Nicaragua

Some explorations of “Indian River,” flowing into the Caribbean Sea on the Mosquito Shore, a short distance above the port of San Juan, disclosed the fact that gold exists in that stream, as it does unquestionably in all the rivers falling from the mountains of Honduras into the Atlantic. It may be questioned, however, if the gold, except in peculiar localities, can be obtained in sufficient quantities to repay the cost and labor of obtaining it.^[50]

The methods of mining in Nicaragua, as in every other part of Central America, are exceedingly rude, and it is not surprising that the results are so often unsatisfactory. The silver and gold ores are crushed in a basin of masonry, in which rises a vertical shaft, driven generally by a horizontal water-wheel. This shaft has two arms, to each of which is suspended a large stone or boulder. These are the crushers. After the ore is reduced to sufficient fineness, the metal is separated by amalgam; a long and expensive process, which is now beginning to be facilitated and cheapened by the introduction of the German or “barrel process.” The machines for crushing the ores have, however, as yet, undergone but slight improvement. Some of the mines in San Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica have European machinery, and are worked to good advantage.

The trade and commerce of Nicaragua is at an extremely low ebb. The advance which the country made in these respects, from the opening of the California transit in 1850-51, has been followed by more than a corresponding retrogression—the consequence of domestic dissensions, and foreign invasion. The merchants of the country are impoverished and bankrupt, the revenues of the government merely nominal, and the little foreign commerce that remains, hardly worth the trouble of estimating, is in the hands of two or three English and French traders, whose governments are able and willing to protect them in their lives and property. American enterprise and influence in the country may be considered as extinct, and likely to remain so until a different class of men shall identify themselves with the country.

THE PROPOSED INTER-OCEANIC CANAL: EARLY EXPLORATIONS; SURVEY OF COLONEL CHILDS IN 1851; VARIOUS LINES FROM LAKE NICARAGUA TO THE PACIFIC; ETC., ETC.

From what has been said in the preceding chapters, it sufficiently appears that Nicaragua is a country of great beauty of scenery, fertility of soil, and variety and richness of products. But she has attracted the attention of the worldworld less on these accounts than because she is believed to possess within her borders the best and most feasible route for a canal between the two great oceans. The project of opening such a communication through her territories began to be entertained as soon as it was found that there existed no natural water communication between the seas. As early as 1551, the historian Gomara had indicated the four lines which have since been regarded as offering the greatest facilities for the purpose, viz.: at Darien, Panama, Nicaragua, and Tehuantepec. There were difficulties, he said, “and even mountains in the way, but,” he added, “there are likewise hands; let only the resolve be formed to make the passage, and it can be made. If inclination be not wanting, there will be no want of means; the Indies, to which the passage is to be made, will supply them. To a king of Spain, with the wealth of the Indies at his command, when the object is the spice trade, that which is possible is also easy.”

But, although occupying so large a share of the attention of all maritime nations, and furnishing a subject for innumerable essays in every language of Europe, yet it was not until after the discovery of gold in California, and the organization of an Anglo-American State on the shores of the Pacific, that the question of a canal assumed a practical form, or that of its feasibility was accurately determined.

In 1851, a complete survey was made of the river San Juan, Lake Nicaragua, and the isthmus intervening between the lake and the Pacific, by Colonel Childs, under the direction of the late “Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company.” Until then, it had always been assumed that the river San Juan, as well as Lake Nicaragua, could easily be made navigable for ships, and that the only obstacle to be overcome was the narrow strip of land between the lake and the ocean. Hence, all of the so-called surveys were confined to that point. One of these was made under orders of the Spanish government, in 1781, by Don Manuel Galisteo. Another, and that best known, by Mr. John Baily, under the direction of the government of Central America, in 1838. An intermediate examination seems to have been made early in the present century, the results of which are given in Thompson’s Guatemala. The following table shows the distances, elevations, etc., on the various lines followed by these explorers:

