The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-10 00:00:00

DARIEN EXPLORING EXPEDITION.

A gentleman writing from " Off Carthegena, New
Granada," gives the following account of the xpedi-
tion of the exploring party under Captain Prevost :
" Captain Prevost visted me at Lima ; the first sight
of him was sufficient to show how poignantly he felt
the loss of his four gallant fellows who had fallen a
sacrifice to the murderous treachery of the Indians,
and the misrepresentations of others in regard to the
character of these savages. The poor fellows had
been his constant companions, and were the best
men of the ship. The party pulled 22i miles up the
river Savanna, until the boats could get up no further.
They then cut through almost impenetrable forest and
passed over a swamp. They were tormented by swarms
of mosquitoes and other venomous insects. They passed
26 measured miles, and encountered ravines and moun-
tain ridges. They came to a rapid and large river flowing
north-east, but with a very tortuous course. They mea-
sured one fall of 600 feet, and found an inclination of 45°
to 60° ! This, alone, would give 600 feet perpendicular
elevation above the sea. They went as far as their means
would admit, but, although they were on a mountain
and ascended a high tree, their view towards the At-
lantic was intercepted by other mountains and ranges.
On my arrival at the city of Aspinwall (Navy Bay) I
found that some of the officers of the United States
man-of-war Cyani had arrived from Escocis. The whole
party appeared to be most indignant. Finally, on
riving at Carthegena a French sloop of war came in,
accompanied by the Imperial French steamer Chimere.
The Chimere was the French part of the expedition,
and they had left much disgusted. I passed from
Panama to Aspinwall in six hours and a half, including
32 miles of railway in twet hours. The whole line from
wharf in the Pacific to wharf in the Atlantic will be
open in July next, and the entire transit two hours
and a half."

The Aspinwall (Navy Bay) Courier contains a letter
from one of the United States' officers sent on the joint
exploring expedition. The letter is dated, " United
States ship Cynia, Caledonia-bay, New Granada, Jan.
27." The writer says :—" We arrived here on the 18th.
Captain Hollins held a grand ' pow-wow' with some 15
or 16 chiefs. At first they were very averse to our land-
ing on the isthmus, and absolutely refused to give their
consent ; they at length, however, consented that we
should land, but only for the purpose of reconnoitering
the proposed route of the ship canal. On the 19th, a
party of 28, men and officers, principally from this
ship, well armed, and provisioned for ten days, landed
under command of Lieutenant Strain. On the 24th
four of the party returned, having penetrated a distance
of 20 miles into the interior. These latter started next
morning, with a reinforcement of ten men and extra pro-
visions. The report of the said returned party is not at
all favourable to the prospect for a ship canal —for
they estimated, on a fair calculation, that the eleva-
tion of the lowest points over which they passed
is about 1,000 feet in height. They followed the
Caledonia river, and you can judge the size of the
stream, when the party walked up the bed of the river all
the way. The English brig of war Espiegle arrived on
the 19th, having on board Mr. Gisborne, Dr. Cullen,
and a party of English engineers detached to survey a
route for the proposed ship canal. On the 20th the
English survey schooner Scorpion and the French
steamer Chimere arrived, the steamer having on board
a party for the canal route survey, and the schooner
being intended for the survey of this harbour. The Eng-
lish and French party, combined, started on the 24th.
On that day a party of five, detached from Strain's
party, returned to the ship, and reported the obstacles
and hardships which they had encountered. They
stated they had left Strain and his party in the
mountain, 18 miles distant. They left the ship again
with a reinforcement of 10 men and 10 days' extra pro-
visions, under charge of Lieutenant Fauntleroy. While
I write I see detachments of the French and English
party returning to their vessels, and am informed they
have come after provisions. A glance at the letter of
Lieutenant Fauntleroy, who overtook the English party
the day after he left, fully indicates that their own con-
clusion upon the premises acquired thus far is that the
route is impracticable."