CHAPTER X. GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES. HE territory of Nicaragua (comprised between the THE limits of 10° 41′ and 15° north latitude, and 83° 15′ and 87° 40′ west longitude) has for its boundaries: on the east, the Caribbean Sea; on the south, the Republic of Costa Rica; on the west, the Pacific Ocean; and on the north, the Republic of Honduras. It contains over 50,000 square miles, an area nearly equal to that comprised by England, or the combined states of Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. In shape it resembles an isosceles triangle, the base being the Caribbean coast, and the apex the cone of the volcano of Cosigüina, on the Bay of Fonseca. The boundary between Nicaragua and Costa Ricawhich has recently acquired importance from the proposed canal-long in dispute, was defined by a treaty between the two republics, concluded on April 15, 1858. The claim being made by Nicaragua, however, that this treaty was invalid, the question was submitted to the Q arbitration of President Cleveland, who, on March 22nd, 1888, declared its validity, and gave interpretations of all doubtful points. The Caribbean coast of Nicaragua measures about 300 miles from north to south, 150 miles being comprised in the "Mosquito Reservation."1 The ports of of entry on the Atlantic side are Greytown (San Juan del Norte), Cape Gracias á Dios, and Bluefields. The port of Greytown, as shown elsewhere, was formerly a splendid harbour, having thirty feet of water at low tide, but has gradually silted up. The Canal Company, by means of a breakwater, built in 1891, combined with the use of powerful dredges, improved the harbour, which, however, since the cessation of work, has completely silted up again. The bar is very troublesome and, at times, dangerous. The port of Gracias a Dios, in former times an excellent harbour, now has scarcely fifteen feet of water at the deepest place. Vessels have to cast anchor at some distance outside the bar, and the landing of passengers or merchandise is difficult, and frequently dangerous. In consequence of the great development of the trade in bananas and other tropical fruits, for which regular lines of steamers from the United States have been established, Bluefields is assuming a position of importance as a port. The lagoon has an 1 The limits, as settled by the treaty of 1860, are inclosed in a line commencing at the mouth of the river Rama, thence up the midcourse of that river to its source, thence due west to the meridian of 84° 15′ longitude west, thence due north up the said meridian to the river Hueso, and down the mid-course of that river to the sea, and thence southerly along the shore of the Caribbean Sea. area of 100 square miles, in some parts of considerable depth, but it suffers greatly from the deposit of sediment brought down by the Bluefields (Mico) and other smaller rivers which empty into it. The Pacific coast of Nicaragua is about 200 miles in length, reaching from the Gulf of Fonseca to the bay of Salinas. The water is deep close to the shore, neither reefs nor shoals render navigation dangerous, and the volcanic peaks, visible at a distance of many miles, form admirable landmarks for the guidance of the navigator. The swell of the Pacific rolls in on the sandy beach and forms a constant heavy surf. The bay of Fonseca (of which Nicaragua possesses a share with the neighbouring republics of Salvador and Honduras), is said to be the finest port on the entire western coast of America. It contains several good interior harbours, and has the appearance of having, like the lakes of Nicaragua' and Managua, once been an inland sea, which has been opened to the ocean by some mighty convulsion of nature, with an outlet eighteen miles in width. From the southern shore of this great bay, belonging to Nicaragua, a wide creek or inlet, the " Estero Real," extends some fifty miles into the interior, having at a distance of thirty miles from its mouth a depth of three fathoms. The bay of Salinas forms a deep port, nearly circular in shape, embracing an area of about eight square miles, the centre "Le creux le plus profond est de 82 mètres, et par conséquent descend en contre-bas du niveau de la mer avec laquelle le lac communiquait jadis, ainsi que le prouvent les animaux d'origine marine qui le peuplent encore, le pristis antiquorum, et un requin, eulamia nicaraguensis."-RECLUS, vol. 17, p. 499. 1 of which marks the western end of the boundary line between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The ports of entry on the Pacific are Corinto and San Juan del Sur. The former, now familiar owing to its recent occupation by the English, is one of the bestprotected ports on the coast; it is a part of the ancient port of Realejo (an arm of the sea merely), in former times one of the best in Spanish America, now become shallow and in many places overgrown with mangrove trees. Corinto, the terminus of the railroad from Lake Managua, is regularly visited by the Pacific Mail Company's steamers. Brito, now merely a roadstead, has been selected as the Pacific terminus of the canal. San Juan del Sur has a small but deep and safe harbour, with an entrance about half a mile in width, situated between piles of rock more than 400 feet in height. It was brought into prominence between 1851 and 1855 as the Pacific port of the Nicaragua transit line, via the lake and San Juan River, by which many thousands crossed the isthmus to reach the Eldorado of California. The topographical features of Nicaragua, as can be seen from the maps, are largely determined by two mountain ranges, traversing the country in a general direction from north-west to south-east. The western or coast range commences in the high regions of Guatemala, and, extending through Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, terminates in the great knot or group of the Costa Rican mountains. It follows the general direction of the coast at a distance from the sea of only 10 to 20 miles, there being therefore no considerable streams discharging into the Pacific Ocean. This is the principal line of volcanic energy, and is marked by the volcano, 3,000 feet high, of Cosigüina (which has been inactive since its tremendous eruption in 1835); Madera, 4,590 feet; Ometepe, 5,747 feet; Mombacho, 4,583 feet; Masaya, 2,972 feet; Momotombo, 6,121 feet; and El Viejo, 6,256 feet, these altitudes being above the surface of the surrounding country. As reference is made to this subject elsewhere, it is here only necessary to note that there are also many other lesser volcanic peaks, some of them showing evidences of recent activity, others bearing no traces of comparatively late eruptions, and others again of which no traditions even of such energy seem to exist. The eastern range enters Nicaragua from Honduras and extends in a general south-eastern direction until it reaches the San Juan river, at a point about 50 miles from its mouth. It sends out numerous spurs towards the Caribbean Sea, between which flow the many rivers and streams that make their way to that coast. Between the two ranges lies the great interior basin, comprising an area of nearly 300 miles in length by 100 wide, in which are situated the two lakes, which form such an important feature of the country. These inland seas, now draining into the Atlantic, both geologically and geographically belong to the Pacific, and were both, at one time, portions of an inlet communicating with that ocean, surrounded and shut off from all communication with the Atlantic by the encircling mass of the Central American Andes, which created a mountain-locked basin |