The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-29 00:00:00

2. STRAIN'S EXPLORATION.

As to the American expedition, it appears from the ac•
count given in " Harper's Magazine," of New York, for
March, April, and May, 1;455, that Lieut. ltrain landed
from the Cyane on the 19th of January, 1851, with 27
men, six of whom were " volunteers" from the Panama
railroad and other companies, whose interests were anta-
gonistic to the projected canal. Two of those " volun-
teers," with three of the party from the Cyane, contrived
to separate from Strain on the third day, and found their
way Bach to the Cyane. From thence they proceeded to
Aspinwall and New York, where they published prema-
ture and unfounded reports of the loss of Strain's party,
and exaggerated statements of the impracticability of the
canal. -After this separation Strain's party consequently
consisted of 22 men. On the third day, after having been
two clays seeking a passage from the Caledonia, they re:
turned to its west branch, ascended the hill (Agla) and,
crossing it, arrived on the fourth day on the Sucubti. On
the fifth day they found three Indian huts on the Sucubti
just abandoned and on fire.

The sixth day they arrived at the village of Sacubti,
where they found the remains of seven canoes, which had
just been destroyed, for they heard th ',ands of the axe as
they were approaching. The same day they reached the
chnquanaqua, and met five armed Indians, who came up
and shook hands with Strain.

" Two of them, one of whom spoke Spanish and the other
English, he recognised as having been on board the Cyane
shortly after her arrival in Caledonia harbour. The leader
informed Strain that he was on the Chuquauaqua instead
of the Savana, but offered to guide him to the latter. In
answer to a question respecting the distance, he replied
that he could reach it in three days." On the eighth day
the guide told Strain "that he had taken an interest in
him when they mo on board the Cyane, and did not wish
him to follow the Chuquanaqua, which was a very lung
route to the Pacific. He still declared that they would reach
the Savana in a day and a half, and the harbour in Darien in
two days and a half; but Strain could not induce him to
give the name of the river on the banks of which they then
wore." Had he taken a copy of my map with him ho would
have learned that he was then on the Artuaanti or La Paz
river, within Ores miles of the head of the Lara, and 12
miles off Mr. Bennett's station, at the junction of that
river with the Savana. Ile would also have found that the
Indians were guiding him faithfully and in the most direct
line. Tuat same day, not being able to keep up with the
pace of the Indians, he lost sight of them ; and " after
waiting some time to see if they would return," he com-
mitted the disastrous error of returning to the Chuquana-
qua, influenced by an unfounded suspicion of the treachery
of the Indians. Here again, had be ever seen my map, he
would have comprehended at a glance, from the exceed.
ingly tortuous and sinuous course of the Chuquanaqua,
how gloomy was the prospect of reaching the Tuyra and
Pacific by following down its banks.
From the 28th of January to the 13th of February the
party followed the cour, e of the Chuquanaqua. On the
latter day Strain, with three of the strongest, left them in
order to push on in advance, and endeavour to reach Ya-
visa, the Gro.nadian capital of Darien,situated a little above
the confluence of the Chuquanaqua and Tuyra. From
thence he expected to be able to send them provisions and
assistance. On the 9th of March Strain and his comrades
reached Yavisa, where they were carefully attended to by
the Jefa Politico and the Alcalde. He then proceeded to
the Tuyra and Savana, and reached Bennett's station on
the 13th. On the 18th Mr. Bennett and Strain, with the
boats of the Virago passed Yavisa, on their way up the
Chuquanaqua, and on the 26th of March Strain's men were
found on the banks of that river in a deplorable condition
from famine. Altogether five of the party died from starva-
tion and hardship. The remainder of this gallant, but mis-
guided band, reached New York in the Cyane.
Mr. Headley, the writer in " Harper's Magazine," as-
serts that Strain was misled by Gisborne's /nap and mine.
Now in Gisborne's map there is a red line drawn in a S.W.
direction from Caledonia Bay to the Gulf of San Miguel ;
and in both imam there is a S.W. line marked line of pro-
posed canal drawn from Caledonia Bay to the junction of
the Lara with the Savana—the point which Mr. Bennett
afterwards selected for his station. If he had followed the
course laid down in those maps, he would have reached the
Savana and the Gulf of San Miguel in four or five days of
much less painful travelling than he encountered along the
Chuquanaqua.
The fact is he never saw any of those maps. If he had
ever looked at a map of Darien, or read anything about it,
he would not have brought down the great number of jack-
asses and mules, with which he encumberedithe decks of
the Cyane, under the impression that there was a road,
and that he could ride across the Isthmus ! Mr. Headley
also states that I ." utterly ignored the Sucubti." On the
contrary, not only is that river most legibly marked on my
map, but a great amount of information regarding it is
given in various passages in mybook. I therefore, in
lettars to the Xew York, courier and Inquirer, refuted kis
assertions, and called upon him to retract them. On the
whole, considering that Lieut. Strain deliberately chose to
g act independently of the English and French engineers,
wile has been led t 9 expect his co-operation, and to disc

pease with the assistance they could have given him, that
he started upon an expedition into a wilderness, without
furnishing himself with any of the necessary preliminary
information ; and, moreover, that he was commissioned by
his Government to perform a difficult and dangerous ser-
vice, strictly within the limits of his professional duty and
en American soil, and that in accepting such commission,
he was in no way influenced by any statements of mine, I
cannot admit the justice of the censures that have been
heaped on inn for the sufferings of his party. I own lam
surprised to fiad that Lieut. Strain, whose party were
discovered thirty miles to the east of the canal route,
and who admits he never had any idea of his whereabouts
has published a map of the route, with a section of the
Isthmus !