Footnote 111:
p. 390—“_On the Ridge of the Andes or Antis._”
The Inca Garcilaso, who was well acquainted with the native language
of his country, and who loved to trace etymologies, invariably calls
the chain of the Andes, “las Montañas de los Antis.” He states
positively that the great mountain-chain, eastward of Cuzco, derives
its name from the race of the Antis and from the province Anti, which
was situated to the east of the capital of the Incas. The quaternary
divisions of the Peruvian empire, according to the four cardinal
points, reckoning from Cuzco, did not derive their names from the very
circumstantial words (having reference to the sun) which in the
Quichua language signify east, west, north, and south (intip
llucsinanpata, intip yaucunanpata, intip chaututa chayananpata, intip
chaupunchau chayananpata). Those divisions were named from provinces
and races of people (Provincias llamadas Anti, Cunti, Chincha y Colla)
situated to the east, west, north, and south, with reference to the
city of Cuzco, which was the centre of the empire. The four divisions
of the Inca theocracy were accordingly named Antisuyu, Cuntisuyu,
Chinchasuyu, and Collasuyu; the word _Suyu_ signifying _strip_ or
_part_. Notwithstanding the great distance between them, Quito
belonged to Chinchasuyu; and in proportion as the Incas, by their
religious wars, extended their faith, their language, and their
despotic government, these Suyus acquired greater dimensions and
became more unequal in magnitude. With the names of the provinces was
thus associated an indication of their position; and “to name those
provinces,” observes Garcilaso, “was the same as to say to the east or
to the west.” (Nombrar aquellos Partidos era lo mismo que decir al
Oriente, ó al Poniente.) The snow-chain of the Andes was regarded as
an eastern chain. “La Provincia Anti da nombra á las Montañas de los
Antis. Llamáron à la parte del Oriente Antisuyu, por la qual tambien
llaman Anti á toda aquella gran Cordillera de Sierra Nevada que pasa
al Oriente del Peru, por dar á entender, que está al Oriente.”
(_Commentarios Reales_, p. i. pp. 47, 122.)[RR] Later writers have
supposed the name of the Andes chain to be derived from the word Anta,
which, in the Quichua language, signifies copper. That metal was
indeed of the highest importance to a people who for their edged-tools
or cutting instruments, employed not iron, but a sort of copper mixed
with tin; but still the name of copper mountains would scarcely have
been extended over so vast a chain. Professor Buschmann has justly
observed, that the final “_a_” is retained in the word _anta_ when it
forms part of a compound; and Garcilaso expressly adduces as an
example _anta_, copper, and _antamarca_, province of copper. Moreover
in the ancient language of the Inca empire (the Quichua), words and
their compounds are so simple in formation that the conversion of
“_a_” into “_i_” out of the question; so that _Anta_, copper, and
_Anti_ or _Ante_ (the country or an inhabitant of the Andes or the
mountain-chain itself) must be regarded as words totally distinct from
each other. In dictionaries of the Quichua language, with explanations
in Spanish, the word _Anti_ or _Ante_ has the following
interpretations: _la tierra de los Andes_;—_el Indio, hombre de los
Andes_;—_la Sierra de los Andes_. The original signification or
derivation of the word is buried in the darkness of past ages. Besides
Antisuyu, some other compounds of which Anti or Ante forms a part,
are, Anteruna (the native inhabitant of the Andes), Anteunccuy or
Antionccoy (the sickness of the Andes; _mal de los Andes pestifero_.)
Footnote 112:
p. 390—“_The Countess de Chinchon_.”
