INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN CENTRAL AMERICA, CHIAPAS, AND YUCATAN. (Concluded from page 62.) On the 13th of February, Mr. Stephens, still in bad health, set out from San José, on a land journey of twelve hundred miles to Guatimala. We must conquer our inclination to transfer to our pages many of his incidents of travel'- one earthquake scene is irresistible-and will condense as well as we can his most interesting details regarding the projected ship-canal to unite the Atlantic and Pacific. But first the earthquake. Our traveller was at the hacienda of Santa Rosa, the guest of Don Juan José Bonilla : 'While sitting at the supper-table we heard a noise over our heads which seemed to me like the opening of the roof. Don Juan threw his eyes to the ceiling, and suddenly started from his chair, threw his arms around the neck of a servant-a fall from his horse during a popular commotion had rendered him lame for life-and with the fearful words, «Tremblor! tremblor!»-(an earthquake! an earthquake!) -all rushed for the doors. I sprang from my chair, made one bound across the room, and cleared the piazza. The earth rolled like the pitching of a ship in a heavy sea. My step was high, my feet barely touched the ground, and my arms were thrown up involuntarily to save myself from falling. I was the last to start, but once under way, I was the last to stop. Half way across the yard I stumbled over a man on his knees, and fell. I never felt myself so feeble a thing before. At this moment I heard Don Juan calling to me. He was leaning on the shoulder of his servant, with his face to the door, crying to me to come out of the house. It was pitch dark; within was the table at which we had sat, with a single candle, the light of which extended far enough to show a few of the kneeling figures, with their faces to the door. We looked anxiously in, and waited for the shock which should prostrate the strong walls and lay the roof on the ground. There was something awful in our position, with our faces to the door, shunning the place which at all other times offers shelter to man. The shocks were continued perhaps two minutes, during which time it required an effort to stand firm. The return of the earth to steadiness was almost as violent as the shock. We waited a few minutes after the last vibration, when Don Juan said it was over, and, assisted by his servant, entered the house. I had been the last to leave it, but I was the last to return; and my chair lying with its back on the floor, gave an intimation of the haste with which I had decamped. The houses in Costa Rica are the best in the country for resisting these shocks, being, like the others, long and low, and built of adobes, or undried bricks, two feet long and one broad, made of clay mixed with straw to give adhesion, and laid when soft, with upright posts between, so that they are dried by the sun into one mass, which moves with the surface of the earth.'-vol. i. pp. 382-384. Mr. Stephens does not state whether his investigation of the projected line of canal was undertaken under the orders of his government, or merely from the interest which he, as an individual, took in the subject. We conjecture that the latter was the case; and as a specimen of amateur surveying, the exertions he made, and the difficulties he braved, do his energy and courage great honour. After he had been over the ground, he met at Grenada the engineer who, two years before, had been employed by the government of Central America to make a survey of the canal route. This gentleman, a Mr. Bailey, on the half-pay of the British navy, had very nearly completed his survey when the political disturbances in the country again broke out; the States declared their independence of the government, and disclaimed its debts. Mr. Bailey had bestowed much time and labour in the execution of his task, and had in vain sought for remuneration he had sent his son to make a last appeal to the general government; but before the young man reached the capital, the government itself : was entirely annihilated, and Mr. Bailey had no reward for his services, except the satisfaction of having been the first pioneer in a noble work. He gave the use of the whole of his maps and drawings to our author. A water-communication between the two oceans had long been thought of. Many years ago a survey was made under the direction of the Spanish government; but the documents lay buried in the archives of Guatimala until the emancipation of the colonies, when they were republished by Mr. Thomson, who visited the country under a commission from the British government. In 1825 the new republic of Central America sent an envoy to the United States, with a proposition that the enterprise should be undertaken conjointly, and the advantages resulting from it secured to the two nations by a treaty. The proposition was favourably received; but no government measure resulted from it. The next year a contract was made between the government of Central America and a New York company, for the construction of a ship-canal across the isthmus; but although many distinguished men in the United States associated themselves with the project, it fell to the ground. In 1830 the government of Central America made another contract with