As the survey of Colonel Childs is the only one which can be accepted as conforming to modern engineering requirements, it will be enough to present the detailed results at which he arrived. The line proposed by him, and on which all his calculations and estimates were based, commences at the little port of Brito on the Pacific, and passes across the isthmus between the ocean and the lake, to the mouth of a small stream called the Rio Lajas, flowing into the latter; thence across Lake Nicaragua to its outlet, and down the valley of the Rio San Juan to the port of the same name, on the Atlantic. The length of this line was found to be 194⅓ miles, as follows:—

The dimensions of the canal were designed to be—depth, 17 feet; excavations in earth, 50 feet wide at bottom, 86 feet wide at nine feet above bottom, and 118 feet wide at surface of water; excavations in rock, 50 feet wide at bottom, 77 feet wide at nine feet above bottom, and 78-1/3 feet wide at surface of water.

The construction of the canal on this plan contemplates supplying the western division, from the lake to the sea, with water from the lake. It would, therefore, be necessary to commence the work on the lake at a point where the water is seventeen feet deep, at mean level. This point is opposite the mouth of a little stream called Rio Lajas, and twenty-five chains from the shore. From this point, for one and a half miles, partly along the Rio Lajas, the excavation will be principally in earth, but beyond this, for a distance of five and a half miles, which carries the line beyond the summit, three-fourths of the excavations would be in trap-rock; that is to say, the deepest excavation or open cut would be 64½ feet (summit, 47½ feet + depth of canal, 17 feet = 64½ feet), and involve the removal of 1,800,000 cubic yards of earth, and 3,378,000 cubic yards of rock. The excavation and construction on this five and a half miles alone was estimated to cost upwards of $6,250,000. After passing the summit, and reaching the valley of a little stream called Rio Grande, the excavation, as a general rule, would be only the depth of the canal. Col. Childs found that the lake, at ordinary high water, is 102 feet 10 inches above the Pacific at high, and 111 feet 5 inches at low tide, instead of 128 feet, as calculated by Mr. Baily. He proposed to accomplish the descent to Brito by means of fourteen locks, each of eight feet lift. The harbor of Brito, as it is called, at the point where the Rio Grande enters the sea, is, in fact, only a small angular indentation of the land, partially protected by a low ledge of rocks, entirely inadequate for the terminus of a great work like the proposed canal, and incapable of answering the commonest requirements of a port. To remedy this deficiency, it was proposed to construct an artificial harbor of thirty-four acres area, by means of moles and jetties in the sea, and extensive excavations in the land. If, as supposed, the excavations here would be in sand, it would be obviously almost impossible to secure proper foundations for the immense sea-walls and piers which the work would require. If in rock, as seems most likely, the cost and labor would almost surpass computation. Assuming the excavations to be in earth and sand, Col. Childs estimated the cost of these improvements at upwards of $2,700,000.

Returning now to the lake, and proceeding from seventeen feet depth of water, opposite the mouth of the Rio Lajas,^[51] in the direction of the outlet of the lake at San Carlos, there is ample depth of water for vessels of all sizes for a distance of about fifty-one miles, to a point half a mile south of the Boacas Islands, where the water shoals rapidly to fourteen feet; for the remaining five and a half miles to San Carlos, the depth averages only nine feet at low, and fourteen feet at high water. For this distance, therefore, an average under-water excavation of eight feet in depth would be required, to carry out the plan of a canal of seventeen feet deep. But if the lake were kept at high level, the under-water excavation would have an average of only about three feet. Colonel Childs proposed to protect this portion of the canal by rows of piles driven on each side, and supposed that when the excavation should be completed, there would be a sufficient current between them to keep the channel clear.

