Miguel, Usulutan, La Union, and Gotera; the central, by San
Vicente, Cabañas, Cuscatlan, and Chalatenango; the western,
by Santa Ana, Sonsonat, and Ahuachapan; and the reserve, by
San Salvador, La Paz, and La Libertad. Each division was
formed with four brigades, and another of artillery; each
brigade to have 1,000 men in two battalions; five companies
of 100 men to form a battalion. _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Apr.
6, May 16, July 9, 10, 1879.
[XXXI-50] Divisions to be commanded by generals of division,
brigades by generals of brigade; battalions to have colonels
and lieut-colonels; and each company a capt., 1st lieut,
2d lieut, and 2 sub-lieuts, 5 sergeants, and 8 corporals.
Brevets were recognized in all grades of commissioned
officers, under an executive decree of 1875. _Id._, Aug. 13,
1875.
[XXXI-51] The pay of a gen. of div. was $150 per month, of
a gen. of brig. $125, col $100, lieut-col $90, capt. $57,
lieut $45, sub-lieut $37.50, serg. $15, corporals, $13⅛, and
private $11.25. The new organization given the army at that
time was said to secure a saving of $200,000 a year. _Salv._,
_Gaceta Ofic._, Oct. 7, 11, 1876.
[XXXI-52] The scale was fixed in March 1877, from $50 for a
general of division down to $10 for a sub-lieut, sergeants
$7 and $6, corporals $5, and privates $4. The same scale
standing for widows and orphans to whom pensions might be
allowed. _Id._, Feb. 16, March 6, 1877.
[XXXI-53] It went into effect on the 15th of that month and
year. _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Jan. 2-14, 1880.
[XXXI-54] A few paid for their exemption till 1892. _Guat._,
_Mem. Sec. Hac._, 1883, 24, and annex 19.
[XXXI-55] The ranks of captain-general and lieutenant-gen.,
created for Miguel García Granados and J. Rufino Barrios
respectively, soon after the overthrow of the oligarchs,
were suppressed by the latter in his decree of Feb. 9,
1873, together with the grade of mariscal de campo formerly
existing. He likewise annulled the grade of sargento mayor,
creating in lieu thereof those of segundo comandante and
primer comandante. _Guat._, _Recop. Ley. Gob. Democ._, ii.
12-13, 25.
[XXXI-56] The pay of a private is three reales per day, out
of which he supports and clothes himself.
[XXXI-57] The secretary of war said of it: 'Este
establecimiento promete mucho para el porvenir.' And indeed,
a number of its graduates were already engaged in engineering
work on the northern railroad, in running the boundary line
with Mexico, and in instructing the several battalions. Some
had been also assigned to the artillery department. _Guat._,
_Mem. Sec. Guer._, 1884, 6, annex no. 1.
[XXXI-58] Officers in active service cannot marry without
leave from the sec. of war, which is not granted if their
marriage may prove detrimental to the service. _Id._, 1882,
5, 13-14.
[XXXI-59] It has been properly kept, with beneficial results.
_Id._, 1882, 15; 1883, 6-7, annex 3; 1884, 9-10, doc. 3.
[XXXI-60] _Id._, 1884, annex no. 1. Other authorities
containing information on military affairs of Guat. from 1822
to 1873: _Thompson's Guat._, 496-504; _Dunlop's Cent. Am._,
168-9; _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, ii. 639-759, passim; _Id._,
_Gob. Democ._, i. 6, 103-5, 132-7; _Id._, _Decretos_, nos.
11, 23, 36-7; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Guer._, 1837, 24-6, table 6;
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 516-17; _Boddam Whetham's Across Cent.
Am._, 205-8.
[XXXII-1] Humboldt estimated the production at the value
of $4,500,000. _Essai Polit._, ii. 446; _Guat._, _Apunt._,
17-20; _Guat._, _Gaceta_, vi. 70-1, 293-337, passim.
[XXXII-2] The yearly products of Cent. Am. were estimated in
1826 at $52,529,450. _Ocios Esp. Emigr._, v. 3-11.
[XXXII-3] _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, i. 658-89, 744-60.
[XXXII-4] Though land was free to all, agriculture was so low
that even on the richest soil staples were scarcely produced
in sufficient quantities for the consumption. _Berendt_, in
_Smithsonian Rept_, 1867, 424.
[XXXII-5] The annual export was estimated at nearly
$1,100,000, but chemical substances having been discovered to
take its place for coloring, the decadence of the industry
soon followed. Cochineal could not fetch over 2 to 3 francs
per kilogr. in France. _Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._,
247.
[XXXII-6] It had young trees planted in every department,
and for the further increase of the staple, exempts the
product from interior taxation and export dues. _Pan. Star
and Herald_, May 29, 1886.
[XXXII-7] _Presid. Barrios_, _Mensaje_, Sept. 11, 1876.
[XXXII-8] _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Gobern. y Just._, 1880; _Id._,
_Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1880-2; _Id._, _Sec. Hac._, 1882-3;
_Pan. Star and Herald_, March 2, May 29, 1886.
[XXXII-9] Cochineal, reduced from 67,709 qls in 1860-4
to 2,845 in 1879-83. Coffee, 1860-4, none; crop of 1883-4
was 495,385 qls; next year's estimated 520,000, valued at
$5,291,074. Sugar, 1860-4, 115,486 qls; the production of
1883 of sugar, panela, muscovado, and molasses valued at
$976,902; 1884, $1,058,551; 1885, $915,789. Rubber, 1879-83,
9,074 qls. Sundries, 1879-83, 115,999 qls. Flour, 1884,
probable production 931,144 qls. Tobacco cult. progressing.
Live-stock, 1884, horses, 107,187; mules and asses, 41,386;
neat cattle, 441,307; sheep, 417,577; goats, 27,618; swine,
177,118. Total value, $15,112,233. _Guat._, _Mem. Sec.
Fomento_, 1885-5; _El Guatemalteco_, Jan. 1, Sept. 15, 1884;
_Pan. Ev'g Telegram_, May 26, 1886.
[XXXII-10] As early as 1800 there were 9,600 trees of China
cotton. _Quinta Junta Púb._, 14-15; _Juarros_, _Guat._, i.
38-46.
[XXXII-11] _Viag. Univ._, xxvii. 172-4. The Sp. gov. had all
the vines destroyed for fear of injury to the wine industry
of the mother country. _Squier's Cent. Am._, 273; _W. Ind._,
_Descr. Sp. Settlers_, 45.
[XXXII-12] _Squier's Cent. Am._, 192-204; _Laferrière_, _De
Paris à Guatém._, 97.
[XXXII-13] They do not yield a high income, however, the
consumption at home being comparatively small, and the demand
of the neighboring states limited. _Id._, 209-11, 272. Gov.
is endeavoring to improve the breed.
[XXXII-14] Comparative values: Indigo—as early as 1630 the
yield was 10,000 quintals a year; the production from 1791 to
1800 was 8,752,562 ℔s. at $2 a ℔.; 1864, $1,129,105; 1877,
$2,146,423. Coffee—1864, about $80,000; 1877, $2,115,669.
Maize—1877, $2,786,433. Sugar and muscovado—1877, $334,361.
Rice—1877, $154,728. Hides and deer-skins—1876, $444,805.
Cattle—1876, $672,948. Aggregate values for 1876-7—including
rum made from molasses, and set down at $925,457—were
$15,448,794. These figures are from official sources, but may
not be altogether reliable. _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Oct. 21,
1875; _Id._, _Gaceta Ofic._, Feb. 7, 24, 1877; Feb. 19, 1878.
[XXXII-15] The cotton is of superior quality, and grown
in considerable quantities; the cacao is second only to
Soconusco; the sugar-cane is indigenous, and yields beautiful
sugar; the indigo has a high reputation; the coffee is fully
as good as Costa Rica's, and flourishes well in the higher
grounds. The same may be said of tobacco. Maize and rice grow
in perfection and abundance. _Stout's Nic._, 73-85, 345-53;
_Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 265-7; _Baily's Cent. Am._, 120-4;
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 363-4, 377-8, 663; _Id._, _Trav._, i.
34-9, 158-63; _Id._, _Nic._, 620-2; _Lévy_, _Nic._, 458-81;
_Wells' Hond._, 141-3; _Id._, _Walker's Exped._, 116;
_Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 77-80; _U. S. Gov. Doc._,
H. Ex. Doc., 75, 210-12, 216, vol. x. Cong. 31, Sess. 1;
_Pan. Star and Herald_, March 13, 1886.
[XXXII-16] Exempting them from taxation and otherwise.
_Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._, i. 191-4, 206-11; ii. 106-11; _Nic._,
_Reg. Ofic._, 328-9; _Id._, _Dec. y Acuerdos_, vol. for
1851-61, passim; _Ley de Agric._, Feb. 18, 1862; _Nic._,
_Boletin Ofic._, Feb. 15, 1862; _Id._, _Gaceta_, years
1865-74, passim.
[XXXII-17] Mahogany abounds, especially on the margins of
the branches of the large rivers. The cutters are mostly
Mosquitos and Caribs, who hire themselves for the season at
$10 to $15 a month and fed. In 1862-9 the govt adopted the
plan of farming out the privilege of cutting mahogany. The
caoutchouc trees were by law declared in 1860 govt property.
_Nic._, _Mem. Min. Hac._, 1862; _Id._, _Gaceta_, Apr. 1,
1865; _El Nacional_, Nov. 10, 1860.
[XXXII-18] Nutritious grasses and water are scarce in the
summer. On the other hand, an immense quantity of vermin
constantly torment the animals, and disease takes hold of
them, killing many. Cows yield only a small quantity of milk.
A dairy possessing 150 to 200 milch cows is said to do well
if they yield 50 lbs. of cheese per day. _Lévy_, _Nic._, 478.
[XXXII-19] Said to be as good as that of Soconusco; but the
country is generally too high and cold for cacao culture;
nor is the climate favorable for cochineal, cotton, or grape,
owing to excessive rains. _Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._, 30-1;
_Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._, 37. Spec. laws have been passed
for the promotion of cacao and indigo culture. _Costa R._,
_Col. Ley._, xi. 299-301; xii. 216-17; _Id._, _Col. Ley._,
1866, 161-2; _Id._, xix. 184-6.
[XXXII-20] As late as 1829 her sole article of export was
Brazil wood. The miserable condition of the country made
its name ridiculous. But in a few years the situation became
changed. An act was passed Sept. 7, 1831, to promote coffee
culture, and in 1835 the first export of the article took
place. Another decree for the same purpose was issued in
1843. _Id._, iii. 94-6; _El Nicaragüense_, Jan. 9, 1856.
In 1845 no less than 45,000 quintals were produced; in 1848
double that quantity; and in 1850, 140,000 qls; from 1854 to
1856 there was no increase, owing to cholera, locusts, and
the Walker war in Nic. However, the crop of 1856 was about
55,200 qls. _Costa R._, _Gaceta_, Jan. 26, 1850; July 1 to
Sept. 23, 1854; _Id._, _Boletin Ofic._, June 29, 1854; _Id._,
_Mem. Sec. Rel._, 1856, 10-12; _Guat._, _Gaceta_, Oct. 7,
1853; _Wagner_, _Costa R._, 41, 307-21; _Squier's Cent. Am._,
454-72; _Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 48-9; _Belly_, _A
trav. l'Amér. Cent._, i. 397-400.
[XXXII-21] In 1862 there was a fair crop: 1873, 333,843 qls;
1874, about 300,000 valued in Puntarenas port at $15.50 per
quintal of 100 lbs.; 1876, a scanty crop; 1877, 186,000;
1877, 180,652; 1879, excessive rains caused heavy loss; 1884,
about 375,000 quintals; but 1885 only yielded 125,000 or
130,000. _Costa R._, _Informe Sec. Interior_, 1862, 10-11;
_Id._, _Sec. Agric._, 1874, 28; 1876, 20-1; 1878, 14; 1879,
22; _Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 34; _Jülfs_, _Die
Seehäfen_, 18; _Pan. Star and Herald_, Apr. 9, 23, 1885.
[XXXII-22] The manufacture of rum from sugar-cane is a
government monopoly. The cultivation of tobacco has been for
many years under the strictest regulations; its manufacture
and sale was exclusively in the hands of govt agents. In
1850 it was declared free from Jan. 1, 1852, but the law was
repealed June 23, 1851. In 1869 the monopoly was abolished,
but restored again by law of Feb. 4, 1884. _Molina_, _Bosq.
Costa R._, 30; _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, x. 132-40; xi. 331-3;
_Id._, _Col. Ley._, 1869, 15-17, 219-20; _Id._, _Mem. Sec.
Hac._, 1852-3; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Gobern. Hac., etc._, 1884,
25-6.
[XXXII-23] The U. S. govt evinced in 1863 a disposition to
promote its cultiv. See correspond. of agric. dept. with U.
S. consul in Pan. _Bidwell's Isth. Pan._, 268-70.
[XXXII-24] Exempting from taxation, and by other privileges.
_Pan. Ley._, 1876-7, 7; _Id._, _Gaceta_, Jan. 7, 1877;
_Bidwell's Isth. Pan._, 264-72; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex.
Doc. 113, vol. vi. 1-2, 35-7, Cong. 41, Sess. 2.
[XXXII-25] Tobacco, 2,770 quintals; grain, 197,320 qls;
cacao, 261 qls; sugar, 155 qls; panela, 29,445 qls; molasses,
4,694 jugs; coffee, 2,853 qls; rubber, 80 qls; sundries,
354,285 qls; medicinal roots, 390 qls. Total value, $518,662.
_Pan._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1882, annex L.
[XXXII-26] No sheep are raised, and the goats, sometimes
killed, are a poor substitute. The pork is excellent.
Live-stock said to exist on the Isthmus in 1882: neat cattle,
114,157; mules and asses, 470; horses, 9,942; goats, 24,732;
hogs, 203,209. Total value, $1,270,945. _Id._
[XXXII-27] It would take too much space to enumerate them;
but a list may be found in the report on the physical and
polit. geog. of the state of Pan., drawn up by a commission
despatched thither for that purpose, by the govt of New
Granada, in 1859. See also report of Martin, New Granada
minister in London, May 1858, in _Bidwell's Isth. Pan._,
322-40.
[XXXII-28] Silver ores are the most abundant, and chiefly
located on the Pac. group of mountains, whereas the gold
washings, if not the gold mines proper, are most numerous on
the Atlantic side. The mineral districts in the departments
of Tegucigalpa, Choluteca, and Gracias are very rich in
silver in various combinations. The upper or old mine of
Coloal yielded 58 per ct. of copper, and 78 to 84 ounces
of silver to the ton; the ores of the new mines of Coloal,
a combination of chloride of silver, a little sulphuret
of silver, oxide of iron, and antimony, mixed with earthy
matter, yielded 8,470 ounces per ton of 2,000 lbs. Gold mines
abound in Hond., but only a few have been worked. The chief
supplies have been drawn from the washings of Olancho. The
rivers of Guayape and Jalan, as well as the streams running
into them, are decidedly the richest in auriferous sands. The
finest gold is from the Guayape, Jalan, and Mangualil, and
from the Sulaco, Caimito, and Pacaya, in the dept of Yoro.
The southern districts bordering on Nic. have rich placers.
Hond. has also mines of copper, iron, platina, cinnabar,
zinc, and coal. Very productive opal mines are worked to some
extent in Gracias. Amethysts are said to be found in Campuca.
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 145-51, 178-89; _Id._, _Hond. R. R._,
85-94; _Montgomery's Narr._, 1134; _Baily's Cent. Am._,
100-2; _Hond. Gac. Ofic._, Feb. 20, March 10, 1853; _Wells'
Hond._, 233-539, passim.
[XXXII-29] Foreigners are allowed to work and own mines,
under the federal law of June 27, 1825. The ordenanzas of New
Spain regarding mines were declared to be in force June 17,
1825. _Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._, i. 209; _Guat._, _Recop. Leyes_,
i. 238.
[XXXII-30] The absence of roads and difficulty of travel make
mining unprofitable as yet. _Presid. Soto_, _Mensaje_, Feb.
19, 1883; _Pan. Star and Herald_, March 23, 1883; Feb. 23,
1886; _H. S. Davys' Gold Fields along the Guayape, etc._, in
_Cincinnati Enquirer_.
[XXXII-31] Combined with lead and copper, and also as a
sulphide of silver. Materials convenient for working them
were at hand. The Central Am. Mining Co. operating on the
locality sold between 1858 and 1865 ore and bar silver to
the amount of 621,000 ounces, worth over $700,000. _U. S.
Gov. Doc._, H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 40, Sess. 2, pt 1, 212-14;
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 526; _U. S. Land Off. Rep._, 1867,
116-17, 131-2, 188-90; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Apr. 28, 1866.
[XXXII-32] Early in the present century nuggets of 22 carats
were found near Chol. In some mines the ore treated with
quicksilver yielded one ounce of gold to the 100 ℔s., or $320
to the ton of 2,000 ℔s. _Blazquez_, _Opinion_, in _Doc. Orig.
Chiapas_, 5.
[XXXII-33] Gold placers in the dept. of Izabal were being
worked on a large scale. Several silver mines promise large
yields when they become exploited. The Indians of Zunil
repeatedly offer for sale in Quezaltenango quicksilver
obtained from a mine which they keep strictly secret. In the
departments of Quiché, Alta, Vera Paz, and Huehuetenango are
salt springs and deposits; in Chimaltenango peat and lignite;
between Guastoya and Izabal, marble; and in several places on
the Atlantic slope, coal. The government had a mineralogical
survey of the country made. _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._, 1882,
28; 1883, 34, 72-4; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1884, 42;
_Wagner_, _Costa R._, 36; _Pan. Star and Herald_, Jan. 17,
1883.
[XXXII-34] Among them must be mentioned zinc, iron, copper,
lead, tin, antimony. The mines of lead, iron, and copper
are believed to be inexhaustible. They are situated in a
fertile, cool, healthy, and picturesque region, affording
every other facility for working them. The whole northern
frontier abounds in silver, a little of it being obtained
by primitive processes. Quicksilver mines, though not rich,
are common. The gold veins of Nic. come from Hond., running
along the cordillera to the San Juan River, where they become
somewhat ramified before crossing it, and reappear in Costa
R. The chief one crosses the Machuca River. The gold is
almost pure when washed from river-beds, and more or less
mixed with silver when dug out of the earth. In the districts
of Juigalpa and Libertad hundreds of mines have been entered.
