248 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



Gov. Diego Lopez de Salzedo gave it the name of New Kingdom 

 of Leon; it lies 134 leagues E. of Guatemala.] 



71 L This Diocese of Honduras is over 100 leagues in length, 

 approximately E. and W., along the Atlantic coast from the city 

 and port of Trujillo and its environs, up to the farthest territory 

 of Gracias a Dios on the boundary line of the Diocese of Guatemala ; 

 and it is over 50 leagues broad, from the Atlantic coast down to 

 the Indian village of Somoto (near Nueva Segovia in the Diocese 

 of Nicaragua), which lies in the district of the Diocese and State of 

 Honduras. 



Chapter XXV 



Of the Provinces and New Kingdom of Leon de Nicaragua, and 

 the City of Granada Which Has Been Built There. 



712. The Province and New Kingdom of Leon de Nicaragua was 

 discovered by Gil Gonzalez de Avila in the year 1522; he made a 

 beginning of settlement and baptized over 30,000 Indians there. 

 Later, Gov. Diego Lopez de Salcedo gave it the name of the New 

 Kingdom of Leon. It lies 134 leagues E. of Guatemala. Pedro Arias 

 de Avila, Governor of Panama, sent Capt. Francisco Hernandez 

 de Cordoba to this province to bring it into subjection. In this cam- 

 paign in the year 1523 he founded the city of Granada on the shore 

 of its great lake on a level and attractive site, and although the 

 country has a hot climate, it has bright skies and healthful breezes. 

 It is 150 leagues from Guatemala. 



713. The city contains over 250 Spanish residents, not counting 

 the Indians of the service class, Negroes, and mulattoes. It has a 

 parish church, but the Cathedral of this diocese is in the city of Leon. 

 It has Franciscan, Mercedarian, and Jesuit convents, a hospital and 

 other churches and shrines. The Bishop and the Governor of these 

 provinces reside here. A very good Indian village called Agalteca 

 adjoins the city, and many others live in the outer wards, with free 

 Negroes and mulattoes. The city has abundance of inexpensive 

 foodstuffs, and although wheat cannot be raised here on account of 

 the hot climate, they bring flour from the city of Cartago in Costa 

 Rica. They have excellent poultry, beef, veal, abundance of mojarras 

 and other fish caught in the lake and sold very cheap, much corn, 

 kidney beans, and other cereals and vegetables, both of native and 

 Spanish varieties, with many delicious kinds of native fruit and some 

 Spanish. 



714. In its neighborhood there are some sugar mills, farms, and 

 ranches of cattle and mules, and cacao plantations, which in that 

 country are a great source of wealth ; they have large tobacco crops, 