We come now to the division between Lake Nicaragua and the Atlantic, through or along the Rio San Juan. Colonel Childs carried a line of levels from the lake at San Carlos to the port of San Juan, and found the distance between those points to be a hundred nineteen and a third miles, and the total fall from the level of high-water in the lake to that of high-tide in the harbor, one hundred seven and a half feet. From San Carlos to a point half a mile below the Serapiqui river, a distance of 91 miles, Col. Childs proposed to make the river navigable by excavating its bed, and by constructing dams, to be passed by means of locks and short canals; the remaining twenty-eight miles to be constructed through the alluvial delta of the San Juan, inland, and independently of the river. Of the whole fall, sixty-two and a half feet occur on that portion of the river which he proposed to improve by dams, and on which there were to be eight locks, and the remaining forty-five feet on the inland portion of the works, by means of six locks—fourteen locks in all, each with an average lift of nearly eight feet. It was proposed to place the first dam, descending the river, at the Castillo rapids, thirty-seven miles from the lake, and to pass the rapids by means of a short lateral canal. By means of this dam the river was to be raised, at that point, twenty-one and a half feet, and the level of Lake Nicaragua five feet above its lowest stage; or, in other words, kept at high-water mark, to avoid the extensive submarine excavations which would be necessary to enable vessels to enter the river. The fall, at this dam, would be sixteen feet. The other dams were to be four of eight feet fall, and one of thirteen and a half feet, and another of fourteen and a half feet. Between all these it was found there would be required more or less excavation in the bed of the stream, often in rock. Col. Childs also proposed to improve the harbor of San Juan by means of moles, etc., and also to construct an artificial harbor or basin, in connection with it, of thirteen acres area. As regards the amount of water passing through the San Juan, it was found that at its lowest level, June 4, 1851, the discharge from the lake was 11,930 cubic feet per second. The greatest rise in the lake is five feet. When it stood 3.43 feet above its lowest level, the flow of water in the river, at San Carlos, was 18,059 cubic feet per second, being an increase of upwards of fifty per cent. Supposing the same ratio of increase, the discharge from the lake, at extreme high-water, would be upwards of 23,000 cubic feet per second. The river receives large accessions from its tributaries, which, at the point of divergence of the Colorado channel, swell the flow of water to 54,380 cubic feet per second, of which, 42,056 cubic feet pass through the Colorado channel, and 12,324 cubic feet into the harbor of San Juan.

The cost of the work was estimated by Col. Childs as follows:

The charter of the Company, under the auspices of which Col. Childs was sent to Nicaragua, stipulated that the canal should be of dimensions sufficient “to admit vessels of all sizes.” A canal therefore, such as that proposed, but seventeen feet deep, and one hundred and eighteen feet wide at the surface of the water, could not meet the requirements of the charter, nor be adequate to the wants of commerce. To pass freely large merchantmen and vessels of war, a canal would require to be at least thirty feet deep, with locks and other works in proportion, which would involve at least three times the amount of excavation, etc., of the work proposed above, and a corresponding augmentation of cost. A canal so small as to render necessary the transhipment of merchandise and passengers is manifestly inferior to a railway, both as involving, in the first instance, greater cost of construction, and, in the second place, greater expense in working, with less speed.

The surveys and estimates of Col. Childs were submitted to the British government, and by it referred for report to Mr. James Walker, civil engineer, and Captain Edward Aldrich, Royal Engineers. The report of this commission, proceeding on the assumption that the plans, measurements, etc., of Col. Childs were correct, was, on the whole, favorable. It however suggested that the item of “contingencies” in the estimate should be increased from fifteen to twenty-five per cent. Of all the works of the proposed navigation it pronounces the Brito or Pacific harbor as least satisfactory. “Presuming the statements and conclusions of Col. Childs to be correct, the Brito harbor is, in shape and size, unworthy of this great ship navigation, even supposing the Pacific, to which it is quite open, to be a much quieter ocean than any we have seen or have information of.” Subsequently, the plans and reports were laid before a committee of English capitalists, with a view to procure the means for the actual construction of the work. This committee, after a patient investigation, declined to embark in the work, or to recommend it to public support, on the ground;—1st. That the dimensions of the proposed work were not such as, in their opinion, would meet the requirements of commerce; 2d. That these dimensions were not conformable to the provisions of the Company’s charter; 3d. That supposing the work not to exceed the estimated cost of $32,800,000, the returns, to meet the simple interest on the investment, at six per cent,, would require to be at least $1,950,000 over and above its current expenses; or, to meet this interest, and the percentage to be paid to Nicaragua, not less than $2,365,000 over and above expenses; or allowing $1,000,000 per annum for repairs, superintendence, cost of transportation, etc., then the gross earnings would require to be $3,400,000; 4th. Putting the toll at $3 per ton, the collection of this revenue would involve the passage of upwards of 1,000,000 tons of shipping per annum; 5th. That not more than one-third of the vessels engaged in the oriental trade could pass through a canal of the proposed dimensions, even if the route which it would open were shorter than that by way of Cape of Good Hope, instead of being more than 1000 miles longer to Calcutta, Singapore, and other leading ports of British India; 6th. That the heavy toll of $3 per ton on ships would generally prevent such vessels as could do so from passing the canal, inasmuch as on a vessel of 1000 tons the aggregate toll would be $3000, or more than the average earnings of such vessels per voyage; 7th. That a work of the dimensions proposed, under the present condition of commerce, would not attract sufficient support to defray the cost of repairs and working, and could not therefore be safely undertaken by capitalists. Upon the publication of this report the canal company obtained the privilege of opening a transit by steamers and carriages through Nicaragua, and the project of a canal seems to have been definitely abandoned—unless we regard the fantastic proceedings of certain adventurers from Europe, as directed seriously toward the execution of the enterprise.

