In South A., again, the difference between east and west is still more remarkable. On the w. the Guayaquil, the only stream worth mentioning, is not to be compared even with the rivers that flow from the the subordinate ranges of Brazil or Guiana; while, on the e., the Andes send down, besides the Magdalena flowing into the Caribbean sea, the Orinoco, the Amazon, and the Plata, into the open ocean across the 'altruist entire breadth of the continent—three networks of inland navigation, which, under the head of the Amazon (q.v.), we have already shown to be virtually one, and, beyond that, to be virtu ally linked with the Essequibo of British Guiana.
Nor will the disparity between the two coasts of the continent be less striking if the harbors are considered as well as rivers, the external outlets as well as internal channels. On the Pacific, South A. possesses, to the n. of Chili, only two ports entitled to the name, Panama and the Guayaquil already mentioned; while, on the same coast, North A., along a line of 3000 m. up to British Columbia, presents only five•safe and convenient havens—Acapulco, Mazatlan, Magdalena bay, San Diego, and San Francisco. But the Atlantic side presents a contrast to which no language can do justice. To take the divisions as they come: Newfoundland has its St. John's, Cape Breton its Louisburg, Nova Scotia its Halifax, New Brunswick its St. Andrews, Maine its Portland, New Hampshire its Portsmouth, Massachusetts its Boston, Connecticut its New Haven, Rhode Island its Newport, and so on. Nor is this all. While fully a third part of the rivers of Europe and Asia are lost to the commerce of the world at largo in the frozen seas of the north, or in such landlocked pools as the Aral and the Caspian, all the considerable rivers of A., with the Mackenzie as the only exception, are, more or less, channels of communication between the open ocean and the interior. To take the three grandest examples—the Amazon, with a basin estimated to contain 1,500,000 sq.m., is navigable for steam-vessels up every one of its main branches, nearly to the eastern foot of the Andes; thus comprising several available lines of 2300 m. each, and presenting, as a whole, a network of such lines to the amount of at least ten times that length. The 'Mississippi. again, navigable as it is at once to the Alleghanies and to the Rocky moun tains, and between them, more to the n., as far as the falls of St. Anthony, has been computed to afford to the steam-vessel an uninterrupted career of 38.000 miles. But perhaps the St. Lawrence, if less extensive, is• indre•ruarvellousstild. ekOwing to British its channel, New York and Pennsylvania have virtually a seaboard on their inland shores; while Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, accessible to ships from the gulf of St. Lawrence by the lakes, and from the gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi, far eclipse, in the heart of a continent, the peculiar boast of ancient Corinth as the mart of two. seas.
To append a few subordinate examples: nearly all the considerable rivers along the coast between the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi possess far more than an average value, in proportion to their lengths, as arteries of internal communication. The At
lantic slope of the Alleghanies, in particular, presents, as a whole, perhaps twice as ninny facilities in this way as any other region of equal extent. on the face of the earth—facili ties, too, which have been not less zealously and successfully improved than those of the St. Lawrence. The Hudson has been, at vast expense, and with indomitable energy, connected with the basin of the St. Lawrence at three points—on lake Erie, ou lake Ontario, and on lake Champlain; and the Susquehanna has been in like manner con nected with the basin of the Mississippi by a canal which terminates at Pittsburg on the Ohio.
But in one part of A., still smaller streams than these last are entitled to particular attention. We allude to those streams, five iu number, which promise to vie with each other in connecting together the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans.
The five rivers in question form parts of three different routes. The Atrato of the Atlantic side co-operates with the San Juan of the opposite coast a little below the isthmus of Darien; the San Juan of the Caribbean sea, with the lake of Nicaragua, and with the smaller lake of Leou more to the westward; and, lastly, the Coatzacoalcos of the gulf of Mexico, with the Tehuantepec of the bay of its own name.
To begin with the first route: the Atrato and the Sau Juan flow, in contrary direc tions, through the slightly undulating country into which the Andes gradually subside as they approach the isthmus. Their head-waters are said to be near to each other, the Atrato being already navigable for small vessels, and the San Juan, manifestly a con siderable stream, entering the sea by several mouths, after a course of 150 miles. With such streams separated by such a country, a ship-channel between the two oceans does not by any means appear to be impracticable. Next, as to the second route, which, as well as the third, is already in actual use as a place of transit: the San Juan itself, about-100 m. long, has a gentle current, which, though iu some places impeded by short rapids, is stated to be always navigable throughout for boats of 10 tons, and for much larger ves sels to a considerable distance from the sea. Lake Nicaragua, again, said to measure 140 m. by 40, is adapted for ships of any burden, being 15 fathoms deep. At its w. end it receives the Tipitapa from lake Leon, which, with a length of 35 m. and a breadth of 15, is only 28 ft. higher than itself, or 156 above the level of the Pacific. Two schemes seem to be agitated with respect to the more westerly portion of the route—one scheme pro posing to avail itself of lake Leon, and the other to carry the ship-canal at once from lake Nicaragua. Lastly, as to the third route, where the intervening land, actually desig nated as an isthmus, is only 130 m. wide: the Coatzacoalcos alone is said to traverse nearly the entire breath; while the Tehuantepec, which gives name to the isthmus, goes far to complete what the other has begun.