Central America and the transit between the oceans

CENTRAL AMERICA

TRANSIT BETWEEN THE OCEANS

TC

773

X

•.

CENTRAL AMERICA

AND THE

TRANSIT BETWEEN THE OCEANS.

BY

MARMADUKE B. SAMPSON.

REPRINTED FROM THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW,

FOR APRIL, 1850.

NEW YORK :

S. W. BENEDICT, No. 16 SPRUCE STREET.
1850.

CENTRAL AMERICA

AND THE

TRANSIT BETWEEN THE OCEANS.

NUMBERLESS signs denote that Central America will
henceforth be the theatre of some of the most remarkable
changes to be wrought by advancing civilization. Three
years back its capabilities and distinctive features were almost
wholly unknown to the general public ; and such volumes as
existed with regard to them, were read with no more active
interest than would have been excited by travels in Persia or
Dalmatia, or any other country with whom the chances of
our establishing an immediate and vital intercourse might be
most remote. Now, however, there is no quarter of the world
to which attention is more actively directed. Statesmen,
merchants, navigators, colonizers, and the students of natural
science, are all alike awakened to the importance of its future
prospects ; and, as a consequence of the demand thus creat
ed, books and maps are supplied by our geographical publish-
ers, involving an amount of minute detail, which enables us,
we may believe, to form a far more accurate knowledge of
each point of the territory, than is possessed by one out of a
hundred, even amongst the most intelligent of its natives.

Until now, notwithstanding the almost solemn charm that
has invariably been felt in its contemplation, the idea of a

communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific, has never
been anything more than an interesting engineering prob
lem. That it could be effected without any serious difficulty,
has, however, in the face of appearances to the contrary, for
many years been placed beyond all real doubt ; and the actu
al point in which projectors have failed, has been simply in
convincing the capitalist that it would pay. Appealed to on
the strength of sublime estimates of the influences of the en
terprise on the destinies of the world, unaccompanied by
any data on which reliance could be placed with regard to
the per centage in the shape of future receipts, men of busi
ness could not be warmed into enthusiasm. In reply, there
fore, they have always professed a fear of its impracticability ;
and, as this was stimulated by the circumstance of each pro
jector abusing the routes proposed by his rivals, it at last be
came a received belief. They saw all the glory of the pro
ject; would be willing to run all necessary risk for its
consummation; but the thing was impossible. With a
demonstrable dividend before them, every shadow in the
shape of a mechanical difficulty would have disappeared.

But the discovery of California has now settled the ques
tion of a profitable result ; and, in a much shorter lime than
most persons in England are even yet prepared to expect,
not merely a communication, but a choice of communica
tions, is certain to be opened up. These will be respectively
at Panama and Nicaragua ; the former by railway and steam,
boat in the first instance, and ultimately by railway entirely ;
the latter, chiefly by steam-boat in the first instance, and ulti
mately by a complete canal both for steam-boats and sailing-
vessels.

The Panama line is promoted by Rowland and Aspinwall,
of New York. It is to consist of a railway from Navy Bay

on the Atlantic to Panama on the Pacific, at an estimated
cost of $5,000,000, or £1,000,000 sterling. At the com
mencement, however, a portion of the road, consisting of
about twenty-two miles on the Pacific side (from Panama to
Gorgona), will be constructed and put into operation, and the
rest of the transit will be effected by steamers running forty-
five miles on the Chagres river, which is navigable at all
periods of the year for vessels of light draught. The work,
it is estimated, may thus far be completed for £200,000, and
the shareholders will be in the receipt of revenue while the
remainder is being constructed. The full capital for this
portion has been subscribed at New York; the entire line
has been surveyed, and the grading of the distance from
Panama to Gorgona already contracted for at the price of
$400,000, (£80,000), which is within the original estimate.
The grant to the Company by the Republic of New Grenada
gives them an exclusive privilege for forty-nine years, sub
ject to a right of redemption by the Republic at the end of
twenty years, on payment of $5,000,000 ; at the end of thirty
years on payment of $4,000,000; and at the end of forty
years on payment of 82,000,000. This privilege is to date
from the completion of the road, for which eight years are
allowed ; and it is accompanied by a concession of exclusive
harbour rights at the ports on each side, and also of the
necessary land throughout the line, besides 300,000 acres in
perpetuity, for the purposes of colonization. The Company
are likewise to be allowed to import iron and whatever may
be necessary for the construction of the road, free of duty,
including all articles of provision and clothing for the work
men. They may also call upon the Government to furnish
them the assistance of three companies of sappers ; and the
only obligation imposed as to the character of the road, is

that it shall be capable of transporting passengers and mer
chandise from one ocean to the other in the space of twelve
hours.

