y possess
more correct information on the subject than they do. Why, then, is it
withheld from the public? What are our government doing?

To supply this deficiency, as far as his means allow, is the object of the
writer of these pages; and in order to show the degree of credit to which
his remarks may be entitled, and his reasons for differing from the French
as regards the means by which the great desideratum is to be achieved, he
will briefly state, that in early life he left Europe under the prevailing
impression that the opening of a canal across the isthmus of Panama was
practicable; but while in the West Indies, some doubts on the subject
having arisen in his mind, he determined to visit the spot, which he did
at his own expense, and at some personal risk--the Spaniards being still
in possession of the country. With this view he ascended the river Chagre
to Cruces, and thence proceeded by land to Panama, where he stopped a
fortnight. In that time he made several excursions into the interior, and
had a fair opportunity of hearing the sentiments of intelligent natives;
but, although he then came to the conclusion that a canal of large
dimensions was impracticable, he saw the possibility of opening a railroad,
with which, in his opinion, European nations ought to be satisfied, at
least for the present. Why he assumed this position, a description of the
locality will best explain.

The river Chagre, which falls into the Atlantic, is the nearest
transitable point to Panama, but unfortunately the harbour does not admit
vessels drawing more than twelve feet water.[22] There the traveller
embarks in a _bonjo_, (a flat-bottomed boat,) or in a canoe, made of the
trunk of a cedar-tree, grown on the banks to an enormous size. The
velocity of the downward current is equal to three miles an hour, and
greater towards the source. The ascent is consequently tedious; often the
rowers are compelled to pole the boat along, a task, under a burning sun,
which could only be performed by negroes. In the upper part of the stream
the navigation is obstructed by shallows, so much so as to render the
operation of unloading unavoidable. Large trunks of trees, washed down by
the rains, and sometimes embedded in the sands, also occasionally choke up
the channel, impediments which preclude the possibility of a steam power
being used beyond a certain distance up. No boat can ascend higher than
Cruces, a village in a direct line not more than twe