Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/453

 I here use the word resumption deliberately; for, from the era of Columbus (1502) down to 1824, that line was the high road between Spain and her colonies, along the West coast, not only for Spanish settlers and merchants, but for whole cargoes of goods and regiments of soldiers. The famous Vasco Nunes de Balbao, so early as 1513, crossed the isthmus, with troops, from his settlement of Santa Maria del Darien, to the Gulf of San Miguel, S. E. of Panama; and the latter, eleven years afterward, viz. in 1524, had already become a city of sufficient importance to have a governor, and to furnish to Francisco Pizarro, Diego Almagro, and Fernando Luque, the men, arms, and ships with which they proceeded to the conquest of Peru. Soon afterward, it became the seat of a Royal "Audiencia," and, until the suppression of the Spanish galleons, and the opening of the free trade, was the grand emporium of all the merchandise from Spain, destined for the southern coast of New Granada and Peru, and the northern ports of Guatemala. During the late war of Independence in Peru, several regiments from Spain were sent up the Chagres to Panama, and from thence, by transports, to Peru; and it was by the same course, that Cruz Mourgeon—the last Vice-king appointed by Spain for New Granada—passed, with his forces, in 1822. The history of the Buccaneers proves that, as early as the days of Queen Elizabeth, our own piratical countrymen, and other lawless inhabitants of the West Indies, were quite familiar with this route, which they passed and repassed at pleasure; and until the trade with the Pacific, by Cape Horn, became open to our own merchants, they supplied the wants of the Spanish colonists on the Pacific coasts, through Jamaica, by the same channel. It is therefore clear, that in resuming that old line of communication, without the aid of either Railroad or Canal, (though doubtless either of these would greatly facilitate the transport of passengers and goods,) the Pacific Steam Navigation Company makes no new or dangerous experiment. A British merchant, then sailing on board the vessel whose course is given in the map attached to the present work, so recently as 1824, took on board in Panama and carried to San Blas, a thousand bales of goods, bought and packed in Jamaica, and which had been conveyed across the isthmus, by the way indicated. The expenses on each bale placed in Panama were seven dollars three rials, and consisted of the following items, viz.:

on each bale of about 150 lbs. weight. The canoes on the Chagres are large enough to take eighty of these bales at once; have "Toldos," (a kind of awning, made of cane and palm leaves, impervious to the sun and rain,) are quite safe, and managed, with great adroitness, by negro watermen remarkable for their size and strength.

It would require some nicety of calculation, to enable me to institute an exact comparison between these charges, and those on the same goods carried round by Cape Horn. I am inclined to think, that on goods outward the latter would be the cheapest route; but, on lace, fine linens, silks, and jewelry, the additional expense could not be sensibly felt; and where the object is to be first in a market; in the time of war, to save risk; and at all times, to save interest of money, the