348 



THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIX. 



lowered down, it until, with, an iron chain and bucket, 

 they could reach the fiery mass, when the bucket was 

 melted from the chain, and the intrepid explorers, whose 

 hearts avarice had hardened to adamant, were drawn up 

 half dead from amongst the fumes. Since then there 



o 



have been several eruptions ; and so late as 1857 it 

 threw out volumes of smoke, and probably ashes. The 

 whole country is volcanic. For scores of miles every 

 rock is trachytic, and the earth decomposing tufas. 



The lake itself is like an immense crater with its per- 

 pendicular cliffs. I spent some time in making an ac- 



3 . & >'' u >' < 



\ 



STRATA AT 



curate section of the strata as exposed in the rocky paths 

 leading down to the water. The whole section exposed 

 is 348 feet in height from the surface of the lake to the 

 top of the undulating plain on which. Masaya is built. 

 This measurement was kindly given to nie by ]\Ir. 

 Simpson, an enterprising American engineer engaged in 