The Jícaro mines near Trinidad, and those of Santa Rosa,
Achuapa, San Francisco, etc., have been famous. The Potosí
and Corpus in colonial times yielded large quantities of
gold. The whole upper region of the Coco River is rich. It
may be asserted that the mines of Nic. are excellent, but
the miners are generally incompetent. They use the crowbar,
avoiding gunpowder as too expensive. Men are easily procured,
who work steadily though slowly and by primitive methods,
earning $8 to $10 per month, and their rations. The mills
are mostly poor. Sixteen carat gold is worth at the mine
$12 an ounce, but the average price paid by factors was
$8 or $9. Considerable quantities of gold are taken by the
Indians from river sands and bed, and washed in pans. _Lévy_,
_Nic._, 160-6, 482-6; _Squier's Cent. Am._, 364, 392-400;
_Id._, _Nic._, 653-6; _Nic._, _Mem. Min. Fomento_, 1871;
_Id._, _Mem. Min. Rel._, 1875; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex.
Doc., 212-13, vol. x., Cong. 31, Sess. 1; _Belly_, _Nic._, i.
340-6; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Nov. 11, 1865; May 26, 1866, suppl.;
Sept. 7, 1867; Jan. 11, July 18, Aug. 8, 1868.
[XXXII-35] _Nic._, _Gaceta_, March 1, 1873; _Rocha_, _Cód.
Nic._, i. 163-72; _Nic._, _Correo Ist._, Aug. 29, 1850.
[XXXII-36] It is said their yield was 47 to 2,537 oz. of
silver to the ton. Dunlop has it that they yielded at one
time $1,000,000 annually, though worked rudely and without
machinery, and the chief one of them once produced $200,000
annually. _Trav. in Cent. Am._, 277. A French company
undertook to work the Tabanco and Encuentros, invested a
large capital, and sustained losses. The Loma Larga and
Divisaderos, though represented as richer, probably fared
not much better. _Dunn's Guat._, 225-6; _Baily's Cent. Am._,
92-3; _Squier's Cent. Am._, 291-4; _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._,
Dec. 1, 2, 1875; Jan. 23, 1876; Jan. 28, 1879; _Id._, _Gaceta
Ofic._, Oct. 24, 1875; Jan. 30, Aug. 15, Nov. 11, 1877.
[XXXII-37] _Squier's Coal-mines of Riv. Lempa_, 3-13.
[XXXII-38] It is believed that the Tisingal, which gave the
country its name, lies near the Colombian frontier on the
Atlantic. _Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._, 33.
[XXXII-39] _Squier's Cent. Am._, 457; _Lond. Geog. Soc._,
_Jour._, vi. 128; _Thompson's Guat._, 214-15; _Dunlop's Cent.
Am._, 42; _Costa R._, _Gaceta_, July 15, 1854; _Id._, _Inf.
Sec. Hac._, 1872; _Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 36;
_Wheelright's Isth. Pan._, 7.
[XXXII-40] Information for the years preceding 1800 may
be gleaned from _Juarros_, _Guat._, 16-79, passim; _Id._,
_Stat. and Com. Hist. Guat._, 21-105, passim; _Montanus_,
_Die Nieuwe Weereld_, 275-7; _Arevalo_, _Compend._, 175;
_Russell's Hist. Am._, 191, 391-2; _Churchill's Coll._, viii.
764-5; _Dunn's Guat._, 222-5; _Squier's Trav._, i. 39-40;
_Id._, _Guat._, 586-7. To the end of the Spanish rule most
of the precious metals from Hond. were smuggled out through
Belize and Mosquito, probably one third only reaching the
mint at Guat. The coinage in 1817-18, was $983,225; 1820-4,
$1,319,106. _Thompson's Guat._, 217, 520. The superintend.
of the old Guat. mint calculated the coinage in gold and
silver for the 15 years anterior to 1810 at $2,193,832, and
for the 15 years posterior at $3,810,382, adding that much
of the production had been exported in its native state
or manufactured. He estimated the actual products of the
mines in those 30 years at ten times the amount coined;
his estimate could probably bear some deduction. _De Bow's
Review_, Jan. 1855, 77-8.
[XXXII-41] The Guat. mint has coined in the years 1879-83
$974,957, all in silver pieces from one dollar down to 3⅛
cents. _Guat. Mem._, _Sec. Hac._, 1880-4, in tables 6, 11,
14, 20, 18, respectively. The coinage of the Costa Rican
mint from 1829 to 1880, both inclusive, was as follows:
gold, $2,351,808; silver, $568,648; copper, $1,682; total,
$2,922,138. _Costa R._, _Mem. Min. Hac._, 1883, table 11.
[XXXII-42] 'Hay oro en mucha cantidad; están descubiertos
veinte rios, y treinta que tienen oro salen de una sierra
que está fasta dos leguas de esta villa.' _Carta_, _Eno 20,
1513_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. Viages_, iii. 363.
[XXXII-43] They were several times plundered by buccaneers.
Harris in 1684 took away 120 lbs. of gold. Dampier speaks
glowingly of them in that year; 'the richest gold mines ever
yet found in America.' _New Voy. round the World_, i. 158-9.
Another exped. in 1702 carried off 50 lbs.
[XXXII-44] An extensive and able report by the governor,
many years after, gives much information on the whole Darien
region, especially on its mineral wealth, making particular
mention of the Cuque gold mine, and of a silver one in the
country of the Curias Indians, who allowed no whites to visit
it. _Ariza_, _Comentos de la rica y fertilísima Prov. del
Darien_, Apr. 5, 1774, MS., 2, 12, 19-21, 32-7; _Id._, in
_Anales Instruc. Púb. Colombia_, May 1883, 369, 380, 687-9,
397-401.
[XXXII-45] _Gisborne's Isth. Darien_, 173; _Pan._, _Boletin
Ofic._, July 4, Aug. 1, 1867.
[XXXII-46] _Restrepo_, _Minas de Oro y Plata de Colombia_,
in _Anales Instruc. Púb. Colombia_, Mar. 1884, 230-45. Many
rivers are represented to contain abundance of gold, namely,
Marea and Balsas in Darien, Coclé, Belen, Indios, and their
tributaries. Their are mines in Las Tablas, etc. Gold has
also been taken from Indian graves. _Seemann's Narr._, i.
242-3; _Pan._, _Crón. Ofic._, March 6, 1853; _Id._, _Gaceta
del Est._, Dec. 15, 1855; June 14, 1856; June 22, 1857; Sept.
23, Oct. 22, 1859; May 4, 1860; _Id._, _Gac._, Sept. 6, 1873;
Feb. 20, 1876, to May 8, 1881, passim; _U. S. Govt Doc._, 54,
169-72, vol. ix., Cong. 40, Sess. 3.
[XXXII-47] Six hundred and four millions in gold and
auriferous silver, and 26 millions in silver. _Restrepo,
Vicente_, _Industria Minera_, in _Pan. Star and Herald_, Jan.
2, 1884.
[XXXII-48] _Bogotá_, _Gaceta Ofic._, Feb. 6, 1848; _Pan._,
_Gac. Estado_, Aug. 4, 1855; Jan. 5, 1856; May 10, 1862;
_Id._, _Gac._, Aug. 22, 1874; Feb. 27, 1875; Jan. 12, 1876;
Nov. 7, 1880; _Id._, _Boletin Ofic._, Dec. 7, 1867; _Id._,
_Star and Herald_, Feb. 28, 1876; _Wheelright's Isth. Pan._,
8; _Pan. Rept on Coal Bocas del Toro_, in _Costa R. Bound_,
3-19; _Selfridge's Explor._, 177-80; _U. S. Gov. Doc._,
H. Ex. Doc., 41, 45-53, vol. vi. Cong. 36, Sess. 2; _S. F.
Bulletin_, July 26, 1873.
[XXXII-49] They were known, however, from the earliest times,
and the needs of the inhabitants in cotton and woollen goods,
pottery, etc., were mostly supplied at home. The decline of
cotton manufactures began in 1773, after the destruction
of old Guat. city, and was completed when permission was
given a little previous to 1799, for the importation of
foreign manufactured goods. _Diario_, _Méx._, March 29,
1806; _Juarros_, _Guat._, i. 16-82, passim; _Saravia_, _Bosq.
Polít. Est._, 12; _Guat._, _Apuntam._, 12, 138-9.
[XXXII-50] Exempting from taxation, establishing schools
of mechanic arts, introducing skilful mechanics, granting
subsidies, etc. _Montúfar_, _Resúmen Hist._, i. 321; _Guat._,
_Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1880-4; _Batres_, _Sketch_, 53, 60.
[XXXII-51] Guat. has been creditably represented at several
international exhibitions; she has also entered into
conventions with several foreign powers to secure patents
for inventions. _Costa R._, _Mem. Sec. Rel._, 1884, annex 8;
_El Guatemalteco_, Sept. 24, Oct. 12, Nov. 1, 1884; _Voz de
Méj._, Sept. 14, 1878; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1885,
36-8.
[XXXII-52] A cotton rebozo may be had for $4 or $5, and a
silk one for $12, the finest selling at from $16 to $20.
_Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 209-10.
[XXXII-53] Some machinery for refining sugar, ginning cotton,
distilling liquors, cleaning coffee, sawing lumber, and
extracting fibres have been introduced. _Nic._, _Mem. Min.
Fomento_, 1871, 3.
[XXXII-54] Mats, baskets, palm-leaf and maguey hats,
and cordage. The hammocks of Masaya and Sutiaba are much
esteemed. Cotton fabrics are coarse but strong, and dyed
with permanent colors, and of original design. They also
make good rebozos, but the silk in some of them is imported.
Hides enter into the manufacture of several common articles.
Rum is made and sold by the govt. The miller's art is in its
infancy. _Lévy_, _Nic._, 486-91; _Squier's Cent. Am._, 373;
_Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._, i. 188-90; _Nic._, _Reg. Ofic._, 328-9;
_Sandoval_, _Rev. Polít._, 58.
[XXXII-55] Aside from some furniture, arms, etc., their
hammocks, nets, cotton goods, and pottery, are all made
in a very primitive manner. There is no skill whatever.
_Fernandez_, _Col. Doc._, iii. 366-8; _Costa R._, _Censo_,
1864, p. xxv. Beer and rum are also made, the latter said
to be a good imitation of Jamaica; distilling rum is a govt
monopoly. _Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 53; _Costa R._,
_Col. Ley._, v. 122-45; xi. 331-46.
[XXXII-56] Subsidies granted in 1885 for silk culture and
manufacturing paper, rebozos, cotton goods, and sacks.
_Costa R._, _Gaceta_, Aug. 2, 5, 12, 13, 1885; _Pan. Star and
Herald_, Sept. 9, 1885.
[XXXII-57] An official report for 1882 gave the following
as about the extent of such industry in that year: 1,600
rush hats and 1,600 of jipijapa, 200 M tiles, 7 M jars, 525
M bricks. _Pan._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1882, annex L. It is
said that a factory for making carriages was opened in 1885.
_Pan. Star and Herald_, Jan. 5, 1886.
[XXXIII-1] Two or three vessels at most came every year to
Acajutla from Peru with wines, olive oil, and other articles
for the table, and 200,000 or 300,000 pesos in specie for the
purchase of indigo. From Cuba came eight or ten vessels with
petty cargoes of rum, onions, etc., the average worth being
$5,000 or $6,000. They each took back, besides indigo, 30,000
or 40,000 pesos in coin and in gold and silver bullion.
_Mex._, _Gaceta_, 1804-5, xii. 178-80; _Cancelada_, _Ruina
N. Esp._, 48-9; _Córtes_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 341; _Henderson's
British Hond._, 30-1, 35; _Guat._, _Apuntam._, 136-41;
_Nic. y Hond._, _Docs._, 11-12; _Arrillaga_, _Informe_, in
_Cedulario_, iv. 60-1; _Urrutia_, _Modelo_, 2-3; _Guat._,
_Gaz._, vii. 293-320, passim; iii. 70, 464, 504.
[XXXIII-2] This hybrid commerce was effected through Belize
and Curaçoa; and also by foreign whalers at Realejo and
Acajutla, where they were wont to enter with the pretext of
procuring water and fresh stores, and while in port sold
English goods, receiving in return copper, wool, sugar,
cacao, etc. _Humboldt_, _Essai Polít._, ii. 467-73.
[XXXIII-3] _Bustamante_, _Voz de la Patria_, iv. no. 18, 4-8;
_Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, i. 745-7; ii. 301; _U. S. Gov. Doc._,
H. Ex. Doc., 75, 215-16, x., Cong. 31, Sess. 1; _Squier's
Trav._, i. 44-5.
[XXXIII-4] In 1853 the several governments entered into
contracts with the Central Am. Steam Navigation Co., an
American concern, to run a line of steamers once a month
between Iztapam in Guatemala and Panamá, touching at
Acajutla, La Libertad, La Union, Amapala, Realejo, San Juan
del Sur, and Puntarenas, for the conveyance of passengers,
merchandise, and mails at fixed rates, each government paying
a subsidy, and allowing exemptions from port dues and other
privileges. The service began early in 1854, and continued
with repeated trips in each month, first by the Panamá
Railway Company's steamers, and subsequently by those of
the U. S. Pac. Mail Steamship Company. _Costa R._, _Boletin
Ofic._, Feb. 16, 1854; _Id._, _Col. Ley._, xii. 256-7;
_Salv._, _Gac._, Jan. 20, 1854; _Id._, _El Rol_, Dec. 1,
1854; _Cent. Am. Miscel. Doc._, 44; _Hunt's Merchants' Mag._,
xxiii. 113.
[XXXIII-5] Guatemala: chief articles of export, cochineal,
coffee, cotton, wool, sugar, India-rubber, hides, and indigo;
also rice, mules, cacao, pork, horns, timber, sarsaparilla,
vanilla, tobacco, etc. Cochineal at one time was a great
staple, the export being nearly 68,000 centals in 1860-4,
and about 59,000 centals in 1870-4; reduced to about 2,845
in 1879-83. The principal importations were comestibles,
wines and liquors, cotton, linen, woollen, and silk fabrics,
clothing, hats, fancy goods, furniture, arms, articles for
agric., arts, and sciences. Arms, lead, and gunpowder might
not be imported without special permission of the govt.
Some articles were exempt from duty, such as material for
ship-building, instruments for medicine, surgery, science,
schools, arts, implements of agric., machinery, and tools for
manuf., steam-engines, money, gold, silver, guano, mineral,
coal, etc. Articles of luxury paid an import duty; foreign
manufactures entered with a high duty. Small amounts should
be paid at the time of entry in cash; and larger sums, part
at the adjustment of the duties, and the rest in instalments
of from one to three months. The republic has several ports
open to foreign commerce on both oceans; namely, Santo Tomás,
Livingston, and Golfo Dulce, which is navigable only for
vessels of light draught, on the Atlantic, and San José,
San Luis, Champerico, and Ocós on the Pacific. Iztapam
or Independencia was closed in 1853, and the custom-house
removed to the roadstead of San José, which is sheltered by
a bold breakwater. Actual value of foreign trade: imports,
1851-7, $7,672,682; 1860-4, $6,268,227; 1871-5, $12,304,289;
1876-80, $15,054,152. The average of importations in the
five years 1880-4 was $2,700,000. The largest importations
in 1883 were from G. Britain, including Belize, $884,205;
U. S., $529,458; France, $149,687; Germany, $128,296;
Switzerland, $76,278; Spain, $65,470; China, $54,855. The
rest from Belgium, Cent. Am., Italy, Colombia, and Denmark.
The war between Guat. and Salv., and revolution in Pan.,
paralyzed trade in 1885. It is noticed that notwithstanding
the greater proximity and wealth of the U. S., Guatemala's
commercial relations are greater with England. Exports:
1851-7, $9,613,099; 1860-4, $7,386,541; 1870-4, $12,418,083;
1879-83, $22,552,867. Coffee loomed up from none in 1860-4,
695,671 centals in 1870-4, to 1,519,494 centals in 1879-83.
Sugar was also a prominent staple, followed by India-rubber.
The number of merchant vessels which visited Guat. ports on
the Pac. during 1883 were 7 steamers of the Pac. Mail S. Co.,
which made their periodical trips; 3 stmrs. of the Kosmos
(German) line, to which special privileges were granted by
the Guat. govt, in 1882. Sailing vessels, 6 Am., 1 Eng., 6
French, 3 German, and 1 Salvadoran. To Livingston, on the
Atlantic, came monthly 4 Am. and one Eng. steamer. Seven
vessels did coasting trade under the Eng. flag. Vessels
arrived in 1884, 171 with 173,982 tons; departed 168 with
173,758 tons, carrying away 109,402 packages of merchandise
and products of the country.
Honduras: exports consisted of bullion, mahogany, and other
woods, hides, sarsaparilla, tobacco, cattle, and indigo;
the imports, of cottons, silk, hardware, etc. The chief
ports are Omoa and Trujillo on the Atlantic, and Amapala
on the Pacific. Values of imports: 1856, $750,000, chiefly
from Great Britain; 1867, $750,000; 1873, $1,000,000; 1877,
$640,000; 1880, $750,000; 1882-3, $2,885,000; 1886, from
$2,000,000 to $2,500,000. The tariff was low. Exports:
1856, $825,000; 1867, $825,000; 1872-3, $2,370,000;
1876, $1,234,983; 1877, $595,000; 1880, $650,000; 1882-3,
$3,415,000; 1886, $2,000,000 to $2,500,000. British Hond.
or Belize: imports: 1873, $1,183,074; 1878-81, $1,923,000,
nearly two thirds from G. Britain, and the rest from the U.
S. Exports: $1,251,000, about two thirds to G. Britain, and
the rest to the U. S. The principal exports to the latter
country were woods, raw sugar, fruits, nuts, coffee, drugs
and dyes, rubber, hides, etc.
Salvador: articles of export, indigo, coffee, sugar, tobacco,
caoutchouc, rebozos, balsam, hides, and cotton. Imports:
comestibles, wines and liquors, cotton, linen, woollen,
and silk fabrics, hardware, etc. The ports of entry were La
Union, La Libertad, and Acajutla. Imported goods pay duties
according to the tariff, which were mostly specific, but many
articles paid, besides, 20 per cent ad valorem. Products
of the other Central American states on being imported,
reciprocity existing, paid only 4 per cent ad val. Articles
intended for the development of industries and education
were exempt. The importation of arms, without special leave
of the government, alcohol and common rum, cognac, gin,
absinthe, aniseseed, coriander, sassafras, saltpetre, and
obscene images was forbidden. Products of the country were
free from export dues, except indigo, ores, gold and silver
bullion, and jewelry. Import values: 1855-61, $6,816,879;
1864, $1,233,711; 1866-8, $5,799,912; 1871-4, $12,869,514;
1877, $2,186,000; 1880-3, $5,750,000. Exports: the greater
part to Great Britain, the U. S. occupying the second place:
1855-61, $8,831,990; 1864-8, $13,931,675, cotton counting
somewhat among the exports during the war in the U. S.; but
after its termination this staple ceased to figure; 1871-8,
$29,206,953; 1880-3, $8,708,000.
Nicaragua: principal markets, U. S., Eng., France, and Cent.
Am.; chief exports, coffee, India-rubber, cattle, hides,
and gold; also cabinet and dye woods, indigo, sugar, rum,
cacao, dairy products, gums, pearl and tortoise shells, etc.