The parties by whom the survey of the Panama route was
effected, instead of encountering the formidable difficulties
that had been anticipated, found that they could lay down a
line which would not exceed forty-six miles in length, with a
summit of less than 300 feet above the sea, and with curva
tures, having nowhere a radius of less than 1,500 feet.
Their explorations were extended over the whole of that part
of the Isthmus, so as to insure the one true point, and there
can be no doubt that this has now been selected. Another
difficulty which has always been represented as no less formi
dable than the natural impediments of the route, namely, the
procuring a proper supply of laborers able to stand the
climate, has also been proved to be delusive. The parties
who have contracted for the grading of the twenty-two miles
on the Pacific side are, it seems, two American engineers,
who have been employed for the last five years in the State
of New Grenada, in forming a canal ninety miles long, to
connect two branches of the Magdalena river, and which
they have completed entirely with native labour. They can
bring with them a large number of these workmen, whose
training, although at first difficult, was ultimately quite suc
cessful ; and there is reason also to believe that arrangements
for foreign labour might be made, since the experience of the
corps employed in the survey of the railway, consisting of
forty engineers and assistants, was not discouraging with
respect to climate.

The explorations for this survey have led to the discovery
of large groves of mahogany, and rich mineral deposits,
" the knowledge of which," it is represented, " will be highly

important to the company in locating lands under their grant;"
and with regard to the proposed terminus of the railway on
the Atlantic side, on the island of Manzanilla, in Navy Bay,
we have the following characteristic speculations, which might,
perhaps, be taken as nothing more than a rhapsody, were it
not for our experience of the way in which these American
visions are apt to produce their own realization.

" The harbour is accessible at all seasons, and with any wind per
fectly secure, and capable of containing 300 sail. Of the island,
Mr. Norris, the chief engineer of the Chagres division, says, ' in ten
years I predict the whole will be covered with houses, and the in
habitants enjoying perfect health, with every luxury of a southern
clime/ He adds, ' I do consider it the most eligible and perfect site
for a city of any size I have ever seen.' "

The second line, which may now be considered defini
tively arranged, is that of a ship canal in connexion with the
lakes of Nicaragua. This work promises an early com
mencement, and also a rapid progress. On the 27th August
last a contract was made between the State of Nicaragua
and the Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company, of New
York, by which all the exclusive privileges necessary for the
undertaking were conferred. According to the contract, the
canal is to be completed within twelve years, unless prevented
by fortuitous occurrences ; and, upon failure of this stipula
tion, such part as may have been constructed is to be for
feited to the State. The Company agree to pay the State
$10,000 for the ratification of the contract; $10,000 more
annually till the completion of the work ; and to make a do
nation of their stock to the amount of 8200,000. When
finished, the State is to receive one-fifth of the net profits for
twenty years, and afterwards one quarter. There is also a
stipulation that it is to have 10 per cent, on the profits of

any minor line of communication between the two oceans
which the Company may open up during the^ time they are
engaged on the grand canal. On the other hand, the privi
leges bestowed are, not only the exclusive rights for construct
ing the canal, but also the exclusive right of inland steam na
vigation ; grants likewise are to be made of eight sections of
land on the banks of the canal, each section to be six miles
square. The concession, as originally proposed, was for
eighty-five years, but it has since been extended in perpe
tuity.

The first payment of 810,000 has already been made by the
company to the Government of Nicaragua ; and the general
arrangement having been favourably viewed by the cabinet
a,t Washington, there can be no question that the privileges
which have been acquired under it may now be regarded as
incapable of being upset. It is true that Mr. Barclay, the
British consul at New York, has given notice to the Com
pany that in extending the grant to the exclusive right of na
vigating the river San Juan, the State of Nicaragua has en
tered into an agreement in regard to places where it has no
competence, since " the boundary line of the Mosquito king
dom touches the St. John's river, at the Machuca rapid,
about thirty miles below the Lake Nicaragua, from whence
to the mouth of the St. John's the navigation belongs to Mos
quito ;" but this, supposing the English view to be admitted,
can in no way affect the main privileges they have obtained.
It would necessitate a negotiation on their behalf to obtain
from the King of Mosquito, or, in other words, from the
English Government, a guarantee of those rights on the San
Juan which it is not in the power of Nicaragua to grant ;
and in this it is to be inferred there would be no obstacle,
since it would be impossible to refuse the application, so long

as the Company are ready to bind themselves that the route,
when constructed, shall be open, on fair and equal terms,
to the whole world, and that the power of holding its stock
and of participating in its management shall likewise be free
to all parties. Indeed, it is believed that the question has
already been met, both by Lord Palmerston and Mr. Abbott
Lawrence, in a spirit which will speedily lead to a joint
guarantee on the part of England and the United States of the
neutrality of the whole line. As to political difficulties,
therefore, so far as the promoters of the canal are concerned,
there are actually none. A short, although a vexatious de
lay — for even a few months' impediment to such an under
taking would be an evil full of reproach — is all that could
arise out of the uncertainty at present existing on these
points. Neither England nor the United States would like
it to form a part of their history, that the human race had
been kept, for two or three or more years, from witnessing
the junction of the Atlantic and the Pacific, because their
foreign ministers had been unable to adjust a wrangle as to
whom the right belonged of conceding some seventy rniles
of the now desolate track through which the work would
pass.