The construction of a ship-canal between the oceans through Nicaragua is unquestionably within the range of engineering feasibilities, but it can be as safely affirmed that, with the present requirements of commerce, and under the laws which govern the use of capital, it is not likely to be seriously undertaken. The assumption upon which most of the speculations regarding the utility of such a work are founded, viz., that it would shorten the distance between the ports of Europe, and those of Asia in general, is erroneous as will appear from the following table:

It will be observed that the sole advantage which the canal would afford to Great Britain, as regards the East, would be a saving in distance (equally attainable by a railway across the isthmus) of 2430 miles in communicating with Australia. As regards the Sandwich Islands, and the western coast of America, the gain in distance, both to England and the United States, would be considerable, as shown in the subjoined table:

It must not be supposed that the investigations of Col. Childs were confined to the single line described in the foregoing paragraphs. He examined that also by way of the Rio Sapoa to the bay of Salinas, but found that to pass the summit, a cut of 119 feet in depth would be requisite, an up-lockage from the lake of 350 feet, and a down-lockage to the Pacific of 432 feet. Water to supply the upper locks, it was ascertained, could only be got with difficulty, and at great cost; and, furthermore, a rock-cut of three-fourths of a mile long would be necessary, from low-tide mark in the bay of Salinas to deep water. In short, the physical difficulties of this line, if not of a nature to make the construction of a canal impossible, were nevertheless such as to make it impracticable.

It seems that Col. Childs was limited by his instructions to an examination of the direct line between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific, provided that any of the routes proposed should prove feasible. As a consequence, finding a route which, in his opinion, was practicable, he made no surveys of the various lines which had been indicated by myself and others, from the superior lake of Managua to the ports of Tamarinda, Realejo, and the Bay of Fonseca. This is a source of regret, especially in view of the deficiency on the surveyed line of a reasonably good harbor on the Pacific—Brito, as already said, being utterly inadequate for a work of the kind proposed, while Realejo and the Bay of Fonseca are all that can be desired as ports.

A line, however, extending to any of the ports here named, would require not only to pass through the entire length of Lake Nicaragua, but also to overcome the obstacles which intervene between that body of water and Lake Managua. Much of the confusion and misapprehension, as to the connection between these lakes, has been set right in Chapter XV. of the preceding narrative. The distance between the two is about sixteen miles, of which twelve miles is overcome by a broad, shallow arm of Lake Nicaragua, called the Estero de Panaloya. It varies from six to fifteen feet in depth, with low banks, and generally a muddy bottom. Strictly speaking, this Estero is part of Lake Nicaragua, and the actual distance between the lakes does not, therefore, exceed four miles.