This lady was the wife of the Viceroy Don Geronimo Fernandez de
Cabrera, Bobadilla y Mendoza, Conde de Chinchon, who governed Peru
from 1629 to 1639. The cure of the Vice-Queen took place in the year
1638. A tradition which is current in Spain, but which I have
frequently heard contradicted in Loxa, names Juan Lopez de Cañizares,
Corregidor of the Cabildo de Loxa, as the person by whom the Quina
(Cinchona) bark was first brought to Lima, and universally recommended
as a medicine. In Loxa, I have heard it affirmed that the salutary
properties of the tree were long previously, though not generally,
known in the mountainous regions. Immediately after my return to
Europe, I expressed doubts whether the discovery had really been made
by the natives in the vicinity of Loxa, for the Indians in the
neighbouring valleys, where intermittent fevers are very prevalent,
have an aversion to the Quina bark.[RS] The story which sets forth
that the natives learned the virtues of the Cinchona from the lions,
“who cure themselves of intermittent fever by gnawing the bark of the
Quina tree,”[RT] appears to be merely a monkish fiction, and wholly of
European origin. No such disease as the lion’s fever is known in the
New Continent; for the so-called great American lion (_Felis
concolor_) and the small mountain lion (the _Puma_, whose footmarks I
have seen on the snow) are never tamed, consequently never become the
subjects of observation. Nor are the various species of the feline
race, in either continent, accustomed to gnaw the bark of trees. The
name “Countess’s Powder” (_Pulvis Comitissæ_) originated in the
circumstance of the bark having been dealt out as a medicine by the
Countess de Chinchon. But this name was subsequently metamorphosed
into “Cardinal’s” or “Jesuit’s” Powder, because Cardinal de Lugo,
Procurator-General of the Order of the Jesuits, made known the
medicine, whilst he was on a journey through France, and recommended
it the more urgently to Cardinal Mazarin, as the brethren of the Order
were beginning to carry on a profitable trade in the South American
Quina bark, which they contrived to obtain through their missionaries.
It is scarcely necessary to mention that Protestant physicians
suffered themselves sometimes to be influenced by religious
intolerance and hatred of the Jesuits, in the long controversy that
was maintained, respecting the good or evil effects of the fever bark.
Footnote 113:
p. 393—“_Aposentos de Mulalo_.”
The Aposentos are dwellings or inns. They are called in the Quichua
language _Tampu_, whence the Spanish term _Tambo_ (an inn). On the
subject of these Aposentos see Cieça’s _Chronica del Peru_ (cap. 41
ed. de 1544, p. 108), and my _Vues des Cordillères_ (Pl. xxiv).
Footnote 114:
p. 394—“_The fortress of the Cañar_.”
This fortress is situated near Turche, and at an elevation of about
10,640 feet.[RU] Not far distant from the Fortaleza del Cañar is
situated the celebrated ravine of the sun, called the Inti-Guaycu (in
the Quichua language _huaycco_). In this ravine there are some rocks
on which the natives imagine they see the image of the sun, and a
bench called the Inga-Chungana (Incachuncana), the Inca’s play. I made
drawings of both. (_Vues des Cord._, pl. xviii. et xix.)
Footnote 115:
p. 394—“_Causeways covered with cemented gravel_.”
See Velasco’s _Historia de Quito_, 1844, (t. i. p. 126–128), and
Prescott’s _History of the Conquest of Peru_, (vol. i. p. 157.)
Footnote 116:
p. 395—“_Flights of Steps_.”
See Pedro Sancho in Ramusio, vol. iii. fol. 404, and the Extracts from
Manuscript Letters of Hernando Pizarro, of which Mr. Prescott, the
great historical writer, now at Boston, has so advantageously availed
himself (vol. i. p. 444). “El camino de las sierras es cosa de ver,
porque en verdad en tierra tan fragosa en la cristiandad no se han
visto tan hermosos caminos, toda la mayor parte de calzada.”[RV]
Footnote 117:
p. 396—“_Greeks, Romans, &c., present examples of these contrasts_.”
“The Greeks,” says Strabo, (lib. v. p. 235, Casaub,) “in building
their cities sought to produce a happy result by aiming at the union
of beauty and solidity; but, on the other hand, the Romans directed
particular attention to objects which the Greeks neglected; paving the
streets with stone, building aqueducts to provide a plentiful supply
of water, and constructing drainage for carrying all the uncleanliness
of the city into the Tiber. They likewise paved all the roads in the
country, so that the merchandize brought by trading vessels might be
conveniently transported from place to place.”
Footnote 118:
p. 397—“_Nemterequeteba, the messenger of God_.”