In the projects for the Nicaragua Canal hitherto put for
ward, the estimated cost has been £4,000,000, the actual
outlay being reckoned at £3,600,000, and the remaining
£400,000 being allowed for casual expenses. These calcu
lations were professedly made on the high scale of the Cale
donian Canal, where the expenditure was notoriously reckless,
and at a period when the mechanical facilities for such under
takings were very imperfect as compared with the present
time. They were based, however, upon the surveys of Mr.
Baily, which are regarded as having been made with a de-

10

gree of conscientious care entitling them to the highest credit.
Hence, in the calculations in question, there are no existing
points of engineering difficulty which were not comprised ;
and it may accordingly be inferred, that if they were under
the mark, the deficiency was simply caused by not allowing
enough for labor, materials, and interest of money. The im
provements in mechanical science, and the diminution in the
cost of materials during the last ten or fifteen years would, k
may at least be assumed, make up as large an amount on the
other side ; and allowing, therefore, for the invariable expe
rience which attends all estimates, there is now no reason to
suppose that, under any circumstances, the cost could exceed
the total that has been contemplated. This is somewhat less
than half the amount that has been expended for the Dover
Railway, and about two-thirds of the expenditure for the
Brighton.

The revenue, which was calculated years ago when the
original schemes were propounded, was taken upon 900,000
tons, and the contemplated toll per ton was 10s. for European,
and 20s. for United States vessels ; the whole producing about
£600,000 a year, which, after leaving two per cent, for main
tenance, and one per cent, for sinking fund, would yield a re
turn of twelve per cent, on the capital.

An examination of these estimates, however, produces no
conviction of their correctness. All the materials on which
they are founded are extremely vague ; too much reliance
was placed on the change of route to India, and the proposed
difference in toil to American vessels would, moreover, never
be tolerated. This difference was suggested on the idea, that
as the average saving of time to United States vessels would be
two months, and to European vessels only one month, toll should
be exacted in a proportionate ratio ; but it would introduce
an entirely new principle into the universal system of naviga-

11

tion dues, and public charges of all kinds, and one that would
be found as impracticable as it would be unjust and absurd.

But since these statements were made in 1835, the traffic
with South America has greatly increased, and Australia and
New Zealand have been growing in importance. Still, even
with these changes, capitalists would possibly have regarded
the experiment with hesitation. At all events, it would have
been one of anxiety. It is, as we have already observed, the
discovery of the gold mines in California that has alone altered
the whole aspect of the affair, and rendered it such as will be
pursued with eagerness.

While the Panama Railway will take the whole of the pas
sengers for the western ports of South America, the Nicara
gua route must command the entire traffic to California the
moment it shall be rendered practicable, even by a mixture of
water and land conveyance. On the completion of the canal,
it will of course, in addition, monopolize all the shipping trade
between the two oceans, but some of its most startling results
will be witnessed long before that period. The distance saved
by the Nicaragua route in the journey to California, as com
pared with the Panama, is sufficient to prevent the possibility
of competition ; and apart from this, the attractive features of
the former are such as to give it an unquestionable superiority.
Now, the emigration to California from the United States has
recently been 6,000' or 7,000 persons each month, or at the
rate of 80,000 per annum ; and one peculiar feature of that
emigration seems to consist in the fact that, at whatever rate
it may continue, it will always be of a shifting kind, — that is
to say, there will always be a tide of persons both going and
returning. Gold digging can only be carried on for about
five months out of the twelve, and during the idle season it
would be far more economical to return to the States than to

12

live at San Francisco. The operation itself is also one which
men are only disposed to pursue temporarily, so that after a
little while each miner is content to return and to leave his
place to a new comer. ' This has been particularly exempli
fied during the past autumn, — both the influx and efflux of
passengers having been enormous ; and that the efflux was
not caused by persons who were returning in disappointment
has been abundantly shown, by the fact of their reappearance
in the United States not having led to the slightest diminution
in the number of those who were still eager to emigrate. Ac
cording to the last accounts, ships of a still larger and finer
class than those hitherto employed were being placed upon
the service, and every ticket in the three lines of steamers had
been taken up to May or June. There is consequently ground
to calculate on a constant stream both ways. The certainty
of this is indeed demonstrable. At present the average to
each miner is at least five dollars per day ; and supposing the
supply of gold to continue at this rate, population must steadi
ly flow in until the rate of wages for a similar day's labor,
after making allowance for the expense of passage money, &c.,
shall have been equalized throughout the world. Each mail
repeats the story that no one in the country doubts the supply
to be comparatively inexhaustible. By the last advices, Colo
nel Fremont, moreover had discovered, between San Fran
cisco and Monterey, a vein in the mountains which yielded
the extraordinary proportion of one ounce of gold to twenty-
three pounds of rock. Quicksilver and silver mines were also
waiting only for machinery and labor. Instead of a diminu
tion of activity in this direction, everything therefore indicates
an increase.