The estate of Pasquiel, at the head of this estuary, is the limit of navigation. Above, for a mile and a half, to Paso Chico, the bed of the river is full of large and isolated rocks, resting upon a bed of volcanic breccia. Beyond Paso Chico, the bed, or rather the former bed of the river, (for except in rainy seasons there is no water here beyond what flows from springs,) is the same solid breccia, worn into basins and fantastic “pot-holes” by the water. Within one mile of the lake of Managua is the fall of Tipitapa, opposite the little village of that name. It is a ledge of the rock above described, and is from twelve to fifteen feet in height. The bed of the stream is here not less than 400 feet in width. From the falls to the lake, the bed is wide but shallow, covered with grass and bushes, resembling a neglected pasture. At the time of my visit (1849), no water flowed through it, nor, so far as I could learn, had any flowed there for years. I can, however, readily believe that in an extremely wet season a small quantity may find its way through this channel, and over the falls. It is, nevertheless, very evident that no considerable body of water ever passed here.^[52] There is an arm of Lake Managua which projects down the channel for three or four hundred yards, but the water is only two or three feet deep, with an equal depth of soft, gray mud, the dwelling-place of numerous alligators, with reedy shores, thronged with every variety of water-birds. The water of Lake Managua, near the so-called outlet, is not deep, and the channel, in order to admit of the passage of large vessels, would probably require to be well dredged, if not protected by parallel piers. At the distance of about three-fourths of a mile from the shore, I found, by actual measurement, that the water did not exceed two fathoms in depth. No great obstruction to building the proposed canal exists in the section between the two lakes. The rock is so soft and friable that a channel can easily be opened from Lake Managua to the falls. Beyond this the banks are high for three miles, forming a natural canal which only needs to be properly dammed, at its lower extremity, to furnish a body of water adequate to every purpose of navigation. Locks would then be required to reach the estuary of Panaloya. From this point to the lake, I conceive, may prove the most difficult part of this section, although apparently the easiest. Where the bottom is earth or mud, the desirable depth of water may be secured by dredging; but where it is rock, as it certainly is near its upper extremity, some difficult excavation will be required. The banks downward to Lake Nicaragua are so low as to prohibit assistance from dams, except by diking the shores.

Lake Managua may thus be said virtually to have no outlet. The streams which come in from the Pacific side are insignificant; and though, as already stated, the Rio Grande and other streams of considerable size flow into it from the direction of Segovia, yet they vary much with the season of the year, and seldom furnish a greater quantity of water than is requisite to supply the evaporation from so large a surface, in a tropical climate. Nevertheless, a reservoir like that of Managua, with 1,200 square miles of surface, would be adequate to supply all the water required for a ship canal at this point, without any sensible diminution of its volume.

The country between Lake Managua and the Pacific is much more favorable for the construction of a canal than that between Lake Nicaragua and the same ocean. The dividing ridge, to which I have alluded in a previous chapter, as separating the waters of the latter lake from the sea, also extends along the intervening isthmus, very nearly to the head of Lake Managua. Here it is wholly interrupted, or rather subsides into broad plains, rising but a few feet above the lake, and thence descending in a gentle slope to the ocean. Three lines across these plains have been suggested; 1st, by the left shore of the lake to the small port of Tamarinda; 2d, by the same shore to the well-known port of Realejo; and 3d, by the upper shore of the lake to the Gulf of Fonseca, or Conchagua. It is probable that all of these lines are feasible, but a minute survey can only determine which is best.

1.—The first line suggested, to the port of Tamarinda, is considerably shorter than either of the others, not exceeding fifteen or eighteen miles in length. But the water of the lake upon its north-western shore, in the bay of Moabita, is shallow. I sounded it in July, 1849. It deepened regularly from the shore to the distance of one mile, when it attained five fathoms. After that it deepened rapidly to ten and fifteen fathoms. The country between the lake and Tamarinda, so far as can be ascertained, (it being covered with forests) is nearly level, and offers no insuperable obstacle to a canal. There is no town or village near the port, and it seems to have escaped general notice. Nor is it known that it has ever been entered by vessels, except in one or two instances for the purpose of loading Brazil wood. It is small, and tolerably well protected; but is not a proper termination for a work like the proposed canal.