a company in the Netherlands; the King of Holland specially patronised the undertaking, and subscribed largely towards it but, this also, in consequence of the political difficulties between Holland and Belgium, was in its turn abandoned. In 1835 the senate of the United States passed a resolution, requesting the President to open negotiations with other governments, for the purpose of protecting such individuals or companies as should open a ship communication between the two oceans, and of securing to all nations the free and equal use of such canal on the payment of reasonable tolls. Upon this a special agent was despatched, by General Jackson, with directions, first to examine the route by the river San Juan and the lake of Nicaragua, and afterwards the one across the isthmus of Panama. This agent only surveyed the latter route, and died on his way back to Washington. His report, although imperfect, is important; as it proves that a ship-canal across the isthmus of Panama is not practicable; and therefore the attention, which was before divided between the two lines, is now directed exclusively to the one by the lake of Nicaragua. This lake is ninety-five miles in length and thirty in breadth in its widest part, and is navigable for ships of the largest class. It discharges its waters into the Atlantic by the river San Juan, the length of which is seventy-nine miles, with an average fall of about two feet per mile there are no cataracts upon it, but many rapids it is, however, at all times navigable for the piraguas the vessels of the country-which draw from three to four feet of water. At its mouth is the port of San Juan, which is small, but in other respects unexceptionable. The depth of water over the rapids in most places ranges from two to four fathoms, and nowhere is it less than one fathom. Some of the obstacles could probably be removed: where that is impracticable, a canal might be constructed at the side of the river. From the lake of Nicaragua to the harbour of San Juan on the Pacific the distance is less than sixteen miles; and this slender line of earth is the only important obstacle which impedes what would undoubtedly be the greatest, the most important alteration ever effected by man in the physical arrangements of the globe. The proud mountains of Central America here bend themselves down-as if to permit and sanction the enterprise to the trivial elevation of 500 feet; and through this hill it is contemplated to cut a tunnel of one mile in length, at the height of about seventy-two feet above the water of the lake, and 200 feet above the low-water level of the Pacific; the distance from the lake to the tunnel being about ten miles, and from the tunnel to the Pacific about four miles; whilst the difference of level could be easily overcome by lockage. The only engineering difficulty in the execution of the work would be the tunnel; and we must confess that the idea of an excavation, lofty enough to permit ships of 600 tons to pass through with their lower masts standing, is to us, even in these days, when engineers take all manner of liberties with moun VOL. II. 23 tains and valleys, somewhat startling: but Mr. Stephens speaks of it with perfect coolness. The material of the hill, as far as it has been ascertained by boring, is a soft and loose stone-a somewhat dangerous material through which to cut a hollow cylinder of 100 feet diameter; and one which would require, we conceive, masonry of the most enormous strength throughout its whole length to render it secure, if indeed it could ever be rendered secure in a land of perpetual earthquakes. The terrific word tremblor' -'tremblor' terrific even when heard in the saloon of a one-storied house, built expressly to suit earthquakes, would be vastly more terrific when shouted out on the deck of a crowded steamer, over which was impending some 200 or 300 feet of rock and masonry. The easiest, safest, and best way would be to cut at once a fair slice out of the hill a few millions of extra dollars would pay for the additional excavation; and ships, with all their masts standing, might then proudly traverse the entire line. : The port of San Juan on the Pacific is represented by our author as being the finest he saw on the shores of that ocean. It is not large; but is admirably sheltered, being almost in the form of the letter U its arms, which are high, run nearly north and south, and terminate in lofty perpendicular bluffs: the water is deep, and vessels of the largest class can ride close under either of the bluffs with perfect safety, according to the direction of the wind. There appears, however, to be one objection to this harbour. During the months from November to May, the north winds, which sweep over the lake of Nicaragua and pass through the gulf of Papajavo, are frequently so violent as to render it almost impossible for a vessel to enter the port. The objection is certainly an important one; but we conceive that half a dozen steam-tugs would go very far to remove it. The most palpable difficulty' which the measure has to contend with, in Mr. Stephens's opinion, is one to which we attach no weight whatever. 'The harbour,' he says, 'was perfectly desolate; for years not a vessel had entered it; primeval trees grew around it; for miles there |