Ports San Juan del Norte, San Juan del Sur, and Realejo or
Corinto. The first named was declared a free port in 1860.
Import values: 1861-73, $3,355,600, exclusive of coin, and
not including the years 1870-2. _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Feb. 21,
1874. Lévy, a good authority, gives the imports for 1865-71
at $6,275,324, adding that in the first two years the
balance of trade was against Nic. to the amount of $453,429;
1873-6, $4,313,876; 1877-80, $5,117,661; 1881-4, $7,157,525;
these figures include about half a million dollars in coin.
Wholesale merchants sold at long terms, often 18 months;
most of the buyers disposed of the goods at once, with 20
per ct loss, but for cash, and during 17 months' use of the
capital making as much as 50 per ct profit, which enabled
them to pay for the merchandise originally bought. Exports:
1861-73, $4,153,677, without including for 1871-2. Lévy
has for 1865-71, $6,789,841; 1873-6, $5,694,009; 1877-80,
$6,303,589; 1881-4, $8,926,965. In view of the fall in the
price of coffee in late years in foreign markets, and of the
decrease in the production of rubber, there was cause to fear
that the day was not distant when the balance of trade would
be against Nic., unless with the facilities afforded by the
railroads the exportations of timber and dye-woods should be
greatly developed, as expected. The exports of cattle to the
other states of Cent. Am. have become quite considerable.
The two chief centres of internal trade were Granada and
Leon, which supplied their own departments. Chontales was
supplied from the former, Segovia from the latter, Matagalpa
from both. Rivas and Chinandega imported a portion of their
supplies, buying the rest respectively at Granada and Leon.
Rivas furnished cacao; Jinotepeque and Chinandega, sugar;
Leon, corn and salt; Masaya and other towns, edibles.
Costa Rica imported cotton, linen, woollen, and silk fabrics,
fancy articles, comestibles, wines, liquors, and other
things, from England, France, U. S., etc., and exported
chiefly coffee, tortoise-shells, hides, rubber, vanilla,
sarsaparilla, timber, etc. Her ports for foreign trade are at
present Limon on the Atlantic, and Puntarenas on the Pacific;
the latter being, down to 1883, almost the only port of Costa
Rica; but of late the former, owing to railroad facilities,
has obtained the first rank; shipments through Puntarenas
being mainly of produce from Esparta, and other places near
it. It was a free port at one time, but ceased to be such
in Jan. 1861. In earlier years Matina and Caldera had been
open ports, and even Guanacaste was made a free port in 1848.
Port Limon was created in Oct. 1852; it has a free zone under
decrees passed in 1883. Costa Rica's import values: 1845,
$463,000, through Matina and Puntarenas; 1852-9, $7,330,398;
1864, $1,718,000; 1871, $2,225,000; 1873-4, $6,980,000;
1877, about $2,000,000; 1880-3, $7,220,000. Exports: 1845,
$631,700; 1852-9, $7,458,913; 1864, $1,812,682; 1868,
$2,189,118; 1871, $2,288,450; 1873-4, $8,192,517; 1877,
$5,308,000; May 1, 1879, to Apr. 30, 1881, $7,724,810;
1882-3, $6,470,000. The exports of coffee from Puntarenas
and Limon in 1884 were 191,719 centals. Large quantities of
bananas were also exported from Limon. Vessels arrived in
1882-3, at Limon 86, at Puntarenas 75; in 1883-4, at Limon
77, at Puntarenas 110. _Marure_, _Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am._,
i. 147; _Baily's Cent. Am._, 158; _Squier's Cent. Am._,
269-70, 310, 458-9, 471-2, 526; _Squier's Travels_, i. 83;
_Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._, 31-3, 64-6; _Belly_, _Nic._, i.
93; _Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 34-7, 51-4, 168-9,
261-3, 436; _Am. Cyclop._, v. 290, 395; viii. 790; xiv. 610;
_Montúfar_, _Resúmen Hist._, v. 519; _Encyclop. Brit._ (Am.
ed.), vi. 398; xii. 135-6; _El Guatemalteco_, March 19, May
19, 1884; _Wappäus_, _Mex. und Cent. Am._, 322, 359; _Jülfs_,
_Die Seehäfen_, 36; _Lévy_, _Nic._, 512, 516-17; _Batres'
Sketch Guat._, 862-6, 73; _Camp's Year-Book_, 1861, 527;
_Salv._, _Constitucional_, no. 6; _Id._, _Diario Ofic._,
June 3, 7, Oct. 21, 1875; March 4, 1876; Sept. 17, 1878,
suppl.; Jan. 11, May 3, 1879; _Id._, _Gac._, Aug. 12, 1853;
Oct. 27, 1876; Feb. 27, 1877; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Dec. 23,
1865; Dec. 15, 1866; Aug. 22, 1868; March 12, 1870; _Id._,
_Decretos_, 1869-70, 141-4; _Id._, _Boletin Ofic._, March 8,
1862; _Id._, _Mem. Min. Fomento_, for years 1867-71; _Id._,
_Mem. Min. Hac._, 1871-83; _Presid. Cárdenas_, _Mensaje_,
Jan. 15, 1885; _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, i. 771, 785-92; _Id._,
_Gob. Democ._, i. 2-3; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._, for years
1880-4; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, for years 1883-5; _U. S.
Gov. Docs._, _Comm. Rel._, for years 1856-77; _Id._, H. Ex.
Doc., Cong. 43, Sess. 1, vol. i. years 1873-4, 440-7; Sess.
2, xvi. 188-95, 200; Cong. 46, Sess. 2, xxv. pt 1, 27; Cong.
47, Sess. 1, xiv. 38; _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, iv. 112-14; v.
232-4; vi. 301-3; x. 78-9, 142-4, 148-57; xvi. 199-200; xvii.
135-6; _Id._, _Col. Dispos. Legisl._, 1878, 113-14; _Id._,
_Mem. Sec. Hac._, 1853, 11-12; 1875, 34; 1880, annexes 15-23;
1883, annexes 11-12; 1884, 24, 246-66, 304, 308; _Id._,
_Informe Sec. Obras Púb._, 1878, 15-17; _Id._, _Informe Sec.
Agric._, 1879, 22, and table 4; 1880, 23-4; _Id._, _Gaceta
Gob._, Jan. 26, Feb. 16, 1850; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Marina_,
1883, 7, and two tables, annex 5; _Id._, _Regl. Franquicias_,
1883, 1-15; _Pan. Star and Herald_, March 23, 1881; Sept. 13,
1882; Jan. 17, Feb. 1, 17, March 23, 1883; March 8, 15, Dec.
16, 1884; March 9, Oct. 24, 1885; June 2, 1886; _La Estrella
de Pan._, Nov. 6, 1884; _Samayoa, J. M._, _Apuntam._, 1885,
5.
[XXXIII-6] The principal fairs were held at Chalatenango, San
Vicente, and San Miguel, in Salvador. That of San Miguel took
place in November, and lasted two weeks. There was another
fair at the same town about the beginning of Feb., to which,
as well as to the former one, large numbers of cattle were
taken from Hond. and Nic. In Guat. annual fairs were held in
several places; namely, Esquipulas, where large quantities
of merchandise were sold; it was also a cattle fair; Rabinal
in Vera Paz, for dry goods; Mazatenango, for cattle, cacao,
dry goods, etc.; San Pedro Ayampuk; Sololá, for dry goods,
fruit, and stock; Quezaltenango and Chimaltenango, for
woollen manufactures. In Jocotenango a fair was held every
Aug. In later times fairs have been authorized at several
other places, to wit, at the hippodrome, near the capital,
Salcajá, Santa Cruz del Quiché, Jalapa, Santa Rosa, and San
Pedro Pinula. _Squier's Cent. Am._, 309-530; _Guat._, _Mem.
Sec. Fomento_, 1882, 38; 1885, 39-40; _Pan. Star and Herald_,
Sept. 14, 1885.
[XXXIII-7] The Am. Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Co. of
New York, of which Vanderbilt and White were the chief
owners, undertook to construct an interoceanic canal.
Their contract with the Nic. govt involved the privilege to
the company of exclusive steam navigation in the interior
waters, meaning Lake Nicaragua. The company concluded to
separate this privilege from the rest of the contract, and
succeeded, Aug. 1851, in obtaining from the Nic. govt the
monopoly of transit from San Juan del Norte to San Juan del
Sur. It is unnecessary to go into details as to how this
was consummated; suffice it to say, it was by fostering the
intestine war then raging. _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex. Doc.,
75, 141-5, x., Cong. 31, Sess. 1; _Id._, Sen. Doc., 68,
84-103, xiii., Cong. 34, Sess. 1; _Cent. Am. Miscel. Doc._,
45; _Stout's Nic._, 272-91; _Wells' Walker's Exped._, 203-5;
_Reichardt_, _Cent. Am._, 210-11; _Scherzer_, _Cent. Am._,
245-6.
[XXXIII-8] The first steamboat used in Nic. waters was
the _Orus_, wrecked on the Machuca rapids; the next, the
_Director_, was worked over the rapids, and plied on the lake
for several years, being the sole transport for passengers
from San Cárlos to La Vírgen. The increase of the Transit
company's business brought the _Central America_ and other
steamers. _Nic._, _Corr. Ist._, Sept. 5, 1850; _Stout's
Nic._, 65-6.
[XXXIII-9] The particulars of this transaction appear
elsewhere. Previous to this, in 1854, there had been serious
differences between the gov. of Nic. and the company, about
the settlement of accounts, and even then the govt threatened
to cancel the charter. _Guat._, _Gaceta_, May 13, July 8,
1853; _Perez_, _Mem. Hist. Rev. Nic._, 55-6; _Id._, _Mem.
Camp. Nac._, 27-30; _El Nicaragüense_, Feb. 23, 1856.
[XXXIII-10] In 1858 the Nic. govt confiscated the company's
property, and the next year made the transit free to all
nations. However, under a subsequent arrangement between
it and the original Transit co., under the name of Cent.
American Transit Co., ratified in March 1861, the latter
agreed to reopen the route; but failing to do it within
the required time, the govt seized all the property, as
agreed in the contract. The matter was settled in diplomatic
correspond. with the U. S. govt in 1863. _Rocha_, _Cód.
Nic._, ii. 133-4, 141-2; _Nic._, _Dec. y Acuerdos_, 1857-8,
44-5; 1859, ii. 78-9; _Id._, _Gaceta_, Jan. 16, 1864. The
company renewed its operations, and continued them until
annihilated by the overland railway to S. F., in 1869.
_Lévy_, _Nic._, 434.
[XXXIII-11] Costa R. in 1872 forbade the navigation of the
Colorado River by Hollenbeck & Co. _Nic._, _La Union_, June
29, 1861; _Id._, _Dec. y Ac._, 1861, iv. 57-68; 1869-70,
100-6; _Id._, _Gaceta_, Aug. 8, 1868; March 12, July 23, Aug.
20, 1870; Dec. 7, 1872; _Id._, _Mem. Min. Guerra_, 1872, 12;
_Semanal Nic._, Dec. 5, 1872; _El Porvenir de Nic._, May 26,
June 2, 1872. Trade between Granada and San Juan del Norte
was continued in piraguas and steamers, the former measuring
from 15 to 25 tons. There were river and lake steamers.
Merchandise was first transferred at San Cárlos, and often in
the summer a second time at the Castillo. For some time the
steamboat plying in the lower part of the river passed by the
Colorado branch because of scanty water in the San Juan.
[XXXIII-12] _Costa R._, _Informe Obras Púb._, for years
1876-80; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, years 1883-4; _Belly_,
_Nic._, i. 321; _Lévy_, _Nic._, 412; _Nic._, _Mem. Min.
Guerra_, 1875, pp. x.-xv.; _Pan. Star and Herald_, Apr. 2,
1881; Feb. 1, 2, 1883; _Id._, _Cronista_, Jan. 20, 1883;
_Salv._, _Gac. Ofic._, Sept. 5, 7, 1876; _Presid. Barrios_,
_Mensaje_, 1876, 39-60; _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, _Gob.
Democ._, 10-12; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, for years 1880-5.
[XXXIII-13] Gold pieces of 10, 5, 2, and one dollar, the
first named having the weight of 16,120 grammes. In former
years it coined gold ounces with the weight of 25,836
grammes, worth $16, and halves, quarters, eighths, and
sixteenths; silver peso, and its subdivisions worth 50, 25,
10, and 5 cts. Copper one-cent pieces containing 95 parts of
copper and 5 of nickel. Silver in coins of 10 and 5 cts in
legal tender only to the sum of $100; and cents not exceeding
100. The money coined in Costa Rica in the years 1829-82 has
been as follows: gold, $2,351,808; silver, $56,648; total,
$2,922,138. _Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._, 41; _Costa R._,
_Gaceta_, Nov. 21, 1885; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._, 1883, annex
no. 10.
[XXXIII-14] There is a nominal money used in retail trade
called peso sencillo, worth 80 cents. The old Costa R.
doubloon passes for $14.40 only, and the subdivisions in
proportion. The new Costa R. piece of $5 is worth only $4.50.
Chilian and Colombian condors pass for $9. _Lévy_, _Nic._,
370-1, 521.
[XXXIII-15] It paralyzed foreign trade, became depreciated,
and caused other evils. _Montúfar_, _Res. Hist._, iii.
277. The govt endeavored to retire this coin by a gradual
redemption every year.
[XXXIII-16] Foreign coins pass at their true valuation. Very
little money leaves Honduras. _Hond._, _Gaceta Ofic._, May
20, 1853; _Squier's Cent. Am._, 272; _Wells' Hond._, 567-72.
[XXXIII-17] In former times there was the ounce of $16 and
its subdivisions, and the silver peso with its subdivisions
down to medio real, or 6¼ cents. Most of the silver coin in
circulation was the macuquina or cut, which was a nuisance.
The government in 1873 ordered it retired, which was in the
course of time done. The system established in the law of
1870 found favor with the people as regarded gold coin. Not
so with silver; the public clinging to the old denominations,
and refusing to accept base metals which this law had also
provided for.
[XXXIII-18] Standard of the coin 0.900. Weight of the peso 25
grammes.
[XXXIII-19] Mex. eagle $20; its subdivisions in proportion.
Peruvian pieces of $20 and $10, and Colombian condors of $20
and $10, at their face value. Chilian condors of $10, $9.50.
German gold piece of 20 marks, $4.93¾. American, French,
and English gold coins have their full value; though they
generally command a high premium. Further details may be
found in _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, ii. 578-82; _Id._, _Gob.
Dem._, i. 83, 197; _Salv._, _Diario_, Dec. 14, 1878.
[XXXIII-20] There were in 1883 two banks, the Internacional
and Colombiano, in the city of Guatemala; both having ample
capital for a time stood high. The former, founded in 1878,
suspended in 1885. The latter, founded in 1879 by capitalists
who were mostly Colombians, has no agencies, and limits
its operations within the capital of the republic, and to
the sale of bills of exchange on foreign markets. There was
also the Banco de Occidente at Quezaltenango with a capital
of $100,000; its main object being to assist agriculture
and manufactures in the wealthy departments of Los Altos.
Its standing was somewhat shaken by its bills having been
largely counterfeited in Sept. 1882; but it managed to
weather the storm. The Banco de Nicaragua, a bank of issue,
loans, and discounts, with a capital of $600,000, has been
quite successful. It was chartered in May 1871. The Banco
Anglo-Costaricense went into operation at Managua in 1873,
with a capital of $100,000, under the management of Allan
Wallis. The Banco Internacional of Salvador began business
on the 20th of Aug., 1880, and has since been prosperous,
excepting in 1885, owing to the war with Guatemala, and a
subsequent revolution. However, the results of the first
six months were satisfactory. In 1867 the Banco Nacional de
Costa Rica went into operation at San José, with a capital of
$500,000, and power to increase it to one million dollars,
under a contract for ten years between John Thompson and
the government. Dec. 1, 1876, the government decreed the
statutes of the Banco de Emision, with a capital of $500,000
secured with mortgages on real estate to the amount of
$1,000,000. But the stockholders failing to pay in the
capital, the government suspended the bank, which had been
operating, and ordered the books transferred to the Banco
Nacional of San José, which was to redeem all notes of that
bank in circulation. The Banco Nacional had been created by
a decree of Dec. 25, 1877, with a capital of $250,000. Its
operations were not to include the issue of notes. A charter
was granted in Jan. 1881, to establish a Banco Hipotecario
Franco-Costaricense with a capital of $500,000. The by-laws
were approved by govt in July 1881. The bank was to have a
branch in Paris. _Batres' Sketch Guat._, 24; _S. F Cronista_,
Feb. 3, 1883; Jan. 31, Apr. 25, 1885; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Aug.
3, 1867; July 8, 1871; _Id._, _Semanal Nic._, Apr. 10, 1873;
_Pan. Star and Herald_, Aug. 3, 1867; Sept. 2, 1885; _Costa
R._, _Col. Ley._, xvii. 45-50, 51-5; xx. 4-19, 110-16, 295-7,
304-6, 311-12; xxiv. 197-205; xxv. 245-60; Id., 1878, 104-6;
1881, 17-26, 64-6, 143-68; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_,
1882, 37.
[XXXIII-21] In 1809 there was a postal service between
Guatemala and David in Panamá, via Cartago in Costa Rica, by
which route correspondence was kept up with South America.
In 1811 a tri-monthly mail was established between Guat. and
Mex., Merida, the Windward Islands, and Spain. In 1829 there
was a monthly packet between New York and the Isthmus. After
that, some sort of mail service was kept up till it became
regular with the establishment of steamship lines. In 1844
the first mail steamer touched at Chagres, and in 1845 a
line was established between Panamá and Valparaiso. In 1846
a post-route between the two oceans was established under a
grant of the Brit. govt. At this time the U. S. contemplated
establishing a line of steamers from Pan. to Or. via Cal.
The present Pacific Mail Steamship Company was organized in
1847 for that purpose, and on the 5th of Oct. their pioneer
steamship, the _California_, went to sea, followed at short
intervals by the _Panamá_ and _Oregon_. At the inception
of the enterprise, success was looked for only from the
agricultural resources of the Pacific coast. The discovery
of gold in Cal. secured that success. The company kept up the
service between N. Y. and Colon, and between Panamá and S. F.
via Acapulco and Manzanilla, and later sent ships to China.
_Niles' Reg._, xxxvii. 242; _Pan. Constitucional del Istmo_,
Oct. 30, 1834; _Mayer's Mex. as it Was, etc._, 369-74;
_Pan._, _El Movimiento_, Dec. 22, 1844; _Seemann's Hist. Ist.
Pan._, in _Pan. Star and Herald_, Apr. 17, 1847; _Crosby's
Statem._, MS., 3-10.
