The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-28 00:00:00

NEW ROUTE FROM NEW YORK TO T.triE

PACIFIC.

The following letter, Totaisintla, Mexico,
Aug. '20," appears in a recent number in New York
Herald:—

Possibly, from the date of this letter, you may wish
to know where I am, and before proceeding for,her it
would be as well to state that Tetalsintla is on the
.Mes-
cals river, a stream which takes its rise in the territory
of Flaxcala, north of Puebla ; thence flowing south for
150 miles, it turns to the west, and for 550 miles runs
on that course till it empties into ;he Paciflo Ocean at
Zacatula, 310 miles north or west of Acapulco. Total-
sintla is 100 miles north of Acanulco, and 150 miles
south of the city of Mexico, and 1,e:o the road between
these two cities crosses the Mescala, river.
"Last winter you made some kind of a prediction
that by this river, the shortest, cheapest, and most ex-
p3ditious route to California would ho found, and the
distauce rinds: from New York to 5.3% Francisco in 15
days. Well, your prediction is likely to b 3 realized, and
taut speedily. Now I will tell you how I come to be
ere. You are aware of the grant made to Colonel
Ramsay for the exc'usiva navieseion of the Muscula
river from its mouth at Z teatala to the boundary line
of the Sia'e of Puebla, 450 miles above. The company
is New York with whom Colonel Ramsay is connected
have determined to make a careful survey of this river,
to find out how far it is navigable, and for what kind of
steamboats. For that purpose a party have been sent
out to make a careful exploration of the river, and see
whether the grant to Colonel Ramsey is worth improv-
ing. Consequently, that gentleman, along with Capt.
Reynolds, art Flushing; Mr. Femur/a, of New York;
Capt. Holtainger, of the Mexican Navy; and myself-,
with several servants, are now here on that work. Our
boats—metallic life-boats, built by Francis, in New
York—oar instruments, stores; &c., were permitted to
enter the port of Vera Cruz, free of duty. The Govern-
ment further offered to assist in any other way possible.
The Governor of Puebla proposed to have the boats,
&c., transported from the city of Puebla to the boundary
flue at his own expense, and he gave us letters to the
Prefects along our route, by which we were furnished
with every kind of assistance needed. From the city of
Puebla we drove south, down through one of the most
beautiful and rich valleys in the world, in a high state of
cultivation, with its haciendas of corn, cattle, sugar, and
cotton. The road is excellent at all seasons for stages,
winding down with a slight grade, so that at 14 leagues
from Puebla we were in the hot country. At this dis-
tance our road turned abruptly to the west, which
brought the snow mountain of Popocatapel which is
2,000 feet higher than Mont Blanc) to the north of us,
instead of to the west, as it had been the day before.
Still driving down the valley for 14 more leagues, the
road continuing to be excellent throughout, we came
within five leagues of the State line. For all this dis-
tance the country is thickly inhabited; and some of the
haciendas, or plantations, are valued at from 500,000
dols. to 800,000 dols. Wherever we stopped at any of
these we were handsomely entertained.
" We were now fivo leagues from the point on the
river where Ramsay's grant commences; and, as there
was no carriage road, although one could easily be made,
the boats had to be transported on the shoulders of na-
tives, who were ordered to this work by the Prefect. No
less than 140 men were thus employed at 18e. per day,
the price fixed by the Alcalde. In two days we had oar
boats in the water, and we made our starting point
from Mesquitelan, which is the first village in the State
Guerrero, on the river-bank. We had expected to meet
with many impediments for some leagues, in the shape
of rocks, rapids, and shoal water, for, although this is
the rainy season, the weather has proved to be very dry,
and the river only two feet above low water-mark, We
shoved off from the shore at Mmuitelan with all our
party on board, and Captain Pacheco, who was ordered
up the river to join us, as commissioner on the part of
the State of Guerrero. The people turned out in full
force to see us off, and to cheer us on our voyage. Our
course for four leagues, lay to the south, and then
westerly between high and precipitous, well-wooded
mountains, some of them nearly 1,000 feet high. Their
sides were covered with a dense forest, in which were
noticed in great abundance Brazil and Nicarauag wood,
mahogany, and many other dye or choice trees. The
river was about 100 yards wide, seven feet deep, with a
three-knot current. The rapids and rocks spoken of so
frequently were but trifling impediments to steam-boat
navigation. We came about eight leagues the first
day, where 500 dolls. will remove all obstacles in a week.
You may form some estimate how careful was our sur-
vey when it took 18 pages of writing to record the
observations made.
"We put to shore at the village of Slal-co-so-titlan,
where we spent the night. The next day we arrived
here, making 50 miles in the two days. About one league
below the village mentioned, the river Atanango °ricers
from the north, and is as large as the Muscula. All map-
makers have made the mistake of marking the Atanango
for the Muscula, and above the mouth of the Atanango
they have made the Muscula flow to the south and east
instead of to the west and south. Disturnell's map
of Mexico, of 1815. is the only correctly printed map of
the course of the Muscula or Zacatula.
" We have already passed what are called all the bad
places in the river, except one, a few leagues further
down, whicle I am informed is not worse than those above.
We are now fully satisfied that this river is navigable for
steamboats at all stages of water for 450 miles. This
will bring us within 100 miles of Puebla, and 170 more
to Vera Cruz ; all excellent stage road, which can be
driven over in 36 hours ; so that you may calculate as
follows:—six days from New York to Vera Cruz in
steamer, 36 hours across land to the Muscula river,
48 hours down to the mouth of the river ; and five days
thence to San Francisco—being less than 15 days from
New York to San Francisco.
" The river Muscala is the largest and longest river
exclusively in the republic of Mexico. The port of
Zacatula, at its mouth, is the oldest port on the Pacific
Ocean, being the place where Cortez built his first ships
on that sea, as is mentioned by all authors, including
Prescott, in his history of the conquest. Among the
old archives a record is made of the fact that Cortez
transported iron, cordage, and other articles from Vera
Cruz to the head waters of the Muscala, and floated
them down the river, so as to equip the first fleet built
on the Pacific at the port of Zacatula.
" The hero Morelos, in the wars of independence,
improved on this information, and brought up on rafts
his artillery t Mesquitelan, near which village he was
captured.
"The survey made by order of the State of Puebla in
the dry season in 1850, reports 31 feet of water in the
channel from Mesquitelan to the Atanango river, and 4}
feet thence for 15 leagues, then 6 feet, then 20 feet, then
40 feet, and, for the last 100 miles, 60 feet of water in
the channel. A beautiful bay exists near the mouth,
and Humboldt, in his work on New Spain, frequently
notices the port of Zacatula. Yet, with all this, the im-
pression has prevailed that the river was not navigable,
first originating in the fact that it is not adapted to sail-
ing vessels, without reflecting that it might be so for
steamboats. In the second place, the river has never
been properly laid down on the charts, and all informa-
tion of the courses, distances, depths, and currents was
confined to the simple natives on the banks, who only knew
it from village to village, and wherever it ran between high
mountains it was said to contain falls. Again, the elevation
of Puebla above the sea is known to be 7,000 feet, and
many intelligent persons imagined that in 700 miles, by
the course of the river, that descent could not be over-
come, without knowing the fact that within the first 100
miles immediately below Puebla the descent is more
than 3,000 feet. Tbo elevation of Mesquitelan above.
the sea is only 2,000 feet, and in the village of Muscula,
ten miles below the place where I am now writing,
Humboldt found the elevation to be less than 1,600 feet,
Here is a river which has its mouth on the Pacific
Ocean, directly west from Vera Cruz, and navigable for
more than half the distance from port to port, and lying
directly in the course, diminishing the distance by one
half from New Orleans to California, and the expense
, in the same proportion, unknown to geographers, impro-
perly laid down on charts, its mouth 100 miles east of
Acapulco on the maps, instead of 300 miles west,
watering a valley for 500 miles which it was not known
to enter, until New York enterprise and capital solved
the question and the diffiuulty. A grant of the river
navigation was quietly obtained, the company set about
carrying out the enterprise, publications in the papers
sparingly made, as you well know, and this survey or-
dered without attracting any public attention."

