, where a canal could be cut, or a road
made, is between the Gulf of St. Miguel on the Pacific, to the bottom
of the Gulf of Darien, due east, and also to the Port de Escoces, or
_New Edinburgh_, more to the N. (N. E. by E. from St. Miguel) in the
upper part of the Gulf of Darien, on the Atlantic. The distance from
the head of the Gulf of St. Miguel to the latter point is 30 miles,
and to the former 45 to 50 miles, but with river communications to
within 16 miles of the latter, and 10 miles of the former. The Gulf of
St. Miguel opens to the Pacific from 8 deg.8' to 8 deg.17' N. lat., and runs
E. N. E. and N. E. by E., fully 22 miles into the country, its centre
crossing the meridian of 78 deg. W. long. As has been shortly adverted to,
the rivers which seem to form the Gulf of St. Miguel run deeply into
the country, both to the S. E. and to the N. E., one particularly, the
Chuqunaque, with an extremely zigzag course between ridges of mountains,
is laid down to within 10 miles of New Edinburgh; which, by the last
Admiralty charts, drawn from the best Spanish authorities, is (p. 089)
placed in 8 deg. 55' N. lat. and 76 deg. 45' W. long. To the S. E. the source
of streams which run into the Gulf of San Miguel spring within 15
miles of the mouth of the Atrato, while branches of each approach
within half that distance of each other. The land in this quarter is
clearly low, because, for a considerable distance from its mouth, the
Atrato runs through a very marshy and flooded country. New Edinburgh,
or Port de Escoces, is an excellent port, commodious, and well
sheltered, and is the celebrated spot where, in 1699 (one hundred and
thirty-eight years ago), the Scotch colony, under the direction of a
Scotch clergyman, named Paterson, a most intelligent and enterprising
man, was established, in order to open up a communication between both
seas, and which was afterwards so shamefully, disgracefully, stupidly,
and unguardedly abandoned by the then Government of Great Britain,
spurred on to the act by the miserable and contracted commercial
rivalry of England and Holland; and afterwards by the jealousies, the
fears, and the representations of the Government of Spain, which at
that time had really no right to the country, the natives thereof
being independent of, and at war with, Spain. The Gulf of Darien is of
easy entrance, and penetrates southward to a little beyond the 8 deg. of
N. lat., and to the southward of the principal mo