[XXXIII-22] Costa R. has been quite successful. The number
of pieces received at and forwarded by the main office at
San José in 1883 were 1,377,243, against 549,096, in 1880,
and 1,172,259, in 1882. In Nic. the service is a source of
considerable expense to the govt. In 1861-2, the expenses
were only $5,349. In 1881-2, $39,327; the receipts $19,476,
leaving a deficit of $19,851. This is owing to long distances
and sparse population. In Hond. the exchange of mail matter
amounted in 1880 to 937,331 pieces; the expenses of the
department, $17,102. In Guat. the aggregate amount of mail
matter was as follows: 1880, 835,906; 1881, 1,039,652; 1882,
1,400,043; 1883, 2,111,366; 1884, 2,912,411. The receipts
in 1884, $48,342; expend. $46,017. The appropriation for
the fiscal year 1886-7 was computed at $58,812. _Costa R._,
_Mem. Sec. Gobern._, years 1883-4; _Id._, _Guerra_, 1880,
1883; _Id._, _Hac._, 1884; _Id._, _Gaceta_, Feb. 3, 1885;
_Pan. Canal_, Jan. 13, 1883; _Id._, _Star and Herald_, July
2, 1881; Feb. 8, 1883; Sept. 9, 1885; _Nic._, _Informe Sec.
Hac._, 1875; _Id._, _Id._, 1883; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Gobern._,
1883; _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Feb. 18, Nov. 30, 1875;
July 12, Nov. 2, 1878; March 5, 1879; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec.
Fomento_, 1880-5; _Id._, _Presupuesto Gen._, 1886, 18-19;
_Encyc. Brit._, xvi. 492; _El Guatemalteco_, Feb. 2, Sept.
24, 1884; _Batres' Sketch Guat._, 69-76.
[XXXIII-23] _Crosby's Statem._, MS., 3-10. At the sailing
of the _Panamá_ there were 2,000 persons to embark for
S. F.; four steamships to sail for the same destination;
namely, _Sarah Sands_, _Carolina_, _Isthmus_, and _Gold
Hunter_. Early in the summer of the same year there were
4,000 passengers waiting for vessels to take them to Cal.,
in a place which could hardly afford accommodations for 100.
Hundreds of deaths occurred. _Pan. Star_, March 29, 1850;
_Sac. Placer Times_, i., Apr. 26, 1850; _Advent. of a Capt.'s
Wife_, 18; _Cal. Courier_, Sept. 14, 1850. The steamer _W.
H. Aspinwall_ then began to ply on the River Chagres, between
Chagres and Gorgona, which did away with the bongos nuisance.
_Sac. Transcript_, March 14, 1851.
[XXXIII-24] 1850-5 were years of brisk business for the
Isthmus. Gold circulated so abundantly that few did not
handle gold coin. Provisions ruled high. Silver was so
scarce that in 1850 a five-dollar gold piece could buy only
40 dimes. Americans said that Panamá was a better place for
business than S. F. _Maldonado_, _Anales Polít. Pan._, MS.,
7.
[XXXIII-25] 1852-66: passengers, 517,852; gold and silver,
$849,157,076; paper money, $19,062,567; jewelry, $513,001;
1855-66: merchandise, mail matter, baggage and coal, 614,535
tons. Mail matter averaged 380 tons yearly. Merchandise
steadily increased from 10,658 tons in 1856, the lowest, to
93,414 tons in 1866, the highest; and coal from 8,934 in 1856
to 13,418 in 1866. In 1860 and 1861, the coal transportation
exceeded 16,000 tons a year. The total tonnage transported
across the road in 1856 was 20,053, which increased every
year till it reached 107,590 tons in 1866. The largest
number of passengers crossed was in 1859, 46,976, nearly
5,000 in excess of 1858; the smallest number was in 1862,
26,420, being 5,280 less than in 1866. The large travel of
1859 was due to great reduction of passage money by steam
lines running in opposition. The gold transported in 1856
was $48,047,692; in 1866, $48,234,463; at no other period
did it equal these amounts. Silver showed a gradual increase
from $9,439,648 in 1856 to $18,653,239, declining in 1866 to
$14,331,751. Paper money was transported by the U. S. govt
during the war. Jewelry varied from $192,718 to $844,490,
but gradually declined. The tariff rates established by the
company Jan. 1, 1865, were as follows: passengers, foreign,
$25 each, children of 6 to 12 years one half, under 6, one
quarter; Colombians, $10 each. Baggage exceeding 50 lb., 5
cts per lb. Merchandise, special rates: 1st class paying 50
cts per cubic foot; 2d to 6th 1½ cts to ¼ cent respectively
per lb. All payments in Am. gold, or its equivalent.
_Otis' Hist. Pan. R. R._, 139-45; _Bidwell's Isth. Pan._,
277-86, 389-93. In 1867, the value of the transit trade in
merchandise and treasure over the route was $92,191,980, and
35,076 passengers. In 1872 the road conveyed 194 millions
pounds of weight, 2½ millions of feet, besides 215,000
gallons of oil, 13,952 of wine, and 13,952 passengers.
_Jülfs_, _Die Seehäfen_, 11. 1878-9, merchandise, 314,220
tons; 1880-4, 1,033,596 tons; the quantity in 1884 was
287,243, not including 10,000 tons of bananas, an increase of
71,518 over 1883. 1880-4, passengers, 1,024,128; the number
in 1884 was 515,520, an excess of 75 per cent over 1883;
the large increase being mainly due to the operations of the
interoceanic canal company, and the transportation of their
vast material. _Pan. Star and Herald_, May 2, 14, 1867; May
17, Sept. 5, 1877; June 23, 1881; Apr. 22, 1885; _S. F. Ev'g
Bulletin_, Apr. 12, 1878; Apr. 2, 1884; _S. F. Chronicle_,
Apr. 3, 1884; _Superint. Burt's Report_, March 7, 1885; _U.
S. Govt Doc._, Comm. Rel., years 1857-77.
[XXXIII-26] The steamship lines doing such service in 1867
were the following: 1st. The Pacific Mail Co. of N. Y., whose
capital in 1847 was $400,000; raised in 1850 to $2,000,000;
in 1860 to $4,000,000; and in 1866 to $20,000,000; the
lowest estimate of its property being set down in 1867
at $30,000,000. This company has passed through many
vicissitudes, as indicated by the stock market. The highest
rates attained by its shares were 248 in 1863, 325 in 1864,
329 in 1865, 234 in 1866. Every other year they have been
under 200, the highest being in 173½ in 1867. From that time
they sank very low, even to 16¼ cents in 1876, the highest
that year being 39¼. 2d. Brit. and W. India and Pac. running
between Liverpool, W. Ind., W. coast of S. and Cent. Am., and
Colon. 3d. Brit. Royal Mail, between Southampton, W. Ind.,
eastern coast of Mexico, S. and Cent. Am., and Colon. 4th.
Brit. Pan., New Zealand, and Australia. 5th. Brit. Pac. Steam
Navigation Co., between Pan. and ports of Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. 6th. Pan. R. Road Co.'s steamers
between Pan. and Acapulco, touching at all Cent. Am. ports.
This line finally was merged in the Pacific Mail Co. 7th. Am.
Cal. Or. and Mex. Co.'s line running between S. F. and Mex.,
and between S. F. and Portland, Or., and Island of Vancouver.
It was afterward discontinued. 8th. French Transatlantic
Co. running between St Nazaire in France, W. Ind., Mex., and
Colon. 9th. German line. In 1871 the following arrivals of
vessels occurred: steamers, Brit., 84, with 158,579 tons;
Am., 25, with 66,813 tons; German, 36, with 42,740 tons;
French, 24, with 15,782. Sailing vessels, 56 Brit., 43 Am.,
12 German, 4 French, 8 Italian, 112 Colombian, mostly small.
Grand total of tonnage, 316,271 tons. _Otis' Hist. Pan. R.
R._, 50-6, 148-60, 169-232; _Pan. Star and Herald_, May 2,
1867; Apr. 14, 1877; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, Comm. Rel., 1871-2,
252, 263; _Bidwell's Isth. Pan._, 353-7. The author of the
last-quoted work was British vice-consul at Panamá, and
enjoyed leisure and opportunity for gathering facts from many
sources, concerning the past and present history of Panamá,
as well as on her resources, trade, etc. The arrangement of
the book, as he acknowledges, is defective, there being no
order—chronological or other—in the information he gives. The
description of the social and political condition of the city
and country, to the time of his writing, is quite accurate.
[XXXIII-27] Between 1825 and 1830 the expense of conveying a
bale of goods overland, including duties and taxes, was $10
or $12.
[XXXIII-28] In 1820 it was deplorable. _Córtes_, _Diario_,
1820, iv. 180-2; _Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem._, 48-9.
[XXXIII-29] It was said that $45,000,000 of English
manufactures unlawfully crossed the Isthmus for Sp. Am.
between 1810 and 1817. _Arrillaga_, _Inf._, in _Cedulario_,
iv. no. 1, 72; _Alaman_, _Hist. Méj._, iv. 473-4.
[XXXIII-30] Communication was kept up on the Atlantic side
with Jamaica by a Brit. man-of-war which twice a month
carried letters and specie; with Cartagena by government
vessels bimonthly; and with the same and other points by
independent traders. On the Pacific traffic was better along
the whole coast. In 1825 the spirit of enterprise was rash.
Exclusive of small coasters, there came to Chagres 1 ship,
7 brigs from France, 21 schooners from the W. Indies, 6
schooners from the U. S., and 3 from Cartagena. In 1828,
these numbers were reduced to about 20 all together. In the
same years the entries at Panamá were respectively 17 and 24
vessels. In 1830 trade was in a state of stagnation. _Lloyd's
Notes Isth. Pan._, in _Roy. Geog. Soc._, i. 96-7; _Niles'
Reg._, xxxviii. 141.
[XXXIII-31] Bocas del Toro was also made a free port. _El
Arco Iris_, July 25, 1847; _Molina_, _der Freistaat, Costa
R._, 58-9; _S. F. Californian_, ii., Sept. 29, 1847.
[XXXIII-32] The passengers from Cal. no longer remained in
Pan., but were hurried off to Colon; thus the expenditure
formerly made by the thousands of passengers ceased. Many
business houses had to close in 1855 and 1856. Later the
influx of passengers from Europe, who stop longer at Panamá,
helped to support the hotels, etc. _Bidwell's Isth. Pan._,
263.
[XXXIII-33] A portion of the imports was paid for in
remittances of specie, or in bills on Europe, sold from time
to time by foreign men-of-war and steamship companies. The
amount of exports may be augmented some $100,000 by produce
sold to steamship companies. Besides pearls and pearl shells,
ivory, nuts, and India-rubber figured considerably among
the exports. The recklessness with which the rubber-trees
have been cut down has reduced the production in 1886 to
an insignificant quantity. The imports from 1856 to 1863
inclusive reached $6,386,135; the exports from 1857 to
1863 probably $5,000,000 or $6,000,000. Data on this point
are unreliable. _U. S. Govt Doc._, Comm. Rel., 1859-61;
_Bidwell's Isth. Pan._, 265-7, 277-8; _Pan. Star and Herald_,
May 2, 1867.
[XXXIII-34] Adopted in 1853. _Pan._, _Crónica Ofic._, Aug.
20, 1853.
[XXXIII-35] The national government of Colombia, on the 3d
of May, 1861, decreed that the notes of the National Bank,
silver coin of the fineness of 0.500, and nickel coin, should
be the only legal tender receivable at public offices of the
nation, states, and department of Panamá. The enforcement
of the decree in Panamá, where the money in circulation is
sufficient for all purposes, is deemed ruinous, as the paper
thus forced into circulation is irredeemable. There are no
manufactures nor products that merchants can send abroad
in payment of the articles of daily necessity which are
imported. _Pan. Star and Herald_, May 31, 1886.
[XXXIII-36] _Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 39-40; _Wagner_, _Costa
R._, 458-65; _Squier's Cent. Am._, 457. The exportation of
shells on a large scale upon the coasts of the mainland,
gulfs, and islands was farmed out in Oct. 1885, to a private
party for 16 years, the lessee paying for the privilege as
follows: 1st. $1,000 a year during the first six years, and
$2,000 a year for each of the other ten. 2d. $6 for every
1,000 kilog. of pearl shells taken out in the first six
years, and $8 per 1,000 kilog. the next ten years. _Costa
R._, _Gaceta_, Nov. 7, 1885.
[XXXIII-37] _Findlay_, _Directory_, i. 236. _J. Laferrière_,
_De Paris à Guatémala_; _Notes de Voyages au Centre Amérique_,
Paris, 1877, fol. 448 pp., 4 sheets, and wood-cuts, is
a narrative of a commercial traveller of three journeys
to and through the five republics of Cent. Am., in 1866,
1870, and 1874-5, containing general information on their
history and resources, agriculture, and other industries,
and the character, manner, and customs of their inhabitants.
Statistical tables, and numerous cuts of important towns
and of natives are accompanied. The style is plain, clear,
and concise, and the mode of treatment shows an intelligent
observer. In an unpretentious manner the author gives much
that is valuable on those countries.
[XXXIII-38] The information which has reached us for the
years previous to 1817 is both meagre and contradictory.
One authority has it that Spain undoubtedly received every
year till 1809 a net revenue of a little over 50,000 pesos;
another claims that a yearly allowance of 150,000 pesos came
from the treasury of New Spain. _Torrente_, _Revol. Hisp.
Am._, i. 23-5; _Mex._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._, 1875, 65. In 1812
the Sp. córtes abolished the tribute till then exacted from
the Indians. _Córtes_, _Diario_, 1811-12, xi. 376.
[XXXIII-39] Including 157,681 pesos from excise, 3,872 pesos
from gunpowder, and 256,975 from tobacco. During those five
years the tobacco monopoly had sales amounting to 2,920,316
pesos, the expenses being 1,325,869 pesos, leaving a clear
profit to the treasury of 1,594,447 pesos, or an average of
318,890 pesos a year. _Dunn's Guat._, 214.
[XXXIII-40] 'Habia desaparecido durante la esclavitud del
imperio.' _Marure_, _Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am._, i. 140.
[XXXIII-41] The public debt amounted to $3,726,144, and
the yearly expenses were nearly $900,000, to meet which the
revenue was totally inadequate. The several states were in no
better condition, inasmuch as the revenue from stamped paper,
rum, excise, and other small sources, which had been assigned
them, was not enough for their needs.
[XXXIII-42] A security for the payment of the interest and
of the sinking fund to extinguish the principal, the revenue
from tobacco and customs was hypothecated. Under the contract
the interest was payable quarterly together with $50,000 for
the sinking fund. It was calculated that the debt would be
extinguished in twenty years, and that the interest would
come to $482,571. _El Indicador de Guat._, Apr. 21, May 18,
1826; _Guat._, _Mem. Min. Hac._, 1830-1.
[XXXIII-43] A natural result of selling $100 bonds at $30,
and paying $100 the next year. The govt was shamefully
swindled by the few men who had a share in the transactions.
_Id._, 1846, 51-6. On the other hand, the funds received from
the loan were misapplied. _Marure_, _Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am._,
142-7.
[XXXIII-44] Direct imposts: Guatemala's sources of revenue
were 3 per thousand on the assessed value of real estate,
military, and road taxes. Several others existing as late as
1882, such as a tax on sugar-cane, were suppressed. Indirect
duties on imports and exports, and port charges paid by
ships. Stamped paper, slaughtering cattle, imposts on native
flour, salt, inheritances, and endowments, and 5 per ct on
sales and transfers of real estate. Monopoly of spirituous
liquors, tobacco since 1879, gunpowder, and saltpetre. To
these are to be added a number of other means of lesser
import, but which in the aggregate yield considerably over
$100,000.
[XXXIII-45] From the following sources, namely: direct
taxation, $176,908; indirect ditto, $1,916,987; govt
monopolies, $1,549,173; special revenue, $323,212; divers
and extraordinary receipts, $88,577; contracts and divers
negotiations, $2,569,418, being for temporary loans, etc.
The total amount of revenue from customs included in the
item of indirect taxation was $1,485,280, mostly collected
at the general custom-house in Guatemala city; to which
must be added $52,793 collected on the frontiers, $3,734 for
export duties, and $1,530 for port charges. The revenue from
imports in the four preceding years were: 1879, $1,501,729;
1880, $2,008,237; 1881, $211,765; and 1882, $1,679,047.
The total revenue from all sources from 1852 to 1862 footed
up $8,442,835; from 1863 to 1871, $8,547,529; 1871 yielded
only $750,848; 1872-9, $19,571,233; 1880, $4,158,199; 1881,
$4,423,964; 1882, $4,131,945. The net proceeds or actual
revenue from the sale of spirituous liquors for 1878-83 was
$6,178,095; from tobacco, 1879, for licenses, $8,656; 1880,
two months, $32,232; 1881-3, $484,263. The total amount of
municipal revenue throughout the republic was $485,622 in
1883, and $535,364 in 1884. _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._, 1873,
1880-4; _Id._, _Fomento_, 1885.
[XXXIII-46] The outlay in 1855 appears to have been $993,522,
including $317,094 applied to payment of the public debt;
1864, $1,130,708; 1879, $4,526,263, as follows: Ordinary
expenses, $2,728,457; public works, $27,837; advance to the
railway company, $200,000; payment of warrants, reimbursement
of temporary loans, etc., $1,569,969; 1881, $7,313,889, of
which only $3,333,470 was for expenses; $163,241 was for
purchase of tobacco, powder, and saltpetre; the balance to
payment of debts; 1882, $6,503,422, of which $3,414,747 was
for the actual expenses. _Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._, 84-5;
_Camp's Year-Book_, 1869, 1527; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._,
1880-4.
[XXXIII-47] In order to be enabled to meet expenses, and
payments of the internal debt, the rate of duties on imports
was raised in 1873 and again in 1879. It also established
an export duty of 12½ cents per quintal on coffee. In 1879,
after consolidating the whole debt, 40 per cent of the
customs revenue was reserved for its gradual payment.
[XXXIII-48] The interest and portion of the sinking fund
were made payable twice a year; viz., April 1st and Oct.
1st. After several deductions, the amount actually received
in Guat. was $1,351,069. One of the deductions was of
£15,000 for retiring from the London market £20,000 five per
cent bonds of the federal loan, purchased at 75 per cent.
_Samayoa_, _Apuntam._, 1885, 29-37; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H.
Ex. Doc., Cong. 48, Sess. 1, pt 1, 72; _Mex._, _Informe
Sec. Hac._, 1873, 24-5; _Pan. Canal_, Jan. 13, 1883; _Id._,
_Cronista_, Feb. 21, 1883; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._, 1880-4.
[XXXIII-49] According to the calculation of the secretary
of the treasury, it had become increased on Apr. 1, 1880, to
$3,404,967.
[XXXIII-50] _Guat. Presupuesto Gen._, 1886, 111-14.