2.—The second line is that to the well known and excellent port of Realejo, formed by the junction of the Telica or Doña Paula and Realejo rivers, and protected on the side of the sea by the islands of Cardon and Asserradores, and a bluff of the main-land. It is safe and commodious, and the water is good, ranging from three and four to eight and nine fathoms. The volcano of El Viejo, lifting its cone upwards of 6,000 feet above the sea, to the north-eastward of the port, forms an unmistakable landmark for the mariner, long before any other part of the coast is visible. This line, starting from the nearest practicable point of Lake Managua, cannot fall short of forty-five miles in length. It is said that the Estero of Doña Paula, which is only that part of the Telica river up which the tide flows, might be made use of for a considerable distance; but that can only be determined by actual survey. I can discover no reason why this route could not be advantageously pursued. It has the present advantage of passing through the most populous and best cultivated part of the country, and terminating at a point already well known. There is no stream upon this line which, as has been supposed by Louis Napoleon and some other writers on this subject, can be made available for supplying this section of the proposed canal with water. The “Rio Tosta,” of which they speak, (by which, from its described position, it is supposed the Rio Telica is meant, for no stream known as the Rio Tosta exists), is a stream of some size, but never furnished a quantity of water sufficient to supply an ordinary canal. The local geography of the plain of Leon is little known to its inhabitants; and, as the roads are hemmed in by impenetrable forests, it is impossible for the traveller to inform himself of the minor topographical features of the country. The Rio Telica empties into the Estero Doña Paula, and it may possibly be made to answer a useful purpose. I have crossed it at many points where it has (as it has for nearly its entire length) the character of a huge natural canal, from sixty to eighty feet deep by perhaps one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards wide at the top, with steep banks, for the most part of a friable substratum of rock or compact earth. And as, at its source, it is not more than fifteen miles distant from Lake Managua, it is not improbable that, by proper cuttings, the waters of the lake might be brought into it, and, after the requisite level is attained, the bed of the stream might be used from that point to the sea, securing the necessary depth of water by locks or dams. If this suggestion is well founded, the principal part of the estimated excavation of this section of the canal may be avoided. In any event, the cutting would not, with the aids furnished by this mechanical age, be an object to deter the engineer.

Every traveller who has passed over the plain of Leon, concurs in representing that the range of hills separating Lake Nicaragua from the Pacific are here wholly interrupted; and I can add my unqualified testimony in support of the fact. The city of Leon is situated in the midst of this plain, midway between the lake and sea; and, from the flat roof of its cathedral, the traveller may see the Pacific; and, were it not for the intervening forests, probably the lake. “A. G.,” quoted by Louis Napoleon, and whose observations are uniformly very accurate, states that the ground, between lake and ocean, at a distance of 2,725 yards from the former, attains its maximum height of 55 feet 6 inches, and from thence slopes to the sea. Other observers vary in their estimates of this maximum elevation, from 49 feet 6 inches to 51 feet. Of course, the precise elevation can only be determined by actual survey. The city of Leon is distant, in a direct line, about fifteen or eighteen miles from the lake. Captain Belcher determined its height, above the Pacific, to be 140 feet; which, deducted from the height of the lake, 156 feet, shows that the plain, where it is built, is sixteen feet below the level of the lake.

It is probable that the deepest cutting on this line, allowing thirty feet for the depth of the proposed canal, would not exceed eighty feet, and this only for a short distance. We have examples of much more serious undertakings of this character. In the canal from Arles to Bouc the table-land Lèque has been cut through to the extent of 2,289 yards, the extreme depth being from 130 to 162 feet. I need hardly add that the Lake of Managua must supply the water requisite for the use of the canal, from its shores to the sea, as there are no reservoirs or streams of magnitude upon this line.

