(the Excursion to the Sea), but is often alluded to as the festival of
St. Venus, because of the excesses that are committed there by the
people, who are most discreet when at home. But as nobody cares what
occurs at the carnivals at Rome, so can a party of fashionable
Nicaraguans be allowed liberties at their watering-places. In the latter
part of March, when the dry season is far advanced and everything is
buried in dust, after the harvests are gathered and the crops are sold
and carried to Corinto, the seaport, everybody feels like taking a
little relaxation. Preparations are made long in advance, but as soon as
the March moon comes carts are packed with a little furniture and a good
many trunks, and the exodus begins. It is only about fifteen miles to
the beach, but the journey occasions as much planning and preparation,
and is anticipated with as much pleasure, as a tour through Europe.
Everybody goes, the peon as well as the hidalgo, and for two weeks
during the full moon the city is deserted. There are no hotels, but each
family takes a tent or builds a hut of bamboo, and lives _à négligé_
under the shade of the forest trees, which extend almost to the ocean.
The Government sends down a battalion of troops, ostensibly to keep
order and do police duty, but really as an excuse for giving the
officers and soldiers a holiday. Social laws are very much relaxed
during the _Paseo_, and it is really the only time when lovers can do
their billing and cooing without the interfering presence of a duenna.
Flirtations are the order of the day, and Cupid is king.
[Illustration: IN THE UPPER ZONE.]
There are no bathing-houses, and no bathing-dresses are worn. The people
go into the surf as Nature equipped them--the women and the girls on one
side of a long spit of land that reaches into the sea, and the men and
boys on the other. This annual Paseo is the perpetuation of a
semi-religious Indian custom.
Another peculiar Nicaraguan religious custom is the baptism of the
volcanoes, a ceremony which is believed by the superstitious to be very
effective in keeping them in subjection and making them observe the
proprieties of life. This observance is said to be as old as the
Conquest, having originated after the first eruption succeeding the
invasion of Nicaragua by the Spaniards, and is repeated on the
anniversary of the last disturbance caused by each particular volcano.
The priests of the nearest city take the affair in charge, and, followed
by a large company of the faithful, ascend to the crater, and with great
ceremony sprinkle holy water into it. Each of the volcanic peaks in
Nicaragua has been repeatedly sanctified in this way except Momotombo,
the grandest but most unregenerate of them all, who has never permitted
a human foot to reach his summit or a human eye to look into his crater.
Two hundred years ago, after old Tombo, as the master is familiarly
called, had been acting very badly, three brave monks determined to try
the effect of holy water upon him, and started for the summit with a
large cross which they proposed to erect there; but they were never
heard of again, and the people look upon the mountain with greater
reverence.
[Illustration: VOLCANOES OF AXUSCO AND MOMOTOMBO, FROM THE CATHEDRAL.]
[Illustration: VOLCANO OF COSEQUINA, FROM THE SEA.]
From the tower of St. Peter’s Cathedral in the city of Leon thirteen
volcanoes can be seen, several of which are active. There are eighteen
standing in a solemn procession around the lakes of Nicaragua and
Managua. They are not so high as certain peaks in Guatemala or Costa
Rica, but look higher from the fact that they rise immediately from the
level of tide-water, and can be seen from the sea in their full
grandeur, old Tombo looking to be about the height of Pike’s Peak as
seen from Colorado Springs. This gigantic mountain rises boldly out of
the waters of Lake Nicaragua, its bare and blackened summit, which has
forbidden all attempts to scale its sides, being always crowned with a
light wreath of smoke, attesting the perpetual existence of the internal
fires which now and then break forth and cover its sides with burning
floods. At its base are several hot sulphur springs, and at frequent
intervals heavy rumbling sounds can be heard from within its walls. In
the middle of the lake, only a few miles away, is an exact duplicate of
the mountain; in miniature, however, being but one-fourth its size. This
is called Momotombita, the three last letters expressing the
diminutive. It forms an island, from which its peak rises a perfect
cone. Its crater has been extinct for hundreds of years; but the island
was a sacred place to the aborigines. In the forests which now cover it
are the ruins of vast temples and gigantic idols hewn out of the solid
rock. The last serious earthquake, in 1867, occurred without much damage
to the city, whose walls have been several times shaken down in the
three centuries and a half since it was founded.
