A rather irritating book. There isn't much known about Strain's expedition, so the author has padded the history with oddly-placed biographies of some of the members and of other people who were interested in Darien. When he finally gets around to the 1854 expedition, the book gets interesting for a few chapters. But then he drags it out with several more chapters that could have been covered in a page or two. His final chapter is an account of the author's own trip to the area during which he got sore feet. So?

The author also has a tendency to launch into flowery language at odd moments. In short, it was a effort to write a significant history of a pointless and insignificant journey that was been forgotten with good reason.