DISCOVERY OF NICARAGUA IN 1522; GIL GONZALES DE AVILA, AND HIS MARCH
INTO THE COUNTRY; LANDS AT NICOYA; REACHES NICARAGUA AND HAS AN
INTERVIEW WITH ITS CAZIQUE; IS CLOSELY QUESTIONED; MARCHES TO
DIRIANGA, WHERE HE IS AT FIRST RECEIVED, BUT AFTERWARDS ATTACKED AND
FORCED TO RETREAT; PECULIARITIES OF THE ABORIGINES; THEIR WEALTH;
ARRIVAL OF FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA; HE SUBDUES THE COUNTRY,
AND FOUNDS THE CITIES OF GRANADA AND LEON; RETURN OF GONZALES;
QUARRELS BETWEEN THE CONQUERORS; PEDRO ARIAS DE AVILA THE FIRST
GOVERNOR OF NICARAGUA; HIS DEATH; IS SUCCEEDED BY RODERIGO DE
CONTRERAS; HIS SON, HERNANDEZ DE CONTRERAS, REBELS AGAINST SPAIN;
MEDITATES THE ENTIRE INDEPENDENCE OF ALL SPANISH AMERICA ON THE
PACIFIC; SUCCEEDS IN CARRYING NICARAGUA; SAILS FOR PANAMA; CAPTURES
IT; MARCHES ON NOMBRE DE DIOS, BUT DIES ON THE WAY; FAILURE OF HIS
DARING AND GIGANTIC PROJECT; SUBSEQUENT INCORPORATION OF NICARAGUA
IN THE VICE-ROYALTY OF GUATEMALA.—THE CITY OF GRANADA IN 1665, BY
THOMAS GAGE, AN ENGLISH MONK; NICARAGUA CALLED “MAHOMET’S PARADISE;”
THE IMPORTANCE OF GRANADA AT THAT PERIOD; SUBSEQUENT ATTACK BY THE
PIRATES IN 1668; IS BURNT; THEIR ACCOUNT OF IT; THE SITE OF GRANADA;
ELIGIBILITY OF ITS POSITION; POPULATION; COMMERCE; FOREIGN
MERCHANTS; PROSPECTIVE IMPORTANCE.—LAKE NICARAGUA; ITS DISCOVERY AND
EXPLORATION; INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF IT BY THE CHRONICLER OVIEDO,
WRITTEN IN 1541; ITS OUTLET DISCOVERED BY CAPTAIN DIEGO MACHUCA; THE
WILD BEASTS ON ITS SHORES; THE LAGUNA OF SONGOZANA; SHARKS IN THE
LAKE, THEIR RAPACITY; SUPPOSED TIDES IN THE LAKE; EXPLANATION OF THE
PHENOMENON.
The first Spaniard who penetrated into Nicaragua, was Gil Gonzales de
Avila, in the year 1522. He sailed from Panama, and landed somewhere
upon the shore of the Gulf of Nicoya, probably in the southern
department of Nicaragua, now bearing the name of Nicoya, or Guanacaste.
With four horses and a hundred followers, he advanced to the northward
over land, meeting in his progress with several petty chiefs, and
finally came to the territories of a powerful cazique called _Nicoya_,
who, says Peter Martyr, “courteously entertained him, and gave him
fourteen thousand pieces of eight in gold thirteen carats fine, and six
idols of the same metal, each a span long,” in return for which, adds
Herrara, Gonzales “gave him some Spanish toys, and baptized him and all
his subjects, being six thousand in number.”