[XXXIII-51] The chief sources are import duties and port
charges, export duty on woods, tax on spirituous liquors,
stamped paper, tobacco, and gunpowder monopoly, etc. Squier,
_Cent. Am._, 271, estimated the revenue in 1856 at about
$250,000; but Astaburuaga, _Cent. Am._, 71-3, sets it down at
$154,248, and deducting $37,713 for loans and other receipts
not belonging to ordinary revenue, and $24,000 for two years'
interest on the English debt, there remained $92,535 to meet
an expenditure calculated at $116,898. The assembly voted
for 1857, $134,253; 1858, $119,852; 1859, $132,912. In 1857
and 1858 $40,000 more had to be added, owing to political
disturbances. _Wappäus_, _Mex. und Cent. Am._, 306. In 1867
the receipts seem to have been about $200,000, exceeding the
expense some $17,000. _Camp's Year-Book_, 1869, 527. Those of
1869 are set down at about $560,000. _Mex._, _Informe Sec.
Hac._, 1873, 88. For 1872 they were estimated at $400,000.
_Am. Cyclop._, viii. 791. According to President Soto's
message in 1883, the revenue in 1881 was $1,120,175, and in
1882, $1,298,878. _Pan. Star and Herald_, March 23, 1883;
June 2, 1886.
[XXXIII-52] It is understood that President Bogran, in his
efforts to diminish the expenditures, reduced in 1886 his own
and other salaries. _Id._, June 2, 1886.
[XXXIII-53] Pres. Soto, in his message of 1883, says
that the opinion prevailed in Europe that Honduras had
been victimized; he believed that in truth and justice
the republic cannot be held responsible for the enormous
debt. Indeed, it is of a very questionable origin. It
was contracted for the alleged purpose of constructing an
interoceanic railway. There were four loans negotiated;
namely, two in London, in 1867, for the nominal amount of
£1,000,000, issued at 80 with 10 per cent interest; another
in 1868 at Paris for the nominal sum of 62,252,700 francs,
issued at 75 and 6 per cent interest, and the last in
London in 1870, for £2,500,000, issued at 80 and 10 per cent
interest. _Am. Cyclop._, viii. 791; _Pan. Star and Herald_,
March 23, 1883; _La Estrella de Pan._, Jan. 10, 1884.
[XXXIII-54] The chief sources were customs, monopoly of
spirituous liquors, tobacco, and gunpowder, stamped paper,
etc. The receipts of 1848-56, including $175,419 for loans
in 1856, were $3,408,068, averaging $359,183 a year; for
1866-9, $3,224,348, or $806,087 per year; for 1870-4,
$4,930,238, or $1,232,560 yearly; for 1875-8, $7,880,316, or
an average of $1,970,079. Expenditures: 1848-56, $3,251,802;
1867-8, $1,468,850; 1873-8, $9,269,113. _Squier's Cent.
Am._, 307; _Salv._, _Gaceta_, Oct. 31, 1851; March 20, 1877;
_Id._, _Diario Ofic._, March 24, 25, 1875; March 13, 14,
1878; _Costa R._, _Boletin Ofic._, March 14, 1855; _Nic._,
_Gaceta_, March 23, 1867; Feb. 22, 1868; _Astaburuaga_,
_Cent. Am._, 76; _Camp's Year-Book_, 1869, 527; _Pan. Star
and Herald_, Apr. 1, 1869; Aug. 29, 1874; May 10, 1875; Feb.
26, 1884; Sept. 29, 1886; _Id._, _Cronista_, Jan. 20, 1883;
_Jülfs_, _Die Seehäfen_, 36; _Mex._, _Informe Sec. Hac._,
1873, 88; _Salv._, _Mem. Min. Hac._, 1875-9; _Laferrière_,
_De Paris à Guatém._, 190-1.
[XXXIII-55] The greater portion was Salvador's share of the
federal debt; which was augmented by several foreign claims
aggregating about $100,000. No interest on the federal debt
had been paid since 1848. _Squier's Cent. Am._, 308.
[XXXIII-56] I find that the republic paid up in 24 years,
prior to 1875, $4,833,775 to cover both the federal debt and
its own—an equivalent of about a million and a quarter every
five years by a population of only 600,000 souls. _Salv._,
_Diario Ofic._, Apr. 6, Aug. 4, Oct. 28, 1875; Oct. 17, 1878;
_Id._, _Gaceta Ofic._, Feb. 15, 1878; _Am. Cyclop._, xiv.
610; _Mex._, _Informe Sec. Hac._, 1873, 25; _Laferrière_,
_De Paris à Guatém._, 191; _Salv._, _Mem. Min. Hac._, 1875;
_Nic._, _Semanal Nic._, Apr. 16, 1874; _Pan. Star and
Herald_, Feb. 26, 1884.
[XXXIII-57] The chief sources of revenue are those of
customs, slaughtering cattle, and sales of spirituous
liquors, tobacco, gunpowder, and stamped paper. The total
revenue of 1845 amounted to $74,911, a sum entirely
inadequate to meet the most necessary expenses of the
government. The import duty was 20 per cent ad valorem, to
which was added 8 per cent. The only export duty was 1 to
3 per cent on gold, silver, and precious stones. A transit
duty of 5 per cent was levied on goods passing through
Nic. to the other states. Merchant vessels paid 50 cts per
ton. The total revenue from customs in 1846 was $51,818;
from internal taxation, $3,626; from rum, etc, $24,260. The
revenue from tobacco was pledged to the Brit. govt, in order
to ransom the port of San Juan del Norte. Other sources
were insignificant. Receipts of 1851, $122,686; 1857-60,
$1,327,637; 1861-70, $5,665,877. The tariff of imports was
modified in Dec. 1868, and increased 10 per cent in Feb.
1870. Agricultural implements, materials for mining, and
other articles, were exempted from import duty by a law of
Nov. 2, 1869. The revenue from customs became flourishing,
and yielded in 1883 $1,275,506, due to the law of Sept.
25, 1879, which raised the duties on several articles, and
changed the mode of collecting from ad valorem to weight.
It seems that most goods paid no more under the new system
than formerly; but much fraud was averted. Imports generally
paid 50 per cent ad val. The port of San Juan del Norte and
the Mosquito reservation have a free zone, the merchants of
San Juan paying a tax in lieu of import duties. Receipts of
1871, $958,922; 1873-80, $8,416,879; 1881-2, $3,351,767, an
increase of $951,674 over the preceding two years. _Belly_,
_Nic._, i. 311; _Lévy_, _Nic._, 353-8; _Nic._, _Gaceta_,
March 6, 1863; March 18, Apr. 29, 1865; Jan. 20, 1866; March
21, 1868; Jan. 2, 23, 30, Nov. 6, 1869; May 27, 1871; Jan.
20, 1872; _Id._, _Decretos_, 1869-70, 123; _Pan. Star and
Herald_, Feb. 1, 1883.
[XXXIII-58] Expenses of the supreme powers, $112,548;
departments of the interior, $513,069; war, $389,466;
treasury, $1,353,612; foreign relations, $762,457; sundries,
$109,787. During this term was paid $57,586 outstanding from
the preceding, the ordinary expenses of administration; for
improvements, $563,918; and extraordinary expenses caused
by disturbances. The expenditures in 1846 and 1851 were
$106,145 and $173,646, respectively, in both cases creating
deficits; in 1859-60, $652,515; 1861-70, $5,316,951; 1871-2,
$1,721,355; 1873-4, $1,995,040. Those of the following
years kept pace with the increased revenues; but large sums
were appropriated to internal improvements, education, and
other purposes conducive to the intellectual and material
advancement of the republic. _Nic._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._, for
years 1846 to 1883; and the _Gacetas_ quoted in the preceding
note.
[XXXIII-59] She had on the 15th of Sept., 1867, recognized
£45,000 as her proportion. _Nic._, _Gaceta_, March 28, 1868.
[XXXIII-60] _Presid. Cárdenas_, _Mensaje_, Jan. 15, 1885,
in _Costa R._, _Gaceta Ofic._, Feb. 4, 1885. For further
information, see the biennial reports of the minister of the
treasury; _Lévy_, _Nic._, 358-60; _Am. Cyclop._, xii. 424;
_Pan. Star and Herald_, Feb. 1, 1883.
[XXXIII-61] From customs, $427,395, which was less than had
been expected; liquor monopoly, $200,168; stamped paper and
stamps, $63,033; paper money issued, $310,764; the balance
from sundry sources. The receipts in specie were $1,046,967.
The law of Dec. 10, 1839, first established the sources of
revenue for the state govt as follows: Maritime and internal
duties on merchandise; purchase and coinage of bullion; sales
of public lands; monopoly in cultivation and sale of tobacco;
sale of gunpowder, stamped paper, domestic and foreign
liquors; postage, excise, confiscation of contraband goods,
and fines. _Montúfar_, _Reseña Hist._, iii. 272, 570.
[XXXIII-62] A new tariff, to go into effect Jan. 1, 1886,
was decreed, subjecting imported merchandise to specific
duties, and considerably modifying the tariff of 1877.
Gold and silver in bullion, bars, dust, or coin, as also
fence wire, lightning rods, machinery for agriculture,
material and tools for ship-building, ships, and animals
were exempted from duty. _Costa R._, _Gaceta_, Sept. 12,
13, 1885; _Id._, _Col. Ley._, xxv. 15-47. The following
figures show approximately the receipts of the government
for about forty years past, to wit: 1845, $132,000—there is
no published history of the finances of Costa R. prior to
1845; 1847-50, $1,006,207; 1851-60, $5,956,873; 1861-70,
$8,518,636; 1871-82, $30,475,828, less amounts included,
which were merely casual receipts, $4,545,277, leaving for
actual revenue, $25,930,551. _Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._, 45;
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 470-1; _Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._, 43;
_Encyclop. Brit._ (Am. ed.), vi. 398; _Costa R._, _Informe
Sec. Hac._, 1852-85.
[XXXIII-63] As near as I have been able to ascertain, the
outlay of the Costa Rican treasury has been, for 1847-50,
$986,245; 1851-60, $6,637,124; 1861-70, $9,682,265; 1871-82,
$32,362,189. _Id._; _Pan. Star and Herald_, Aug. 14, 1886.
[XXXIII-64] 'Se logró la total cancelacion de la deuda
inglesa.' _Costa R._, _Informe Min. Hac., etc._, 1848, 16.
[XXXIII-65] The history of these loans, as furnished in
the reports of the Costa Rican treasury department, is the
following: In 1871, Costa Rica contracted with Bischoffsheim
and Goldsmidt for a loan of the nominal amount of £1,000,000,
at 72 with 6 per cent interest, and 2 per cent for a sinking
fund; however, per agreement of May 5, 1871, the rate was
reduced to 56, and only yielded £560,000. Bischoffsheim
and Goldsmidt retained £105,000, which reduced the proceeds
to £455,000, and this sum was further diminished £42,000,
leaving only £413,000, or somewhat less than 42 per cent.
A new loan was negotiated in 1872, with Knowles and Foster
of London, which appeared as for £2,400,000, but did not
exceed £2,226,500, the difference not having been taken up.
The negotiation was at 82, with interest at 7 per cent, and
1 per cent for a sinking fund. This loan actually yielded to
Costa Rica £598,611 18_s._ 5_d._, which is explained thus:
Knowles and Foster paid over to E. Erlanger and Co. of London
in money £1,576,240 9_s._ 1_d._, the difference between this
sum and that taken up being £650,259. Erlanger and Co. were
the syndics of the loan under the 8th clause of the contract
with Knowles and Foster, and had bound themselves to take
up £800,000 of it. Under the 3d and 4th clauses, they were
empowered to repurchase bonds for account of Costa Rica,
though subject to the following conditions: 1st. That the
repurchasing should be indispensable to secure the success
of the loan; 2d. It was not to be done with the £800,000
Erlanger and Co. were bound for; and 3d. The operations were
not to be effected but within 30 days of the issue. This
condition was violated. Erlanger and Co. claimed to have
repurchased with the money received by them bonds of both the
6 per cent and 7 per cent loans to the value of £1,426,500.
The result of this transaction was that the loan, save the
£800,000 taken up by Erlanger and Co., was exhausted; and yet
it was said, in and out of Costa Rica, that her government
had received $17,000,000. _Encyclop. Brit._ (Am. ed.), vi.
398. The whole yield of both loans was but £1,011,611 18_s._
5_d._, or $5,058,060. Besides the £105,000 retained by
Bischoffsheim and Goldsmidt, under the pretext of securing
the interest of the 6 per cent loan, the government remitted
for interest and sinking fund £135,000, which were taken
from the very funds received, and reduced them to £876,611
18_s._ 5_d._ Moreover, under an agreement with Erlanger and
Co., the government of Costa Rica was authorized to draw on
them for £150,000. Its drafts were allowed to go to protest,
and the amounts drawn for had to be replaced. The government
felt that it had been victimized, and in order to protect
the country's good name, after consultation with legal lights
of London, established suits at law against the parties. The
suit has cost a great deal of money; early in 1877 $373,380
had been paid for expense. _Costa R._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._,
1874-7. Should the decisions of the British courts be against
Costa Rica, her financial situation should not be deemed very
alarming, as is made apparent. The 7 per cent loan, reduced
to Costa Rican money at 9 per cent, £2,226,500, nominal
$12,134,425.
Bonds repurchased, £1,026,500 $5,594,425
Received from Erlanger and Co., and appearing among
the liabilities, £598,611 18_s._ 5_d._ 3,262,435
Amount not appearing among the liabilities,
£601,388 1_s._ 7_d._ 3,277,565
-----------
$12,134,425
Accepting the responsibility for the whole 7 per cent loan,
it would amount to $12,134,425, deducting $3,262,435, and
$5,594,425 for repurchased bonds, the total sum not included
in the liability in 1876 would be reduced to $3,277,565, to
which must be added $13,517, balance of the 6 per cent loan,
making $3,291,082. Advantageous offers were received from
Europe to extinguish the debt, which, if accepted, would
reduce the nominal indebtedness of $11,990,000 to $2,398,000.
This loan was negotiated for funds to build a railway. The
road has cost $12,239,296, and its three sections are valued
in 1883 at $6,600,000. _Id._, 1872-5, 1883, annexes 7 and 8.
[XXXIII-66] _Pan. Star and Herald_, March 29, 1884; _Costa
R._, _Gaceta_, Sept. 4, 1885. Half a million dollars was
voted by congress in July 1886 to the extinction of the
internal debt. _Id._, Aug. 14, 1886.
[XXXIII-67] From customs, $145,000; rum, $24,000; loans,
$42,500; received from Spain, $10,000; voluntary and forced
contributions, $150,000; judicial deposits, $101,000; papal
dispensation bulls, $27,000—were among the items. _Lloyd's
Notes Isth. Pan._, in _Roy. Geog. Soc._, _Jour._, i. 99.
[XXXIII-68] Including $4,527, balance from the preceding
year; $86,820 of loans; $70,000 from customs; $15,820, duties
on tobacco. _Id._, 98.
[XXXIII-69] The general government decreed in 1849 the
suppression of tithes; requiring of the several provinces of
the Isthmus to make up the amount which the suppressed tax
yielded the previous year. The aggregate was to be applied to
cover national expenses. _Pinart_, _Pan. Col. Doc._, MS., no.
86, p. 14; _Pan._, _Crónica Ofic._, Oct. 23, 1849.
[XXXIII-70] The commercial tax was not to be more than double
that assessed in 1885. The general govt on the 1st of April,
1885, established a salt monopoly, and in the same year
decreed the reëstablishment of custom-houses at the Isthmus
ports. This decree was subsequently suspended. _La Estrella
de Pan._, May 16, 1885; _Pan. Star and Herald_, Nov. 2, 4,
Dec. 30, 1885. The budgets for the ten years from 1867 to
1876 amounted together to $3,018,391, and the appropriations
voted for the same year were $3,335,084. The absence of
regular accounts for the period 1867-75 renders it impossible
to find out what were the actual receipts and expenditures.
The revenue from Jan. 1, 1876, to June 30, 1877, was
$339,526, and the expenses reached $356,483, though only
$274,298 were paid. The revenue collected from July 1, 1877,
to June 30, 1878, $218,095; the assembly voted for expenses
of that fiscal year $382,841, but the government seems to
have paid out only $226,278. For 1880-1 the legislature
computed the revenue at $300,628. It had the preceding year
authorized the executive to increase the commercial tax 25
per cent. The expenditures for the year were estimated at
$316,077. _Pan._, _Mem. Sec. Jen._, 1878, 43-6, 48; 1879, 3,
32-3; _Id._, _Leyes_, 1879-80, 8, 9, 64-78.
[XXXIII-71] $81,375 of it bore interest at 6 per cent.
_Pan._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._, 1879, 37. Dec. 19, 1879, the
legislature authorized the executive to borrow $50,000 at 12
per cent. For further information, see _Pan._, _Gaceta_, Nov.
17, 1870, to Sept. 1, 1881, passim.
[XXXIV-1] See summary of geographical knowledge and discovery
from the earliest records to the year 1540. _Hist. Cent.
Am._, i. 68-154, this series.
[XXXIV-2] They thus argued from the first: Quintus Metellus
Celer, proconsul of Rome in Gaul, was presented by the king
of Suevia with a number of red men, who had been thrown
upon his coast. So said Cornelius Nepos, and Pliny repeated
it. Now these savages, having no knowledge of ships or
navigation, could not have come from America; they were not
black, and consequently were not from Africa. There were
no people in Europe like them; so they must have come from
Asia. But how? Either from the east or from the west; they
could not have rounded the eastern hemisphere either by its
northern or southern side, for obvious reasons; therefore
they must have come from the north-west, and hence there
must be a way from Asia north-eastward to Europe, running
round the north pole. Upon this logic were staked thousands
of lives and millions of money. Dominicus Marius Niger, the
geographer, speaks of men who were driven from India through
the north sea to Germany, while on a trading expedition.
As late as 1160, some strange persons arrived on the coast
of Germany. Humboldt thought they might have been Eskimos.
Othon, in his _Storie of the Gothes_, speaks of such
arrivals, arguing that they must have drifted in through a
north-west passage. Gilbert's Discourse, in _Hakluyt_, iii.
16-17. Again, Hakluyt finds it recorded that some 200 years
before the coming of Christ, the Romans sent a fleet against
the Grand Khan, which, crossing the strait of Gibraltar, and
steering toward the N. W., in lat 50° found a channel, in
which it sailed to the westward until it reached Asia, and
after fighting the king of Cathay, returned by the way it
went.
[XXXIV-3] _Hist. Cal._, i. 1-109; _Hist. Northwest Coast_,
i. 1-342; _Hist. North Mexican States and Texas_, i. 1-201;
_Hist. Oregon_, i. I will add, in this connection, that
Juan de Ayola, with 200 Spaniards, in 1535 crossed from the
Paraguay River to Peru. Irola, twelve years later, ascended
the Paraguay River to 17° S., crossed the mountains to the
Guapay River, and succeeded in establishing communications
between Peru and her dependency, La Plata. _Lardner's Cabinet
Cyclop._, ii. 90.
