THE PORT OF SAN JUAN DE NICARAGUA; ITS POSITION; CLIMATE; POPULATION;
EDIFICES OF ITS INHABITANTS; ITS INSECTS; THE NIGUA; THE SCORPION,
ETC.; ITS EXPORTS AND IMPORTS; POLITICAL CONDITION; IMPORTANCE,
PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE; SEIZURE BY THE ENGLISH, ETC.—MOUTH OF THE
RIVER SAN JUAN—THE COLORADO MOUTH—THE TAURO—NAVIGATION OF THE
RIVER—BONGOS AND PIRAGUAS—LOS MARINEROS—DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY
OF THE PORT OF SAN JUAN.
The Port of San Juan derives its principal importance from the fact that
it is the only possible eastern terminus for the proposed grand
inter-oceanic canal, through the territories of Nicaragua, via the river
San Juan and Lake Nicaragua; and from the farther circumstance of being
the only available port of Nicaragua upon the Atlantic. The harbor is
not large, yet it is altogether better and more spacious than is
generally supposed. The entrance is easy, and vessels of the largest
class find little difficulty in passing the mouth, and obtaining within
a safe and commodious anchorage. It has been represented that, in
consequence of the peculiar make of the land, it is extremely difficult
to be found. This is true to a certain extent; but although the coast in
the immediate vicinity is low, yet a short distance back the land is
high and marked, and cannot be mistaken. With proper charts, correct
sketches of the coasts, and with a lighthouse on Point Arenas, every
difficulty would be obviated. This is evident even to the unprofessional
observer. The harbor is probably adequate to every purpose connected
with the proposed canal.
The town of San Juan consists (June, 1850) of fifty or sixty palm
thatched houses, or rather huts, arranged with some degree of
regularity, upon the south-western shore of the harbor. It is supported
entirely by the trade carried on through it; and its inhabitants are
dependent upon the supplies brought down from the interior, or furnished
from trading vessels, for the means of subsistence. There are no
cultivated lands in the vicinity, and excepting the narrow space
occupied by the town, and a small number of acres on the island
opposite, where a few cattle find pasturage, the primitive forest is
unbroken by clearings of any description. The ground upon which the town
is built is sandy, and although elevated but a few feet above the water,
is, nevertheless, dry. The country all around it is low, and is a short
distance back from the shore really marshy, interspersed with numerous
lagoons. After penetrating a number of miles into the interior, however,
higher land is found, with a soil adapted for every purpose of
cultivation.
Although the climate of San Juan is warm and damp, it is exempt from the
fevers and epidemics which prevail in most places similarly situated,
upon the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. I could not
learn that any cases of the yellow fever, or _vomito_, have ever
occurred here; and when the cholera, in 1837, (five years after the
period of its ravages in the United States,) devastated the interior,
and almost depopulated the ports to the northward and southward, San
Juan entirely escaped its visitations. It may safely be said that there
are few ports, if any, under the tropics of equal salubrity. The nature
of the soil, the fact that the malaria of the coast is constantly swept
back by the north-east trades, and that good water may be obtained in
abundance, at a depth of a few feet below the surface, no doubt
contribute to this result. It is, however, a singular circumstance,
vouched for by the older residents of San Juan, that the island or
opposite shore of the harbor, not more than half a mile distant, and
which, from the greater depth of water immediately fronting it, and
other circumstances, seems to be the best site for a town, is fatal to
those who may attempt to occupy it. A settlement was commenced there a
number of years ago, but the inhabitants were decimated within the first
two months; after which the rest removed to the other shore. The same
cause, it is said, led to the abandonment of the military works which
the Spaniards had erected there before the revolt of the colonies. The
cause of this difference is not apparent, but no doubt as to the fact
seems to exist among the inhabitants. Foreigners at San Juan, however,
by observing ordinary and proper precautions, need not, I am convinced,
form exceptions to the general good health of the native inhabitants.
The temperature of San Juan varies a little with the different seasons
of the year, but is generally pleasant, differing not much from that of
New York in the month of July. The range of the thermometer is not,
however, so great as it is with us during that month. During my stay in
June, 1849, and upon my return in the same month, in 1850, the range was
from 74° of Fahrenheit at sunrise, to 85° at the hottest hour of the
day. In the evening there is usually a pleasant and invigorating
sea-breeze.