[Illustration: LA UNION AND VOLCANO OF CONCHAGUA.]
The most fearful eruption on record in Nicaragua, and one of the most
serious the world ever saw, was that of the volcano Cosequina, near
Grenada, in 1835. It continued for four days, and covered the country
for hundreds of miles around with ashes and lava, causing a panic from
which the people did not recover for many years, and resulting in great
destruction of life and property. The explosions were of such force that
ashes fell in the city of Bogota, Colombia, fifteen hundred miles away
in a direct line, and at an altitude eleven thousand feet above the sea.
Ashes fell in the West India islands, also far in the interior of
Mexico, and showers of them that obscured the sun caused great
consternation in Guatemala and the neighboring republics, while the
people in Nicaragua thought the end of the world had come. Vessels
sailing in the Pacific had their decks covered with lava and ashes, and
several sailors were injured by falling stones; while the ocean for a
hundred and fifty miles was so strewn with floating ashes and
pumice-stone that the surface of the water was concealed. The
anniversary of this horrible catastrophe is always observed by the
people as a great fast-day, business being suspended throughout the
whole republic, and the people gathering in the churches to pray for
deliverance from further eruptions. Since that date the volcano has
continued active, but has caused no damage.
A great part of the surface of the country is covered with beds of lava
and scoria, lakes of bitter water that have no bottom, yawning craters
surrounded with blistered rocks, and pits from which sulphurous vapors
are constantly rising that the people appropriately call _infernillos_.
[Illustration: THE FATE OF FILIBUSTERS.]
The city of Grenada stands at the eastern end of the inhabited valley of
Nicaragua, as Leon does at the western end, the two rival cities being
about seventy miles apart. Until its almost total destruction by Walker
and his filibusters in 1857, it was a beautiful town, filled with fine
mansions, and proud of its appearance. The population was reduced during
the civil war, in which the American adventurers played so conspicuous
a part, from thirty-five thousand to fifteen thousand; and although
that was nearly thirty years ago it has scarcely begun to recover.
Grenada was the seat of the “aristocratic” government which Walker and
his allied Nicaraguans overthrew, and was besieged for two years, during
which time the inhabitants endured not only great hardships, many dying
of starvation and epidemics which broke out among them, but suffered the
destruction of almost their entire property. During the days of Spanish
dominion it was one of the most wealthy and prosperous cities in Central
America, and its commerce was enormous. The old chronicles relate that
nearly every day caravans of eighteen hundred mules laden with bullion
and merchandise arrived from the surrounding country, and carried away
European goods in exchange.
One of the largest monasteries on the continent was situated here,
erected and occupied by the Franciscan Friars, who owned extensive
estates in the surrounding country, and continued to acquire great
wealth until they were expelled and their property confiscated in 1829.
It is still standing in a good state of preservation.
The actual capital of Nicaragua, the city of Managua, sits on the
southern shore of the lake of the same name, about sixty miles from the
Pacific Ocean, and is reached by an overland journey of three days from
Leon, which is connected with Corinto, the chief seaport, by a railroad.
The population of Managua is about eight or ten thousand, at a guess,
for no census has been taken since 1870. It has increased since that
date, when the inhabitants numbered six thousand seven hundred. The rich
residents are mostly planters who have estancias in the neighborhood,
and live in houses of one or two stories without any pretension to
architectural beauty or elegance. They are more modern in construction
than those of Leon and Grenada, for it is only since the seat of
government was located at Managua that it has been of any commercial or
political importance. A large portion of the standing army of the
republic, consisting of two thousand men, is stationed at Managua,
occupying an old monastery as a barracks, and the streets are always
crowded with military men in resplendent uniforms. There are about three
officers to every ten privates in the army, and positions in the
military service are actively sought by the sons of the aristocratic
families, who prefer them to professional or commercial careers. The
privates are exclusively Indians or half-breed peons, who wear a uniform
of dirty white cotton drilling with a blue cap. They are supposed to be
voluntarily enlisted, but when troops are needed they are secured by
sending squads of impressarios into the country, who seize as many peons
as they want, bring them, bound with ropes, to the capital, and then
compel them to sign the enlistment rolls.
