective of all jurisdiction assumed over them by New Granada—a jurisdiction which the natives of Darien repudiate. Fair dealing, while an overpowering force is in sight, will prevent any attempt to have recourse to arms, or to molest the parties employed about a canal, and would therefore obviate any irritating and probably prolonged guerrilla hostilities.