The population of the town does not exceed three hundred, having
considerably diminished since the English usurpation. Besides what may
be called the native inhabitants, and who exhibit the same
characteristics in language, habits, and customs with the lower classes
in the interior of the state, there are a few foreigners, and some
creoles of pure stock, who reside here as agents, or consignees of
mercantile houses, and as commission dealers. There are also the English
authorities, consisting chiefly of negroes from Jamaica. The
inhabitants, therefore, exhibit every variety of race and complexion.
Whites, Indians, negroes, mestizos, and sambos,—black, brown, yellow,
and fair,—all mingle together with the utmost freedom, and in total
disregard of those conventionalities which are founded on caste. In what
might be called the best families, if it were possible to institute
comparisons on the wrong side of zero, it is no uncommon thing to find
three and four shades of complexion, from which it may be inferred that
the social relations are very lax. This is unfortunately the fact; and
the examples which have been set upon this coast in times past, by
Jamaica traders, have not had the effect of improving morals. There is
neither church nor school-house in San Juan, nor indeed in the whole of
what the English facetiously call the “Mosquito Kingdom.” Before the
seizure, San Juan was a curacy, dependent upon the Diocess of Nicaragua,
but subsequently to that event it was vacated, in consequence of the
obstacles thrown in the way of its continuance by the English officials,
whose high sense of Christian duty would not permit them to tolerate
anything but the English Church, which is, I believe, the established
religion throughout the dominions of “His Mosquito Majesty!”
Occasionally a priest, in his black robes, is seen flitting about the
town; but unless it is desired to find out the residence of the
prettiest of the nut-brown señoritas, it is not always prudent to
inquire too closely into his movements.
The dwellings of the inhabitants, as already intimated, are of the
rudest and most primitive description, and make no approach to what, in
the United States, would be regarded as respectable out-houses. They
are, in fact, mere thatched sheds, roughly boarded up and floored, or
made of a kind of wicker work of canes, sometimes plastered over with
mud. The furniture, which seldom consists of more than a hammock, a high
table, a few chairs, and a bed, is entirely in keeping with the
edifices. Yet, mean and uninviting as these structures are, they answer
a very good purpose in a climate where anything beyond a roof to keep
off the sun and the rain may almost be regarded as a superfluity. The
heavy thatch of palm leaves or long grass is an effectual protection
against these, and though it furnishes excellent quarters for scorpions,
small serpents, and other pleasant colonists, yet these soon cease to
excite apprehension, and, with the mice and cockroaches, sink into
common-places. The sting of the domestic scorpion, so far as I am able
to learn of its effects from others, never having myself experienced it,
is not much worse than that of a wasp or hornet, and seldom produces any
serious result. The _alacran del monte_, scorpion of the forest, or wild
scorpion, is more to be dreaded; its sting sometimes induces fever,
causing the tongue to swell so as to render utterance difficult, or
impossible. This latter never inflicts its sting unless pressed upon, or
accidentally disturbed by some part of the person. It is quite as common
in San Juan as in any part of the country; being brought there probably
with the Brazil wood, the knots and crevices of which afford it an
excellent lodgment. And, while upon insects, I may mention a kind of a
flea, called _nigua_ or _chigoe_ by the Spaniards, and “_jigger_” by the
West Indian English, which generally attacks the feet, working its way,
without being felt, beneath the skin, and there depositing its eggs. A
small sack speedily forms around these, which constantly increases in
size, first creating an itching sensation, and afterwards, unless
removed, becoming painful. When small, it may be extracted without
difficulty, but when larger, the operation is delicate and often
painful; for if the sack is broken, a bad ulcer, extremely liable to
inflammation, and sometimes affecting the entire foot and leg, is a
probable result. The best surgeon in these cases is an Indian boy, who
always performs the operation skillfully, and considers a _medio_
(sixpence) a capital fee for his services. He has a sharp eye for “las
niguas,” and will frequently detect them before they are seen or felt by
the strangers in whose feet they are burrowing. It is well to submit
one’s pedal extremities to his criticism as often as once every three
days, while sojourning in San Juan, where this insect is more common
than anywhere else in Central America. When to this digression on
insects and reptiles, I have added that the harbor is infested by
sharks, and that alligators are far from rare both there and in the
lagunas near the town, the catalogue of things annoying and disagreeable
to be encountered here is nearly complete. But after all, the
inconvenience or danger from such sources is chiefly imaginary, and
exists more in anticipation than in reality.
