LAKES MANAGUA AND NICARAGUA.

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wondrous beauty this quiet basin, while Momotombo, from whose lofty peak I watched thin clouds of smoke wreathing upward, relieved by the dark gray morning sky, rises, grandly, in its bosom; Momotombita, a fit companion, stands in bold. relief, so beautifully artistic in design and character, that it wins an involuntary exclamation from us as, on the beach, we gaze far up its shaggy ascent.

The Lake Nicaragua is about one hundred and ten miles 1ng by thirty-five to sixty miles in breadth, and every variety of depth may here be fathomed. This sheet of water is the most beautiful of any I ever saw; and yet within its depths the rapacious shark fins his way along, and the timid mariner witnesses waterspouts, and experiences the most sudden, dangerous squalls met with in

any water on the globe.

During the months of

Its sole outlet is the Rio San Juan. October, November, December, and January, the prevailing winds are from the northeast, and the waves of the lake scud angrily upon the beach, dashing the spray, broadcast, in refreshing showers. At such seasons, travelers, desirous of journeying from the south, experience much difficulty in getting off in the small schooners heretofore exclusively used between Granada and the ports south of it-San Jorge and Virgin Bay. Indeed, I have known parties who have been delayed two weeks, yet endeavoring, perhaps frequently during the day, to launch their boats, but ere their sails would

fill, the breakers, rushing shoreward, would drive the boats high and dry upon the beach. It was formerly supposed from this, that there was an ebb and flow to the lake, and judging at such seasons, a stranger would be convinced that it was no dream, but an actual reality. The streams known as the San Carlos and Serapaqui, flow into the Rio San Juan, with numerous others bordering it. This river is from one hundred yards to a quarter of a mile wide, from one to twentyfive feet deep, and about ninety-one miles long, margined by heavy underbrush and fine timber; while the bank on either side is so heavily screened with trailing vines, that at various places it is impenetrable to the eye. I have seen a single one, climbing up a gigantic Trumpet-tree, wreathe round its top, cover it, then falling gracefully in myriads of clusters resembling the various jets of a fountain, reach terra firma, then clasp another tree, and so on until one would almost imagine the Banyan before him. Upon its shores, and on the many sand islets, is seen reposing, in fancied and blest security, like a fat millionaire, the swarthy alligator; and leaping from tree to tree, and shriekingly from vine to vine, are countless monkeys-some short-tailed, others long, ring-tailed, others no-tailed, cropped off short, regular bob-tails.

For calm, quiet beauty, the Rio San Juan is pre-eminent, and will retain numberless charms for the tourist's eye, even should the axe of the settler ring through the wilderness on

THE RAPIDS-MACHUCA AND CASTILLO.

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its banks. There are various rapids in the ascent, viz.: the Machucha, the Castillo, the Tauro, the Cow, and the Calf. The Machucha Rapids take their name from Captain Diego Machuca, who, in 1529, explored the river. They are by no means entitled to the name, but may better be designated as an eddy, for here the river bends, and the current is swift, indeed very swift, yet navigable for stern-wheel boats without much difficulty. The Castillo Rapids-where the old castle frowns from its height of one hundred feet or more above, are truly such, yet far from equaling those on the St. Lawrence River, and others elsewhere. They appear to have been formed by art, rather than Nature. Large loose stones obstruct the river, and the swift current roars through the interstices, seeming at a short distance to be indeed very formidable; yet I, with others, in 1850, endeavored to haul a stern-wheel iron steamer up them, and should have succeeded, had the banks been firm, or had we had a stump around which to trail our hawsers. Our feet slipped, the current swept the boat down-down over the rapids. Being of iron, she bounded from rock to rock, and after sweeping perhaps one hundred yards down the current, ran safely ashore on the opposite bank.

It requires but little valor to brave these rapids; and the heart of a sailor throbs lightly and easily under his jacket, as he steers his craft into the stream, and mounts the noisy little

bubbles. Fort St. Juan, called also the Castle of Neustra Senora, surmounts the hill at the Castillo Rapids, on the left in ascending the river. It is now in a state of decay; but in its earlier days it had a small battery, mounted with thirtysix guns, whose platform was level with the water, the whole enclosed on the land side by a ditch and rampart. The garrison consisted of one hundred infantry, sixteen artillery-men, and sixty militia, and was also provided with guard-boats, which were rowed up and down the river every night. The fort was provisioned from Granada; and six months stores were always stowed away in the capacious under-ground garners.

There is a variety of climate in Nicaragua, the heat being less on the Pacific than the Atlantic coast. On the former, the rainy season sets in in the early part of May; and with the exception or intervention of fifteen or twenty days in July and the beginning of August, continues till October, and in some sections till November. During the remainder of the year an occasional shower refreshes the heated air, sufficient only to glaze the parched leaves-yet in this dry season, fine fruits are in abundance; and although the crisp grass and wilted leaves evidence drought, or in fact, correspond to our winter, yet with the difference in mid-day, there is no great change in the temperature. The interior is cooler than the coast by about 14° Fahrenheit. On the Atlantic, rains fall

throughout the year with considerable uncertainty; the driest season is from June to October; the wettest from that to May.

From daybreak to 10 A. M., in this country, is always pleasant, and a ride on horseback is enjoyed; from 10 A. M. to 4 P. M. the heat is intense, so much so, that the population are generally swinging in their casas in their hammocks, save the mariners and washer-women, who are sprinkled over the lake beach at Managua and Granada; from 4 P. M. the temperature is modified by the coming on of night. There seems scarcely a pause between the bright glare of the sun. and the mellow rays of the moon: twilight being a dream, or mayhap a memory of a far-distant land.

The evenings are delightfully agreeable, and the air pure, so much so, that a party conversing in the usual key, may be interpreted at the distance of a square, and I have frequently been able to follow the air of some serenader, distant at least three-fourths of a mile.

The rainy season is the most pleasant, the thermometer ranging from 780 to 880, rarely below 72° in the night, and rising to 90° in the afternoon. At Granada, in June, 820; in Leon, in July, August and September, 83°; and a strong breeze sweeps from the lake, rendering the nights just such as guarantee refreshing sleep. In the dry season, in January, the temperature is less occasionally cool; every thing is filled