Here Gonzales heard of a powerful chief named Nicaragua, and proceeding
fifty leagues to the northward, arrived in his territories, which were
between the lake of Nicaragua and the sea, comprising the district of
which the city of Nicaragua or Rivas is now the capital, and which
occupies the site of the aboriginal town. To this chief, Peter Martyr
tells us, De Avila sent the same message which “our men were wont to
deliver to the rest of the Indian kings, before they would press them,
that is to say, that they should become Christians, and admit their
subjection to the King of Spain, if they did not which, then war and
violence would be used against them.” But Nicaragua, it appears, had
heard of the “sharpness of the Spanish swords,” and received Gonzales
courteously and with great state, presenting him with “twenty-five
thousand pieces of eight in gold, many garments, and plumes of
feathers.” Gonzales prevailed upon him to be baptized, as he accordingly
was, with nine thousand of his subjects. Their sole objection to the
rite was the prohibition of making war, and “of dancing when they were
drunk,” alleging that “they did nobody harm thereby, and that they could
not quit their colors, weapons, and plumes of feathers, and let the
women go to war, whilst they applied themselves to spin, weave, and dig,
which belonged to the females and slaves.” Nicaragua asked many shrewd
questions of the Spaniards, one of which was, “why so few men coveted so
much gold?” “Gonzales being a discreet man,” observes Herrara, “gave
such answers as satisfied him,” although they have not been
preserved.[11]
-----
Footnote 11:
Old Peter Martyr gives quite a minute account of the interview between
Gonzales and Nicaragua, calculated to give a very high opinion of the
shrewdness of the latter. He inquired about a flood, and how the
Spaniards got their information on religious matters from heaven, who
brought it, and whether he came down on a rainbow or otherwise; about
“the sun, and moon, and stars, and of their motion, quality, distance,
and effects!” All these things were noted down on the spot, by
Cerezeda, the king’s treasurer, who also affirms that Nicaragua was
curious about the cause of day and night, and the blowing of the
winds, “which Gonzales answered to the best of his ability, commending
the rest to God.” Gonzales had a long argument with him to prove that
his idols were representatives of devils, and warned him in a style
not yet wholly obsolete, to avoid them, “lest he should be violently
carried away by them from eternal delights to perpetual torments and
miserable woes, and be made the companion of the damned.” To all of
these things the Indians did not offer particular objection, but when
they came to talk about temporal affairs, “they made a wry mouth.”
-----
After much persuasion Nicaragua consented that “the idols which he
worshipped should be cast down, and a cross set up in the temple, which
was hung with fine cotton cloths; and thus the country was converted!”
From the territories of this chief, Gonzales, being everywhere kindly
received, penetrated the country in various directions, and saw many
towns, which, says Herrara, “though not large, were good and
populous;[12] and multitudes flocked along the ways to see the Spanish
beards, and habits, and their horses, which were so strange to them.”
While thus engaged, he encountered a warlike cazique, called
_Diriangan_, a name that is perpetuated in that of the existing towns of
_Diriambi_, _Diriomo_, and _Nindiri_, situated about fifty miles to the
north-westward of Nicaragua. This chief was attended by five hundred
men, with seventeen women, who wore many gold plates. They were drawn up
in order, but without arms, “with ten colors, and trumpets after their
fashion.” When Gonzales came near, the colors were spread, and the
cazique touched his hand, as did also each of his followers; every man
presenting him, at the same time, with one or two turkeys, and each
woman with “twenty golden plates, fourteen carats fine, each weighing
eighteen pieces of eight, and upwards.”
-----
Footnote 12:
Peter Martyr says that he found “six villages, every one of which had
two thousand houses a-piece.”—“_De Novo Orbe_,” _Decade_ vi. p. 237.
-----
Gonzales endeavored to persuade Diriangan to become a Christian; but the
chief demanded three days to consult upon the subject “with his women
and priests.” The Spaniards soon suspected that this was a _ruse_, and
that it was his design to gather forces to attack and destroy them. In
this they were not mistaken, for on the 17th of April, 1522, a body of
several thousand Indians, “armed after their manner with cotton armor,
head pieces, targets, wooden swords, bows, arrows, and darts, fell upon
the Spaniards,” and had it not been for the timely notice of a
confederate Indian, would inevitably have destroyed them. The strangers
returned to the market place, and received the onset of the Indians
there. Several of the Spaniards were knocked down; for it seems that
here, as in Mexico, it was rather the desire of the natives to capture
than kill their enemies, in order to offer the prisoners as sacrifices
to their gods. The Spanish horse, in this, as in a thousand other
instances, saved them from defeat, driving back the Indians in great
terror.[13] Gonzales, considering the smallness of his force, resolved,
upon this event, to retire from the country. In passing the town of
their former entertainer, Nicaragua, they were however attacked, but
nevertheless succeeded in making good their retreat. “The Spaniards,”
adds Herrara, “gave a mighty account of the country upon their return to
Panama; for which reason Pedro de Arias, resolved to found a colony
there.” He accordingly soon after despatched Francisco Hernández de
Cordova, who, in 1522, founded the city of Granada upon the Lake of
Nicaragua, and subsequently, in the same year, the city of Leon, upon
the Lake of Leon, or Managua. Cordova erected a fort at Granada for its
protection, but it is hardly to be supposed that the ruined works on the
shore of the lake are the remains of this structure.