From what has been said it will be seen that San Juan has no resources
of its own, and derives its present importance solely from the trade
which is carried on through it with the interior. A considerable part of
the exports and imports of Nicaragua passes here. The exports are
indigo, Brazil wood, hides, and bullion, and the imports manufactured
goods of every description, suitable for general use. The indigo and
bullion go, in great part, to England, by the British West Indian line
of steamers, which touches here monthly, and which has already nearly
monopolized the carrying of those articles of high value but small bulk,
upon which it is desirable to realize quick returns. The Brazil wood and
hides, on the other hand, pass chiefly to the United States and Jamaica.
By far the greater proportion of the carrying trade is in the hands of
Americans, conducted through native houses, and through travelling
agents in the interior: and considerably more than two-thirds of the
tonnage entering the port is American. An Italian vessel comes once or
twice a-year, and a couple of French vessels occasionally, as also some
nondescript coasters, bearing the New Granadian or Venezuelan flags. A
portion of the trade of Costa Rica, via the rivers San Juan and
Serapiqui, is now carried on through this port. There are no means of
ascertaining its value, nor that of the general commerce of San Juan,
inasmuch as no regular tables have been kept at the Custom House.
Previous to the seizure of the port by the English, in 1848, the duties
collected here by the Nicaraguan government amounted to about $100,000
per annum; and as the rate of imposts was about 20 per cent., the value
of the imports may be approximately calculated at nearly $500,000. Since
the English usurpation, the trade has seriously diminished, in
consequence of the depression and uncertainty which it has created in
the interior, and which have induced many of the native merchants to
contract their business. The additional duties levied by the usurping
authorities have also contributed to the same results. They have imposed
an import and export duty of 2½ per cent. ad valorem, and made other
onerous restrictions on commerce. Under these, they have nevertheless
lately farmed out the customs at $10,000 per annum, which, as this is
apart from the cost of collection, implies a trade of at least
$300,000.[1] The actual trade of the port may now be roughly estimated
at $400,000, not allowing for the increase which has already followed
the general commercial activity induced by the California movement, nor
for the direct influences of the partial opening of the Nicaragua route
of transit, and the consequent direction of public attention and
individual enterprise to that portion of the Central American Isthmus.
As the trade of Nicaragua, by way of this port must pass through the
river San Juan, the Nicaraguan Customs Establishment has been fixed at
the old Fort of San Carlos, at the head of the river, on the lake. The
average rate of duty exacted under the Nicaraguan tariff, is about 21
per cent. ad valorem,[2] which, added to the British impositions at San
Juan, makes the total duty to be paid on articles passing into the
interior about 24 per cent.
-----
Footnote 1:
Since the above was written, the collection of customs at San Juan,
from motives of policy, has been _suspended_, but not permanently
abandoned, by the British Government.
Footnote 2:
It should be mentioned, however, that although the Nicaraguan tariff
is nominally 21 per cent. ad valorem, yet as one half of the amount of
duties may be paid in Government _vales_, or notes, which range from
ten to sixty per cent. in value, according to their class and date, it
is practically not more than 15 per cent.
-----
When the political questions connected with British aggressions in
Nicaragua shall have been satisfactorily and permanently adjusted, and
the projected canal really commenced, this port will become one of the
first importance, if not the most important, on the continent. Its
prospective value can hardly be estimated; for apart from its position
in respect to the proposed work, it is the only Atlantic port of one of
the finest countries under the tropics, possessing inexhaustible
agricultural and mineral resources, which recent movements indicate with
certainty are destined to a speedy development.
