Nicaragua

VOLCANOES OF CENTRAL AMERICA; THEIR NUMBER—VOLCANO OF JORULLO—ISALCO—THE VOLCANIC CHAIN OF THE MARABIOS—INFERNALES—“LA BAILA DE LOS DEMONIOS”—VOLCANIC OUTBURST ON THE PLAIN OF LEON—VISIT TO THE NEW VOLCANO, AND NARROW ESCAPE—BAPTIZING A VOLCANO—ERUPTION OF COSEGUINA—CELEBRATION OF ITS ANNIVERSARY—SYNCHRONOUS EARTHQUAKES—LATE EARTHQUAKES IN CENTRAL AMERICA—VOLCANO OF TELICA—EL VOLCAN VIEJO—SUBTERRANEAN LAVA BEDS—ACTIVITY OF THE VOLCANOES OF THE MARABIOS IN THE 16th CENTURY—THE PHENOMENA OF EARTHQUAKES—EARTHQUAKE OF OCT. 27, 1849—VOLCANIC FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY—EXTINCT CRATERS—VOLCANIC LAKES—THE VOLCANO OF NINDIRI OR MASAYA—DESCENT INTO IT BY THE FRAY BLAS DE CASTILLO—EXTRAORDINARY DESCRIPTION.

No equal extent of the American continent, perhaps of the globe, possesses so many volcanoes, active and extinct, or exhibits so many traces of volcanic action, as Central America; that is to say, the region embraced between the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and that of Panama, or Darien. In the words of Mr. Stephens, the entire Pacific coast of this remarkable country “bristles with volcanic cones,” which form a conspicuous feature in every landscape, rising above the plains and undulating hills, and often from the edges of the great lakes, with the regularity and symmetry of the pyramids. It is a matter of surprise and regret that, affording as it does, so excellent a field for studying the grand and interesting phenomena connected with volcanoes and earthquakes, this country has not more particularly attracted the attention of scientific men, and especially of those who ascribe to igneous and volcanic agency so important a part in the physical changes which our planet has undergone. Humboldt did not pass through Central America, although fully impressed with the importance of its geological and topographical investigation; a deficiency which he deplores in many places in his published researches. Nor am I aware that any but very partial and imperfect accounts have been given to the world of the volcanoes of this country, and those have been by persons claiming no consideration as scientific men. Recognizing fully my own deficiency in this respect, I should not think of venturing on the subject, except in the hope of directing anew the attention of competent persons to it, and thus contributing to supply the desideratum.

The volcanoes of Central America are all situated on the Pacific coast; the eastern slope of the continent consisting of broken mountain ranges, which exhibit few traces of volcanic action. In fact, they occur almost in a right line, running due N. W. and S. E., commencing with the high volcano of Cartago in Costa Rica (11,480 feet high), from the summit of which both oceans are visible, to Citlaltepetl, in the Department of Vera Cruz, in Mexico. There are several hundred volcanic peaks and extinct craters on this line, the most remarkable of which are Cartago, or Irasu, Turrialva, Barba, and Vatos, (9,840 feet high,) in Costa Rica; Abogado, Cerro Pelas, Miriballes, Tenerio, Rincon de la Vieja, Orosi, Madeira, Ometepec, Zapatero, Guanapepe, Guanacaure, Solentinami, Momobacho, Masaya or Nindiri, Managua, Momotombo, (6,500 feet high,) Las Pilas, Acosusco, Orota, Telica, Santa Clara, El Viejo, (6,000 feet high,) Coseguina, and Joltépec, in Nicaragua; El Tigre, and Nacaome, in Honduras; Amapala or Conchagua, San Salvador, San Miguel, San Vicenté, Isalco, Paneon, and Santa Ana, in San Salvador; Pacaya, Volcan de Agua, Volcan de Fuego, Incontro, Acatenango, Atitlan, Tesanuelco, Sapotitlan, Amilpas, Quesaltenango, and Soconusco, in Guatemala. There are many others which are nameless, or of which the names are unknown. Some ten or twelve of those above named are said to be “vivo,” alive,—that is to say, they throw out smoke, and exhibit other evidences of vitality. But three or four, however, can be said to be active at present, of which, Isalco, in San Salvador, is the most remarkable, having been formed within the last eighty years, and within the recollection of persons now living.

