WATERCOURSES

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In this narrow territory there are no lakes worthy of the name, but along the coasts there are several extensive lagoons, or nearly landlocked sounds, of considerable extent. The rivers are necessarily short, but they are almost innumerable, traversing every part of the Republic. Most of them abound in rapids, and are not well adapted to navigation, the descent from the hills to the coast being sudden. Moreover, they are largely subject to great and rapid changes of volume, sometimes being transformed from brooks of a few inches in depth to torrents of several feet, in the course of a few hours, under the stress of tropical rains. The largest of the rivers is the Tuyra, in the southeastern part of the Republic. It is navigable by schooners and small steamers for about 100 miles, and has a large and also navigable tributary, called the Chucunaque. The famous and dreaded Chagres is in the north central part of the Republic, and flows into the Caribbean near Colon, after a course of 100 miles, more than half of which is navigable in the rainy season. Of all the considerable streams, it is subject to the most violent fluctuations, sometimes rising thirty feet in twenty hours. The Chepo, or Bayamo, is in the south central region, reaching the Pacific east of the city of Panama, and is 140 miles long and navigable by small craft for more than half its length. The Coclé, Calabebora, Tarire, and Los Indios rivers all flow into the Caribbean, are from 35 to 65 miles long, and are navigable for half their length. The San Pedro, Cambuta, Golfito, Chiriqui, Santiago, Fonseca, San Pablo, Santa Maria, Chiman, and Sambu, flow into the Pacific, and are navigable for some distance by small craft. The lack of good roads on land, and the great difficulty of constructing and maintaining them through the jungles, cause the rivers to be used as highways wherever possible. The Rio Grande, a comparatively small stream, flowing into the Pacific near Panama, is notable as the source of the excellent water supply of that city.

The great extent of the coasts of Panama, proportionately to the area of its territory, makes a survey of them perhaps

the most instructive and essential of all conspectuses of the material republic. If we begin at the northwestern corner, we find Carreta Point marking the boundary between Costa Rica and Panama. A little to the eastward is the Tarire River, and then comes the first great feature of the littoral, in Almirante Bay. This landlocked lagoon is about thirteen miles in east to west extent, and almost as long from north to south, but its shores are most irregular in contour, and it contains a number of extensive islands, dividing it into a groups of sounds and harbours rather than a single sheet of water. The water is deep enough for the largest ships, and in many places these can approach close to the shore, so abrupt are the submerged banks. Much of the southern and western or mainland shore is a table-land, from 500 to 700 feet in elevation, gradually sloping upward to a height of from 1,500 to 2,000 feet at a distance of a couple of miles from the bay. This elevation makes the adjacent country agreeable for residence. Unfortunately it also makes the rivers which flow into the bay too rapid for navigation. At the north and east the Bay is shut in from the Caribbean by two large islands, Columbus Island, formerly called Isla del Drago, and Provision Island, or Isla de Bastimentos. The former lies at the northwest, and is about seven miles by four in extent, low and flat, and densely wooded. At the west it is separated from Terraba Point, on the mainland, by a strait three-fourths of a mile wide, known as Boca del Drago, or the Dragon's Mouth, which forms the westernmost entrance into Almirante Bay. This strait is nine fathoms deep, but tortuous and dangerous for navigation. Cauro Point and Lime Point are the principal headlands of the island on this strait, and at the latter there is a considerable settlement.

The chief settlement on Columbus Island, however, is Boca del Toro, at the southeastern extremity, fronting upon the strait of the same name (literally Bull's Mouth) which separates Columbus Island from Provision Island and which forms the central and chief entrance into Almirante Bay.

The town of Boca del Toro has about 6,000 inhabitants, and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is one of the chief fruit-shipping ports of the whole coast, from five to seven steamships and many sailing craft leaving it daily during the fruit season. The trade is chiefly with American ports. There are coal mines near at hand producing coal of good quality, and the possibilities of an extensive and profitable trade in lumber and fish as well as in fruit are enormous. The strait of Boca del Toro is about threefourths of a mile wide, and is much preferable for naviga. tion to Boca del Drago. At the east and south lies Provision Island, eight miles long but very irregular in shape. It consists chiefly of low land, well wooded, and enormously productive of tropical fruits, whence the name of the island. There are several small settlements on the island, but most of the commerce is conducted by way of Boca del Toro. At the south of Provision Island is Crawl Cay Channel, an eighth of a mile wide and dangerous for navigation, beyond which lies Popa Island, six miles long, rich in timber and containing some coal, and surmounted by Mount Popa, an isolated peak with a rounded summit rising 1,300 feet above the sea. At the southwest Popa Island is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel studded with islets, thus completing the chain which landlocks Almirante Bay.

Immediately south and east of Almirante Bay and separated from it by a long peninsula and by Popa Island, lies the great and well-known Chiriqui Lagoon. This body of water, its expanse quite unbroken by islands or reefs, is thirty-two miles long from east to west, and twelve miles in its greatest central width from north to south, and is almost everywhere deep and safe for navigation. It is well landlocked, mainland peninsulas embracing it at the northeast and northwest, and Popa Island and Water Cay filling much of the space between their extremities. Water Cay is several miles in extent, low, flat, and heavily wooded. Between it and Popa Island is a narrow, rock-studded chan nel, difficult and dangerous for navigation, but at the east of