[Illustration: A FARMING SETTLEMENT.]
The National Palace is a low, square edifice, with balconies of the
ordinary Spanish styles, and was formerly the home of one of the
religious orders. The only handsome rooms are the headquarters of the
President and the chambers in which the two Houses of Congress meet
annually. They are fitted up with fine imported furniture, and the walls
are covered with portraits of men distinguished in the history of the
republic.
The peons live in the outskirts of the city, in huts of bamboo thatched
with palm-leaves and straw, surrounded with curious-looking fences or
hedges of cactus. They are apparently very poor, and are surrounded with
filth and squalor; but the real, which is worth twelve and a half cents,
will sustain a whole family for a week, for they need little more than
nature has supplied them with--the plantains and yams that grow
profusely in their little gardens. They seldom eat meat, and never wash
themselves. They appear to be perfectly happy, and sit at the doors of
their huts, women and men, both nearly naked, smoking cigarettes, and
chatting as contentedly as if all their wants in life were fully
supplied. Densely ignorant and superstitious, they know nothing of the
world beyond their own surroundings, and care less.
[Illustration: THE QUESAL.]
The environs of Managua are very picturesque. On one side is the
beautiful lake, sixty miles long and thirty miles wide, surrounded by
volcanoes, and on the other are fertile slopes, on which are coffee
plantations and cocoa groves, both yielding prodigious crops. The peons
of the city work upon the estancias when there is anything to be done,
travelling five or six miles each day in going to and returning from the
scene of their labor. The country about Managua must have been densely
populated by the aborigines, and is full of most curious and puzzling
relics of a prehistoric race, which the natives regard with great
veneration. The geologist, as well as the ethnologist and antiquarian,
finds here one of the most abundant fields for investigation, which was
explored and described by Stephens, Squier, and many earlier writers.
The Government consists of a President, who receives a salary of two
thousand five hundred dollars, and is elected for four years, during
which time, if he is not overpowered by some political rival, he usually
manages to amass an immense fortune. A common argument in favor of
re-electing presidents is that they are able to steal all they want
during their first term. There are two Vice-Presidents, generally the
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the Lower House, and either
of them may be designated to perform the duties of the Executive when he
so elects. There is a cabinet, or council, of four ministers. One has
the finances in charge; another foreign affairs, agriculture, and
commerce; a third military affairs and public works; and a fourth
justice, public instruction, and ecclesiastical affairs.
The Senate is composed of fourteen members, two from each of the
Departments, or Provinces, elected for four years; and the House of
Deputies of twenty-four members, or one for each ten thousand of
population, elected for two years. They are paid one dollar and fifty
cents per diem during the sessions of Congress. No Senator or Deputy can
be elected more than two consecutive terms, and no official of the
Government or member of Congress can be a candidate for election or
appointment to any other office during his constitutional term of
service. Ecclesiastics are ineligible for civil positions, and all
candidates for every post of honor under the Government must have proper
qualifications; while all persons accepting pensions from the
Government, and performing the duty of house or body servants, are
denied the right of suffrage or of holding office. There are three
courts, State or Department judges being elected by the people. District
Federal judges and members of the Supreme Court being appointed by the
House of Representatives and confirmed by the Senate, to serve during
life unless impeached and convicted by the Deputies before the Senate
for malfeasance in office. It requires a two-thirds vote in the House to
enact legislation, but only a majority vote in the Senate. The President
has the power of issuing decrees during the recess of Congress, which
decrees have the force of law, but must be affirmed or reversed by
Congress at its next session.
Since the charter of the Interoceanic Canal Company by the Congress of
the United States, and the actual commencement of work upon the
long-projected enterprise, under the direction of Chief-engineer
Menocal, the republic of Nicaragua assumes a position of more prominence
among nations, and of greater interest to the public at large, than it
has ever had before. The failure of the Panama Canal Company, and the
apparent impossibility of piercing the Isthmus at its narrowest part,
has also given the Nicaragua Company increased importance, but Mr.
Menocal and the company of capitalists who stand behind him feel no
doubt of ultimate success.
SAN SALVADOR.
