THE PACIFIC.—THE ATLANTIC. (From the Times.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 368, 24 October 1849, Page 3

THE PACIFIC.— THE ATLANTIC. ( From the Times. )

Civilization has taken a bold flight since the diy it Was declared that its development was bounded by the shores of ths Mediterranean. The whole surface of the globe is the hritage of man, and he will no longer be excluded from the full fruition of his birthright. Yet by what slow degrees we have armed at this point ! For how many ages were not the sages of antiquity content to acquiesce in the arbitrary decision of the geographers, which remain as monuments of the igno* ranee of their epoch. An uncouth figure of a panther or crocodile was the best makeshift by which they could distinguish the vast regions that lay out of the immediate boundaries of their little world. Tbe existence of the two Americas was voted the hallucination of diseased brains. The Pillars of Hercules were the limit beyond which there was nothing but a itormy sea, or at best some Fortunate Islands, tbe destined abode of the blest when the spirit bad been dislodged from its mortal tenement. The speculations of the ancients on the destinies of their race are a melancholy example of the infirmity of human judgment. They wouldJiate^ laughed to scorn the idea that fiom a little island in the far north-west, where dwelt a few savages, segregated by a belt of vvinry sea from the whole world, there should isiue t race destined to subdue countries more rast and moie important than all which then owed allegiance to the Roman name. They would have been slow to admit as a possibility that the little insular province, which was first thrown over when their empire was shaken by discord within and warfare from without, would one day exercise an influence second to that of no other power in European affairs ; bring into subjection the regions of legend— for such was Hindostan to them ; and colonize and occupy fast countries, regions of fable, the very existence of which it would hare been deemed preposterous to maintain. All this, however, has come to pass. The inhabitants, or descendants of the inhabitants of the despised and rejected Britain, divide with four other States the chief power of Europe ; by tbe:r counsel and their arms they have subjected the most important part of Asia to their control ; in what little of civilization exists in Africa they have their full share ; Australasia is their own ; North America they have occupied, and are at this moment baiy grouping themiehrei on its western coasts, to work out a destiny which will, no doubt, be in harmony with their previous career. Many of us here in the British islands, and otir con* temporaries in the United States, will, if life be spared us for a quarter of a centui'y, see great changes ou the shores and in the islands of the Pacific, and in tbeie changes those who use the English speech are fa ed to play no unimportant part. Nor many years there hire been symptoms and tokens of the coming events : the full colonization of Au-.tialia and New Zealand; the occupation of varioui important ports in the waters of the Pacific by the United States ; our own war with China ; the opening of Borneo by Sir James Brooke, and his yet greater achievement of intetesting the mind of Europe in the condition of the Indian Archipelago ; the Oregon discussion ; the war between the United States and Mexico, which led to the cession of California, and the almost fabulous discovery of gold in that neglected region—all these facts are suggestive of what is to follow. Add to them all the velocity attained in travelling by sea or laod, the glut of population here it home, and the redundancy of capital ( the British iilei contain about twenty* eight millions of inhabitants, and discount on good paper might yesterday have been obtained in the city at 2 per cent.), and who can doubt what must happen when a way is discovered to give employment to the surplus population and vent to the uneasy capital of the Old Country ? With regard to the United States, from other reasons, which it would be here beside our purpose to set out, the case is stronger than with ourselves, lit the States, legions of colonists, incited by avarice or instinct, are already on their way, and have deserted the Atlantic for the Pacific Oiean. There remains but one obstacle to keep back the current ; a little strip of land twenty miles broad — the Isthmus of Panama— stands as a dyke or barrier to this stream of enterprise. The tide, however, has set in, and will soon sweep away so petty a hindrance as this. Projects for cutting through this neck of land have as is well known, been afloat for many years past

The time had not come for carrying them out. The passage by the iithraus was not felt to be a matter of prime necessity. Times are no* changed. The scheme has paned from the garret of the projector to the counting-house of the speculator, and will, no doubt, ere long be carried out a* a reasonable and necessary enterprise. Three principal methods have been proposed for giving effect to the desiga. First, it is proposed to cross the isthmu3 directly ; not at the point where it is the narrowest— for there a mountain ridge 1000 feet high forbids the attempt— but by a line which should unite Chagres on the Atlantic with Panama on the Pacific. The width is here thirtythree miles. Propoiali to carry out the project at thi« point have been entertained, but owing to the ridiculous requirements of the Granadian Government they could nerer be carried out. Another route should b« mentioned, which has been pointed out nearly at this point.by Salamon and Co., a French house at Panama. The rfvers Chagres and Trinidad on the Atlantic side were to be uniled by a canal of twenty-five miles with the river Farfan, which flows into the Pacific— the total length this way would be fifty miles, and the highest point of land thirty three feet. The canal was to be 160 feet in width, and 22 feet deep, and to admit Teasels of fr k ow 1200 to 1400 tons. There are, however, differenc%fcf opinion as to the facilities of this route, and the climate is said to be in the highest degree prejudicial to health. The second great route proposed is through the istha mus Tehuantepec, a province of Mexico. If our readers will take a map, they will see marked on the Atlantic side the river Coafzacoalcos. This river, which, aOrepreiented on the map, pursues a course as devious as our Wye, is stated to be navigable in some degree for 160 miles. Where the river ceases to be navigable a canal 59 miles in length was to be constructed, surmounting in its progress a table-land at a place called! Tarifa, 525 feet high, and falling from Tarifa to the Pacific 660 feet. The canal was to be 20 feet deep, and 122 feet wide, and required 150 locks. The cost of the scheme was at about threo millions and a half sterling. The third project is represented as the most feasible.' In the Times of Tuesday last there appeared a detailed account of the route by the Lake of Nicaragua. This lake is connected with the Atlantic by a river, the San Juan, about a hundred miles in length, 109 tv 209 yards in breadth, and with a depth of from one and a half to nine fathoms. The obstacles are four rapids and somo -shallow*. The rapids are to be overcome by locks, the shallows by the ordinary method of deepening. The Lake of Nicaragua is ninety miles long, and present* every facility of navigation. This lake is connected with the smaller lake of Leon by the river Titipapa, which is twenty miles in length, and it is said that it would require three locks, and to be canalized throughout to render it practicable for ships. The Lake of Leon is thirty-five miles in length, and is separated from the Pacific by twenty-nine mile». Eleven miles however, from the lake runs the river Tozta, and it is i by opening a communication with this that the entry to the Pacific would be effected at the port of Rialejo. The' Nicaragua route would have the advantage of pasting through a country of undoubted salubrity. It may not generally be known that the journey between the two great oceans has already been effected by boat, although the route taken would for practical purposes be out of the question. In 1783 a monk persuaded the lndiins to cut a short and shallow canal which connects the river Atrato, which throws itself into the Gulph of Dtrien, with the river San Juan, which runs into the Pacific at about the the fourth degree of south latitude. In the wet season boats still pass by this route from one ocean to another, but the fact we rather mention as a curious one than as supposing it to have any importance. The connexion between the two oceans must be on a grander scale tha<* this, and will no doubt be shortly effected by one or other of the three great routes described.