As public attention is now much directed to the canal across the Isthmus
of Darien, one end of which is proposed to communicate with the harbour
which was the site of the ill-fated attempt {352} at colonisation by
the Scotch about 150 years ago, the subjoined extract, giving an account
of that harbour, by (apparently) one of the Scotch colonists, may be
interesting to your readers. It is taken from a paper printed in
_Miscellanea Curiosa_, vol. iii. p. 413., 2nd edit., entitled "Part of a
Journal kept from Scotland to New Caledonia in Darien, with a short
Account of that Country, communicated [to the Royal Society] by Dr.
Wallace, F.R.S.":
"The 4th [November] we came into the great harbour of Caledonia.
It is a most excellent one; for it is about a league in length
from N.W. to S.E. It is about half a mile broad at the mouth,
and in some places a mile and more farther in. It is large
enough to contain 500 sail of ships. The greatest part of it is
landlocked, so that it is safe, and cannot be touched by any
wind that can blow the harbour; and the sea makes the land that
lies between them a peninsula. There is a point of the peninsula
at the mouth of the harbour that may be fortified against a
navy. This point secures the harbour, so that no ship can enter
but must be within reach of their guns. It likewise defends half
of the peninsula; for no guns from the other side of the harbour
can touch it, and no ship carrying guns dare enter for the
breastwork at the point. The other side of the peninsula is
either a precipice, or defended against ships by shoals and
breaches, so that there remains only the narrow neck that is
naturally fortified; and if thirty leagues of a wilderness will
not do that, it may be artificially fortified in twenty ways. In
short, it may be made impregnable; and there are bounds enough
within it, if it were all cultivated, to afford 10,000 hogsheads
of sugar every year. The soil is rich, the air good and
temperate; the water is sweet, and every thing contributes to
make it healthful and convenient."