However much we may be disposed to distrust the twelve
per cent, estimate of those who in former years proposed the

13

execution of the work, we must under these circumstances
admit that there can be little fear of its present results. We
must look not only at the traffic which is even now before us,
but we must take into account its natural increase from the
greater cheapness and rapidity of the new route. We must
also look at the growing importance of Oregon, and to the
certainty of the crowd of small steamers that will rapidly ac
cumulate on the Pacific, from the smoothness of its waters
and the abundance of the easily worked coal of Vancouver's
Island.

At the same time, although the view is thus bright, there is
no great likelihood that it will attract any amount of English
money. Faith, the great element of all enterprises, has
been destroyed in this country for many years to come ; and
not only is there no disposition to enter upon the scheme
among ourselves, but there is a strong tendency to suppose
that others would be equally timid, and to doubt if the Ameri
cans would or even could carry it out without "the aid of
British capital." Such has been our step from the sublime to
the ridiculous, that we have come to look upon the expendi
ture during the next twelve years of a sum of 4,000,0007.
(which is a little more than half the amount of the railway
calls for the month of January, 1847), upon the grandest pub
lic work that mankind has ever contemplated, as something
that is really appalling from its temerity, and that is only to
be carried out by a congress of capitalists from all the nations
of the earth. In the United States, however, the feeling is
very different ; and every year vast works are quietly under
taken there, and carried to completion in a way which would
surprise those numberless people who are too apt complacent
ly to believe that all the world stands still except when funds
are sent from London. They have enjoyed prosperity since

14

1839; and although, of course, after so long a period, their
turn for a run of madness must be approaching, there are at
present no signs of it, and no apprehensions of its arrival for
two or three years. They are quite prepared, therefore, to
look confidently at any rational project, however broad, and
nothing could be presented to them which would more enlist
their commercial aptitudes, their hard energy, and practical
benevolence, or their patriotic pride. " I would not speak of
it," said one of their writers, a few years back, " with sec
tional, or even national feeling ; but if Europe is indifferent,
it would be glory surpassing the conquest of kingdoms to
make this greatest enterprise ever attempted by human force,
entirely our own."

We may rely, therefore, that the day is gone by when
the undertaking could be neglected for want of funds. If
carried out entirely by capitalists in the United States, it will
probably be pushed forward with less rapidity than would
otherwise be the case ; but this will be far more than com
pensated by the exercise of greater economy and certainty.
Meanwhile, steps have already been taken for ascertaining
what will be necessary to render the route immediately
available for passengers, and for placing steamers upon the
river San Juan, and the lakes. The Chairman of the Com
pany — a Mr. Vanderbilt, who it is said has been more largely
and profitably connected with steam navigation than any
other citizen of New York — started some months back on a
personal survey of the entire district; and, as he and his
friends are understood to be prepared to subscribe for a very
considerable proportion of the required capital, a report
may be expected, in which, contrary to English usages, the
interests of the stockholder will be consulted before those of
the engineer.

15

The precise course which will be taken by this canal,
whenever it may be completed, is still in some parts uncer
tain ; not from any question of great difficulty, but from the
fact of three modes presenting themselves for the exit from
the lake to the Pacific, from which a selection is to be made.
From Greytown (or San Juan) on the Atlantic, the course for
104 miles is by the river San Juan; the Lake of Nicaragua
is then entered, and it is the best route from this lake to the
Pacific that remains to be determined. The line contem
plated and surveyed by Mr. Baily, was from the south-western
point of the lake to the port of San Juan del Sur, the extent of
which would be fifteen miles, with an elevation to be over
come, in one part, of 487 feet. Another route which has
been proposed but not surveyed, is from the same part of the
lake to the port of Las Salinas, lying within the boundary
claimed by Costa Rica, which would be about the same
length, but which would not, it is said, present a greater ele
vation than 270 feet ; and a third proposal is, to proceed from
the northern part of the lake by the river Tipitipa, twenty
miles in length, to the smaller lake called Lake Leon, and
thence by a canal of eleven miles through a district which is
alleged to offer no greater rise than fifty-one feet, to the river
Tosta, which communicates at eighteen miles distance with
the well known port of Realejo. At present, opinion seems
to tend toward the last named course, as the one that would
be most advantageous ; but it would be idle with the limited
materials now before us to speculate upon the point, since
we shall soon be furnished with detailed statements prepared
by practical men, who have entered upon the task of selec
tion with all their interests enlisted in the matter, and with a
thorough perception of the way in which all views regarding
it must henceforth be adapted to meet most favourably the

16

altered circumstances of commerce that have arisen in con
nection with California. The port either of San Juan del
Sur, or of Las Salinas would seem to be in some measure the
most desirable, if the trade with South America, Australia,
and New Zealand, were made the predominant consideration;
but as respects Mexico, San Francisco, Oregon, Vancouver's
Island, the Sandwich Islands, and the Indian Seas, which will
be undoubtedly by far the most extensive region of traffic,
Realejo is the best. Indeed, it is possible that with this view.
a yet more northerly terminus may be selected, and that in
preference to that port, the line may be made to run into
the Gulf of Fonseca.