-----
Footnote 13:
Peter Martyr tells us that the Indians were not less afraid of men
with beards than of the horses, and that therefore, to produce the
greatest possible effect, Gonzales made artificial beards “from the
powlinges of their heads, for twenty-five beardless youths which he
had with him, to the end that the number of bearded men might appear
the more, and be the more terrible to the barbarians.”—“_De Novo
Orbe_,” _Decade_ vi. p. 240.
-----
Gonzales, who had gone to Spain soon after his discovery, to procure the
means of conquering and settling the country, finding himself
anticipated by Cordova, raised a force and entering Honduras by the
valley of Olancho, from the Bay of Honduras, marched upon the towns
established by the latter. The consequences were many battles, and much
disturbance and turmoil, exceeding anything which had previously
resulted from the jealousies and rivalries of the conquerors, in
America. Very little regard was paid to the mother country or its
directions; in fact, after the death of Pedro Arias de Avila, who was
the first governor of the country, Rodrigo de Contreras, his son-in-law,
who succeeded him, openly disregarded the order of the crown, which
prohibited its officers from holding the Indians as property. For this
charges were preferred against him, and he went to Spain to vindicate
himself in the “Audiencia Real.” In his absence, his son, Hernández de
Contreras, resenting his father’s treatment, openly revolted. Their
first victim was Antonio de Valdivieso, the bishop of Nicaragua, whose
portrait is still preserved in the great cathedral at Leon. The
insurgents were successful in gaining complete possession of the
country; but not satisfied with this, they seized some vessels in the
port of Realejo, and embarked for Panama, with a view of extending their
conquests in that direction, and ultimately of seizing upon Peru.
Hernández, in short, conceived the idea of becoming king of the
continent, and ruler of the South Sea. He attacked and captured Panama;
but on his way to reduce Nombre de Dios, encountered misfortunes which
ended in his death. Thus terminated this bold and magnificent design;
the magnitude of which appalled the King of Spain, and which, at one
moment, seemed on the eve of a successful consummation. The anniversary
of Hernández’s death, on the 23d of April, 1549, was celebrated with
great solemnity in the Cathedral of Panama, until the period of the
independence from Spain.
It is not necessary, nor would it be particularly interesting, to trace
the early history of Nicaragua further. In due time, it was organized as
a province in the Kingdom or Captain Generalcy of Guatemala, and
governed by a Governor Intendant, appointed by the crown, but subject to
the Captain General of Guatemala, and so remained until its emancipation
in 1823. At that time Granada was among the first cities to declare in
favor of republicanism, and has always, in the partisan struggles which
have followed, been on the liberal side, as opposed to the servile,
oligarchical, or monarchical faction, whose machinations have kept the
country in a state of constant alarm, and which is still the enemy of
its peace.
Thomas Gage, an English monk, who went through Nicaragua in 1665, has
left us a brief but interesting account of the country, which he calls
“Mahomet’s Paradise, from its exceeding goodness.” At that time there
were in the city of Granada two cloisters of Mercenarian and Franciscan
friars, and “one parish church, which was a cathedral, for the Bishop of
Leon did almost constantly reside there.” The houses, he says, were
fairer than those of Leon, and the merchants enjoyed great wealth. They
carried on trade directly with Guatemala, Honduras, and San Salvador, as
also with Panama, Carthagena, and Peru. At the time of sending away
their vessels, (“frigats,” as Gage calls them,) the city was one of the
richest in all North America. The king’s treasure from Guatemala and
Mexico was often sent this way, when the Hollanders and other enemies
infested the Gulf of Mexico. Gage tells us that while he was there, “in
one day there entered six _Requas_, (which were each at least three
hundred mules,) from San Salvador and Honduras alone, laden with indigo,
cochineal, and hides; and two days after from Guatemala came in three
more, one laden with silver, (which was the king’s tribute,) another
with sugar, and the other with indigo.”[14] Respecting the “frigats” of
which Gage speaks, we shall have more to say elsewhere. They generally
sailed for Carthagena, but sometimes directly for Spain. They were
occasionally intercepted by English and Dutch vessels cruising around
the mouth of “El Desaguadero,” or the San Juan, and the fear of this,
observes the quaint old traveller, “did make the merchants tremble and
sweat with a cold sweat.”
