north 2° east from us, and a spur from it hides the place through which Moro thought he saw Ostuta. Since his assertion, quoted above, is so positive, I must conclude that he lost his bearings, and mistook for the Ostuta the small valley running behind Trespicos Hill, and the peculiarly sharp and craggy limestone hills near them, called the Cucumates; but these points are evidently low, too far south, and proved to be at least fifteen miles away from where Moro proposed to begin his feeder. The deep valley we saw at our feet with terrible distinctness proved to be the Ostuta's; but we could not believe it, because it appeared to be 4,000 or 5,000 feet below us. After all our notes were platted, the Fortuna Brook was found to run up so near the gap that it may be possible that Moro mistook it for the Chicapa. This opinion is strengthend by the fact that Moro ascended the Atravesado from Niltepec, and not by the bed of the Chicapa. I declare distinctly that there is no point on the Atravesado, nor near it, from which the Chicapa and Ostuta valleys, nor the land through which they run, can be seen at the same time.
I was accompanied on this expedition by Mr Buel and Señor Macheo — two of the most courageous and daring men I have ever known. We considered this solution of Moro's project as the only hope for a canal; since the Corte project, besides being as yet problematic, the weight of evidence was against it; therefore, we studied these mountains with anxious intetest, sparing no personal discomfort, till the country was explored as far as it was possible for a human being to go.
Moro's assertion was not verified, and since our steps were barred by the precipices which bind the eastern edge of the Atravesado, we determined not to give up hoping until we had seen the ground from below, upward. Accordingly, we decided to descend to the town of Niltepec, explore the Ostuta as far as possible, and endeavor to reconnoiter the gap referred to by Señor Moro.
As we left Aguas Nuevas Brook, the climate, as well as the fauna, flora, and geology of the country, changed visibly. Nothing but the pine grew over the nearly bare rock of finely laminated shale, which, as we ascended, became transformed into a breccia, very much decomposed on the surface, but bearing no vegetation. The summit of Cerro Atravesado consists of porphyry and argillaceous rocks. This hill is ingrafted into the main sierra from north to south, and in a very conspicuous manner blocks the valley of the Chicapa at right angles to its thalweg. Its top surface is flat, about 5,000 feet above the sea, and covered with rich pasture. All along its extensive top, and in a south-west direction, we found immense blocks of granite which do not belong to the place, and can only be accounted for by supposing either that they had fallen down from the highest part of the Sierra Madre, previous to the formation of the gap through which Moro proposed to pass the canal-feeder, or that they were there through glacial action.
Explorations of the Ostuta River. — On the 6th of January we left Niltepec for the Ostuta. The whole river to Piedra Grande is level and covered with drift, remarkable for its size and the direction of its dispersion. The whole Pacific plain forms a basin of about 1,400 square miles, and its shape can be likened to that of a half-cone, of small height, hollow and inverted, having its apex at Boca Barra. Toward this point flow all the rivers