A NEW PENAL BILL.—The Irish morning organ
of the Roman Catholic party has " reason to believe "
that Lord Derby's Government contemplate the into-
duction of a new penal bill against the Catholic clergy
as soon as ParHainaut shall assemble. The Freeman
further adds, that the supposed object of this contem-
plated " invasion of religious liberty (the " religious
liberty" enjoyed by the Madiais I) is the imposition of
some peculiar restraint upon the freedom of the clergy
in their capacity of citizens. While deAting the ulti-
mate ability of the Ministry to carry such a measure as
is here foreshadowed, the organ thinks it not improbable
that, for the sake of exciting the sectarian passion in
England, "on which Lord Derby knows well how to
trade," a pr poition of the sort described may be initi-
ated as soon as Parliament meets. All these speculations
indicate manifest trepidation in the Roman camp. Many
of the most violent and bigoted among the Roman Ca-
tholic laity have, it is well known, shrunk from the
lengths to which the priests went to secure the return
of their nominees at the late general election.
MORE GOLD.—The Atlantic has brought in from New
York specie to the value of 382,000 dollars, or atiout
76,4001 The amount of gold brought in by the Lima
from Melbourne is stated at 34,813 ounces, worth
139,2001. The John Oldham has also arrived from A de.
lai le, with the small quantity of about 500 ounces of gold
on board, This vess,.l left the e,ileay on the 13th May.
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