Civilization in Mexico (the Aztec country of Anahuac), and in that
country which, in the Peruvian theocracy, was called the Empire of the
Sun, has so rivetted the attention of Europe, that a third point of
dawning civilization, the mountainous regions of New Granada, was long
totally lost sight of. I have already treated this subject in some
detail.[RW] The government of the Muyscas of New Granada bore some
resemblance to the constitution of Japan: the temporal ruler
corresponded with the Cubo or Seogun at Jeddo, and the spiritual ruler
was like the sacred Daïri at Meaco. The table-land of Bogota was
called by the natives of the country Bacata, _i. e._, the utmost limit
of the cultivated plains considered with reference to the mountain
wall. When Gonzalo Ximenez de Quesada advanced thither he found the
country ruled by three powers, whose relative subordination one to
another is not now clearly understood. The spiritual chief was the
electoral high priest of Iraca or Sogamoso (Sugamuxi, the place at
which Nemterequeteba is said to have disappeared), the temporal
princes were the Zake (Zaque of Hunsa or Tunja), and the Zipa of
Funza. The last-named prince seems to have been, in the feudal
constitution, originally subordinate to the Zake.
The Muyscas had a regular system of computing time, with intercalation
for the amendment of the lunar year. For money they made use of small
circular gold plates, cast, and all equal in diameter, (a circumstance
worthy of remark, as traces of coinage even among the ancient and
highly civilized Egyptians have hitherto been sought in vain). Their
temples of the Sun were built with stone columns, some vestiges of
which have recently been discovered in Leiva.[RX] The race of the
Muyscas should properly be distinguished by the denomination Chibchas;
for Muysca, in the Chibcha language, merely signifies _men_ or
_people_. The origin and the elements of civilization, introduced
among the Muyscas, were attributed to two mythical beings, Bochica and
Nemterequeteba, who are frequently confounded one with another.
Bochica was the most mythical of the two; having been in some degree
regarded as divine and even equal to the Sun. His fair companion Chia
or Huythaca occasioned, through her magical art, the submersion of the
beautiful valley of Bogota, and for that reason she was banished from
the earth by Bochica, and made to revolve round it as the moon.
Bochica struck the rocks of Tequendama, and thereby opened a passage
through which the waters flowed off in the neighbourhood of the
Giants’ Field (Campo de Gigantes), where, at the elevation of 8792
feet above the level of the sea, the bones of elephant-like Mastodons
have been discovered. It is stated by Captain Cochrane,[RY] and by Mr.
John Ranking,[RZ] that animals like the Mastodon still live in the
Andes, and that they cast their teeth. Nemterequeteba, surnamed
Chinzapogua, (_el enviado de Dios_, the envoy of God,) was regarded as
a human being. He is represented as a bearded man, who came from the
East, from Pasca, and who disappeared at Sogamoso. The foundation of
the sanctuary of Iraca is sometimes ascribed to Nemterequeteba and
sometimes to Bochica. The latter, it would appear, also bore the name
of Nemterequeteba, and, therefore, that the one should have been
confounded with the other, on such unhistoric ground, is a
circumstance easily accounted for.
My old friend Colonel Acosta, in his admirable work entitled
_Compendio de la Historia de la Nueva Granada_, endeavours to show,
through the evidence of the Quichua language, that New Granada is the
native land of the potato plant. In the _Compendio_ (p. 185), he
observes, “that as the potato (_Solanum tuberosum_) is known in Usmè
by the indigenous name _Yomi_, and not by the Peruvian name, and as it
was found by Quesada, cultivated in the province of Velez in 1537, a
period when its introduction from Chile, Peru, and Quito must have
been improbable, the plant may be regarded as indigenous to New
Granada.” It must, however, be borne in mind that the Peruvians had
invaded Quito, and made themselves completely masters of it before
1525, in which year the death of the Inca Huayna Capac occurred.
