Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/119

Rh dollars or ounces, and its hire from Panamà to Cruces is six dollars; the municipal duty is one dollar, and another called Piso is two reals. From Cruces to Chagres the freight for the same sum is one and a half dollars; the porterage at Chagres is as much more; and the whole charge on it is thus ten dollars two reals, besides a transit duty of three per cent. on silver and one per cent. on gold.—The return trade in goods is at the following rates:

The water-carriage from Chagres to Cruces is two dollars the bale; and warehouse room in Cruces two rials more. Thence the goods are carried to Panamà, either on mules, or by natives on their shoulders, as the case may be. If the packages are heavy, but strong and compact, mules are employed; but if liable to breakage, or of inconvenient shape for passing carelessly along narrow lanes, and up and down steep acclivities, men are considered the most trust-worthy and careful animals. The hire bf a mule is, according to the burthen and measure, from four to six dollars; and of a porter, from six dollars upwards, by the same rule. On the arrival of goods at Panamà, they are immediately lodged in the custom-house; and if for exportation, pay a duty of two per cent. If for home consumption, it is according to the article. And to all these expenses must be added about four dollars on the bale, for extra packing to defend from rain; making in all from ten to twelve dollars.

In the year 1825 the following vessels were entered at the Port of Chagres, exclusive of men-of-war; packets, and small coasters: viz. one large ship from Bordeaux; seven brigs from Havre de Grace; twenty-one schooners, chiefly British, from the West Indian islands; six schooners from the United States; and three from Carthagena. In 1828, these numbers had diminished to eleven schooners from the West Indies; four from Carthagena; and five from the United States, without any French whatever, and it is not believed that the trade has since much revived.

In the same year the entries at Panamà were respectively seventeen and twenty-four vessels; the lesser number, on the one side, corresponding to the greater number on the other, and vice versâ. This would seem to indicate that the whole transit might, with patience and perseverance, be considerably improved, but the spirit of commercial enterprize, which in 1825 was too rash, has ever since been altogether as desponding. The improvement is chiefly exemplified in the trade with Guayaquil, which exhibits only one entry in 1825, and no fewer than eleven in 1828. The passage from Callao to Panamà takes usually from nine to twelve days. From Panamà to Chagres it occupies three; and from Chagres to Jamaica six to ten.

Finances.—The following is a statement of the receipts and expenditure of the government of Panamà in 1827.