Note 128 — THE PLATEAU, OR TABLE-LAND, OF CAXAMARCA, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA, AND THE FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN, From the Ridge of the Andes.
Henry G. (Henry George) Bohn translation
p. 418—“The adventurous expedition of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa.”
I have, in another work, mentioned the fact that Columbus, long before his death, full ten years prior to Balboa’s expedition, was aware of the existence of the South Sea, and its near proximity to the eastern coast of Veragua.[SM] Columbus was led to the knowledge of this fact, not by theoretical speculations on the configuration of Eastern Asia, but by positive and local information obtained from the inhabitants themselves, information which he collected on his fourth voyage (11th May, 1502, to the 7th November, 1504). This fourth voyage led the Admiral from the coast of Honduras to the Puerto de Mosquitos, and even as far as the western extremity of the Isthmus of Panama. The natives reported (and Columbus commented on their reports in the Carta rarissima of the 7th of July, 1503), “that not far from the Rio de Belen, the other sea (the South Sea), turns 433(boxa) to the mouths of the Ganges; so that the countries of the Aurea (i.e., the Chersonesus Aurea of Ptolemy) are situated, in relation to the eastern shores of Veragua, as Tortosa (at the mouth of the Ebro) is in relation to Fuentarabia (on the Bidassoa) in Biscay, or as Venice in respect to Pisa.” But, although Balboa first saw the South Sea from the heights of the Sierra de Quarequa, on the 25th of September,[SN] it was several days later before Alonzo Martin de Don Benito, who had discovered a passage from the mountains of Quarequa to the gulf of San Miguel, embarked on the South Sea in a canoe.[SO]
The recent acquisition of the western coast of the New Continent by the United States of North America, and the fame of the golden treasures of New (now called Upper) California, have rendered the question of forming a direct communication between the shores of the Atlantic and the western regions, by the isthmus of Panama, more urgent than ever. I, therefore, consider it my duty here once more to direct attention to the fact, that the shortest route to the shores of the Pacific, as pointed out by the natives to Alonzo Martin de Don Benito, is in the eastern part of the Isthmus, and led to the Golfo de San Miguel. We know that Columbus[SP] sought for a narrow pass (estrecho de tierra firme); and in the official documents extant, of the dates of 1505, 1507, and especially in that of 1514, mention is made of the sought-for opening (abertura), and of the pass (passo), which, in this district, should lead directly to the “Indian Land of Spices.” A channel of communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific, is a subject which has more or less occupied my attention for the space of forty years; and in my published works, as well as in the several memoirs which, with honourable confidence, the Free States of Spanish America have requested me to write, I have constantly recommended a hypsometrical survey of the Isthmus throughout its whole length, but more especially at two points, viz., where at Darien and what was formerly the deserted province of Biruquete, it joins the South American Continent, and where, 434between Atrato and the Bay of Cupica, on the shore of the Pacific, the mountain chain of the Isthmus almost entirely disappears.[SQ]
In the year 1828 and 1829, General Bolivar, at my request, caused the Isthmus between Panama and the mouth of the Rio Chagres to be accurately levelled by Lloyd and Falmarc.[SR] Since that time, other measurements have been executed by intelligent and experienced French engineers, and plans have been drawn out for canals and railways with locks and tunnels. But these measurements have invariably been made in the meridian direction between Porto-bello and Panama, or westward from thence, towards Chagres and Cruces. The most important points of the eastern and south-eastern parts of the Isthmus, on both shores, have in the meantime been overlooked. Until those parts shall be described geographically, according to accurate (but easily obtained) chronometrical determinations of latitude and longitude; and hypsometrically, with reference to their superficial conformation, by barometrical measurements and elevations, I see no reason to alter the views I have always entertained on this subject. Accordingly, at the present time (1849), I here repeat the opinion I have often before expressed; viz., that the assertion is groundless and altogether premature, that the Isthmus of Panama is unsuited to the formation of an Oceanic Canal—one with fewer sluices than the Caledonian Canal—capable of affording an unimpeded passage, at all seasons of the year, to vessels of that class which sail between New York and Liverpool, and between Chili and California.
According to examinations, the results of which the Directors of the Deposito Hidrografico of Madrid have caused to be inserted in all their maps since 1809, it appears that on the Antillean shore of the Isthmus, the creek called the Ensenada de Mandinga, stretches so far to the south that its distance from the Pacific shore, eastward of Panama, appears to be only between 4 and 5 German geographical miles (15 to 435an equatorial degree) or 16 to 20 English geographical miles. On the Pacific coast also, the deep Golfo de San Miguel, into which falls the Rio Tuyra, with its tributary the river Chuchunque (Chucunaque), runs far into the Isthmus. The river Chuchunque too, in the upper part of its course, runs within 16 geographical miles of the Antillean shore of the Isthmus, westward of Cape Tiburon. For upwards of twenty years I have been repeatedly consulted on the problem of the Isthmus of Panama, by companies having ample pecuniary means at their disposal; but in no instance has the simple advice I have given been followed. Every engineer who has been scientifically educated knows the fact that between the tropics, even without corresponding observations, good barometrical measurements (horary variations being taken into account) may be relied on as correct, within from 75 to 96 feet. Besides it would be easy to establish, for the space of a few months, one on each shore, two fixed barometric stations; and frequently to compare the portable instruments used in the preliminary levelling with each other, and with those at the fixed stations. The point demanding the most attentive examination is that where the range of mountains between the Isthmus and the main continent of South America sinks into hills. Considering the importance of this subject to the commercial interests of the whole world, the examination should not, as heretofore, be restricted within narrow bounds. A complete comprehensive survey, including the whole eastern part of the Isthmus—the results of which would be alike useful in facilitating every possible scheme, whether of canals or railroads—can alone decide the much discussed problem, either affirmatively or negatively. This work will in the end be undertaken, but had my advice been adopted, it would have been done at first.