Indeed, the southern provinces of Quito fell under the dominion of
Tupac Inca Yupanqui at the close of the fifteenth century.[SA] The
history of the first introduction of the potato into Europe is,
unfortunately, involved in much obscurity, but the merit of the
introduction is still very generally supposed to be due to Sir John
Hawkins, who is said to have brought the plant from Santa Fé in the
year 1563 or 1565. But a fact, which appears to be better
authenticated, is, that the first potatoes grown in Europe were those
planted by Sir Walter Raleigh on his estate at Youghal in Ireland,
from whence they were conveyed to Lancashire. The Banana-tree
(_Musa_), which, since the arrival of the Spaniards, has been
cultivated in all the warmer parts of New Granada, is believed, by
Colonel Acosta (p. 205), to have been known only in Choco before the
Conquista. The name Cundinamarca, which by affected erudition was
applied to the young republic of New Granada in the year 1811, a name
suggestive of golden dreams (sueños dorados), would properly be
Cundirumarca, not Cunturmarca.[SB] Luis Daza, who accompanied the
small invading army commanded by the Conquistador Sebastian de
Belalcazar, who advanced from the south, mentions having heard of a
distant country, rich in gold, and inhabited by the race of the
Chicas. This country, Daza states, was called Cundirumarea, and its
prince solicited auxiliary troops from Atahuallpa in Caxamarca. The
Chichas have been confounded with the Chibchas or Muyscas of New
Granada; and by a similar mistake the name of the unknown more
southerly region has been transferred to this country.
Footnote 119:
p. 400—“_Fall of the Rio de Chamaya_.”
See my _Recueil des Observ. Astron._, vol. i. p. 304; Nivellement
Barométrique, No. 236–242. I made a drawing of the swimming courier,
representing him in the act of winding round his head the handkerchief
containing the letters. See _Vues des Cordillères_, pi. xxxi.
Footnote 120:
p. 401—“_A point of some importance to the geography of South America,
on account of an old observation of La Condamine_.”
My object was to connect chronometrically, Tomependa, (the
starting-point of La Condamine’s journey) and other places on the
Amazon river, geographically determined by him, with the town of
Quito. La Condamine was in Tomependa in June, 1743; consequently, 59
years before I visited that place, which I found, after astronomical
observations made during three consecutive nights, to be situated in
south lat. 5° 31′ 28″, and west long. 78° 34′ 55″). By my
observations, and a laborious recalculation of all those previously
made, Oltmanns has shewn that until the time of my return to France
the longitude of Quito had been erroneously determined, and that the
error made a difference of full 50½ arc-minutes.[SC] Jupiter’s
satellites, lunar distances, and occultations afford a satisfactory
accordance, and all the elements of the calculation are before the
public. The too easterly longitude which had been determined for Quito
was, by La Condamine, carried to Cuenca and the Amazon river. “Je
fis,” says La Condamine, “mon premier essai de navigation sur un
radeau (_balsa_) en descendant la rivière de Chinchipe jusqu’à
Tomependa. Il fallut me contenter d’en déterminer la latitude et de
conclure la longitude par les routes. J’y fis mon testament politique
en rédigeant l’extrait de mes observations les plus importantes.”[SD]
Footnote 121:
p. 403—“_At the elevation of nearly 12,800 feet above the sea, we
found marine fossils_.”
See my _Essai géognostique sur le Gisement des Roches_, 1823, p. 236;
and for the first zoological determination of the fossils contained in
the cretaceous formation of the Andes chain, see Leopold de Buch,
_Pétrifications recueillies en Amérique_ par Alex. de Humboldt et
Charles Degenhardt, 1839 (in fol.), pp. 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 18, 22.
Pentland found fossil shells of the Silurian formation in Bolivia, and
on the Nevado of Antakana at the elevation of 17,480 feet. (See Mary
Somerville’s _Physical Geography_, 1849, vol. i. p. 185.)
Footnote 122:
p. 407—“_The point at which the Andes-chain is intersected by the
magnetic equator_.”
See my _Rélation Hist. du Voyage aux Régions Equinoxiales_, t. iii. p.
622; and _Cosmos_, vol. i. pp. 191, 432; where, through errors of the
press, the longitude is in one place marked 48° 40′, and in another
80° 40′, whereas it ought to be 80° 54′.
