onsequence is, that it makes a hole without producing a
flame.

[26] America and the Pacific, 1838.

[27] Ulloa affirms, that the greater part of the houses in Panama
are now built of stone; all sorts of materials for edifices of
this kind being found there in the greatest abundance. Mr Scarlett
also acknowledges that he there saw more specimens of
architectural beauty than in any other town of South America which
he had occasion to visit.

[28] In 1814 the writer had coal in his possession, in London,
brought from the vicinity of Lima, which he had coked and tried in
a variety of ways. It was gaseous and resembled that dug in the
United States. Since that period coal has been found near
Talcahuano and at Valdivia, on the coast of Chili; on the island
of Chiloe, and on that of San Lorenzo, opposite to Lima; in the
valley of Tambo, near Islay; at Guacho, and even further down on
the coast of Guayaquil. Mr Scarlett quotes a letter from the Earl
of Dundonald. (Lord Cochrane,) in which his lordship affirms,
"that there is plenty of coal at Talcahuano, in the province of
Conception." It was used on board of her Majesty's ship Blossom;
and Mr Mason, of her Majesty's ship Seringspatam, pronounced it
good when not taken too near the surface. Mr Wheelright, the
American gentleman who formed the Steam Navigation Company along
the western coast, coked the coal found there; and in the general
plan for the formation of his company, assured the public that
"coal exists on various parts of the Chili coast in great
abundance, and will afford an ample supply for steam operations on
the Pacific at a very moderate expense." The fact is confirmed by
various other testimonies, and there is every reason to believe
that coal will be hereafter found at no great distance from
Panama.

To escape from the perils and delays of this circuitous route has long
been the anxious wish of all commercial nations, and to a certain extent
this may be accomplished in the manner here pointed out. In the course of
time, and in case prospects are sufficiently encouraging--or, in other
words, should the surveys required for a ship canal correspond with the
hopes entertained upon this subject by the French--the great desideratum
might then be attempted. The work done would not interfere with any other
afterwards undertaken on an increased s