THE GATEWAY OF THE OCEANS. [From the " Spectator."]

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 515, 22 March 1851, Page 4

THE GATEWAY OF THE OCEANS. [From the " Spectator."]

The forcing of the barrier which for 300 year* has defied and impel illed the commerce of the world ieen s now an event at hnnd. One-half of the contract for the junction of the Atlantic and PHCifir, ohtained from the State of Nicaragua last year hy the prorop. titude of the Americans, is to be held nt the option of English capitalists ; and an understanding in at length i announced, that if the contemplated ship canal can be constructed on condition! that shall leave no uureitainty as to the profitableness of the enterpiise. it is to be carried foiuard with the influence of our highest mercantile firir.s. The necessaiy surveys hate been actually commenced ; and as a temporary route i« nt the same time being opened, an amount of information is ikely soon to be collected which will fannlanse us with each point regarding the capabilities of the entire region. I 1I 1 is understood, moreover, that when the canal surveys shall lie completed, they are to be mbnutted to the rigid sirutinv of Government engineers both in Ktiglnnd and the United States ; to that before the public can be called upon to consider the expediency of embarking in the undertaking, every doubt in connexion which it, as far as practical minds are concerned, will have been removed. The immediate steps now in course of adoption may be explained m a few wo'ds. At present the transit across the Isthmus of Panama occupies four days, and its inconveniences and dangers are notorious. At Nicaragua i* '* represented the transit may possibly be effected in one cUy, and th-i by a continuous steam route with the exception of 15 miles bv mule or omnibus. The pniFage would be up the San Juan, across Lake Nicaragua to the town of that i>ame, mid tbence to the port of San Juan del Sur on the Pacific. On arriving at this terminus (which is contiderably south of the one contemplated for the permanent canal, namely, Realejo), tbe passenger would find himself some 600 or 7<JO miles nearer to California than if he had crossed at the Isthmus of Panama; and at tbe rate of speed of American Steamers on tbii service it upwards of 300 miles a day, his saving of three days in crossing, coupled with the saving in sea distance, would be equivalent to a total of 1500 miles measured in relation to what is accomplished by those vessels. A lower charge for the transit and a comparatively healthy climate, are also additional inducements ; and un* der these circumstances anticipations are entertained that the great tide ot tiaffic will be turned in the new direction. This tide, according to the last account* from Panama, waa kept op at the rate of 70,000 persons a yc»r, m>d it was expected to increase. The navigability of the San Juan, bowevpr, in its present ttate remains yet to be tested. The American Company, who have obtained the privileges of the route, have sent down two vessels of light draught, the Nicaragua and the Director, for the purpose of for f hwith plating the matter beyond doubt. At the last date the Director had safely crossed the bar at its mouth and was preparing to ascend ; the Nicaragua had previously gone up the Colorado, n branch river, where, it is said through the carelessness of her eugi« neer, she had run aground upon a sandbank, though without sustaining any damage. The next accounts will possets great interest. Whatever may be the leal capabilities ol the tiver, accidents and delays must be anticipated in the first trial of a new method of navigating it. Even in our own rirer, the Thames, the first steamer could scarcely have been expected to make a trip from London bridge to Richmond without some mishap. Should, therefore, the present experiment show any clear indications of success, there will be reasonable ground for congratulxtious ; and it forms so important a chap'er in the history of enterprise, that all must regard it with good wishes. If the results of thit temporal y transit should realize tbe expectations it seems to warrant, there can be be little doubt the completion of the canal will soon be commenced with ardour. Supposing the surveys show a cost not exceeding the mm estimated iv 1837 by Lieutenant Buily, the prospect of the leturns would, there it reason to believe, be much larger than the public have at any time been accustomed to suppose. There is alio the fact that the increase of these returns can know no limit so Jong as the commerce of the world it.a'l increase ; and, indeed, already tbe idea of gain to nccrne appeais to have struck some mitidi with such force at to lead them to question if the privileges which have been granted are not of a kind •o extraordinarily favourable that they will sooner or later be repudiated by the State of Nicaragua. No tuch danger, however, exists; as the company arc guaranteed in the safe posseibion of all their rights by the treaty of protection which hat been ratified between Great Britain and the United States. One of the most important sign in favour of the quick completion of the ship canal is now furnished in tbe circuuistancei that ther* are no rival routes. At Panama, a cheap wooden tailway i*» lo be conttiucted, winch will prove i>erviceab>e for much of tne passenger traffic to Peru and Chili ; but the project for a canal at that point has. been entirely given up. The same is the case at T< huantepec, where the difficulties are far grtater than at Panama. It it true the quettion naturally arises whether if an exploration weie made of other partt of Central America or New Grenada, «ome route might not be discovered which might admit of the coitruction of a canal even at a lets cost than will be necessary at Nicaragua. But in a matter which concerns the cOtnmeice ot tl.e whole world for aget, there are other points to be contideied besides mere cheapneit, and those who have studied ibe advantages of Nicaragua maintain that enough is known of the whole country, both north and touth of that state, to establi.h the /ait that she po»ies*es intrinsic capabilities essential to the perfectnes* of the entire work which are not to be found in any other quarter, and for the abience of which no saving of any immediate turn would C' mpensate. In the first place, it it nearer to California by several hundred milet than any other route that could be pointed out except Tehuantepec, while at the same time it it to central ab duly to combine the interests both of tbe northern and southern countries of ' c Pacific ; in the next place it contains two magni*