[XXXIV-4] They fitted out two vessels, Le Maire advancing
most of the money, and going on the voyage as supercargo,
Van Schouten as commander. They doubled the cape with
one remaining ship in Jan. 1616. The Spaniards afterward
completed the exploration, and their forts in Magellan Sound
became useless. The straits of Magellan have been, however,
used in late years as the transit of an English steamship
line.
[XXXIV-5] Previously several attempts had been made.
Kotzebue, of the Russian navy, went in 1815 to Bering Strait,
and the next year discovered the sound bearing his name.
Golovnin made a voyage also, but accomplished nothing. The
English made a number of efforts, which, if unsuccessful
in not attaining the main object, added much to geographic
knowledge. Herewith I give the expeditions fitted out in
England, or under English auspices. In 1818 two ships, the
_Dorothea_ and _Trent_, under Buchan and Franklin, went to
the Spitzbergen waters, but could not advance far. Two other
ships, the _Isabella_ and _Alexander_, under John Ross and W.
E. Parry, were ordered to Davis Strait and verified Baffin's
exploration of Baffin Bay. Ross entered Lancaster Sound,
and reached 81° 30' W. by 74° 3' N. Parry made three other
voyages, in 1819, 1821, and 1824, in the last of which one
of his ships, the _Fury_, was wrecked in seeking a passage
through Regent Inlet. In 1827 he attempted the polar voyage
in sled-boats from Spitzbergen, reaching 82° 40' 30", the
farthest point hitherto attained. Capt. John Franklin tried
to find the passage overland from York Factory on the west
coast of Hudson Bay. He wintered at Fort Chepeweyan in 1819,
and in the _Enterprise_ in 1820. In July 1821 he navigated
the Arctic sea, east of Coppermine River, a considerable
distance, hoping from the trend of the coast to reach Hudson
Bay. Want of provisions compelled the abandonment of the
expedition, and after severe hardships, and journeying 5,500
miles, reached Great Slave Lake in Dec. 1821. Lyon in 1824
attained Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome. Franklin renewed his land
survey of the Arctic coasts, 1825-7. He wintered in 1825
on Great Bear Lake, descended the Mackenzie, and surveyed
the coast line westward to Return Reef in 70° 26' N., and
148° 52' W. Meanwhile Richardson and Kendall of his party
made a voyage from Mackenzie to Coppermine River, doubling
several capes, and completing the survey of the coast through
60 degrees of longitude. Beechey in 1826 in the _Blossom_
explored the coast from Kotzebue Sound to Icy Bay. One of
his parties reached Cape Barrow. He waited for Franklin till
Oct. 1827, and returned home via Cape Horn. Ross in 1829
tried to find a passage through Regent Inlet, but had to
abandon his ship in Victoria Harbor, near 70°. P. W. Dease
and T. Simpson in 1837-9 made important explorations between
Point Barrow and Mackenzie River; the portion on the east
side between Point Turnagain and the estuary of the Back's
Great Fish River; and also the south sides of Victoria Land
and King William Land. John Rae of the Hudson's Bay Company
surveyed a part of the Arctic coast east. In 1845 he surveyed
Regent Inlet east and west, found an isthmus between Regent
Inlet and the sea explored by Dease and Simpson. Franklin
and Crozier were despatched in May 1845 with two stout
ships, the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, well supplied for three
years. The expedition sent letters from Whalefish Island,
near Disco, and was last seen on July 26th waiting to cross
the 'middle ice' on to Lancaster Sound, 220 miles distant.
The orders were to proceed to about 74¼° N. lat. and 98° W.
long.; thence take a S. and W. course for Bering's Strait,
the passage west from Melville Island being precluded. A
number of expeditions were despatched in search of Franklin;
namely, one under John Richardson and Rae, 1847-9; ships
_Enterprise_ and _Investigator_ under Ross and Bird, 1848-9;
_Herald_ and _Plover_ under Kellet and Moore, 1848-52; _North
Star_, commanded by Saunders, 1849-50; the _Investigator_
and _Enterprise_, in 1850, under McClure and Collinson;
whaler _Advice_, under Goodsir; a squadron commanded by
Austin, consisting of the _Resolute_ and the _Assistance_.
Capt. Ommaney with two steam tenders under lieuts Osborn
and McClintock; several ships sent by Franklin's wife; Rae
in 1851; expedition under Edward Belcher, 1852-4; ships
_Amphitrite_ and _Plover_, 1852-5; McCormick in 1852; Rae
in 1853-4; Anderson in 1855; and several others, among which
deserve mention the American expeditions under lieut De Haven
and S. P. Griffin, E. K. Kane, Hayes, Hall, and Schwatka;
most of whom made important geographical discoveries and
found relics of Franklin's party. It was ascertained beyond
a doubt that Franklin sailed up Wellington Channel to
77°, descended by the west side of Cornwallis Island, and
wintered 1845-6 at Beechey Island. The wintering positions
of the ships were in 1846-7-8 off the north end of King
William's Island. Franklin died June 11, 1847, and the ships
were abandoned near the above spot Apr. 22, 1848, Capt.
Crozier intending to lead the 105 survivors to Great Fish
River. Only 40 men reached the vicinity of this river, and
all died, according to Eskimo accounts. On this journey
Lancaster Strait was connected with the navigable channel
along the continent, and the existence of the north-west
passage proved. _Richardson's Polar Regions_, 136-7, 146-9,
151-202; _Lardner's Cabinet Cyclop._, iii. 176-7, 198-247;
_Tytler's Hist. View_, 133-4, 283-92; _Franklin's Narr._, i.
ii.; _Quarterly Rev._, xviii. 219; _Am. Jour._, xvi. 130-2;
_Encyclop. Brit._, xi. 347; xviii. 329-30; xix. 331-2, 335-8;
_Dictionnaire de la Conversation_, xii. 2; xiii. 608-10.
[XXXIV-6] Sent by Capt. Pellet on Barrow Strait, and was
guided by a message left by McClure at Winter Harbor on
Melville Island.
[XXXIV-7] Nordenskiöld, a Swedish professor and experienced
navigator, with the steamer _Vega_, commanded by Lieut
Palander, on the 19th of August, 1878, reached Cape Severo
or Tchelyusken, the most northern point of Siberia and of the
Old World in 77° 41' N., and steered a south-easterly course,
the sea free from ice and quite shallow. Aug. 27th the mouth
of the Lena River was passed, the _Vega_ parting company with
her tender, the _Lena_, and continuing her course eastward;
she almost accomplished the passage that first season; but
toward the end of Sept. the _Vega_ was frozen in off the
shore of a low plain in 67° 7' N. and 173° 20' W. near the
settlement of the Chugaches. After an imprisonment of 294
days, the _Vega_ on the 18th of July, 1879, continued her
voyage, and on the 20th passed Bering Strait. Nordenskiöld,
without loss of life or damage to his ship, arrived at
Yokohama Sept. 2, 1879. _Encyclop. Brit._ (Am. ed.), xix.
337.
[XXXIV-8] For canal: I. Tehuantepec, connecting the rivers
Coatzacoalcos and Chimilapa. II. Honduras. III. River San
Juan de Nicaragua: 3. River San Cárlos, Gulf of Nicoya.
Nicaragua Lake: 4. Rivers Niño and Tempisque, Gulf of Nicoya;
5. River Sapoa, Bay of Salinas; 6. San Juan del Sur; 7. Port
Brito. Managua Lake: 8. River Tamarindo; 9. Port Realejo;
10. Bay of Fonseca. IV. Panamá: River Chagres: 11. Gorgona,
Panamá; 12. Trinidad, Caimito; 13. Navy Bay, Rivers Chagres,
Bonito and Bernardo; 14. Gulf of San Blas, and River Chepo.
V. Darien: 15. Bay of Caledonia, Port Escocés, Gulf of San
Miguel; 16. Rivers Arguia, Paya, and Tuyra, Gulf of San
Miguel. River Atrato: 17. River Napipi, Bay of Cupica; 18.
River Uruando, Kelley's Inlet. Overland. 1st. Coatzacoalcos,
Tehuantepec; 2d. Bay of Honduras to Bay of Fonseca; 3d. River
San Juan, Nicaragua, Managua, Bay of Fonseca; 4th. Port Limon
to Caldera, Costa Rica; 5th. Laguna de Chiriquí on Golfo
Dulce; 6th. Colon, Gorgona, and Panamá; 7th. Gorgon Bay,
Realejo; 8th. Gorgon Bay and San Juan del Sur. _Nouv. Annales
des Voy._, cliii. 9-10; _Davis' Rept_, 20.
[XXXIV-9] A survey made in 1715 was sent to the secret
archives of Madrid, where other like documents lie hidden. In
1774 the Spanish officers Corral and Cramer, after inspecting
the route reported that a canal of about eight leagues
might join the Chimalapa and Malpaso rivers, and establish a
communication between the two streams. The Spanish general
Orbegoso in 1821 explored this isthmus, and formed a map,
which was not published till 1839. In 1825 he showed that it
was not easy to carry a through-canal across Tehuantepec.
In 1842-3 a survey was made under the auspices of José de
Garay by C. Moro and others, to determine the practicability
of a ship canal by way of the Coatzacoalcos to the gulf of
Tehuantepec. The objections to the route were shown to be the
expense of cutting, the uncertainty of water upon the summit
level, and inadequate ports at the termini. Garay, however,
announced as practicable a canal of the same size as the
Caledonia, in Scotland, and was put in possession of lands,
etc.; but nothing came of the transaction but diplomatic
complications resulting from Garay's transfer of his grant
to a foreign company. Finally, the Mexican congress in 1851
declared the grant forfeited. _Nouv. Annales des Voy._, ci.,
iii., 8-9; _Duflot de Mofras_, _Explor. de l'Oregon_, 119;
_Reichardt_, _Cent. Am._, 183-4, 188-9; _Córtes_, _Diario_,
1813, xix. 392; _Robles_, _Prov. Chiapa_, 70; _Chevalier_,
_Pan._, 61-2; _Mex. Col. Dec. y Ord._, 115; _Id._, _Col.
Ley._, _Ord. y Dec._, iii. 113-14; _Bustamante_, _Med.
Pacific_, MS., ii., supplem. 15; _Mex. Mem. Sec. Rel._, 47-8;
_Rivera_, _Gobern. Mex._, ii. 116; _Id._, _Hist. Jalapa_,
ii. 362; iv. 211, 225, 236; _Dublan_ and _Lozano_, _Legisl.
Mej._, i. 738-9; _Instituto Nac. de Geog._, Bol. No. 1,
30-43, with map and profile; _Ward's Mex._, i. 311; _Liot's
Pan., Nic. and Tehuan._, 6-12; _Ramirez_, _Mem._, 1-108;
_Garay_, _Privilegio_, 1-28; _Id._, _Survey Isth. Tehuan._,
3-188; _Manero_, _Notic. Hist._, 51-6; _Id._, _Apunt. Hist._,
12-13; _Mex. Mem. Sec. Guerra_, 1852, 19-22; _Id._, _Mem.
Instruc. de los derechos_, etc., in _Mexican Financier_,
no. 1, 1-39. In 1850-1 an American commission headed by Maj.
Barnard, U. S. Engineers, surveyed the route, who reported
it to possess but little 'merits as a practicable line for
the construction of a ship canal.' _Davis' Report_, 5-6. In
1869 officers of the U. S. surveyed the route, and made a
favorable report. In 1870 Capt. R. W. Shuffeldt, of the U. S.
navy, made another survey, which confirmed the conclusions of
the former, to the effect that no extraordinary engineering
difficulties existed, as sufficient water could be had from
rivers in the Sierra Madre to supply the canal. The route
begins about 30 miles above the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos,
and after traversing a long distance, rises to a level of
about 680 ft, then descends to the lagoon on the Pacific, a
total distance of 120 miles. The distance from New Orleans
to Hongkong would be 8,245 miles less than by Cape Horn, and
1,588 less than by way of Panamá. _Am. Cyclop._, iii. 690;
_Manero_, _Apunt. Hist._, 13-15.
[XXXIV-10] By resolution of the Mexican congress, the
contract of the American company was declared void in Oct.
1882, and soon after the govt made an arrangement to have
the road built on its own account. _Id._, _Artículos, Soc.
Arquit._, 7-10; _S. F. Call_, Oct. 5, 1882; _Mex._, _Diario
Ofic._, Oct. 10, 17, 18, 20, 1882.
[XXXIV-11] _Mex._, _Diario Debates_, 10th Cong., i. 273-1930,
passim.; _Id._, _El Noticioso_, Nov. 29, 1880; _Id._, _Col.
Ley._, xxxvi. 320-4; _Id._, _Diario Ofic._, June 2, 1881;
Aug. 10, 23, 1882; _Mex'n Financier_, Dec. 13, 20, 27, 1884;
Jan. 10, 24, 1885.
[XXXIV-12] The Mexican govt guaranteed in 1885 one and a
quarter million dollars per annum for 15 years. _Pan. Star
and Herald_, Jan. 16, 1886.
[XXXIV-13] Gov. Pedrarias Dávila had the outlet of lakes
Nicaragua and Managua discovered. His officers Este and
Rojas favored the plan of a canal round the falls of the San
Juan, and another on the Pacific slope. The project occupied
the court and colony for many years. _Herrera_, iv., iii.,
ii.; _Cent. Am._, _Extractos Sueltos_, in _Squier's MS._,
xxii. 108; _Fröbel_, _Aus. Am._, i. 144, 241. The plan not
only engaged the Spaniards but the French and English, the
latter contemplating the conquest of the country. The royal
engineer Manuel Galisteo in 1781, the system of locks being
little known then, declared the connection of the lake with
the Pacific to be impracticable. In 1791 La Bastide proposed
widening the river Sapoa between the lake and Papagayo
Gulf, and cutting a canal between that river and the gulf
of Nicoya; but the French revolution caused the matter to
be forgotten. In 1814 the Spanish córtes decreed the survey
and construction, but subsequent political events made
that decree inoperative. _Saravia_, _Bosq. Polít. Est._,
13-17; _Viajero_, _Univ._, xxvii. 180-4; _Bastide_, _Mém.
Sur. Nouv. Passage_, 1-70; _Humboldt_, _Essai Polít._,
i. 1-17; _Bourgoane's Trav._, in _Pinkerton's Coll._, ii.
498-9; _Reichardt_, _Cent. Am._, 169-70; _Duflot de Mofras_,
_Explor. de l'Oregon_, i. 137; _Squier's Nic._, 658.
[XXXIV-14] Herewith I give a synopsis of what occurred.
In 1823 a franchise was given to John Baily for a house
in London, who did nothing, and the privilege was granted
to parties in New York, who also failed to carry out the
stipulations. Numerous proposals came between 1825 and
1829, which were successively accepted, but neither of them
had effect. In 1829 a franchise was decreed to the king
of Holland, and there was some prospect of a canal being
constructed; but the war which detached Belgium from Holland
broke out, and the king abandoned the project. President
Morazan then contemplated doing the work on Central American
account, and the survey was begun in 1837, interrupted
by Morazan's fall, but continued in 1838 for account of
Nicaragua. This same year Edward Belcher, of the Brit. navy,
suggested the possibility of an artificial communication
between Lake Managua and the bay of Fonseca. Baily's
explorations along the line from Rio Lajas to San Juan del
Sur were terminated in 1843, and their publication furnished
exact data on the canal. Meanwhile, P. Rouhand (1839), Viteri
(1840), Castellon and Jerez (1842), had unsuccessfully tried
to raise funds for the work in Europe. The king of France in
1844 refused his coöperation. In 1846 Louis Napoleon became
warmly interested for a time. Great Britain in 1847 seized
San Juan del Norte on the north, and Tiger Island on the
south. Louis Napoleon turned his thoughts to other subjects.
Örsted studied, in 1847-8, for the Costa Rican govt, a canal
project which differed from Baily's in choosing a low line
south of San Juan del Sur along the Sapoa River into Salinas
Bay. Nicaragua in 1848 entered into a contract to build the
canal with a house in New York, which, however, surrendered
it. _Baily's Cent. Am._, 127-50; _Annales des Voy._, cliii.
14-17; clvii. 16-17; _Nouv. Annales des Voy._, xxviii.
(1825), 370-82; xxxii. (1826), 369-74; _Squier's Trav._,
ii. 251-80, 405-20; _Id._, _Nic._, 658; _Liot's Pan. Nic.
and Tehuan._, 13-16; _Niles' Reg._, xxx. 447; xxxi. 2, 72-3;
lxiv. 130-1; lxv. 57-61; lxvii. 148; _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._,
Dec. 16, 1879; _Reichardt_, _Cent. Am._, 171-3; _Lond. Geog.
Soc._, _Jour._, xiv. 127-9; xx. 172; _Scherzer_, _Cent. Am._,
241; _Belly_, _Nic._, i. 84-7, 137; _Id._, _Carte d'études_,
35-45; _Strain's Int. Comm._, 7-8; _Garella_, _Projet_,
182-8; _Sampson's Cent. Am._, 7-18; _Marure_, _Mem. Hist._,
1-47; _Bülow_, _Nic._, 44-57; _U. S. Comm. Rept_, 145, p.
230-65; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, Sen. Miscel., Cong. 30, Sess. 1,
no. 80, 69-75; _Id._, H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 31, Sess. 1, no. 75,
50-326, passim.
[XXXIV-15] This survey was considered reliable. English
engineers pronounced Brito 'unworthy of this great ship
navigation.' _Davis' Report_, 6-7.
[XXXIV-16] S. Bayley in 1852 proposed a route from La Vírgen
to San Juan del Sur, nearly following that of the Transit
Co. without passing through the valley of the Lajas, which
Baily recommended in 1843. In 1853 E. G. Squier tried to
revive Belcher's plan of utilizing both lakes, and reaching
Fonseca Bay through the Conejo Valley and the Estero Real.
Squier's proposed Honduras railway also was to reach that
bay; and it is quite possible that he contemplated connecting
the two works. Felix Belly, for Belly, Millaud, and Company,
in a contract of May 1858 with the Nicaraguan government,
purposed carrying into execution Örsted's proposition; but
after several years' waiting without Belly or his assigns,
the International Canal Co., accomplishing anything, or
offering better prospects for the future, the government,
in 1868, declared his contract forfeited, and entered into
another with Michel Chevalier, from which better expectations
were entertained; but they were destined not to be realized.
Chevalier required, as a condition sine qua non, that the
contract should be ratified by the Costa Rican congress. This
took place a year later, and then came the war between France
and Prussia, and Nicaragua's last effort, like all former
ones, was frustrated. _Belly_, _Nic._, i. 31-50, 170-4,
401-6; ii. 1-13, 27-36, 59-464; _Id._, _Carte d'études_,
19-27, 49-91; _Nic. Canal de_, 1-21; _Col. Dec. y Acuerdos_,
1863, 39-40, 118; 1869-70, 8-23; _Pim's Gate of the Pac._,
1-14, 58, 116-34, 221-30, 322-70, 394; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Jan.