This volcano, and that of Jorullo, in Mexico, described by Humboldt, are, I believe, all that have originated on the continent since the Discovery. It arose from the plain in 1770, and covers what was then a fine cattle hacienda or estate. The occupants on this estate were alarmed by subterraneous noises, and shocks of earthquakes, about the end of 1769, which continued to increase in loudness and strength until the 23d of the February following, when the earth opened about half-a-mile from the dwellings on the estate, sending out lava, accompanied by fire and smoke. The inhabitants fled; but the vaqueros, or herdsmen, who visited the estate daily, reported a constant increase in the smoke and flame, and that the ejection of lava was at times suspended, and vast quantities of ashes, cinders, and stones sent out instead, forming an increasing cone around the vent, or crater. This process was repeated for a long period, but for many years the volcano has thrown out no lava. It has, however, remained in a state of constant eruption, the explosions occurring every sixteen minutes and a quarter, with a noise like the discharge of a park of artillery, accompanied by a dense smoke and a cloud of ashes and stones, which fall upon every side, and add to the height of the cone. It is now about 1,500 or 2,000 feet in height, and I am informed by an intelligent West Indian gentleman, Dr. Drivon, who has known it for the past twenty-five years, that within that period it has increased about one-third. At some times the explosions are more violent than at others, and the ejected matter greater in amount; but it is said the discharges are always regular. With the wind in a favorable direction, an annoying and sometimes injurious quantity of fine ashes or powder is carried to the city of Sonsonate, twelve miles distant. The volcano of Jorullo rose, I believe, in a single night; but, as we have seen, Isalco is the result of long continued deposits, and it seems to me that most of the volcanoes of Central America, including some of the largest, have been formed in like manner. In fact, I have been a personal witness of the origin of a new volcano, which, if it has not met a premature extinguishment, bids fair to add another high cone to those which now stud the great plain of Leon.

This plain is traversed by a succession of volcanic cones, commencing with the gigantic Momotombo, standing boldly out into the Lake of Managua, and ending with the memorable Coseguina, projecting its base not less boldly into the ocean, constituting the line of the Marabios. Fourteen distinct volcanoes occur within one hundred miles, on this line, all of which are visible at the same time. They do not form a continuous range, but stand singly, the plain between them generally preserving its original level. They have not been “thrust up,” as the volcano of Jorullo seemed to have been, elevating the strata around them; although it is not certain but the original volcanic force, being general in its action, raised up the whole plain to its present level. All these are surrounded by beds of lava, mal pais, extending, in some cases, for leagues in every direction. The lava current in places seems to have spread out in sheets, flowing elsewhere, however, in high and serpentine ridges, resembling Cyclopean walls, often capriciously enclosing spaces of arable ground, in which vegetation is luxuriant: these are called by the natives corrales, yards. Hot springs, and openings in the ground emitting hot air, smoke, and steam, called infernillos, are common around the bases of these volcanoes. For large spaces the whole ground seems resting upon a boiling cauldron, and is encrusted with mineral deposits. There are also many places where the ground is depressed and bare, resembling a honey-combed, ferruginous clay-pit, from which sulphurous vapors are constantly rising, destroying vegetation in the vicinity, but especially to the leeward, where they are carried by the wind. By daylight nothing is to be seen at these places, except a kind of tremulous motion of the heated atmosphere near the surface of the ground. But at night, the whole is lighted by a flickering, bluish, and etherial flame, like that of burning spirits, which spreads at one moment over the whole surface, at the next shoots up into high spires, and then diffuses itself again, in a strange, unearthly manner. This is called by the “gente del campo,” the people of the fields, “la baile de los Demonios,” the Dance of the Devils.

Around some of these volcanoes, that is to say those having visible craters, are many smaller cones, of great regularity, composed of ashes, volcanic sand, and triturated stones, resembling septaria. They seldom support anything but a few dwarf trees, and are covered with coarse grass. This grass, when green, gives them a beautiful emerald appearance. In the dry season this color is exchanged for yellow, which, after the annual burning, gives place to black. They constitute with their changes very singular and striking features in the Central American landscape.