fippnt natural docks, where all the v egS el» in the worW m! ght refresh and refit; thirdly it a boundi in natural p ro^uctt of all kinds, and is besides comparatively well pr , pled ; fourthly, it pos»e»se» a t empertfure w hicb i« relatively mild, while it » a)so in moit partg un doubtff T ,, healthy; and, finally, it ha 9 a harbour on the Pacific* whicD - lo use the WOr<J| of Dunlop. in his book on C«>"" a l Ajneri CJIt } S «s good a* any port in the kn° wn w <» r Jd, and decided'y superior even to Portsmouth, Rio de Janeiro, Port Jackson, Talrujana, Callao, and Guayaquil. The proximity to California upttlei the quention as to American cooperation ; which, it noa y be belie*ed would certainly not he .ffordcfl to any route farther couth, and without which it wo'iM be We to contemplate the under'akinsr. At thp same time, howerer, it mu^t be admitted th«t if any body of personi would adopt the example now net by thp American company, and commence a lurrryofany new route at their own expeme, they would entitled to erery consideration, and to rank at benefactori of the community, whatever might be thr result of their endeavours. There are none who can help forward 'he enterprise, either direct'y or indirectly, upon whom it will not shed honour That honour, too, will not be diitant The progress of »l.c wnrU will unite for the first time in a direct manner the two great nation* upon whose mutual friendship the welfure of the world depend* ; and its completion will cauoe a revolution in commerce more extensive and benefieiert than any that has yet O'corrrd, and which may still be so rapid as to be witneued by many who even now are old.

Thb Ship-Worm.— Of the marine tribes, the shipworm i> the nnlv one which ha» attracted much attention ; but the At vnstation this worm like mollusk commits it sufficiently extensive to have earned for it a hateful notoriety, nnd justifies the strong language of Lanneus, when he stylei it the '' calamity naviam." It bai been sifted with the power of boreine; into wood, and while following; this instinct, and working out the plans of Provi lenne, in removing wrecks and obstructions which have been carried to the ocean, ships, piers, and bulwoiks are equally obnoxioui to it, •nd by drilling them in every direction they »oon become unable to resist the violence of the wave*, and are washed away The nmount of the damage which the teredo thus inflicts on marine property ii difficult to calculate ; that it if very considerable w proved by the complaint made of the mulluik in almost all seat, and the numerous expensive methods which have been adopted to avert its attacks. There is in the Indian •eas, pays an anonymous traveller, "a kind of small worms that fasten themselves to the timber of the ships, and %n pierce them that they take water everywhere ; or, if they do not altogether r'«ce th«m through, they so weaken the wood that it is almost impossible to repair tbrm. To preserve the ships." he continues, •« some have employed deal, hair and lime, and therewith lined their ships ; but, besides »bat this does not altogether affrieht the worms,it retards much the ship s course. The Pnrtupils scorch their ships, insomuch that in the quick worlct there ii made a coaly crust of about an inch thick. But ai this ii dangerous in happening not seldom that the whole vessel is burnt, so the reason why the worms eat not through Portugal •hips is conceived to be the exceeding hardness of the timber employed bv them." In the we»t the teredo is equally active, as th* obae- rations of Sir H«n» Slonne and Dr. Browne prove. Our «arly navigators were frequently thwarted or controlled in their bold enter, prises by their ships being tendered by its means un. safe or useleei; and as our commerce enlarged, the evil whs so severely felt that it led to the plan of sheathing the bottoms of ships with lead and copper; f..r which important discovery an Act of Parliament was passed to secure to Sir P. Howard and Major Watson the sole vie and profits which might accrue from it. From the tropical seas the teredimes were common'y believed to h»ve been introduced into those of Lurope Mimewhst less than two centuries ago; but as there is more than sufficient evidence to prove that certain species are truly indigenous, the hope vanishes of ever seeing them f xtirpated by a winter severer than usual, or by a con'inned temperature inimical to their cons.li tution. as might have happened had they been colonists from the tropics ; for the teredo almost always reudei near the surface, and often in situations which are left dry during the ebb, where it is necessarily subject to the atmospherical change*. Its destructive operation! in European seas are not therefore weakened by a less genial locality. In the yean 1731 and 32 the United Province« were under a dreadful alarm ; for it was discovered that these mollusks had made such depredations on the piles which supported the banks of Zealand and Prieslnnd, «s to threaten them with total destruction, and to reclaim from man *hathe had wiih unexampled labour wrested from the ocean A. few years after they fortunately abandoned the dyke« *, but fearful of the return of an" enemy more powerful than the Grand Turk even, who boasted that he would exrerroinate them with a host armed with spades and shovels, the Dutch « ffered a reward of value to any one who should discover a remedy to ward off their attacks, and ointmenU, varnishes, and poisonous liquors were recommended by the hundred. The exact amount of d»mage done at this viiitation, which Sellins, unable to discover any natural cause for it, tays was sent by the Deity to punish the growing pride of the Hollanders, I have not been able to ascertain. Writers in general speak of it ai "very great," and Dr. Job Baiter mentions the teredo as an animal " which hns done »o many millions damage to these countries." In our own country it has done, and continues to do, extensive mischief. The soundest and hardest oak cannot resiit the noxious creatures, but in the courts of four or five years thsy will so drill it as to reuder its removal necesury, as has repeatedly happened in the dock-yard of Plymouth. To preserve the timbers used there, and expote to them the pl«n row adopted is, to cover ths parts under wnter with short broad-headed nail-*, which, in salt-water, soon invests the whole with a strong coating of ru t, impenetrable by their au^er*. This plan appears to have proved effectual in the harbours of Plymouth anil Falmoulh —Dr. G. Johnson's Introduction to Covchology.