THE CAPITAL OF SAN SALVADOR.
Whoever visits the little republic of San Salvador, and lands at La
Libertad, its principal seaport, must expect to undergo a novel and
alarming experience. There is no harbor in the country, although it has
one hundred and fifty-seven miles of sea-coast. The shore of the Pacific
is a line of bluffs, with a fringe of beach at the bottom, and upon the
sand a mighty surf is always beating. Ships anchor several miles off the
coast, to avoid being driven ashore by the winds that sometimes rise
very suddenly, and no boat can survive the breakers. An iron pier, or
mole, twice as long and twice as high as the famous pier at Coney
Island, extends from the bluff for three-quarters of a mile into the
sea. A tramway runs from the town of La Libertad, connecting its monster
warehouses with the pier, and cars loaded with coffee, sugar, and other
products of the country are shoved out by peons or drawn by mules. The
freight is piled upon the pier until the steamer arrives, when it is
carried out to the anchorage in large lighters rowed by a dozen naked
boatmen. The cargo is hoisted and lowered by means of a huge iron crane
and derrick, operated by a small steam-engine. Bags and boxes are
tumbled into great nets of cordage holding two tons or more, which are
jerked up into the air by the derrick, swung around to be clear of the
pier, and then dropped into the lighter.
Live cattle are hoisted and lowered by the horns, a lasso being thrown,
one end of which is attached to the derrick, and the animal finds
himself suddenly jerked into the air, and hangs kicking and struggling
until his feet touch the bottom of the lighter, when he shakes himself
to see if he is still alive. It is a wicked way to treat beasts, but
under the circumstances there seems to be no other method. Sometimes,
when the rope is carelessly adjusted, and the animal is young and heavy,
his horns are torn out by the roots, and he falls sixty or seventy feet
into the lighter, breaking his neck or legs, when one of the boatmen,
drawing a knife from his belt, severs the jugular, and hangs his head
over the side of the boat to let his life-blood run into the sea.
Horses are lifted and lowered with greater care by means of a strong
harness of wide leather, with an iron ring in the saddle to which a
rope’s end is hooked.
Humankind are treated with less consideration. When passengers arrive by
a vessel they come to the pier on a lighter with freight, which rises
and sinks with the heavy swell in a manner that is not only very
alarming, but is almost certain to cause sea-sickness. One may have come
all the way from New York or Europe to Aspinwall, and then from Panama
up the coast, without a symptom of the distressing malady, but he is
pretty sure to succumb to the rocking of the lighter at La Libertad, as
it rubs and pounds against the iron trestle of the pier, while he is
awaiting his turn to land. The officers of the vessels, accustomed to
the motion, spring from the gunwales of the boat to the rounds of
ladders that hang down the sides of the mole, and climb them as the
boatmen do; but ladies and gentlemen unacquainted with this method, and
untrained to clamber among the rigging of a ship, are treated to a
sensation that is apt to make a timid person apprehensive.
An iron cage, capable of holding six persons, is lowered to the lighter,
and you are invited to step in. As soon as it is full a boatman shuts
the door and gives a signal to the engineer above. There is a sudden,
startling jerk, you shut your eyes, cling to the bars of the cage, and
feel your heart in your throat. The cage stops as suddenly as it
started, whirls around swiftly for an instant or two, then swings over
the pier, and drops with a thump. The door is opened, you step out,
[Illustration: LANDING AT LA LIBERTAD.]
uninjured, but trembling like a frightened bird, and register an
unuttered vow that you will never land at La Libertad again. But this
feeling leaves you when you enjoy a laugh at the demonstrations of alarm
made by your fellow-passengers who have to follow you, and when you are
assured, as people always are, that thousands have landed and embarked
in the same manner without receiving a bruise or having a bone broken.
It is not so pleasant, but quite as safe, as scrambling up a gangway
from a dock to the deck of a vessel.
[Illustration: EN ROUTE TO THE INTERIOR.]