The certainty of these two routes of Panama and Nicara
gua being speedily carried out in a more or less perfect de
gree, places the rapid settlement of Central America beyond
all doubt ; and hence gives to all personal descriptions of the
country, such as those which have been furnished by Mr.
Baily and Mr. Byam, an interest that comes home to our
daily business. Let the reader imagine what must be the
effect even of an annual transit of 50,000 or 100,000 adven
turous^ and well-informed people through a strip of country
scarcely one hundred and fifty miles broad, yet commanding
the ocean intercourse with Europe on one side and with Asia
on the other, favorable to health, and abounding, at the same
time, owing to the inequalities of its surface, with every na
tural product that can be found distributed elsewhere, be
tween Scotland and the tropics, and an impressive idea of its
coming destiny will be awakened ; but let the glance be car
ried further, to the period of the completion of the canal, and
then let it be remembered that within this strip of land lie two
calm, yet deep and extensive lakes, that seem, as we look up
on them in the map, like huge natural docks in the centre of

17

the world, intended to receive the riches of a universal com
merce ; and in the contemplation of what is yet to be re
alized, the mind will almost beat with impatience against the
slight barrier of time which yet remains between us and its
accomplishment.

That Central America possesses . inherently all the essen
tials to attract a dense and vigorous population, is a fact that
has rarely been doubted by those Europeans or Americans
who have visited the country, and all the publications before
us tend to confirm it. The researches of Mr. Stephens
showed that it had been largely peopled by an aboriginal race
of a remarkable'character, and the size of its towns and its
architectural remains give evidence of comparative prosperity
under the old Spanish dominion. Leon, the principal city of
Nicaragua, was formerly noted for its opufence, and once
contained 50,000 inhabitants, who were among the most
peaceful and industrious people in the country ; while it has
now, it is said by Mr. Baily, not more than one-third of that
number, and half the place is in ruins. This is simply Owing
to the wretched revolutionary contests that have gone on
without intermission since the declaration of independence,
and which are invariably got up by a handful of military
vagabonds, who would be swept away in the course of four-
and-twenty hours, or who, rather, would never dare to show
their faces if a hundred Englishmen or Americans were in
the district to stimulate the well-disposed to confidence.

" The fact is," says Mr. Byam, " that every revolution effected
in all the republics, from Chili to Mexico, is brought about by such.
a mere fraction of the population, that it seems a wonder to an
Englishman that the great majority do not arise and speak out —
' We wish to be quiet ; we do not want revolution and murders ;
nor do we wish to be subjected to forced contributions of money,
cattle, and personal service ; and, above all, we are nine out of
2

18

ten in number against your one ; and the great majority will not
consent to be plundered by the small minority, who are only disso
lute ruffians.' "

If the reign of peace were established, (and even now it
may be considered that such is almost the case, for after the
present year we shall hear no more of disturbances in Nica
ragua,) the progress of the country, apart from the effects of a
large European immigration, would of itself be steady and
considerable.

With regard to health, the varied productions of Central
America give the best evidence that whenever the country
shall be opened up by roads and steam-boats, and all the loco
motive appliances of modern science, there will be no condi
tion of person, who may not, by ordinary attention to the
natural laws, enjoy in this territory all the physical power of
which his constitution may be capable. Wherever it is pos
sible to reach by a few hours' journey, districts iu which
wheat, barley, and all the ordinary fruits and vegetables of
Europe may be grown in perfection, there can be little fear
that anything will be wanting in the way of climate to insure
the preservation of bodily vigour. Even in its present state,
Central America, on the whole, has ho bad reputation regard
ing health, although the advantages offered by its configura
tion in enabling the inhabitants to vary their climate accord
ing to their requirements, might as well not exist, since roads
can scarcely be said to be known, the best rate of progress
being about twenty miles a day, and mule paths through thick
woods, without resting-places at night, being usually the only
features of a traveller's track. Yet, on the banks of the San
Juan, and in other parts of Nicaragua, there are elevations
that would afford the most beneficial sites for farms and resi
dences ; while in Costa Rica, San Salvador, and indeed in all

19

the states, table lands more or less abound, where any condi
tion of climate may be obtained in a few hours. In Guate
mala may be seen fields of wheat and peach-trees, and large
districts " resembling the finest part of England on a magnifi
cent scale." Valuable mineral and thermal springs are like
wise distributed over the various localities, and there are other
adjuncts of a curative kind, which may possibly be found to
yield extensive results, and to present even a temptation to
some classes of invalids. Amongst these is an animal called
the manatee, between a quadruped and a fish, about ten feet
long, weighing from 500 to SOOlbs., affording excellent food,
and possessing a medicinal quality, apparently analogous to
the cod-liver oil, it being alleged to be strikingly effectual as a
speedy cure for scorbutic or scrofulous disorders. " The blood
is said to become purified, and the virulence of the complaint
thrown to the surface of the body, quickly disappears."