As already observed, this is the only possible Atlantic terminus for the
(probably) only possible ship-canal route across the continent. And this
is to be regarded as the great and controlling fact which led to its
seizure by the English, at the moment when it became certain that
California would fall into the hands of the United States, and the
question of an inter-oceanic communication became one of immediate and
practical importance. The seizure, it is well known, was made under the
shallow pretext of supporting the territorial pretensions of a tribe of
savages, or mixed negroes and Indians, called Moscos, or Mosquitos, and
in virtue of some equivocal relations which the pirates of Jamaica
anciently maintained with them. When, however, it is known that this was
the principal port of entry of Nicaragua under the Spanish dominion;
that for more than three hundred years it was the avenue through which
its trade was conducted; that the river flowing past it was defended by
massive and costly works, which, although in ruins, are yet imposing;
that no Mosquito Indian ever resided here; that all its inhabitants
were, and with the exception of a few foreign merchants and the English
officials, still are Nicaraguans; and that England herself recognized it
as pertaining to Nicaragua by blockading it as a part of her
territories; and when to all this is added the fact, that the Mosquito
Indians never, themselves, pretended to any territorial rights here or
elsewhere, until induced to do so by British agents, the enormity of the
seizure is rendered apparent. But as the facts connected with these and
similar encroachments will form the subject of a separate chapter, it is
unnecessary to refer further to them here. Since the seizure of the
port, and in ludicrous commentary on the assertion of the British
Government, that its sole design in taking that step was the
“_re-establishment_ of Mosquito rights and authority,” its municipal and
other regulations, not excepting its port charges and customs’ rates,
have been promulgated and fixed by an officer styling himself “Her
Britannic Majesty’s Consul,” or “Vice Consul;” who has for his executive
force a few Jamaica negroes, called, probably in irony, “police.” He is,
in fact, dictator of the place, and the inhabitants are subject without
appeal to his will, for there are no written laws or fixed regulations
of any kind. He assumes to dispose of lands, and gives titles under his
consular seal; nor does he, ever so remotely, appear to recognize the
so-called Mosquito King. Indeed, the only evidence that this farcical
character is held in remembrance at all is that a flag, said to be his,
is occasionally hoisted in an open space in the centre of the town. The
English flag, however, floats over what is called the Custom House, and
is the only one for which any degree of respect is exacted. The new
tariff, promulgated here in April, 1850, was signed “J. M. Daly,
Collector,” and did not purport to have been enacted by any superior
authority. Indeed, the present situation of the town, over-awed as it
constantly is by one or two British vessels, is anomalous in the
extreme. If, as it is pretended, this port belongs to the supposititious
Mosquito King, it is difficult to understand how a second party can
exercise sovereignty over it; or upon what principles of international
law the consuls of one nation can assume municipal and general
administrative authority in the ports of another. The simple fact is,
that Great Britain, having secured possession of this important port,
under a pretext which deceives nobody, no longer cares to stultify
herself by affecting to conform to that pretext. The thing is too absurd
to be continued.
The River San Juan reaches the ocean by several mouths. The divergence
takes place about twenty miles from the sea, forming a low delta,
penetrated by numerous canals, or, as they are called on the Lower
Mississippi, _bayous_, and lagunas. The principal branch is the
Colorado, which carries off at least two-thirds of the water of the
river, and which empties into the ocean some ten or fifteen miles to the
southward of the port. There is an almost impassable bar at the
entrance, which would preclude the ascent of vessels, even if the depth
of water above permitted of their proceeding after it was passed. The
little steamer “Orus,” nevertheless, after repeated trials, succeeded in
passing it in August last. There is another small channel called the
_Taura_, which reaches the sea midway between the port and the mouth of
the Colorado. The branch flowing into the harbor, the one through which
the ascending and descending boats pass, carries off only about
one-third of the water of the river. It has also a bar at the mouth,
that is, at its point of debouchure into the harbor, upon which, at low
tide, there are but three or four feet of water. This passed, the bed of
the river is wide and studded with low islands; but excepting in the
channel, which is narrow and crooked, the water is very shallow. It has
been suggested that the Colorado branch might be dammed, and a greater
column of water thrown into the other, or San Juan branch. But this
suggestion can only be made by those who are wholly unacquainted with
the subject. Allowing it to be possible to build a dam, the stream would
find a new channel to the sea; or if it took the direction of the
harbor, fill it up, during the first rainy season, with mud, or at once
destroy the sandy barriers which now form and protect it. As will be
seen, when I come to speak of the practicability of a canal, the utmost
that can be done with the river is to dredge out the channel to the
Colorado, and remove some of the obstacles at the various rapids above,
after which it might be navigated by small steamers. It cannot be made
navigable for ships or vessels of any kind, except of the lightest
draught, by any practicable system of improvements.