7, Apr. 8, 1865; March 20, Apr. 17, 1869; _Id._, _Informe
Sec. Rel._, 1869, 8-9; _Id._, _Id._, _Hacienda_, 1869, 3-5;
_Marcoleta_, _Min. Nic._, 1-32; _Hunt's Merch. Mag._, lv.
31-48; lvi. 32-4.
[XXXIV-17] _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Dec. 12, 24, 1863; Nov. 9, 1867.
[XXXIV-18] The exploration by Com. Lull, of the U. S. navy,
established the existence of a practicable route for a
canal with Lake Nicaragua as its summit level, 107 ft above
mean tide. It was proposed to connect the lake with the
Pacific by a canal 16.3 miles in length, from the mouth of
the Medio River to Port Brito. The first 7.5 miles would
require an excavation averaging 54 ft in depth, which would
be the most costly part of the work. The plan calls for ten
locks, and one tide-lock between the lake and the sea. The
lake navigation is of 56 miles. The river San Juan would be
improved by means of four dams; namely, at the rapids of
Castillo, Balas, and Machuca, and at the mouth of the San
Cárlos River, all of which places are suitable for dams. A
short section of canal with one lock would be needed to get
around each of the upper three dams. From the fourth dam
to San Juan del Norte, an independent canal 41.4 miles long
with 7 locks must be constructed, which presents no apparent
engineering difficulty. The total length of the canal would
be 61.7 miles. No tunnelling needed. The harbor of San
Juan del Norte must be dredged, and otherwise improved, to
insure that no water but that of the canal shall run into
the harbor. Short breakwaters must be built to protect the
entrances from the surf. Lake Nicaragua with a surface of
2,700 sq. miles, and a drainage area of 8,000 sq. miles,
will supply 38 times the maximum possible demand of water.
The depth of water would be 26 ft; the width at bottom 72
ft, and at surface 150 ft. The locks, 21 in number, with a
lift of from 8 to 10 ft, would be 400 ft long, 72 ft wide.
The cost was estimated at about eighty million dollars. _U.
S. Gov. Doc._, _Sen. Jour._, 916, Cong. 41, Sess. 2; Id., H.
Ex. Doc., Cong. 42, Sess. 2, i. no. 1, pt. 1, 670-8; Id.,
3d Sess., i. p. 160, 462-5; _Id._, _Sec. Navy Rept_, Cong.
43, Sess. 1, p. 10-12; _Id._, Nic. Ship Canal Route, Cong.
43, Sess. 1; _Lévy_, _Nic._, 428-40; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Aug.
20, 27, Oct. 22, Dec. 24, 1870; Oct. 21, 1871; Jan. 11, Feb.
22, July 12, 1873; March 21, June 6, Nov. 28, 1874; _Id._,
_Mem. Sec. Rel._, 1871, 10-16, 29-39; 1875, xiii.-xiv.;
1879, xxvii.-viii.; _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, xix. 17-34,
180-1; _Id._, _Informe Sec. Rel._, 1872, 2-5; 1877, 2;
1885, 4-6, 47-54; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Rel._, 1884, 6, 8,
9; _Pan. Canal_, March 5, 1883; _Id._, _Star and Herald_,
Feb. 12, 14, 1883; _La Estrella de Pan._, Jan. 15, 1885;
_El Guatemalteco_, March 4, 1884. It has been asserted that
formidable obstacles exist to a permanent deep-water entrance
at San Juan del Norte, owing to sand and other detritus
carried into it by the San Juan River, rendering it shallow
and dangerous. _Gisborne's Isth. Darien_, 8-11.
[XXXIV-19] The report of course gives in minute detail the
engineering features of the three divisions. The proposed
locks have a uniform length of 650 ft between gates, and at
least 65 ft of width. The canal is to have a depth of 28 or
30 ft. It is anticipated that a ship can pass from San Juan
to Brito in 30 hours. Thirty-two vessels can pass the canal
in a day. Excellent materials for construction are at hand.
_Pan. Star and Herald_, Dec. 5, 1885, and San Francisco
newspapers.
[XXXIV-20] This latter objection seems to be disproved by
the researches of the American engineers. But the great
difficulty still remains about the establishment and future
maintenance of a deep-water entrance to the canal at San Juan
del Norte. _Encyclop. Brit._ (Am. ed.), iv. 701.
[XXXIV-21] This Isthmus was surveyed in 1520 by two Flemish
engineers, who reported adversely. The king for politic
reasons would not have the subject mentioned again. So it has
been said. _Duflot de Mofras_, _Explor. de l'Oregon_, i. 119.
The section was repeatedly explored. In 1534 preliminary work
for a ship canal was done, under royal order, by Gov. Gama.
The Chagres River was made navigable to where the wagon road
began. _Pan. Céd._, in _Squier's MSS._, xi. 1-6; _Andagoya_,
_Carta al Rey._, in _Id._, 8; _Garella_, _Isth. de Pan._,
3-5; _Datos Biog._, in _Cartas de Ind._, 761. Various
schemes were broached in the 17th century, meeting with no
encouragement. In 1687 Lionel Wafer was guided by Mandinga
Indians from the gulf of San Miguel to Concepcion on the
Atlantic side. W. Paterson, from his settlement at Caledonia
Harbor, made several journeys into the interior, recommending
it to his company for interoceanic traffic. Ulloa and
Jorge Juan explored Panamá for a route in 1736. _Juan_ and
_Ulloa Voy._, i. 94; _Fitz-Roy_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc._,
_Jour._, xx. 170, 178; _Reichardt_, _Cent. Am._, 164-5. A
road was opened on the isth. of Darien by Gov. Ariza from
Puerto Escocés to Puerto del Príncipe on the Sabana River,
which enters the Pacific. _Ariza_, _Darien_, MS., 11-12;
_De Puydt_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc._, _Jour._, xxxviii. 69;
_Cullen's Darien_, 192-204; _Pim's Gate of the Pac._, 183-4;
_Scherzer_, _Cent. Am._, i. 248-9. In 1820 Capt. Illingsworth
of the Chilian corvette _La Rosa_ (a) _Andes_ had his shallop
drawn across the cordillera, and launched in the Napipi,
whence it proceeded to Quibdó or Citerá, near the mouth of
the Atrato, where it was found in 1824 by Cochrane, who in
examining Darien for a canal route found the obstacles almost
insurmountable. _Annales des Voy._, cliii. 8, 22, 36. Domingo
Lopez, a Colombian, traced a line for a canal between Panamá
and Portobello. _Arosemena_, _Apuntes Hist._, 4. In 1827, C.
Friend of the British navy made an excursion from the banks
of the Atrato to the bay of Cupica. But the first formal
exploration was made, shortly after Friend's tour, by Lloyd
of Pres. Bolívar's staff, and Capt. Falmarc, a Swede in the
Colombian service, under Bolívar's auspices. After completing
their labors in 1829, they declared that a railway, if not
a canal, was feasible between Chagres and Panamá. The notes
of the expedition were published in _Philosophical Trans._,
for 1830, and in _London Geog. Soc._, _Jour._, i. 69-101;
_Chevalier_, _Pan._, 112-13; _Bull. Societé Geog._, xiv. 88,
53-66; _Democ. Rev._, vi. 297-8; _Nouv. Annales des Voy._,
xlviii. 380-1; _Garella_, _Isth. de Pan._, 8-9.
[XXXIV-22] Thierry's canal project, 1835; Biddle's survey for
a canal, 1836; Morel, soon after Lloyd's survey, in 1837-8,
sought a canal route somewhat south of the line from Chagres
to Pan. in the angle between the rivers Chagres and Trinidad,
through Vino Tinto Lake. In a later survey he kept more
to the left; Watts' explorations in 1838; Barnet's survey
of Chiriquí in 1839. _Niles' Reg._, xlviii.; _Arosemena_,
_Exámen_, 8-34; _Pinart_, _Misc. Papers_, no. 1, Decrees
113-17; _Pan. Star and Herald_, Oct. 4, 1882; _Interoc.
Canal and Monroe Doct._, 23-4; _Chevalier_, _Pan._, 117-22;
_Barnet's Surv._, in _Chiriquí Imp. Co. Coll._; _Pan._,
_Gaceta Ist._, Sept. 20, 1841; _G. B. Watts_, in _Am. Geog.
and Stat._, _Soc. Bull._, i., pt. iii. 64-80.
[XXXIV-23] Garella's canal, beginning at Limon Bay, was to
pass under the Ahogayegua ridge by means of a tunnel 120 ft
high and 17,390 ft long, to the bay of Vaca del Monte, 12
miles west of Panamá. The route follows the Bernardino and
Caimito valleys on the southern slope, and those of Quebrado
and Chagres on the northern. The highest elevation 459 feet
above the sea level, the mountain being tunnelled 324 feet
9 in. below its highest point; so that the canal would at
the summit be 135 feet above the sea, and require 35 locks.
Lloyd, acting for the British government, arrived at the same
conclusions. _Garella_, _Projet d'un canal_, 11-194, 230;
_Nouv. Ann. des Voy._, cvi. 36-40; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Com.
Rept, 145, p. 70-7, 506-71, Cong. 30, Sess. 2; _Arosemena_,
_Exámen_, 5-6, 11. Hellert, in 1844-5, explored the Darien
from Rio Paya to the Atrato. W. B. Liot, of the Brit. navy,
proposed in 1845 a macadamized road, or a railroad from
Portobello to Panamá. Capt. Kellet, being informed by Indians
that the Napipi River, a tributary of the Atrato, approached
very closely to the bay of Cupica, crossed on foot in 1847
till he reached a river which was supposed to flow into the
Atlantic. Cullen claimed to have crossed the Darien. In 1849
he found the Sabana River, ascended it, crossed from Cañasas
to the sea-shore at Port Escocés and returned. In 1850 and
1851 he crossed several times alone by different routes from
the Sabana to Escocés, convinced that this must be the future
route for ships. Here are the requisite secure harbors; the
highest elevation of the valleys through the ridges is not
over 150 feet, which is lower than any level as yet found;
locks and tunnel might be avoided; the canal need be only 26
or 27 miles long, two miles through hard rock. Unfortunately,
Cullen gave no notes or measurements to prove this. Capt.
Fitz-Roy, of the British navy, published a memoir on a
communication between the Atrato, by way of its tributary
the Napipi or Naipi, and Cupica Bay. Greiff, a Swedish
engineer, confirmed his observations. In 1850-1 Chevalier
explored the Isthmus for information on interoceanic routes.
_U. S. Coast Survey_, 1868, 260-7; _Liot's Pan., etc._, p.
iii.; _Seemann's Voy._, i. 220; _Davis' Rept_, 9-14, and
several maps; _Cullen's Isth. Darien Ship Canal_, 2d ed., 19;
_Annales des Voy._, cliii. 23; _Chevalier_, in _Soc. Géog.
Bull._, ser. iv., tom. iv., no. 19, pp. 30-70.
[XXXIV-24] The U. S. had the country surveyed in 1833-4
between the Chagres and Panamá. _Fairbairn_, in _United
Serv. Jour._, 1832, pt ii. 207-9; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, 4 Ex.
Doc. 228, vol. iv., Cong. 25, Sess. 2; _Id._, Id. 77, vol.
iv., Cong. 28, Sess. 1; _Id._, U. S. Comm. Rep. 145, p. 3,
265-332, Cong. 30, Sess. 2; _Pub. Treaties_, 1875, p. 558;
_Nic._, _Gaceta_, Nov. 18, 1848; _Niles' Reg._, i. 440;
_Tucker's Monroe Doc._, 43-4.
[XXXIV-25] The parties forming the company were William H.
Aspinwall, Henry Chauncey, and John L. Stephens, all of New
York, who on the 15th of April, 1850, made a contract with
the New Granadan government, binding themselves to construct
within a given time a railway between a point on the Atlantic
and Panamá, for the transportation of travellers, cattle,
merchandise, etc., under a fixed tariff of rates. Certain
advantages were allowed New Granadan citizens. It is not
necessary to state here all the terms of the contract. It
was to be in force 49 years, and the New Granadan government
was to receive three per centum of the net profits. It
subsequently received $10,000 a year additional on the mails.
Passengers, merchandise, and everything else passing in
transitu over the railroad, were to be free of duties and
imposts. The contract was amended July 5, 1867. Under the new
arrangement the company was to own the railway for 99 years;
and pay the Colombian government one million dollars in gold,
and thereafter $250,000 a year in quarterly instalments,
Colombian mails passing over the road free of expense. Large
grants of land were made to the company, who further bound
themselves to carry the railroad to the islands of Naos,
Culebra, Perico, and Flamenco, or to some other suitable
place on the bay. The prolongation has never been carried
out. _Bidwell's Isth. Pan._, 299-308, 397-417; _Pan._,
_Boletin Ofic._, Nov. 15, 1867; _Id._, _Gaceta_, Oct. 31,
1880; _Arosemena_, _Pan. Prolong. Ferrocarril_, 1-18; _Pan.
Star and Herald_, Sept. 3, Oct. 5, 1867; Sept. 12, 13, 28,
1877; _Rouhaud_, _Régions Nouv._, 1878-9, p. 343-51; _Pan.
Mem. Sec. Jen._, 1877, 21-2.
[XXXIV-26] The difficulties of the ground and climate,
together with scanty resources of the country and scarcity of
labor, were overcome. The road runs on the easterly bank of
the Chagres River as far as Barbacoas, where it crosses the
river over a bridge 625 ft long, 18 ft broad, and 40 ft above
the mean level. A full account of the construction may be
found in _Otis' Hist. Pan. R. R._, 1-46; _Thornton's Oregon
and Cal._, ii. 349-52; _Pim's Gateway_, 192-209, 415-28;
_Nic._, _Corr. Ist._, May 30, June 12, 1850; _De Bow's
Encyc._, pt ii. 493-4; _Fremont's Am. Trav._, 171-2, and
other authorities too numerous to name here. The construction
cost many lives of all nationalities, owing to the climate;
and was finally completed with negroes of the Isthmus,
Jamaica, the coast of Cartagena and Santa Marta. _Maldonado_,
_Asuntos Polít._, MS., 6.
[XXXIV-27] Receipts from 1852 to Dec. 31, 1854, $1,026,162;
1855-60, $8,748,026; 1861-6, $12,369,662. Total, $22,143,850.
Expenses to end of 1855, including share of profits paid
the New Granadan govt, $1,123,081; of 1856-66, $8,748,318.
Total, $9,871,399. Net proceeds, $12,272,451. The transit
trade has been the main business of the Isthmus. For many
years, till the Brit. steamship trade by the straits of
Magellan developed, and the overland railway between Omaha
and S. F. was completed, almost all merchandise going to or
from Europe and the eastern ports of the United States, Cuba,
etc., to California, the west coast of South America, and
Central America, was sent by way of the Isthmus, including
even copper from Bolivia and Chile. Receipts of the railroad
1883-4, $6,306,760. Expenses in same years, $3,979,144. Net
proceeds $2,327,616; a net increase of earnings in 1884 over
1883, of $24,032. Further information in the last preceding
chapter connected with the Isthmus transit trade. _Bidwell's
Isth. Pan._, 286; _Otis' Hist. Pan. R. R._, 59-69; _Superint.
Burt's Rept_, March 7, 1885, in _Pan. Star and Herald_, Apr.
22, 1885; _La Estrella de Pan._, May 2, 1885.
[XXXIV-28] _Pan. Star and Herald_, June 23, 1881; Sept. 18,
1882; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 48, Sess. 1, i.
pt 1, 217-19.
[XXXIV-29] _Davis' Rept_, 8; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Journ.,
1345, Cong. 36, Sess. 1; 541, Cong. 36, Sess. 2; _Id._,
Sen. Doc. 1, pp. 17, 36-44, iii. pt 1, Cong. 36, Sess. 2;
_Harper's Mag._, xxii. 193-209.
[XXXIV-30] New Granada granted, in 1852, to Fox, Cullen, and
others, the privilege of opening a canal between Caledonia
Bay and the gulf of San Miguel. _Cullen's Darien Ship Canal_,
1-146. Gisborne thought it was a mere matter of excavation
costing about sixty million dollars. After having spent
a great deal of time on the examination of the Atrato and
San Juan rivers since 1852, F. M. Kelly, of N. Y., in 1864
explored the route from Chepo River to the gulf of San Blas,
which is only 30 miles long, but calls for a tunnel. Several
surveys followed; namely, Strain, of the U. S. navy, early
in 1854, with a party explored the Darien. After several
weeks' toil they lost themselves; five men perished, the rest
reaching Yavisa on the east coast. About the same time a New
Granadan expedition under Codazzi made a similar attempt,
but meeting with disaster, after losing several men, gave up
the enterprise. The same year English and French officers
made explorations. Cullen and Gisborne were with them, and
saw their former statements proved false. Next in order is
Kennish's examination, followed by Michler and Cravens, of
the U. S. navy, who confirmed his report in all essential
points. _Scherzer_, _Cent. Am._, 250-1; _Mex. Anales Min.
Fomento_, i. 83-8; _Strain's Inter. Comm._, 18-27. La Charme,
in 1865, by order of the merchant Gogorza, surveyed from
the south of the gulf of Darien to the gulf of San Miguel
by way of the Tuyra River. De Puydt, for the International
Colombia Co., reported having found a favorable route from
Puerto Escondido to the Tuyra, and thence to the gulf of
San Miguel. _Abert's Ship Canal_, 63-9, 72-9; _La Charme_,
in _Putnam's Mag._, iii. 329-41; _Pan._, _Gaceta_, July
2, 1876; _Lond. Geog. Soc._, _Jour._, xxiv. 249; xxxviii.
69-99. Bourdivl, in 1864, passed from the Pacific with 25 men
to the mouth of the Lara, and thence across the Isthmus to
Chucunaque River, reaching it just below the Sucubti. Here
the natives left him for fear of the savages, and he had
to return. Rear-adm. C. H. Davis, supt of the U. S. Naval
Observatory at Washington, issued a _Report_ on Interoceanic
Canals and Railways, for his government, in 1867, reviewing
modern explorations of the continent from Darien to Honduras
for canals and railroad routes, and giving maps thereof, and
a list of authorities thereon. His work is quite thorough to
its date. _Davis' Rept_, 15-19. The secretary of the U. S.
navy thus summarized in 1873 the report of Com. Selfridge,
who, in 1870-2, made a thorough exploration of several lines
in the narrower portion of Darien. This route includes 100
miles of navigation of the Atrato River, which is capable
of being navigated by the largest steamers. Between the
Atrato and the Pacific, a canal must be made of 28 miles
in length, of which it would pass 22 through a plain with
a gradual rise of 90 feet. Of the other 6 three would be in
moderate cutting, the other three would be of tunnelling. The
estimated cost was between $52,000,000 and $63,000,000, and
the time for completing the work ten years. The tunnel would
be 112 ft high, 60 feet wide, and have 87 ft of clear headway
above the surface of the water. The canal would have 25 ft
in depth, 50 ft of width at the bottom, and 70 at surface.