On the 11th and 12th days of April, 1850, rumbling sounds, resembling thunder, were heard in the city of Leon. They seemed to proceed from the direction of the volcanoes, and were supposed to come from the great volcano of Momotombo, which often emits noises, and shows other symptoms of activity, besides sending out smoke. This volcano, however, on this occasion exhibited no unusual indications. The sounds increased in loudness and frequency on the night of the 12th, and occasional tremors of the earth were felt as far as Leon; which, near the mountains, were quite violent, terrifying the inhabitants. Early on the morning of Sunday, the 13th, an orifice opened near the base of the long-extinguished volcano of Las Pilas, about twenty miles distant from Leon. The throes of the earth at the time of the outburst were very severe in the vicinity, resembling, from the accounts of the natives, a series of concussions. The precise point where the opening was made might be said to be in the plain; it was, however, somewhat elevated by the lava which had ages before flowed down from the volcano, and it was through this bed of lava that the eruption took place. No people reside within some miles of the spot; consequently I am not well informed concerning the earlier phenomena exhibited by the new volcano. It seems, however, that the outburst was attended with much flame, and that, at first, quantities of melted matter were ejected irregularly in every direction. Indeed, this was clearly the case, as was shown upon my visit to the spot some days thereafter. For a wide distance around were scattered large flakes resembling freshly cast iron. This irregular discharge continued only for a few hours, and was followed by a current of lava, which flowed down the slope of the land toward the west, in the form of a high ridge, rising above the tops of the trees, and bearing down everything which opposed its progress. While this flow continued, which it did for the remainder of the day, the earth was quiet, excepting only a very slight tremor, which was not felt beyond a few miles. Upon the 14th, however, the lava stopped flowing, and an entirely new mode of action followed. A series of eruptions commenced, each lasting about three minutes, succeeded by a pause of equal duration. Each eruption was accompanied by concussions of the earth, (too slight, however, to be felt at Leon,) attended also by an outburst of flame, a hundred feet or more in height. Showers of red-hot stones were also ejected with each eruption to the height of several hundred feet. Most of these fell back into the mouth or crater, the rest falling outward, and gradually building up a cone around it. By the attrition of this process, the stones became more or less rounded, thus explaining a peculiarity in the volcanic stones already alluded to. These explosions continued uninterruptedly for seven days, and could be accurately observed from Leon in the night. Upon the morning of the 22d, accompanied by Dr. J. W. Livingston, U. S. Consul, I set out to visit the spot. No one had ventured near it, but we had no difficulty in persuading some vaqueros, from the haciendas of Orota, to act as guides. We rode with difficulty over beds of lava, until within about a mile and a-half of the place, proceeding thence on foot. In order to obtainobtain a full view of the new volcano, we ascended a high, naked ridge of scoriæ, entirely overlooking it. From this point it presented the appearance of an immense kettle, upturned, with a hole knocked in the bottom, forming the crater. From this, upon one side ran off the lava stream, yet fervent with heat, and sending off its tremulous radiations. The eruptions had ceased that morning, but a volume of smoke was still emitted, which the strong north-east wind swept down in a trailing current along the tree-tops.