" Although Central America," observes Mr. Baily, " occu
pies the middle space between the equator and the tropic of
Cancer, consequently lying within the torrid zone, the tem
perature may be said to be relatively mild, and, taken alto
gether, it undoubtedly is salubrious ;" and this it must be
remembered is the testimony of an English officer, who
has resided in the country from choice during the best part
of his life. The places most prejudicial to health lie on the
northern coast and the Mosquito shore, where endemic and
intermittent fevers are not unfrequent. The Pacific coast is
exposed to a temperature equally high or nearly so ; but is
much more salubrious, and seldom visited by epidemic or con
tagious diseases.

In point of natural riches, Nicaragua and Costa Rica have
usually been spoken of amongst the various States as pos-

20

sessing the most abundant resources, but they all teem with
rewards for industry, such as is almost unknown in any other
part of the globe ; and upon a review of the claims of each
state in this respect, it is hard to decide which has the great
est capabilities. In the plain of Nicaragua the fields are
covered with high grass, studded with noble trees and herds
of cattle. Cocoa, indigo, rice, Indian corn, bananas, and
cotton are here produced, and mahogany, cedar, and pine
abound in the forests. On the eastern side of the lake there
are cattle farms on which are herds of from 10,000 to 40,000
oxen, bulls, and cows. Horses and mules are bred for riding
and for burden. Sheep are reared on the upper plains, and
swine are kept for flesh. A planter from one of the West
India islands stated as his conviction, in reference to the dis
trict round Lake Leon, that, provided he could get the same
amount of labour, he could manufacture sugar at one-fourth
its cost in the West Indies. At present it is sold in Nicara
gua for three half- pence per pound. Leaving the lakes, and
descending the San Juan, each bank of the river is covered
with valuable wood, of* all sizes and descriptions, and the
land is of prodigious fertility. With regard to the mining
wealth of Nicaragua, Mr. Byam made some interesting ob
servations, but the miserable state of the laws, and the spoli
ations of the government, prevented him from carrying on
the enterprises in connexion with it, to which he might
otherwise have been tempted. The copper ores he met with
were almost all uncombined with sulphur or any other sub
stance that requires calcining to be got rid of, and they were
consequently such as might be smelted in a common blast
furnace, with the aid of equal quantities of iron-stone, which
lies in abundance on the surface of all the hilly country.
He found also silver mines, consisting of fine broad, but ra-

21

ther irregular veins, the ore of which was combined with a
great quantity of sulphur and a large proportion of lead. For
the want of a silver assaying apparatus he could not get a
good assay ; but with the means in his power he could pro
duce about fifteen marcs of silver the ton. " The mineral
riches that are deposited in the bosom of these mountains/'
he adds, " are no doubt very great ; but the working of the
mines is so difficult, from the ignorance of the workmen who
have to be taught everything, their invincible idleness, and
the vacillation of the government, that I believe it will be
long before anybody will be found to advance capital for pro
secuting such a forlorn undertaking." This, however, was
written when there seemed no gleam of hope for the resus
citation of the country.

Among the numerous products which Mr. Baily points
out as offering temptations to the cultivator, are fruits of va
rious kinds, indigo, and the mulberry for silk- worms. Fruits
of the country, it is said, are sufficiently plentiful, as well as
oranges and lemons, which are excellent. Vegetables and
garden produce are scarce about Leon, but they might be
raised in all parts in great perfection ; but not being con
sidered of so much importance by the natives as by foreign
ers, they are unattended to. With regard to indigo, the qua-

•
lity already produced will bear " an advantageous comparison

with the finest of any country whatever ;" and no part of
Central America is better suited to a more extended cultiva
tion of it ; yet, with all the advantages that are presented,
few efforts are made to increase the annual growth. " The
cause of this neglect is mainly attributed, in recent years at
least, to a diminution of capital, and possibly, in no small
degree, to an apathetic indifference to the future, consequent
upon the misfortunes arising from a continued series of inter-

22

nal discords that unhappily have paralyzed all industrial
pursuits." Of the morus multicaulis it .is remarked, '.' the
mulberry for silk-worms grows remarkably well, and the
climate appears to be congenial to it in all respects. Hitherto,
little or rather no advantage has attended the cultivation,
chiefly from want of attention and requisite experience.
Were these deficiences supplied, and the business carried on
with energy and skill, a large quantity of silk could be pro
duced. How profitable such an article of commerce would
be to proprietors needs no demonstration."