-----
Footnote 14:
“A New Survey of the West Indies,” p. 421.
-----
Granada, in common with all the Spanish cities on the Pacific declivity
of the continent, suffered much, at a later period, from the pirates. In
1686 it was attacked by a party from the combined French and English
bucaneers then in the South Sea, and sacked. They landed on the seventh
of April in that year, on the coast of the Pacific, in number three
hundred and forty-five men. They travelled only at night, with a view of
surprising the town. De Lussan, who was of the party, records the
adventure. He says that on the ninth of the month, two days after their
departure from the coast, the fatigue which they had undergone, and the
sharp hunger which pressed them, obliged them to halt at a great sugar
plantation, about four leagues from Granada, and on the way thither. It
belonged to a Knight of St. James, who, however, escaped being taken
prisoner, for the excellent reason assigned by the chronicler, viz.:
“our leggs at that time being much more disposed to rest than run after
him.” Upon coming near to the town, they discovered that their approach
was known, and saw what De Lussan calls “two ships upon Lake Nicaragua,”
laden with the effects of the retreating inhabitants. They now proceeded
with more caution, and upon capturing a prisoner found out that a
portion of the inhabitants remained, and had entrenched themselves in
the Place of Arms, or Plaza, which was guarded with fourteen pieces of
cannon, and “six petereroes.” This information, continues the worthy De
Lussan, “would doubtless have terrified any but freebooters, but did not
retard our design one minute, nor hinder us. About two in the afternoon
of the same day, we came up to the town, where at one entrance into the
suburbs we met a strong party lying in ambush for us, whom, after an
hour’s engagement, we fell with that fury on, that we made our way over
all their bellies, with the loss of but one man on our side, and from
thence entered the town, where we made a halt to wait for the answer of
several of our company, whom we had detached to go round and take
observation of a fort which we saw in a direct line with the street by
which we entered.” The reconnoitering over, and the plan of attack laid
out with all military precision, the freebooters “exhorted each other to
fall on bravely, and advanced at a good round pace to the attack.” When
they had got within cannon shot of the works, they were fired on, but at
every discharge the pirates “saluted them down to the ground, by which
means the shot went harmlessly over.” This excellent practical joke the
Spaniards met by false priming, “to the end that the pirates might raise
their bodies after the sham was over,” and then receive the real
discharge. The pirates then broke into the houses and made their
approaches through the walls, from one to the other; and finally came
sufficiently near to use their fire-arms and hand grenades, and being
superior in numbers, and withal well used to hard fighting, they soon
succeeded in making themselves masters of the work. Upon the side of the
pirates four men were killed and eight wounded, which, De Lussan
complacently observes, “was in truth very cheap.” They then went to the
great church and piously sang the _Te Deum_, fixed their sentinels, and
the Court of Guard, (which was probably some kind of commission to take
charge of the plunder,) in the strong-built houses, and afterwards went
out to gather in the booty. But their victory was a barren one, for they
only found “a few goods and some provisions.”
Much disappointed, they sent out parties to collect the treasures which
they conceived might be hidden on the estates outside of the city, but
with no better success, for they came back, as De Lussan classically
observes, “_re infecta_.” They then caught a woman, whom they sent to
the Spaniards with a demand for a ransom for the town, and a threat of
burning the same in case their requisition was not complied with. The
inhabitants were not so easily frightened, and did not trouble
themselves to give an answer, whereupon the pirates “set fire to the
houses out of mere spite and revenge.”
While here, the pirates, wearied of their laborious and perilous life,
indulged hopes of returning, through Lake Nicaragua, to Europe. But, in
their own words, “the term of dangers and miseries which their destiny
had in store for them was not yet come, and they could not take
advantage of the favorable opportunity which now offered to get out of
these parts of the world, which, though very charming and agreeable to
those who were settled there, yet did not appear so to a handful of men,
without shipping, the most part of the time without victuals, and
wandering amidst a multitude of enemies, against whom they were obliged
to be continually on their guard.” So they fell back, with infinite
trouble and danger, to the coast, being obliged to contest every foot of
the ground. They embarked again and sailed for Realejo, which they
captured, and subsequently took Pueblo Viejo and Chinendaga, and even
made a descent on Leon. These same men, after further exploits on the
coast, made a forced march across the continent, from the Gulf of
Fonseca to Cape Gracios a Dios, through the northern department of
Nicaragua (Segovia) and Honduras.
