Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/104

82 across the isthmus, it might become valuable in competition with other routes.

The Caymito, or Chorrera, empties itself into the Pacific about ten miles west of Panamà, and is formed by the junction of numerous petty streams, which take their rise in different parts of the western cordillera. It is very deep towards its mouth; and the branch called Rio Marin Sanchez continues navigable for large canoes, quire up to the town of Chorrera, which thus gives one name to the whole river: the other is derived from the prodigious number of alligators, sword-fish, &c., which infest it. The tide runs very strong in and out of this river, not being impeded by a bar at its mouth; and the anchorage for shipping is thus bad and exposed.

The Pacora and Indio unite before reaching the Pacific, near the island of Chepillo, about eighteen miles east of Panamà; and form a broad, rapid, and winding stream for several leagues above their mouth. To seaward they are protected by innumerable sand banks, between which at low water only very narrow passages appear, prodigiously infested with sharks and alligators; but at high water the navigation is good even for large ships some way up the river; and is open for canoes up the Pacora, as far as the town of the same name, and up the Indio for an equally considerable distance. On the banks of the latter an English gentleman, resident in Panamà, has erected a saw-mill capable of sawing from fifteen to twenty thousand boards annually. An inexhaustible supply of the finest timer is in its immediate vicinity; and the fertility of the soil, where cleared, is such, that a small portion, with the labour of two men only, affords an ample supply of every article of subsistence for the whole establishment. Several roads lead to it from the neighbouring village; and one has been formed from a place on the united stream called Sambaja, where the largest class of vessels remain. The boards are rafted down the river, and have a ready sale, not only in Panamà, but also in Guayaquil and Peru, in the latter of which there is a scarcity of woos. On the banks, at the mouth, a wild animal is found, called macho, or vacca del monte, and sometimes also danta, nearly of the size and appearance of a jackass; which, when shot, is considered a great dainty. All the land between this river and Panamà is low and dry.

The Ballano or Chepo is of great extent, and under the name of Canada, rises in the province of Darien, near the source of another river called Chucunaque, which falls into the Pacific in the Gulph of San Miguel. The Ballano receives several considerable streams during its course, which is nearly west, and in some degree parallel to the coast, for many miles; until it