PANAMA.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 899, 15 March 1854, Page 3

PANAMA.

[From the Sydney Morning iterate. "] "We have received Panama papers to the 21st October, by way ol Valparaiso. The Legislature met on the 20th, and elected Senor Remon as their President. The Star of the 11th says— The steamer Lima, Captain Bloomfield, firrived in port yesterday, bringing dates from Valparaiso to the Ist October, and from Callao to the 10th. The Lima brings 12 passengers, and two hundred and sixty-thousand dollars in treasure. The papers before us contain little of interest. Kate Hayes had arrived at Lima from Valparaiso, and purposed, after a stay of a few weeks there, to sail for Australia, and thence to San Francisco. Our files from Australia are no later than , those previously received. In Peru all is quiet, and at present there appears no likelihood of a war with Bolivia. Two expeditions had started for the Amazon gold regions, but owing to the bad management of

the arrangements of the expeditions, much hardship was suffered. We have no important news from the gold districts beyond that already published. With reference to the gold districts of the Amazon, the Herald says — " About one-half of Ecuador, two-thirds of Peru, three-fourths of Bolivia, and one-half of New Granada, are drained by the tributaries of the Amazon before it enters the Empire of Brazil, and many of these rivers, even at a distance of nearly 300 miles from the sea, are navigable for large vessels and steamers. The distance between the sources of the tributaries of the Amazon, in Peru, and the Pacific coast* is, at the nearest point, not more than 60 or 70 miles, and in very few cases over 150 to 200. Upon those" streams are situated the cities of Cuzco, Huancavalica, Tarma, Caxamerca, and Moyabaroba, in Peru ; Chuquisaca (the silver city), Cochabamba and Santsl CruZ, in Bolivia ; and the celebrated city of Quito, in Ecuador, besides niany smaller towns, villages, and settlements. Near all these cities, in the small streams that descend from the stupendous chain of the Andes, gold is found in more or less abundartce, but the native population do not avail themselves of it, and the Indians carefully guard their knowledge of the richest localities from the white man, and oppose his encroachments upon their territory. By a treaty entered into between Brazil and Peru in 1851, the free navigation of the Amazon, as far as the port of Nauta, at the mouth of the Ucayali, is granted to the citizens and subjects of all nations who have treaties with Peru, upon the same terms as the most favored nations ; but the exploration of the tributaries of the Amazon above this point is reserved, and will be performed at the expense of the Peruvian Government. To settlers arriving at Nauta or Loretto, the Government offers free grants of land, supplies of seeds and implements, and many important privileges, such as freedom from taxation for a long period, and the establishment of their own municipal institutions. J t does not however appear that Peru is either ready or anxious to throw open her gold fields to the world upon the same terms as the United States and England did with California and Australia ; and the difficulty, risk, and uncertainty whifh private enterprise would most probably meet with, must prove a great drawback to the development of these rich districts. Until we possess some more positive information as to the exact localities of the auriferous streams, the facilities for reaching them, the means of living and procuring provisions, and mores particularly of the course the Peruvian Government intends to adopt towards strangers, it would bp, in our opinion, premature to take any action in the matter ; and any attempt now made to reach the gold-fields would, we firmly believe, result in a failure as a tnonev-getting speculation. Ths time will doubtless soon come, when not only for it° gold, but also /or its other valuable productions, the entire valley of the Amaxon will be brought into connection with the rest of the wqj Id, and its waters ploughed by as many steamers as the Mississippi, and a tide of immigration flow to its tributaries and sources through this city, as great perhaps as that of California has heen. A fight occurred on Sunday night, in the Piazza tie Santann. among some natives, which resulted in the los? of the life of one man and the severe wounding of others. It appears that " Party who had attended the fandango at San Miguel nn Sunday, adjourned to a grog shop m the Plaza, where they continued carousing and drinking unfil about three o'clock in the morning. They then commenced fighting with knives. One man named Victoria, a waterman, was literally cut open, and died immediately. Some eight or ten others had their heads broken and were otherwise seriously wounded.