Footnote 123:
p. 409—“_Tedious court ceremonies_.”
Conformably with an ancient ceremonial, Atahuallpa spat, not on the
ground, but into the hand of a distinguished lady of the Court circle.
“This was done,” observes Garcilaso, “by reason of his majesty.” “El
Inca nunca escupia en el suelo, sino en la mano de una Señora mui
principal, por Magestad.” (Garcilaso, _Comment. Reales_, p. ii. p.
46.)
Footnote 124:
p. 410—“_Captivity of Atahuallpa_.”
The captive Inca was, at his own desire, a short time before he was
put to death, conducted into the open air, for the purpose of seeing a
large comet, described to have been of a greenish black hue, and
nearly as thick as a man’s body; (“_una cometa verdinegra, poco menos
gruesa que el cuerpo de un hombre_,” Garcilaso, p. ii. p. 44). This
comet, which Atahuallpa saw shortly before his death, (therefore, in
July or August, 1533), he supposed to be the same comet of evil omen,
which had appeared at the death of his father Huayna Capac, and was
certainly identical with that observed by Appian.[SE] The comet was
seen by Appian, on the 21st of July, standing high in the north, near
the constellation of Perseus; and it appeared like a sword held by
Perseus, in his right hand.[SF] The year in which the Inca Huayna
Capac died, is considered by Robertson not to be satisfactorily
determined; but the investigations of Balboa and Velasco shew, that
the event must have occurred about the end of 1525. The statements of
Hevelius (_Cométographie_, p. 844), and of Pingré (vol. i. p. 485),
obtain additional confirmation from the testimony of Garcilaso. (p. i.
p. 321,) and the traditions preserved among the Amautas (“que son los
filosofos de aquella republica”). I may here add the remark, that
Oviedo is certainly incorrect in stating in the yet unpublished
continuation of his “_Historia de las Indias_,” that the name of the
Inca was not Atahuallpa, but Atabaliva. See Prescott’s _Conquest of
Peru_, vol. i. p. 498.
Footnote 125:
p. 410—“_Ducados de Oro_,” (3,838,000 _golden ducats_.)
The sum mentioned in the text is that stated by Garcilaso de la
Vega.[SG] On this subject, however, Padre Blas Valera and Gomera give
different accounts.[SH] Moreover, it is difficult to ascertain the
precise value of the Ducado Castellano or Peso de Oro.[SI] The
intelligent historian, Prescott, has had the opportunity of consulting
a manuscript, bearing the promising title of “_Acta de Reparticion del
Rescate de Atahuallpa_,” (Act of assessment for the ransom of
Atahuallpa). The Peruvian booty shared by the brothers Pizarro and by
Almagro, appears to be too highly estimated by Prescott, who says it
amounted to 3,500,000_l._ sterling, but the ransom money, the
treasures of the different temples of the Sun, and of the Huertas de
Oro, were all included in that amount.[SJ]
Footnote 126:
p. 412—“_The great Huayna Capac, who, for a Child of the Sun, was
somewhat disposed to free-thinking_.”
The nightly disappearance of the sun excited, in the mind of the Inca,
many philosophic doubts respecting the government of the world by that
luminary. Among the Inca’s remarks on this subject, as recorded by
Padre Bias Valera, are the following:—“Many maintain that the sun
lives and is the creator and maker of all things (_el hacedor de todas
las cosas_); but whosoever desires to do a thing completely must
continue at his task without intermission. Now many things are done
when the sun is absent, therefore, he cannot be the creator of all. It
may also be doubted whether the sun be really living, for, though
always moving round in a circle, he is never weary (_no se cansa_). If
the sun were a living thing he would, like ourselves, become weary;
and if he were free, he would, doubtless, sometimes move into parts of
the heavens in which we never see him. The sun is like an ox bound by
a rope, being obliged always to move in the same circle (_como una Res
atada que siempre hace un mismo cerco_), or like an arrow which can
only go where it is sent, and not where it may itself wish to go.”
