Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/167



CHAPTER VII.

THE VOYAGE  TO  CALIFORNIA —ISTHMUS  OF  PANAJSli.

What deem'd  they  of  the  future  or  the  past  ? The present,  like  a  tyrant,  held  them  fast.

— Byron.

The isthmus  of  Panama,  or,  as  it  was  anciently called, Darien,  must  ever  command  the  interest  of  the civilized world. Aside from  the  charm  which  history throws over  this  region,  as  the  bar  which  baffled  the last attempt  of  the  great  admiral  to  find  a  passage  to India,  as  the  point  where  were  planted  the  first  perma- nent Spanish settlements  on  the  North  American  conti- nent, as the  window  of  the  bi-continental  Cordilleras which, opened  by  the  hand  of  Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa, let in  from  the  great  South  Sea  a  flood  of  light  illumi- nating well nigh  to  blindness  all  Europe,  as  the  initial point to  many  a  marauding  expedition,  as  the  scene of divers  piratical  attacks,  and  local  revolutions, — I say  aside  from  historic  associations,  this  narrow  strip of earth  must  ever  be  regarded  with  attention  by  all the nations  of  the  world,  presenting,  as  it  does,  the smallest impediment  to  inter-oceanic  communication and an  uninterrupted  pathway  from  Europe  to  Asia, sailino; to  the  westward. Said Walter  Raleiirh  to Elizabeth,  "Seize  the  isthmus  of  Darien,  and  you  will wrest  the  keys  of  the  world  from  Spain." Here the continent was  first  spanned  by  iron,  and  here  is  being duo- the  first  inter-oceanic  canal.

At the  beo^inninty  of  the  new  traffic  arisino-  from the discovery  of  gold  in  California,  the  natives  of  the Isthmus were  civil,    inoflensive,  and  obliging. This