The cone was patched over with yellow, the color of the crystallized sulphur deposited by the hot vapors passing up amongst the loose stones. The trees all around were stripped of their limbs, leaves, and bark, and resembled so many giant skeletons. Tempted by the quietude of the volcano, and anxious to inspect it more closely, in spite of the warnings of our guides, we descended from our position, and going to the windward, scrambled over the intervening lava beds, through patches of thorny cacti and agaves, toward the cone. On all sides we found the flakes of melted matter which had been thrown out on the first day of the eruption, and which had moulded themselves over whatever they fell upon. We had no difficulty in reaching the base of the cone, the wind driving off the smoke and vapors to the leeward. It was perhaps a hundred and fifty or two hundred feet high, by two hundred yards in diameter at the base, and of great regularity of outline. It was made up entirely of stones, more or less rounded, and of every size, from one pound up to five hundred. No sound was heard when we reached it, except a low, rumbling noise, accompanied by a very slight tremulous motion. Anxious to examine it more closely, and to test the truth of the popular assertion that any marked disturbance near the volcanic vents is sure to bring on an eruption, we prepared to ascend. Fearing we might find the stones too much heated near the summit, to save my hands, I prepared myself with two staffs, as supports. The Doctor disdained such appliances, and started without them. The ascent was very laborious, the stones rolling away beneath our feet, and rattling down the sides. We however almost succeeded in reaching the summit, when the Doctor, who was a little in advance, suddenly recoiled with an exclamation of pain, having all at once reached a layer of stones so hot as to blister his hands at the first touch. We paused for a moment, and I was looking to my footing, when I was startled by an exclamation of terror from my companion, who gave simultaneously an almost superhuman leap down the side. At the same instant a strange roar almost deafened me; there seemed to be a whirl of the atmosphere, and a sinking of the mass upon which I was standing. Quick as thought I glanced upward; the heavens were black with stones, and a thousand lightnings flashed among them. All this was in an instant, and in the same instant I too was dashing down the side, reaching the bottom at the same moment with my companion, and just in time to escape the stones, which fell in rattling torrents where we had stood a moment before. I need not say that in spite of spiny cacti and rugged beds of lava, we were not long in putting a respectable and safe distance between us and the flaming object of our curiosity. The eruption lasted for nearly an hour, interspersed with lulls, like long breathings. The noise was that of innumerable blast-furnaces in full operation, and the air was filled with projected and falling stones. The subsidence was almost as sudden as the outburst, and we waited several hours in vain for another eruption. Our guides assured us that a second attempt to ascend, or any marked disturbance on the slope, or in the vicinity, would be followed by an eruption, but we did not care to try the experiment.

From that period until I left Central America, I am not aware that there occurred more than one eruption, namely, on the occasion of the falling of the first considerable shower of rain, on, I think, the 27th of the month succeeding that in which the outbreak occurred. Nor have I learned that up to this time this promising young volcano has exhibited any additional active phenomena. I fear that its earlier efforts were too energetic, and that it has gone into a premature decline.

The discharges from this vent, consisting wholly of stones, may have been and probably were peculiar; for the volcanoes themselves, and the cones surrounding them, generally seem to have been made up of such stones, interspersed through large quantities of ashes and scoriaceous sand, alternating with beds of lava.

A few days before our visit, a deputation from the vaqueros and others living in the vicinity of Las Pilas had visited Leon, for the purpose of soliciting the Bishop to go to this place and baptize the prospective volcano, in order to keep it in moderation, and make it observe the proprieties of life. I believe a partial assent was obtained, and the city was full of rumors touching this novel ceremony, which I was exceedingly curious to witness. But its early relapse into quietude dispelled the fears of the people, and the proposed rite was never performed, much to my disappointment, as I intended to stand as god-father, compadre, to the Volcano de los Norte Americanos! This is an old practice, and the ceremony, it is said, was performed, early after the Conquest, on all the volcanoes in Nicaragua, with the exception of Momotombo, which is yet amongst the unsanctified. The old friars who started for its summit, to set up the cross there, were never heard of again.

Although believing that most of the volcanic cones have been formed in the manner above indicated, by gradual accumulations, yet the volcanoes which have shown the greatest energy are low and irregular, and devoid of anything remarkable in their appearance. Such is the Volcano of Coseguina, in Nicaragua, the eruption of which in 1835 was one of the most terrible on record.

On the morning of the 20th of January of that year, several loud explosions were heard for a radius of a hundred leagues around this volcano, followed by the rising of an inky black cloud above it, through which darted tongues of flame resembling lightning. This cloud gradually spread outward, obscuring the sun, and shedding over everything a yellow, sickly light, and at the same time depositing a fine sand, which rendered respiration difficult and painful. This continued for two days, the obscuration becoming more and more dense, the sand falling more thickly, and the explosions becoming louder and more frequent. On the third day the explosions attained their maximum, and the darkness became intense. Sand continued to fall, and people deserted their houses and sheltered themselves under tents of hide in the courts, fearing the roofs might be crushed beneath the weight. This sand fell several inches deep at Leon, more than one hundred miles distant. It fell in Jamaica, Vera Cruz, and Santa Fe de Bogota, over an area of one thousand five hundred miles in diameter. The noise of the explosions was heard nearly as far, and the Superintendent of Belize, eight hundred miles distant, mustered his troops, under the impression that there was a naval action off the harbor. All Nature seemed overawed; the birds deserted the air, and the wild beasts their fastnesses, crouching, terror-stricken and harmless, in the dwellings of men. The people for a hundred leagues groped, dumb with horror, amidst the thick darkness, bearing crosses on their shoulders and stones on their heads, in penitential abasement and dismay. Many believed the day of doom had come, and crowded with noiseless footsteps over a bed of ashes to the tottering churches, where, in the pauses of the explosions, the voices of the priests were heard in solemn invocation to Heaven. The strongest lights were invisible at the distance of a few feet; and, to heighten the terrors of the scene, occasional lightnings traversed the darkness, shedding a lurid glare over the earth. This continued for forty-three hours, when the shocks of earthquakes and the eruptions ceased, and a brisk wind springing up, the obscuration gradually passed away.