(Garcilaso, _Comment. Reales_, p. i. lib. viii. cap. 8, p. 276.) The
Inca’s simple comparison of the circling movement of a heavenly body
to that of an ox fastened by a rope is very curious, owing to a
circumstance which may be explained here. Huayna Capac died at Quito
in 1525 (seven years prior to the invasion of the Spaniards), and his
empire was divided between Huascar and Atahuallpa. Now, in the native
language of Peru, the name Huascar signifies rope, and Atahuallpa
means a cock or a fowl. Instead of _res_ Huayna Capac probably used
the word signifying, in his native language, _animal_ generally; but,
even in Spanish, the word _res_ is not applied exclusively to oxen,
but is employed to denote cattle of all kinds. How far the Padre, with
the view of weaning the natives from the dynastic service of the Inca,
may have mingled passages from his own sermons with the heresies of
the Inca, we need not here inquire. That it was deemed very important
to keep these doubts from the knowledge of the lower classes of the
people is evident, from the very conservative policy and the state
maxims of the Inca Roca, the conqueror of the province of Charcas.
This Inca founded schools exclusively for the higher classes, and,
under heavy penalties, prohibited instruction being given to the
common people, lest it should render them presumptuous, and cause them
to disturb the State. (No es licito que enseñen á los hijos de los
Plebeios las Ciencias, porque la gente baja no se eleve y ensobervezca
y menoscabe la Republica; Garcilaso, p. i. p. 276.) Thus the theocracy
of the Incas may be said to have resembled the Slave States in the
free land of the North American Union.
Footnote 127:
p. 415—“_Expected restoration of the Inca rule_.”
I have treated this subject at length in another work.[SK] Sir Walter
Raleigh had heard of an old prophecy current in Peru, which foretold
“that from Inglaterra those Ingas shoulde be againe in time to come
restored and deliuered from the seruitude of the said conquerors. I am
resolued that if there were but a small army afoote in Guiana marching
towards Manoa, the chiefe citie of Inga, he would yield her Majesty by
composition, so many hundred thousand pounds yearely, as should both
defend all enemies abroad and defray all expenses at home, and that he
woulde besides pay a garrison of 3000 or 4000 soldiers very royally to
defend him against other nations. The Inca will be brought to tribute
with great gladnes.”[SL] A restoration project, which promised to be
highly satisfactory to both parties, but, unfortunately for the
success of the scheme, the dynasty which was to be restored and which
was to pay for the restoration was wanting.
Footnote 128:
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 (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, between 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 an 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.
Footnote 129:
p. 418—“_Impressions excited by the accidental circumstances of
life_.”
In _Cosmos_ I have adverted to the incitements to the Study of Nature.
(Vol. ii. p. 371, Bohn’s edition.)
Footnote 130:
p. 420—“_Of importance in determining the longitude of Lima_.”
At the time of my expedition the longitude of Lima, as determined by
Malaspina and marked in the maps published by the Deposito
Hidrografico de Madrid, was 5^h 16′ 53″. The transit of Mercury over
the Sun’s disc, on the 9th of November, 1802 (which I observed at
Callao, the port of Lima, from the Round Tower of the Fort of San
Felipe), gave for Callao, by the mean of the contact of both limbs,
5^h 18′ 16″ 5; by the external contact only, 5^h 18′ 18″ (79° 34′
30″). This result, obtained from the transit of Mercury, has been
confirmed by Lartigue and Duperrey; and by observations made during
Capt. Fitzroy’s expeditions of the “Adventurer” and the “Beagle.”
Lartigue fixed the longitude of Callao at 5^h 17′ 58″; Duperrey made
it 5^h 18′ 16″; and Capt. Fitzroy 5^h 18′ 15″. After having calculated
the longitudinal difference between Callao and the Convent of San Juan
de Dios at Lima, by carrying chronometers from the one place to the
other during four journeys, I found that the observations of the
transit of Mercury determined the longitude of Lima to be 5^h 17′ 51″
(79° 27′ 45″ W. from Paris, or 77° 6′ 3″ W. from Greenwich.) See my
_Recueil d’observations astron._, vol. ii. p. 397, and _Relation
hist._, t. iii. p. 592.
POTSDAM, _June, 1849_.