3.—There is still another route, to which public attention has never been generally directed, but which, if feasible, offers greater advantages than either of the others just named, viz., from the northern point of Lake Managua via the Estero Real to the Gulf of Fonseca or Conchagua. The upper part of Lake Managua is divided into two large bays by a vast promontory or peninsula, at the extreme point of which stands the giant volcano of Momotombo. Between this volcano and that of the Viejo, to the north-east of Realejo, running nearly east and west, is a chain of volcanoes, presenting, probably, in a short distance, a greater number of extinct craters, and more evidences of volcanic action, than any other equal extent of the continent. This chain is isolated. Upon the south is the magnificent plain of Leon, bounded only by the sea; and upon the north is also another great plain, the “Llano del Conejo,” bounded by the auriferous hills of Segovia. This plain extends from the northern bay of Lake Managua to the Gulf of Conchagua, which is equalled only by that of San Francisco, and may be described as a grand harbor, in which all the vessels of the world might ride in entire security. It much resembles that of San Francisco in position and form; the entrance from the sea is, however, broader. Its entire length within the land is not far from sixty miles, and its breadth thirty miles. The three States of San Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras, have ports upon it. All the adjacent coasts are of unbounded fertility, and possess an unlimited supply of timber. The bay embraces several islands of considerable size and beauty, surrounded by water of such depth as to enable vessels of the largest class to approach close in-shore. The most important of these, from the circumstance of its size, and the fact that it commands and is the key to the entire bay, is the island of Tigre, belonging to Honduras. This island was the head-quarters and dépôt of Drake, and other piratical adventurers, during their operations in the South Sea. On it is situated the free port of Amapala. Its possession, and the consequent control of the Gulf of Fonseca, by any great maritime power, would enable that power to exercise a command over the commerce of the western part of the continent, such as the possession of Gibraltar by the English gives them over that of Europe.

From the southern extremity of the Gulf of Fonseca extends a large estuary, or arm, called the Estero Real. Its course is precisely in the direction of the Lake of Managua; which it approaches to within fifteen or twenty miles, and between it and the lake is the Plain of Conejo, which is, in fact, a part of the plain of Leon. This Estero is as broad as the East River at New York, and has, for most of its extent, an ample depth of water. At thirty miles above the bay it has fifty feet. There is a narrow bar at its mouth, on which, at low tide, there are but about three fathoms. The tide rises, however, nearly ten feet; and with artificial aid the bar could, doubtless, be passed at all times. This Estero is one of the most beautiful natural channels that can be imagined; preserving, for a long distance, a very nearly uniform width of from three hundred to four hundred yards. Its banks are lined with mangroves, with a dense background of other trees.

Captain Belcher, who was here in 1838, went thirty miles up the Estero, in a vessel drawing ten feet of water. He says: “To-day we started with the Starling, and other boats, to explore the Estero Real, which, I had been given to understand, was navigable for sixty miles; in which case, from what I saw of its course in my visit to the Viejo, it must nearly communicate with the Lake of Managua. After considerable labor, we succeeded in carrying the Starling thirty miles from its mouth, and might easily have gone farther, had the wind permitted, but the prevailing strong winds rendered the toil of towing too heavy. We ascended a small hill, about a mile below our extreme position, from which angles were taken to all the commanding peaks. From that survey, added to what I remarked from the summit of the Viejo, I am satisfied that the stream could be followed many miles farther; and, I have not the slightest doubt it is fed very near the Lake Managua. I saw the mountains beyond the lake on its eastern side, and no land higher than the intervening trees occurred. This, therefore, would be the most advantageous line for a canal, which, by entire lake navigation, might be connected with the interior of the States of San Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and extend to the Atlantic. Thirty navigable miles for vessels drawing ten feet we can vouch for, and the natives and residents assert sixty [thirty?] more!”

From the course of the Estero, and the distance it is known to extend, it probably would not require a canal of more than twenty miles in length to connect its navigable waters with those of Lake Managua; in which case there would be a saving over the Realejo line, besides having the western terminus of the great work in the magnificent bay which I have just described. It may, therefore, be safely asserted that a passage from the Lake of Managua to the sea is entirely feasible, and it only remains to determine which of the routes here indicated offers the greatest advantages.