De Lussan describes the city of Granada, at the time of his visit, as a
large and spacious town, with “stately churches and houses, well enough
built, besides several religious establishments, both for men and
women.” Around the city “were a great many fine sugar plantations, which
were more like unto so many villages than single plantations.”
The site of Granada is admirably chosen. It occupies a gentle slope,
descending towards the lake, which here forms a beautiful and partially
protected bay, called the bay of Granada. Upon one side rises the great
volcano of Momobacho, while behind are the undulating hills and ridges
of land which intervene between the lake and the Pacific. The position
is, in fact, the only eligible one on the western shore of the lake,
near its head, where any considerable town could be built, due regard
being had to space, salubrity, and convenience for trade. And while
Leon, from the circumstances that it was almost immediately established
as the seat of government, and was built in a more fertile and populous
district, has preserved a larger population and a greater number of
imposing public edifices, Granada has always held a higher place in
respect of trade. Through it, from the earliest period, has been
conducted the principal part of the commerce of the country, besides a
portion of that of the adjacent provinces and States. It has not
suffered so much from violence as the political capital; and although
subject to the same influences which have depressed the country at
large, it has felt them less. Wealth has, in consequence, concentrated
here to a considerable extent, and its commercial relations have led to
the introduction of many foreign customs, without, however, materially
changing its essential Central American type. More foreigners have, from
time to time, established themselves here, than in all the rest of the
State. Some of them, after accumulating large fortunes, have returned to
their native lands, while others, from habit or inclination, have
remained, and almost entirely assimilated themselves to the native
population.
The population of Granada is now estimated at from twelve to fifteen
thousand inhabitants. This estimate may, however, be considerably wide
of the truth. When Juarros wrote, the population was calculated to be
863 Europeans, Spaniards and Creoles; 910 Mestizos; 4,765 Ladinos; and
1,695 Indians. Total, 8,233.
No means exist whereby its trade can be accurately estimated. With the
exception of some direct trade with the city of Rivas or Nicaragua,
situated on the lake forty-five miles below Granada, the entire commerce
with San Juan is conducted through this city. Here are owned nearly all
the boats used in the navigation of the lake and river, and here also
reside the principal part of the “marineros,” or men employed in
managing them. There are several wholesale mercantile houses, trading
directly with New York, London, Liverpool, some of the French, Spanish,
and Italian ports, and Jamaica. The principal supplies of the merchants
have, for a number of years, been obtained from the island last named,
where their credit is said to be better than that of the traders from
any of the other Spanish States. The transactions are often, if not
generally, cash, or what is equivalent, remittances in bullion, indigo,
or other staples of high value and little bulk. Advances are often made,
however, on prospective crops, which seldom fail. Iron, copper, and
China wares, silks, calicoes, cottons, etc., are the principal imports;
while, as I have already said, the exports consist of indigo, bullion,
hides, Brazil wood, and coffee. As it is almost impossible to limit the
production of tropical staples in Nicaragua, such as indigo, coffee,
cacao, cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco, not to mention hides,
dye-woods, and medicines, the wealth and importance of Granada must go
on increasing, as the country becomes developed by the introduction of
enterprise and capital, both of which are rapidly taking that direction.
This remark will hold true, even though the prospective canal, or the
projected route of transit between the oceans, should not pass through
or near it; for it is really the only eligible position for a large town
on the south or western shore of the lake, and is, and must ever remain,
nearer than all others to the great centres of population and
production. Several American hotels and mercantile houses are already
established there, and it is becoming better known than any other city
in all Central America. A small steamer now plies between it and San
Carlos, at the outlet of the lake. A short wharf or two alone are wanted
to facilitate landing, and secure vessels from the waves of the lake,
which sometimes roll in here with almost the force and majesty of those
of the ocean.