The impossibility of any profitable cultivation either of
these or of any other articles, except for home use, in the
present state of the country, will easily be understood from
the circumstance that the rate of conveyance for merchan
dise and produce seems to be about two or three dollars per
cwt. for every hundred miles ; while the possibility of trans
porting it even at this charge, and at a speed of about twelve
miles a-day, depends upon the supply of mules that may be
available. It is likewise to be observed, that agricultural
implements are almost wholly wanting. The plough, the
harrow, the scythe, the sickle are not found on the farm ; and
the hoe, and the machete are the only substitutes for them.
Under these circumstances, the rearing of cattle is almost the
only branch of occupation that is carried on to any extent ;
but from the difficulty of transit to the markets, where they
would be in demand, a good bullock is only worth from four
to six dollars, and abundant pasturage yet remains unappro
priated. "From a fertility of soil capable of maintaining
millions, little more is now drawn than the sustenance of
250,000 inhabitants ; but," Mr. Baily truly observes, " when,
by increase of population, a greater command of capital,
more intelligence of agriculture, commerce, and political

23

economy, which in process of time will creep in, the benefi
cence of nature shall be looked upon as incitement to indus
try ; and encouragement shall be given to raise produce of
exportable value and general demand, Nicaragua will be con
verted into a region of immense wealth."

Of the other four republics of Central America by which
Nicaragua is surrounded, namely, Costa Rica, San Salvador,
Guatemala, and Honduras, only a few more words are neces
sary. In Costa Rica, as in Nicaragua, the soil is singularly
productive; and all the articles peculiar to inter-tropical
regions are grown in abundance, excepting cochineal, cotton,
and the vine, which are liable to be destroyed by the period
ical rains. Coffee is the staple export, and as well as indigo,
tobacco, and cocoa, which are also produced, is remarkable
for its quality. Woods, drugs, grain, fruits, poultry, and a
variety of miscellaneous articles likewise form part of the
commerce of this little republic. Some gold mines exist, and
are at present being worked, although without any very
extraordinary results. Copper and coal are likewise found,
but these of course have been neglected. The population
amounts to 100,000 inhabitants, of whom only 10,000 are
Indians. The trade is no\y almost exclusively carried on
with England in British bottoms ; but the shipments taking
place on the Pacific side, the tedious route by Cape Horn is a
serious drawback. In 1848, the exports consisted of 150,000
cwt. of coffee, estimated at $6 on board; of. about 10,000 ox
and cow hides; of a considerable quantity of mother-of-pearl,
Nicaragua-wood and sarsaparilla, and of a small number of
pearls ; the total estimated value being $1,000,000. San
Jose, the capital, is 4,500 feet above the level of the sea, and
from this a cart-road of seventy-two miles forms the commu
nication with the port of Punta Arenas on the Pacific. The

24

great want of this republic has been a communication with
the Atlantic, so as to save the long navigation by Cape Horn,
and the government are now proceeding vigorously with a
road of 66 miles from San Jose to the Sarapiqui river, which
runs into the San Juan, and will thus furnish the opening
that is desired. Costa Rica is the only one of the republics
of Central America that for any lengthened period has been
free .from anarchy, and the result is that she is steadily ad
vancing to prosperity, and that a treaty of amity, commerce,
and navigation was concluded with her by Great Britain on
the 20th February last. She has at present a minister in
London, Senor Molina, who is understood to be the writer of
a very intelligent pamphlet on her resources, which has lately
been published. By some notices in the French paper, La
Presse, we also remark that a considerable grant of land
has been made to a gentleman in Paris, for the promotion of
colonization in a part of the state situated in the Gulf of
Dulce, on the Pacific.

The state of Salvador is the smallest of the five republics,
but relatively the most populous, the number of her inhabit
ants being 280,000, and her natural resources and position
on the Pacific being calculated to admit of the utmost pros
perity. She has, however, been incessantly ravaged by
civil discord ; and it is only about two months since a large
body of her people joined some insurgents in the neighbour
ing state of Guatemala, with the view of overturning the
government in that country; while we have also seen that
it has just been necessary for an English ship of war to
blockade her ports in order to exact restitution for a fraudu
lent seizure of the property of British subjects. The chief
production of San Salvador has been indigo ; but she has
the highest capabilities also for tobacco, cotton, sugar, and

25

coffee. The mineral workings have been considerable.
Gold was formerly, and still is extracted ; and rich silver
mines, which were once wrought, are known still to be va
luable. " But for many years past, no one has wished to be
thought rich enough to work a mine, lest he should be called
upon to pay exorbitant contributions to the exigencies of the
state." Copper and lead exist in different parts ; and, near
a town called Matapam, a very superior iron ore is abun
dantly obtained, which, looking at the price commanded by
all foreign iron, might, it is believed, be made to yield very
profitable results. On that part of the coast of Salvador,
extending from Acajutla to Libertad, is collected the article
known in commerce as the balsam of Peru — a name it erro
neously received from having been first shipped to Callao,
and thence transmitted to Europe.

The state of Honduras has an estimated population of
236,000, and, although possessing excellent capacities both
in soil and climate, is chiefly remarkable as a mining district.
It contains gold and silver mines, long neglected, owing to
the ruin and insecurity occasioned by constant revolutions.
Lead and copper, also, in various combinations, as well as
opals, emeralds, asbestos, and cinnabar. An abundance of
timber and dye-woods is likewise presented, and vast herds
of almost profitless cattle range over lands that are other
wise unoccupied.