The locks, 20 in number, were to be 427 ft long, 54 ft wide,
with a lift of 10 ft. The water supply, much in excess of
the requirement, would be derived from the Napipi River.
Two alternative schemes were also presented, increasing the
length of tunnelling, and diminishing the number of locks,
at an estimated cost of $85,000,000 to $90,000,000. He proved
De Puydt's line impracticable. Selfridge's full report, with
maps and illustrations, etc., in _U. S. Gov. Doc._, Darien
Explor., Cong. 42, Sess. 3; Brief reports by sec. of the navy
and Selfridge, in _Id._, H. Ex. Doc., i. p. 3 (sec. of navy),
vol. iii., pp. 9-10, 133-41, Cong. 41, Sess. 3; _Harper's
Mag._, xlvii. (Nov. 1873), 801-20; _Encyclop. Brit._ (Am.
ed.), iv. 700-1. In 1873 Selfridge surveyed the valley of the
Bojaya, another tributary of the Atrato, more to the north,
which was regarded as more favorable. The Am. govt despatched
two other expeditions in 1874, one of which surveyed a line
between the Atrato and the Pacific across the state of Cauca;
the other a line parallel with the Panamá railway.
[XXXIV-31] It affords a much shorter route than that of
Darien, and the cordillera is there less than 290 ft high.
The watershed being nearer the Pacific than the Atlantic,
the streams running into the former ocean are of little
importance, whereas the Chagres on the Atlantic slope, with
its tributary, the Obispo, forms a navigable channel, which
in the rainy season attains to formidable proportions.
[XXXIV-32] A copy of the contract and grant appears
in _Bogotá_, _Diario Ofic._, May 22, 1878; an English
translation in _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 46,
Sess. 2, i. pt i. 243. Under the contract the Colombian govt
will receive at certain periods of it from 6 to 8 per cent of
the net receipts; but its share is never to be under $250,000
a year.
[XXXIV-33] The U. S. govt tried to secure by treaty with
Colombia the right to establish forts, arsenals, and naval
stations on the Isthmus, though no forces were to be kept
there in time of peace. A protocol was signed in New York by
representatives of both governments in Feb. 1881, to amend
the treaty of 1846, but failed of ratification at Bogotá.
_Diario de Cundinamarca_, Apr. 28, 1881; _Pan. Star and
Herald_, May 20, 24, June 24, 25, 1881.
[XXXIV-34] De Lesseps, Wyse, and other officials of the
canal, received the highest marks of regard from the people
of the Isthmus. _Pan. Ley._, years 1879-80, 9-11, 30;
_Id._, _Gaceta_, Feb. 1, 12, 19, 22, 1880; Jan. 27, Feb. 13,
17, 1881. The company at once made provision for a health
service, in spacious and well-regulated hospitals, etc.
_Companyo_, _Projet d'organiz. du serv. de santé_, 1-137, and
a map.
[XXXIV-35] The bottom throughout its length, 8½ metres below
the mean level of both oceans; width, 22 metres at bottom,
50 metres at top; except through the Culebra ridge, where
the depth will be 9 metres, with the width of 24 metres at
bottom and 28 metres at top. It must be observed that the
levels of the two oceans are not alike at all times; at
Colon the difference in the tides never exceeds 23 inches,
whereas in Panamá it is usually 13 ft, and at times nearly
20. This must produce a current in the canal sufficient to
impede navigation for several hours at each tide. The great
difficulties to overcome are the mountain and the river
Chagres. The company contemplated at first to tunnel the
mountain, but gave up the plan, and resolved to cut down
through the solid strata—fortunately soft and otherwise
easy—for a depth of between 300 and 400 ft over a long
distance. The next task—by far the most difficult one—is to
deal with the eccentricities of the Chagres, which discharges
at Matachin a volume of water averaging 100 cubic metres
per second, which at low water may sink to 15 or 20 cubic
metres, and at flood rise to 500 or 600. Several plans have
been contemplated, one of which was to construct an enormous
dam at Gamboa, between the Obispo and Santa Cruz hills,
960 metres at the base, 1,960 at the top, with a width at
bottom, of 1,000 metres, and a height of 45 metres. But it
is understood that the engineers have finally concluded to
make no use of the waters of the Chagres, but to change their
course and let them run to the ocean through the desert;
this will be left to the last. Moreover, locks will be
built to control the tides. De Lesseps, confident that the
canal will be finished in 1889, says there will be no time
in the interval to construct the locks; that they can be
made later. The chief point being that shipping shall pass
through the canal. See _Bulletin du Canal Océanique_, issued
since 1879; _Engineering_, 1883-4; _Reclus_, _Explor._, in
_Tour du Monde_, for a series of views; _Sullivan's Problem
of Interoc. Communic._, Washington, 1883; _Ammen's Interoc.
Ship Canal_, Phila., 1880; _N. Y. Herald_, Feb. 6, 1882;
_Encyclop. Brit._ (Am. ed., 1885), xviii. 213.
[XXXIV-36] It is estimated that the excavation of the canal
proper demands the removal of about 122,000,000 metres, and
up to Jan. 31, 1886, only 15,000,000 metres had been done, at
an expense of $30,000,000.
[XXXIV-37] Charles D. Jameson, a member of the Boston
Society of Civil Engineers, thinks there is no insurmountable
obstacle. The following newspapers contain information on
the canal's affairs. _Pan. Canal_, July 12, 1881; _Id._,
_Star and Herald_, July 20, 1881; July 11, Nov. 10, 1882; and
in almost every issue till 1886 inclusive. _La Estrella de
Pan._, July 31, 1884; _S. F. Bulletin_; _Id._, _Alta Cal._;
_Id._, _Morning Call_; _Id._, _Chronicle_; and every other
published on the Pacific coast, as well as in the whole
United States; _Mex. Financier_, July 5, 1884; _Correoso's
Statement_, MS., 9-11.
[XXXIV-38] To raise the original capital the liabilities of
the company became $150,000,000, which at 4 per cent equals
$6,000,000 annual interest. If ships crossing the canal be
charged $3 per ton, $5,780,000 will be yearly required to pay
the interest. _S. F. Call_, Nov. 9, 1886. De Lesseps reckoned
the monthly output of excavation, which in 1885 was 658,000
metres and in 1886 1,079,000, should reach 2,000,000 metres
a month in 1887, and 3,000,000 metres a month in 1888, and
up to the completion of the work in 1889. _Pan. Star and
Herald_, Aug. 5, 7, 11, 12, 1886.
[XXXIV-39] It is well to say in this connection that tramways
have also been built in the capital, under the auspices
of the govt. It was also planned to have another from the
department of Sacatepequez, to run from the town of Ciudad
Vieja, through Antigua Guatemala, to the town of Pastores.
[XXXIV-40] _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, for years 1880-5;
_Id._, _Sec. Rel._, year 1884; _Id._, _El Guatemalteco_
(official), March 4, May 10, 22, Oct. 12, 1884; July 19,
1885; _Batres' Sketch Book_, 8-10, 43; _Pan. Star and
Herald_, Nov. 24, Dec. 16, 1882; March 8, 1884; _Id._,
_Canal_, Jan. 17, 1883.
[XXXIV-41] _Aniñon_, _Discurso_, _Izaguirre_, _Relacion_,
_Duarte_, _Relacion_, and _Criado de Castilla_, _Descub._,
all in _Squier's MSS._, v., vii., viii., and xvii.,
respectively.
[XXXIV-42] Loans were raised in Europe for the purpose, the
particulars of which are given in connection with Honduran
finances.
[XXXIV-43] For further information, see _Squier's Cent. Am._,
74-9, 680, 729-30, 756-9; _Id._, _Hond._, 207-16, 225-35;
_Id._, _Hond. Interoc. Railway_, 1-102; _Reichardt_, _Nic._,
284-6; _Wells' Hond._, 130-1; _Fitz-Roy's Rept Railway_;
_Guat._, _Gaceta_, Jan. 27, 1854; _Hond._, _Gaceta Ofic._,
May 10, 1854; _Costa R._, _Gaceta_, March 4 to Oct. 21, 1854,
passim; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, July 25, Nov. 21, 1868; March
20, Nov. 13, 1869; Feb. 19, 1870; Feb. 11, Aug. 19, 1871;
_Id._, _El Porvenir_, Oct. 1, 1871; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex.
Doc., Cong. 42, Sess. 3, i. 306; _Nic._, _Semanal Nic._, May
15, 1873; _Am. Cyclop._, viii. 790; _Froebel's Cent. Am._,
189-90; _Belly_, _Nic._, ii. 22-7; _Pim's Gate of the Pac._,
313-21; _Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guat._, 101-6; _Pan. Star
and Herald_, March 23, Oct. 4, 1883; March 20, 1886; _Id._,
_Canal_, March 28, 1883; _Mex. Financier_, Dec. 8, 1883.
[XXXIV-44] _Nic._, _Mem. Min. Hac._, 1883, pp. vii.-viii.;
_Presid. Cardenas_, _Mensaje_, Jan. 15, 1885, in _Costa R._,
_Gaceta Ofic._, Feb. 4, 1885.
[XXXIV-45] The termination of the Atlantic and other
lines depends on the arrangement of the republic's foreign
indebtedness. The cost of the three sections was $12,239,296;
and in 1883 they were valued at $6,600,000. _Costa R._, _Mem.
Sec. Hacienda_, 1883, Table no. 10; Annexes 8 and 9; 1884,
152-3, 287; _Id._, _Id._, _Fomento_, 1883, 1-4; 1884, 29-30;
_Pan. Star and Herald_, Dec. 8, 1883; July 23, Oct. 24, 1885;
_Costa R._, _Gaceta_, May 16, Aug. 12, Sept. 1-27, 1885.
[XXXIV-46] For particulars, see _Costa R._, _Informe Sec.
Gobern._, years 1873-4; _Id._, _Id._, _Obras Púb._, 1879-80;
_Id._, _Id._, _Hac._, 1880, 1883; _Id._, _Id._, _Fomento_,
1883; _Id._, _Col. Ley._, 1880, 85-9; 1881, 55-9; _Nic._,
_Semanal Nic._, Jan. 15, 1884; _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Aug.
18, Sept. 12, 1878; _Id._, _Gaceta Ofic._, Aug. 12, 1876;
Jan. 9, Feb. 22, June 29, 30, 1877; Apr. 19 to Nov. 13,
1879, passim; _Nic._, _Mem. Sec. Hac._, 1883; _Id._, _Id._,
_Gobern._, 1883; _Id._, _Id._, _Interior_, 1883; _Guat._,
_Recop. Ley._, _Gob. Democ._, ii. 81; _Id._, _Mem. Sec.
Fomento_, years 1880-5; _Id._, _Presupuesto Gen._, 19-29.
[XXXIV-47] _Eardley-Wilmot's Our Journal_, 69; _Colombia_,
_Diario Ofic._, Feb. 26, Sept. 10, 1874; _Pan._, _Gaceta_,
Jan. 11, Aug. 12, 1880. The connection at La Libertad was
established on the 1st of Oct., 1882. _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H.
Ex. Doc., For. Rel., Cong. 47, Sess. 2, i. 51-4.
Scattered through this third volume have been given
bibliographical notices of about twenty of the chief works
consulted in its preparation. I have now to add a few
others deserving of special mention. _The Gospel in Central
America_ was written by Frederick Crowe, an Englishman,
and a Baptist preacher, who resided some time in Central
America in the interest of his church. The book—a 12mo of
588 pages, published in London, 1850—contains, as its title
implies, a sketch of the country, including British Honduras,
physical and geographical, historical and political,
moral and religious. The author did his task as well as
circumstances permitted, in view of the fact that at his
violent deportation much of the material he had gathered was
left behind and never recovered. At all events, it afforded
much which till then was little known of that country. The
statements contained therein not original are credited to
the sources from which they were taken; for events after the
declaration of independence the author relied on the book of
travels by Robert C. Dunlop, from which I have also culled
some important facts. _Centro-Amerika_, and _Nicaragua_,
both written in German by the traveller C. F. Reichardt,
and published in Braunschweig, in 8vo form, respectively
in 1851 and 1854; the former being of 256, and the latter
of 296 pages, one and the other provided with maps. The
two works contain valuable data, entitled to credit. _Aus
Amerika_, by Julius Fröbel, issued in 1855 at Leipzig, and
_Geographie und Statestif von Mexico und Centralamerika_,
by J. G. Wappäus, published at Leipzig in 1863, have also
afforded much useful knowledge. In writing this chapter on
interoceanic communication, I am indebted to the _Cabinet
Cyclopædia_, directed by Dionysius Lardner, and to John
Richardson's _Polar Regions_, the first-named giving in its
first three volumes all that was known to 1830-1, on the
geography of the ancients and middle ages, and on modern
voyages and discoveries. The latter narrates the voyages
made to discover the north-west passage, furnishing likewise
a view of the physical geography and ethnology of the polar
regions north and south; the whole subject, though treated
in a summary way, brings it out quite comprehensively. The
_Report on Interoceanic Canals and Railroads_, between the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans—an 8vo of 37 pages with numerous
maps printed in Washington, 1867—by Charles H. Davis,
superintendent of the U. S. Naval Observatory, contains all
that was known on the subject to the time of its publication.
The _Encyclopædia Britannica_—American edition, issued,
1875-86, at Philadelphia—has also afforded valuable data
on the voyages in the polar seas, and on explorations and
surveys connected with canal matters. None of those works,
however, nor the numerous others consulted, have furnished
the required information from the beginning of the 19th
century to the present time; and those of later years do not
usually, to any extent, go back to early ones, or if they do,
it is only to give some meagre information.
But my researches have not been confined to books. Aside
from the important facts obtained directly from the lips
of intelligent natives and other persons conversant with
Central American and Panamanian affairs, I have had before
me presidential messages, reports of ministers and other
officials of the several states, U. S. govt reports, official
journals, statements of explorers and surveyors, cyclopædias,
magazines, reviews, and a host of newspapers of different
countries and in various languages, among which special
credit should be given to the _Star and Herald_ of Panamá for
an ever well-informed and reliable gatherer and transmitter
of news to and from the countries on both oceans over this
bridge of the nations. Important data, wheresoever found,
have been brought into requisition.
[XXXIV-48] 'Mr. Hopkins,' says Capt Fitzroy, p. 23, 'was
lately prevented by the Indians from ascending the Chepo
River toward Mandinga or San Blas Bay; Mr Wheelwright was
also stopped there in 1837; and Dr Cullen was likewise
stopped by the aborigines while endeavoring to ascend the
Paya River, that runs from near the mouths of the Atrato to
the Tuyra, which falls into the gulf of San Miguel.'
I learned in Darien that Mr Hopkins and Don Pepe Hurtado, a
Granadian engineer, made a present of a scarlet military coat
to an Indian on the Chepo, and that as soon as the Indian
chief of the district learned it, he flogged the Indian who
accepted the present, and summoned his people to arms, and
Mr H. and Don Pepe had to fly for their lives. Most probably
the chief looked upon the acceptance of gaudy trappings as an
acknowledgment of submission to foreigners. I have mentioned
elsewhere my having learned subsequently that the reason
of the Indians having stopped me was the fear of small-pox
being introduced amongst them rather than any dislike to
foreigners.
[XXXIV-49] This I attribute to the jealousy of the Spaniards,
who were careful to withhold any information that might lead
the English to the discovery of an easy communication between
the two seas. Alcedo, in his _Diccionario Histórico de las
Indias Occidentales_, says that it was interdicted, _on pain
of death, even to propose_ opening the navigation between
the two seas. 'En tiempo de Felipe II. se proyectó cortarlo,
y comunicar los dos mares por medio de un canal, y á este
efecto se enviaron para reconocerlo dos Ingenieros Flamencos,
pero encontraron dificultades insuperables, y el consejo de
Indias representò los perjuicios que de ello se seguirían á
la monarquia, por cuya razon mandò aquel Monarca que nadie
propusièse ó tratase de ello en adelante, _pena de la vida_.'
The navigation of the Atrato also was interdicted, on pain of
death.
[XXXIV-50] In its upper course, as it is navigable for large
vessels nearly to Príncipe.
[XXXIV-51] 'It is ascertained,' says Captain Fitzroy, 'that
there is only a trifling difference between the levels of the
ocean at this Isthmus. A rise of tide not exceeding two feet
is found on the Atlantic side, while in Panama Bay the tide
rises more than eighteen feet; the mean level of the Pacific
in this particular place being two or three feet above that
of the Atlantic. It is high water at the same hour in each
ocean.'
Colonel Lloyd says that the Pacific at high water is thirteen
feet higher than the Atlantic, while the Atlantic is highest
at low water by six feet. Baron Humboldt said, in 1809:
'The difference of level between the Caribbean Sea and the
Pacific Ocean does not, probably, exceed nine feet; and at
different hours in the day, sometimes one sea, sometimes
the other, is the more elevated.' But this difference would
be no hindrance, but, on the contrary, a most important
advantage in a ship-canal, since it would create a current
from the Atlantic to the Pacific during the ebb, and one from
the Pacific to the Atlantic during the flood-tide of the
Pacific, and these alternate currents would enable each of
the fleets to pass through at different times, those bound
from the Atlantic to the Pacific during the ebb-tide of the
latter, and those from the Pacific to the Atlantic during the
flood-tide of the former. This arrangement in the periods of
transit would afford many advantages, such as obviating the
meeting of the vessels, and the necessity of their passing
one another, and preventing their accumulation or crowding
together in the canal, as each fleet could be carried right
through in one tide, if not by the current alone, at least
with the aid of tug steamers. The alternation of the currents
would have the further beneficial effect of washing out the
bed of the canal, and keeping it free from the deposition of
sand or mud, so that dredging would never become necessary;
and would also render the degree of width necessary for the
canal less; though I do not reckon this to be a point of
moment, as the wider and deeper it is cut the better, and
the work once finished will last to the end of the world,
since the natural effect of the alternate currents will be a
gradual process of deepening and widening, which will convert
the canal into a strait.
[XXXIV-52] And subsequent months, in a controversy with Evan
Hopkins, Esq., C. E. & M. E.
[XXXIV-53] _Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala_, by
G. A. Thompson. London, 1829, p. 512.
[XXXIV-54] March 13, 1788.
[XXXIV-55] Masthead angles were taken in Córdova's voyage,
1785-6.
[XXXIV-56] Four hundred.
[XXXIV-57] Five leagues from the shore. _Sp. MS._
[XXXIV-58] The arms of Santa Maria de la Antigua were a
_golden castle_ between a jaguar and a puma.
[XXXIV-59] Squier's Nicaragua, vol. i. p. 195.