The lake of Nicaragua, called by the aborigines _Cocibolca_, which gives
to Granada its importance, and which is the most remarkable natural
feature of the country, has already been described, in general terms, in
the second chapter of this book. It, of course, attracted the first
attention of the Spanish adventurers, who made many wonderful reports of
it, which, reaching Spain, excited much speculation as to the
probability of a water communication between the two oceans. Indeed it
was confidently announced by some that straits opened from it to the
South and to the North Seas; but it was not until 1529 that it was fully
explored. In that year, we are informed by the historian Oviedo y
Valdez, (who was in the country at the time of which he writes, but
whose chronicle remained in manuscript until 1840, and has not yet, in
any part, been published in English,) in that year, Pedro de Avila sent
a man named Martin Estete, at the head of a party of soldiers and
Indians, to make an exploration both of Lake Nicaragua and Managua. They
went into a province called Voto, which must have been to the north-ward
of Lake Managua, but got involved with the natives, were attacked and
driven back. They however saw, from the top of a mountain, a body of
water, which they supposed to be a third lake. It was probably the great
Gulf of Fonseca, which is nearly surrounded by land, and would, at a
distance, be taken for an inland lake. Nothing of value resulted from
this expedition. Subsequently, however, a private expedition was
undertaken by Captain Diego Machuca, a friend of the historian Oviedo,
which was more successful, and terminated in the discovery of the outlet
of the lakes, down which the adventurers passed to the ocean. I shall
let the old writer tell his own story. He says:
“Last year, (1540,) I met in the city of Santo Domingo the pilot Pedro
Cora, who was one of those who had accompanied Estete in his trip to
Voto, and had seen both the country and the dubious lake. He told me
that he had come from New Castile, under the government of Francisco
Pizarro, and that he had met at the port of Nombre de Dios some old
friends whom he had known in the province of Nicaragua, and who had
built a felouque and brigantine on the shores of the great lake of
Nicaragua, called _Cocibolca_ in the language of the country. With
them was a man named Diego Machuca, with whom I have been well
acquainted, and who had been commandant of the country of the Cazique
Tenderi, and of the country around the lake of Masaya. After having
spent some thousands of dollars in building and arming these vessels
at their own expense, they embarked with the intention of exploring
these lakes thoroughly, or of perishing in the attempt. Captain Diego
Machuca advanced by land, at the head of two hundred men, taking the
same course with the boats, which were accompanied by some canoes.
They, in course of time, arrived at the spot where the waters of these
lakes appeared to flow into the North Sea. As they knew not where they
were, they followed the sea coast in an eastern direction, and finally
arrived at the port of Nombre de Dios, where this pilot met them. He
conversed, ate, and drank often with those who had thus passed out of
these lakes into the sea. He also told me that Doctor Robles held
these men as prisoners, because he himself wished to found a colony at
the outlet of these lakes, and thus profit by the labor of another, as
is the custom with these men of letters, for the use that they make of
their wisdom is rather to rob than to render justice; and this was
true of this man more than of others, for he was not only a
_licenciado_, or _bachelor_, but a _doctor_, the highest grade of
science, and has therefore shown himself the greatest tyrant! For this
reason, his employment has been taken away from him. Besides, if he
had undertaken to found a colony at this outlet, he would have met
there Captain Machuca, who would not have consented to have thus lost
his time, money, and trouble; the old soldier would have proved
himself too sharp for the wise lawyer. I asked the pilot, at what
point on the coast these lakes emptied into the ocean, but he replied
that he was not at liberty to tell. I believe that he wished to
conceal it from me himself, and that it was on this business he was
going to Spain, on behalf of those who made the discovery. I believe
this place to be about one hundred leagues west of Nombre de Dios,[15]
and if I obtain any new information on this matter, I will put it in
the concluding chapters of this book.
-----
Footnote 15:
This estimate was very accurate; the actual distance is but about
two hundred and fifty miles in a right line.
-----
“I do not regard what are called the two lakes of Nicaragua as
separate lakes, because they connect the one with the other. They are
separated from the South Sea by a very narrow strip of land; and I
should say that the distance from their upper extremity to the outlet
in the North Sea, is two hundred and fifty leagues.[16] The measures
given by Pedro Arias and others are not true, since they did not know
their extent. They have made a separate lake on the side where is Leon
de Nagrando, on the lands of a cazique named Tipitapa, which
communicates with a narrow channel with that of Granada (Nicaragua.)
In summer there is but little water in this channel, so little that a
man may traverse it; the water coming up no higher than his breast.