Guatemala has a population of 600,000, and nearly all the
surface of the state is mountainous. In point of salubrity,
extent of available lands, and quality of the soil and climate,
the finest field for European immigration is perhaps to be
found in this quarter.

" Maize and wheat," it is said, " are abundant, and of superior

26

quality ; rice is excellent ; the tropical fruits and vegetables are
good, and in great variety ; and the produce of leguminous plants
is equal to the best of that grown elsewhere. All European fruits
and garden-stuff grow kindly ; and if the Indians, who are the only
cultivators, were better instructed in the art of horticulture, they
would be carried to an enviable degree of perfection ; in fact, but
few regions are so wrell endowed with the capabilities of producing
all that ministers to the comforts as well as luxuries of life. Of
things more important in a commercial view, cochineal at present
holds the first rank ; to which may be added cacao, tobacco, sugar,
coffee, silk, cotton, wool, and a numerous list of minor articles."

In glancing at these leading characteristics of the various
states of Central America, the reader will speedily have ar
rived at the conclusion that, in the hands of Anglo-Saxon set
tlers, they would long ere this have ranked amongst the most
beautiful and prosperous portions of the earth. But until now
there has been work for the race in higher latitudes, and it
will be from the present year that their rise will date. The
nature and rapidity of that rise will, we believe, be such as
has never yet been witnessed in any analogous case. Emi
gration from the United Kingdom has hitherto been confined
to swarms of the poor, going out to fight the battle of life in
untilled solitudes, where they might best enter upon it with
unburthened limbs ; and although their progress has been
wonderful, and they have caused cities and states to rise up
as if by magic, there have still been rough elements in the
whole proceeding which have left room for us to contemplate
the possibility, under more favorable circumstances, of an
equally rapid progress, coupled with a far higher and finer
civilization. All separation of classes is bad, and the true
system of emigration, where the temptations for it exist, is
that, where the rich and the poor, the educated and the un
educated, go together. But the rich and intelligent will go
only from choice, and they demand as inducements a brighter
sky, a more genial climate, and facilities of communication.

27

New Zealand, from its possession of the two first recommen
dations, has already attracted many, but its distance and soli
tariness are fatal objections. Central America promises to
fulfil every required condition. In a short time the active
spirits from New York and Boston, who are even now infus
ing new life and hope into Jamaica, from merely calling at
that island in their way, and stirring up its inhabitants to the
resources at their feet, over which they have hitherto blindly
moped, will have displaced the spirit of anarchy by that of
enterprise. There will then be abundant work for the labor
er, and temptations for all classes even to the highest. The
merchant can seek no broader field than one where he can
deal with the meeting commerce of two worlds, together with
every variety of teeming produce at his own door. The
agriculturist, the fisherman, the miner and the engineer will
likewise find greater stimulants and rewards than can be met
elsewhere. The artist will be incited by scenery which in its
condensed grandeur and prolific beauty from the mountain
Ysalco in Salvador, which bWns incessantly as a natural
lighthouse on the Pacific, to the frosty table-lands of Guate
mala, combines, like the soil and the climate of the country,
every feature that is otherwise only to be witnessed by ex
tended wanderings. The naturalist, the geologist, the astro
nomer, and the antiquarian will here also have a new range ;
and the man of so-called leisure, who in his way unites the
pursuits of all, will proportionably find the means of univer
sal gratification.

And in the narrow confines which hold these advantages
the people of every land and government are destined to
meet on common terms. The Russian from Behring's
Straits, the Chinaman, the African from Jamaica, the New
Zealand sailor, the Dutchman from Java, and the Malay from

28

Singapore will mingle with the Mestizoes and Indians of the
country, and each contribute some peculiar influence which
will be controlled and tempered to the exaltation of the
whole by the predominant qualities of the American, the
Englishman, and the Spaniard. Is it too much to suppose,
that under these circumstances, a people may arise whose in
fluence upon human progress will be of a more harmonious
and consequently of a more powerful kind than has yet been
told of? — that starting at the birth of free-trade, and being
themselves indebted to a universal commerce for their exist
ence, they will constitute the first community amongst
whom restrictions will be altogether unknown ; that guar
anteed in their independence by Great Britain and the
United States, and deriving their political aspirations from a
race amongst whom self-government is an instinct, they will
practically carry out the peace doctrines to which older na
tions are only as yet wistfully approaching ; that aided and
strengthened by the confiding presence of people of every
creed, the spirit of Christian toleration will shine over all,
and win all by the practical manifestation of its real nature ;
and finally, that the union of freedom, wisdom and toleration
may find its happiest results in the code of internal laws they
may adopt, so that amongst them, on the luxuriant land
hitherto made desolate by the sole principle of bloody retalia
tion, the revengeful taking of human life may never be
known ; and that they may be the first to solve the problem
— if amongst those who profess Christ's doctrines it can be
called a problem — of coupling the good and reformation of
the offender with the improvement and safety of society, and
the exercise towards both, not of a sentimental, but of a
philosophical and all-pervading love.