Although San Salvador is the smallest in area of the group of republics,
and only a little larger than Connecticut, it is the most prosperous,
the most enterprising, and the most densely populated, having even a
greater number of inhabitants than the land of wooden nutmegs. The
population averages about eighty to the square mile--almost twenty
times that of its neighbors. The natives are inclined to civilized
pursuits, being engaged not only in agriculture, but quite extensively
in manufacture. They are more energetic and industrious than the people
in other parts of Central America, work harder, and accomplish more,
gain wealth rapidly, and are frugal, but the constantly recurring
earthquakes and political disturbances keep the country poor. When the
towns are destroyed by volcanic eruptions, they are not allowed to lie
in ruins, as those of other countries are, but the inhabitants at once
clear away the rubbish and begin to rebuild. The city of San Salvador
has been twice rebuilt since Leon of Nicaragua was laid in ruins, but
the débris in the latter city has never been disturbed.
San Salvador has always taken the lead in the political affairs of
Central America. It was the first to throw off the yoke of Spain, and
uttered the first cry of liberty, as Venezuela did among the nations of
the southern continent. The patriots of San Salvador received the
cordial co-operation of the liberal element in the cities of Grenada,
Nicaragua, and San José of Costa Rica, but were suppressed by the
Imperial power. Its provisional congress was driven from place to place,
but remained intact; it had the sympathy and support of the people, and
defied the invaders of the country. Finally, as a last resort, the
congress, by a solemn act passed on the 2d of December, 1822, resolved
to annex their little province to the United States, and provided for
the appointment of commissioners to proceed to Washington and ask its
incorporation in the body politic of “La Grande Republica.” Before the
commissioners could leave the country the revolution in the other
Central American States had become too formidable to suppress, as the
example of San Salvador had spread like an epidemic among the people,
and its demand for liberty had found an echo from every valley and from
every hill, from the Rio Grande to the Chagres. The five States joined
in a confederacy one year after the act of annexation to the United
States was passed, and the resolution was never officially submitted to
our government. This was before the days of the Monroe Doctrine, and if
the rise of Liberalism in Central America had not been so rapid, the
political divisions of the North American continent might have been
different now, and the destiny of several nations changed.
[Illustration: THE PEAK OF SAN SALVADOR.]
Some time before the organization of the confederacy the people of San
Salvador had adopted a constitution and formed a State government, being
always foremost, and their example was followed seven months later by
Costa Rica, then by Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua in succession.
Salvador was the first of the republics also to throw off the shackles
of the Church. Indignant at the interference of the archbishop of
Guatemala, who had charge of the Church in Central America, they defied
his authority and elected a liberal bishop of their own. The archbishop
denounced the act and appealed to the Pope, who threatened to
excommunicate the entire population. But the threat was received with
indifference, and the example of the Salvadorians was shortly after
imitated by the people of Costa Pica, in like disregard of the will of
the successor of St. Peter.
The President is elected for four years, the members of the Senate for
three, and of the House of Deputies for one, all of them directly by the
people. There is a senator for every thirty thousand of the population,
and a deputy for every fifteen thousand. The exercise of suffrage is
guarded by some wholesome restrictions. All married men can vote, except
those who are engaged in domestic service, those who are without stated
occupation, those who refuse to pay their legal debts, those who owe
money past due to the Government, those who have accepted pay for any
service from foreign powers, and those who have been convicted of
felony. Unmarried men, to exercise the right of citizens, must be
property owners, and be able to read and write. All voters have to show
receipts for the payment of taxes the year previous if they are property
owners, and bankrupts are entirely disfranchised, the idea being that
none but a producer--one who adds to the wealth of the State or pays
taxes--shall have a voice in its government. None but property owners
are eligible to office.
The President has a cabinet of four ministers. They have in charge the
Departments of Finance, War, and Public Works, Internal Affairs and
Public Instruction, and Foreign Affairs. The Judiciary are appointed by
the Deputies and confirmed by the Senate. Education is free and
compulsory. There is a school for every two thousand inhabitants,
supported by the general government, and a University at the capital
with three hundred and fifty students, studying law, medicine, and the
applied sciences, and one hundred and forty pursuing a classical course.
The standing army consists of twelve hundred men, but all able-bodied
citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty are organized as a
militia, and are subject to be called upon for service at the will of
the President.
The capital, San Salvador (“The City of our Saviour”), is
[Illustration: THE PLAZA.]