This lake is filled with excellent fish. But what proves that they are
both one lake is the fact that they equally abound in sea-fish and
turtles. Another proof is that in 1529, there was found in the
province of Nicaragua, upon the bank of this lake, a fish never seen
except in the sea, and called the sword-fish, (_pexe biguela_,) on
account of a bone armed on both sides with sharp points, placed in the
extremity of its jaw. I have seen some of these fish of so great size,
that two oxen attached to a cart could hardly draw them. A description
of these may be found in Cap. iii. lib. 13, Part first of this work.
The one found on the shores of this lake was small, being only about
twelve feet in length, and must have entered at the outlet of the
lake. Its sword only of a hand’s breadth, and of the width of two
fingers.
-----
Footnote 16:
Oviedo overshoots the mark here; read miles for leagues, and the
distance is very near the truth.
-----
“The water of the lakes is very good and healthful, and a large number
of small rivers and brooks empty into them. In some places the great
lake is fifteen or twenty fathoms deep: in other places it is scarcely
a foot in depth; so that it is not navigable in all parts, but only in
the middle, and with barks constructed expressly for the purpose.
“It has a large number of islands, of some extent, covered with flocks
and precious woods. The largest is eight leagues in circumference, and
is inhabited by Indians. It is very fertile, filled with deer and
rabbits, and named _Ometepec_, which signifies _two mountains_. It
formerly contained a population much more numerous than now, divided
into eight or ten villages. The mountain on this island towards the
east is lowest; the other is so high that its summit is seldom seen.
When I passed by this island the atmosphere was very clear, and I
could easily see the summit. I passed the night at a farm belonging to
a gentleman named Diego Mora, situated on the main land near the
island. The keeper told me that during the two years he had been in
that place he had seen the summit but once, because it was always
covered with clouds.
“On the south side of the great lake is a smaller one, called
_Songozana_, which is separated from it by a flat shore, but one
hundred and fifty paces wide. It is formed by rains, which fill it up
in the rainy season; and as it is higher than the great lake, its
waters bear away the sand, and empty into it. This laguna then becomes
filled with alligators and all kinds of fish. But during the summer it
nearly dries up. The Indians then kill with clubs great numbers of
alligators and fish. It is about a league and a half in length, and
three-fourths of a league in breadth. I visited it in the latter part
of July, 1529, and there was but little water in it. The farmer whom I
have mentioned had many hogs, which fed on the fish which they caught
here, and were so large that they looked frightful, the more so,
because they had the smell and taste of fish. For this reason they are
now kept away from the laguna, and only allowed to approach to drink.
“In this vicinity there are numerous black tigers, which made great
havoc in this farmer’s flocks. He had some excellent dogs, which had
killed many of these tigers; he showed me one in particular, that had
killed two or three. The skin of one of these animals, which he showed
me, was black, like velvet. This kind is more ferocious than the
spotted variety. He said he would not take a thousand dollars for his
dogs, for his pork was worth a thousand, and without the dogs the
tigers would have destroyed them all.”
A laguna, something like that of _Songozana_, described by Oviedo,
occurs about six miles above the city of Granada, near the place called
“Los Cocos,” but I am not aware that it is ever dry. The statement that
sword-fish have reached the lake seems somewhat apochryphal, although it
should be observed that Oviedo is usually very accurate in matters of
this kind. It is, however, a fact that sharks abound in the lake. They
are called “tiburones” from their rapacity. Instances are known of their
having attacked and killed bathers within a stone’s throw of the beach
at Granada; and I have myself repeatedly seen them from the walls of the
old castle, dashing about, with their fins projecting above the water.
Great varieties of fish are found in Lakes Nicaragua and Managua, which
are extensively caught and used by the people residing on their shores.
The lake of Nicaragua was supposed, at one time, to have tides like the
ocean, and the fact that it has an ebb and flow led to the early belief
that it was only an estuary, or bay of the sea. The phenomenon is,
however, of easy explanation. As I have said, the prevailing wind in
Nicaragua is the north-east trade, which here sweeps entirely across the
continent. This is strongest in the noon and evening, when it drives the
water upon the western shores of the lakes; it subsides towards morning,
when the equilibrium is restored, and an ebb follows. The regularity
with which the winds blow, give a corresponding regularity to the ebb
and flow of the lake. Sometimes, when the wind blows continuously, and
with greater force than usual, from the direction I have named, the low
lands on the opposite shore of the lakes are flooded to a great extent.
Such occurrences, however, are rare.