The air was literally filled with an almost impalpable powder, which entered the eyes, ears, and nostrils, and produced a sensation of suffocation, a gasping for breath. At first the doors and windows were closed, but without effect; the exclusion of air, joined to the intense heat, became intolerable. The only relief was found in throwing wetted cloths over their heads. The horses and mules suffered not less than the people; many died, and others were saved only by adopting the same precautions.

For some leagues around the volcano, the sand and ashes had fallen to the depth of several feet. Of course the operations of the volcano could only be known by the results. A crater had been opened, several miles in circumference, from which had flowed vast quantities of lava into the sea on one hand, and the Gulf of Fonseca on the other. The verdant sides of the mountain were now rough, burned, seamed, and covered with disrupted rocks and fields of lava. The quantity of matter ejected was incredible in amount. I am informed by the captain of a vessel which passed along the coast a few days thereafter, that the sea for fifty leagues was covered with floating masses of pumice, and that he sailed for a whole day through it, without being able to distinguish but here and there an open space of water.

The appearance of this mountain is now desolate beyond description. Not a trace of life appears upon its parched sides. Here and there are openings emitting steam, small jets of smoke and sulphurous vapors, and in some places the ground is swampy from thermal springs. It is said that the discharge of ashes, sand, and lava was followed by a flow of water, and the story seems corroborated by the particular smoothness of some parts of the slope. The height of this mountain is not, I think, more than three thousand five hundred feet.

The anniversary of this eruption is celebrated in the most solemn manner in Nicaragua. I witnessed the ceremony in the church of La Merced, where, in common with all the foreign residents, I was invited by a circular letter as follows:

The ceremony was very impressive,^[31] and the memory of the terrible event thus commemorated was evidently strong in the minds of those who had witnessed it, and who might be distinguished by their greater gravity and devotion.

It has been observed that any great eruption, like that above recorded, is often attended by similar phenomena in other and remote localities. Thus, a few weeks after the eruption of Coseguina, the whole of New Granada was convulsed; the subterranean thunder was heard simultaneously in Nicaragua, Popayan, Bogota, Santa Martha, Caraccas, Hayti, Curacoa, and Jamaica. These synchronous evidences of activity in subterranean forces is very well illustrated in the recent earthquakes in Venezuela, Peru, Chili, the Antilles, Central America, Mexico, and California. The centres of greatest violence seem to have been in Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Chili. In Costa Rica the places nearest the volcanoes of Orosi and Cartago suffered most; among these were the cities of San José and Heredia, and the town of Barba. Many churches and private dwellings were thrown down or injured. The shocks occurred on the 18th of March last (1851) at about 8 o’clock in the morning; on the Isthmus of Panama on the 15th of May; in Chile on the 2d of April. The amount of property destroyed in Valparaiso was estimated at a million and a half of dollars. In the island of Guadaloupe the earthquakes commenced on the 16th of May, and continued until the 18th; and in San Francisco they were felt on the 15th of the same month.^[32]

The volcano nearest Leon is that of Telica, which is the smallest of the group, being not more than three thousand feet high, but exceedingly regular in outline. It has recently been ascended by my friend Prof. Julius Frœbel, whose interesting account I subjoin:

The volcano of El Viejo was ascended in 1838, by Capt. Belcher, of the British Navy, who made its absolute height 5562 feet; but according to my own admeasurements it is just 6000 feet. As the cone of El Viejo rises sheer from the plain, it probably appears much higher than the more elevated peak. of Cartago, which rises from an elevated mountain range. Capt. Belcher thus describes his ascent:

