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productions of the earth, it could never be preferred to our own happy climate.

It was with peculiar interest that Philips examined the Isthmus of Darien, or Panama, as it is indifferently called. The distance across is here only thirty-seven miles-a narrow space, to separate two mighty oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific, if Almighty Wisdom and Power had not determined the limits beyond which they should not pass; indeed they approach so near to each other in this part of the isthmus, that from the mountains which run along its whole length, and are a continuation of the Andes, the two seas can be seen at the same time. It had been long, as Philips knew, a favourite plan amongst Engineers, to cut a Canal across, by which a toilsome and dangerous navigation of 10,000 miles round by Cape Horn, would be saved by those who wished to transport merchandize from the eastern shore of America, to the Pacific Ocean, and the river Chagre, which is actually navigable, from Porto Bello to Cruces, which is ouly fifteen miles from Panama, seemed to favour the idea; the ascent however, from Cruces to the summit of the mountains, is too rapid to render such a scheme practicable. Another course, however, was mentioned to him, which opposed no difficulty that was not surmountable; about two hundred miles north of the Chagre, one extremity of Nicaragua Lake might easily be joined to a

small river which flows into the Pacific Ocean, and the other be made to communicate with the Atlantic Ocean, by digging a canal for thirty miles through a low level country.-I may not live to hear of it, thought Philips, but who that has read of the extensive canals that have been made in England and Scotland and Ireland, can doubt the possibility of such a plan being executed.

As the river, as has been mentioned, was navigable almost the whole way up, Philips thought he could not adopt a better mode of pursuing his way to Panama, than by taking his passage in one of those small vessels which ply upon it, of which there were several then lying in the harbour of Porto-bello. They are of two kiuds'; one, which is formed of planks of timber, like those of our own country only built of a greater breadth and shallower, in order that they may draw the less water; and another, which is made out of a single block of timber, (for the trees there are, so large, that they are readily procured of a size full eleven feet broad;) each boat has a pilot on board, and is usually manned with sixteen or eighteen negroes. As the Chagre is navigable no further up than the town of Cruces, they were upon their arrival there, obliged to continue their way to Panama by land; this was, however, a journey of only fifteen miles.

Panama is famous for its pearl fishery, and to this Philips particularly directed his attention

during his stay there, though his heart often ached for the sufferings which the poor negroes endured in this laborious occupation. The masters of slaves always take care to chuse the most robust of their men, and more especially those who are the best swimmers; these they send to some small islands which lie along the coast where they have huts built for their lodging, and boats which hold eight, ten, or twenty negroes, under the command of an officer. In these boats, they go to such parts as are known to produce pearl oysters, and where the depth of the water is not above from ten to fifteen fathoms; here they anchor, and the negroes having one end of the rope fastened round their bodies, and the other end to the side of the boat, and taking with them a small weight to enable them the better to descend, plunge into the water.

On reaching the bottom, they take, up an oyster, which they put under the left arm, the second they hold in the left hand, and the third in the right, and with these three oysters, and sometimes another in the mouth, they rise to breathe, and then put them into a bag. Every one of those negro divers, is obliged to deliver to his master, a certain number of perfect pearls, so that when they have got the sufficient number of oysters in their bag, they begin to open them, and deliver the pearls to the officer, till they have made up the requisite number, without any regard to their size;-the remainder,

however, large or beautiful, are the negro's own property, nor has the master the least claim to them, the negroes being allowed to sell them to whom they please, though the master generally purchases them at a very low price. But besides the toil of this fishery, from the oysters strongly adhering to the rocks, they are also in no smail danger from sharks, and other rapacious animals, which often seize on the poor slaves, or by striking on them, crush them with their weight against the bottom. To defend them. selves against these dreadful enemies, they usually carry with them into the water, a small sharp knife, with which, if the fish attempts to attack them, they endeavour to kill it, though it frequently happens that the con. test ends fatally for the poor slave.

After a short stay at Panama, Philips being anxious to continue his journey, set sail on board the St. Christopher, bound for the city Guaya. quil, which is situated on a river of the same name, on the western coast of South America, in the kingdom of Quito, and about five hun. dred miles south of Panama. A few days sail brought them to the mouth of this river, which is here a league wide. As they drew near it, they found every little creek and bay crowded with a kind of float or raft, which the natives make up for themselves, by lashing together with thongs of ox-hide, beams of balza wood, gach about sixty feet in length. This is a sort

of light soft timber, which abounds in that part of America, and from which they call the floats Balzas.

Towards the end of summer, the Indians come down from the country to the shore, having by that time sown and reaped the produce of their little farms; here they put their Balzas in com. plete repair, and furnish themselves with a sup ply of provisions, a number of spears and darts for killing their fish, and also a quantity of salt for preserving it. This being done, they next put on board the Balzas, their wives and families, and whatever little forniture they possess, and usually each man has also a small canoe, which he takes with him likewise, and furnish. ed in this way, the whole fleet sets sail at once out of the harbour, and is then dispersed among the several creeks and bays with which the neighbouring shore abounds. Having moored their Balzas near the mouth of a creek, they take their canoes, with some harpoons and spears, and on sight of a fish they make towards it, till they arrive at a proper distance, when they throw their spear at it, with such dexterity, that they seldom miss, and if the place abounda with fish, they load their canoes in three or four hours, when they return to their Balzas to salt and cure them. Sometimes, especially in places where the creeks form a kind of lake, they make use of an herb called Barbasee, which they chew, mix with some bait, and scatter about on the water.

The juice of this herb is so streng

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