The boats used upon the river for carrying freight and passengers are
exaggerated canoes, called _bongos_. Some are hollowed from a single
tree, but the better varieties are built, with some degree of skill,
from the timber of the _cedro_, a very light and durable kind of wood,
which grows abundantly about the lakes. The largest of these carry from
eight to ten tons, and draw two or three feet of water when loaded. They
are long, and rather deep and narrow, and have, when fully manned, from
eight to twelve oarsmen, who drive the boat by means of long sweeps and
setting-poles. Sails are seldom if ever used, except upon the lake. The
masts are unshipped and left at the head of the river in descending, and
resumed again in returning. These boats have a small space near the
stern, called the “_chopa_,” covered with a board roof, a thatch of palm
leaves, or with hides, which is assigned to the passengers. The rest of
the boat is open, and the oarsmen, or, as they call themselves,
_marineros_, sailors, are without protection, and sleep upon their
benches at night, covered only with their blankets, and with the gunwale
of the boat for a common pillow. The captain, or _patron_, is the
steersman, and occupies a narrow deck at the stern, called the _pineta_,
upon which he also sleeps, coiling himself up in a knot, if the boat is
small and the pineta narrow. The freight, if liable to damage from
exposure, is covered with raw hides, which, between sun and rain, soon
diffuse an odor very unlike the perfumes which are said to load the
breezes of Arabia the Blest. The usual freight from San Juan to Granada,
a distance of one hundred and sixty or one hundred and seventy miles, is
from thirty to fifty cents per cwt.; if the articles are bulky, it is
more. The boatmen are paid from seven to eight dollars the trip, down
from Granada and back, which usually occupies from twenty to thirty
days, although with proper management it might be made in less time.
Time, however, in these regions is not regarded as of much importance,
and everything is done very leisurely. It is only in active communities
that its value is considered.
Columbus coasted along the entire eastern shore of Central America, from
Cape Honduras to Nombre de Dios, or Chagres, in 1502, and was probably
the first discoverer of the Port of San Juan. In 1529, Captain Diego
Machuca, residing in the city of Granada, on Lake Nicaragua, undertook
the exploration of that lake, discovered its outlet, passed down the San
Juan to the port at its mouth, and sailed thence to Nombre de Dios. The
principal rapids in the stream still bears his name. We are informed by
the historian Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdez, who was in Nicaragua
in 1529, and was personally acquainted with Machuca, that the latter
projected a colony at the mouth of the river, but was interrupted in his
design by Robles, commandant at Nombre de Dios, who contemplated the
same enterprise. At how early a date the Spanish made establishments at
San Juan, is not known; but it is a historical fact, that early in the
seventeenth century a fort existed at San Carlos, which was captured by
the English in 1665, but recovered by De Mencos and De Caldas, officers
of Spain in the then Kingdom of Guatemala. (_Juarros’ History of the
Kingdom of Guatemala_, _Baily’s Trans._, p. 67.) In consequence of this
event, a royal decree was issued, commanding that the entrance of the
river should be fortified; which order was carried into effect by Don
Fernando de Escobeda, who examined the port and river, and built a fort
in obedience to his instructions. It is also a historical fact, that at
the period of the _rebuilding_ of the Fort of San Juan, on the river
above, about 1727, a garrison was maintained here. At that time not less
than twelve military stations existed on the river; the first was at San
Carlos, at the head of the stream; the second at the mouth of the Rio
Savalos; the third, a short distance from the mouth of the Rio Poco Sol;
the fourth, the Castle of San Juan; the fifth, the Island of Bartola;
sixth, a high bank below the Rapids de los Valos, called “_Diamante_;”
seventh, at the Rapids of Machuca; eighth, on an island at the mouth of
the River San Carlos; ninth, at the mouth of the Rio San Francisco;
tenth, at the mouth of the Serapiqui; eleventh, at the point called
“Conception,” opposite an island of the same name; and twelfth, at the
Port of San Juan itself, with an intermediate temporary station called
“Rosario.”
The commerce of Nicaragua with Europe and the West Indies was always
carried on through this port; and we have records of as early a date as
1665, of vessels clearing for the ports of Spain from the city of
Granada. San Juan was made a port of entry by royal order of the King of
Spain, dated February 26, 1796. By a royal order of the 27th of March
following, regulations were made for promoting the settlement of the
country in the neighborhood of that port, among which was one
authorizing the introduction, in the ports of Spain, of dye and other
woods cut there, or of coffee grown there, free of duty. From this
period an augmented military force was kept up at San Juan, and in 1821
additional defences were erected for their protection, as may be seen by
the order of the Captain-General of Guatemala, of the date of May 2,
1821. Upon the declaration of independence, the royal troops were
expelled by the patriots of Nicaragua, by whom the port was indisputably
occupied until the British seizure in January, 1848.
[Illustration: SAN JUAN DE NICARAGUA.—1853.]