Besides the hot springs mentioned by Capt. Belcher, at the summit of El Viejo, there are also orifices emitting rills of smoke, which, under favorable states of the atmosphereatmosphere, may be seen from Leon. When the pirate Dampier was on this coast, this volcano exhibited unmistakable signs of life; for this old voyager states expressly that it was an “exceedingly high mountain, smoking all day, and sending out flames at night.”^[34]

The great plain of Leon, at its highest part, is elevated about two hundred feet above the sea; yet in the vicinity of the range of volcanoes which traverses it, in digging wells, beds of lava, fifteen feet thick, have been found, at the depth of seventy-five Spanish varas, or about two hundred and ten feet, and this at a point not the highest of the plain, but according to my calculations only one hundred and thirty feet above the ocean. Unless there is some great error in these data, and I can discover of none, they would seem to prove that there has been a subsidence of the plain since the almost infinitely remote period when the stream of lava flowed upwards from the depths of the earth. I may mention that in the vicinity of the volcanoes, water is scarce, and can only be obtained by digging to great depths. The particular well to which I refer is at the cattle estate de las Palmas, eighteen miles north-east of Leon, and is upward of three hundred feet in depth, the water pure, with no saline materials in solution.

Much might be said on the phenomena of earthquakes as they occur in this country. The shocks seem to be of two classes; the perpendicular, which are felt only in the vicinity of volcanoes, and the horizontal, which reach over wide tracts of country. The latter are very unequal; in some places being violent, and in others, nearer their assumed source, comparatively slight. The undulating movement seems to be only a modification of the horizontal or vibratory. Sometimes these motions are all combined, or rather succeed each other with great rapidity. Such was the case with the earthquake of the 27th of October, 1850, which I experienced, and of which I can speak authoritatively. It occurred at about one o’clock in the morning. I was aroused from sleep by a strong undulatory motion, which was sufficiently violent to move my bed several inches backward and forth on the rough paved floor, and to throw down books and other articles which had been placed on my table. The tiles of the roof were also rattled together violently, and the beams and rafters creaked like the timbers of a deeply-laden vessel in a heavy sea. The people all rushed from their houses in the greatest alarm, and commenced praying in loud tones. The domestic animals seemed to share the general consternation; the horses struggled as if to loose themselves, and the dogs commenced a simultaneous barking. This undulatory motion lasted nearly a minute, steadily increasing in violence, until suddenly it changed into a rapid vibratory or horizontal motion, which rendered it difficult to stand upright. This lasted about thirty seconds, and was followed as suddenly by a vertical movement, or a series of shocks, such as one would experience in being rapidly let down a flight of steps, then declined in violence, but nevertheless seemed to stop abruptly. The whole lasted about two minutes, and can be compared to nothing except the rapid movement of a large and loaded railroad car over a bad track, in which there are undulations, horizontal irregularities, and breaks.

No considerable damage was done. Some old walls were thrown down, but in various places in the country I afterwards observed that rocks had been detached and portions of cliffs broken off by the shocks. The thick adobe walls of my house were cracked in several places from top to bottom. Many other buildings suffered in like manner. The motion which seemed most dangerous to me was that which I have described as horizontal, in which the earth seemed to slide away from beneath my feet.

The night was clear moonlight, and it was very still; not a breath of air seemed stirring. The orange trees in my courtyard, during the continuance of the undulations, swayed regularly to and fro; but when the other movements followed, they had an unsteady or tremulous motion. The water in my well, which was very deep, seemed also much agitated. The direction of the undulations was from north to south, and they were felt throughout the entire State of Nicaragua, and in Honduras and San Salvador, and even perhaps beyond these limits.

I learned from old residents, that, as compared with the others which have occurred within the last quarter of a century, this earthquake ranked as about seven, the maximum being ten.

All observers here concur in saying that, while earthquakes are common at all times of the year, they are much more numerous and violent at the entrance and close of the two seasons, the wet and the dry; that is, about the last of October and the first of November, and the last of April and the first of May. They are observed as particularly numerous and strong after the heavy rains, at the close of the wet season in October. It is also observed that a general quiet seems to prevail, for a period, both before and after their occurrence.^[35]