M. de Humboldt on the Volcanos of Guatemala. 119 



Nindiri than the village of Masaya, was in the first ages of the 

 conquest of the counti'y the most active of all the burning 

 mountains of Guatemala. " The Spaniards," says Juarros, 

 "called it Hell, el Infierno dcMasaya" Its crater was only from 

 twenty to thirty paces in diameter, but the melted lava seethed 

 and rolled in waves as high as towers ; the light from it spread 

 very far, as well as its frightful bellowings. At the distance 

 of twenty-five miles the flames of Masaya were visible. This 

 volcano peculiarly allured the monks of the 16th century, in 

 their thirst for gold. A Dominican, Bias de Ifiena, as Go- 

 mara relates, descended into the crater by a chain of 140 brazas 

 long, armed with an iron ladle ; with the ladle he intended to 

 have taken up the gold in fusion (the fluid lava !); the ladle 

 melted, and the monk escaped with difficulty. The secondary 

 circumstances of this story are certainly fabulous; but it is 

 more than probable that Inena ventured into the crater, and 

 that his unsuccessful enterprise induced the Dcchan (dean) of 

 the spiritual Chapter of Leon to obtain permission from the 

 king to open the volcano of Masaya, and to collect the gold 

 which was hidden in its interior. Juarros speaks of another 

 volcano close to that of Masaya, the volcano of Nindiri or 

 Nidiri, which had a great eruption in 1775, when a stream of 

 lava [rio de Juego) flowed into Laguna de Leon, or Managua, 

 and destroyed a great many fish. From the situation of the 

 village of Nindiri it may be supposed that this phaenomenon 

 was an eruption from the side of the Masaya. In Teneriffe 

 also I have often heard the Volcano de Chahorra spoken of 

 as if it was a different mountain from the Peak. It is very 

 common in all volcanic countries for the volcanos, properly so 

 called, to be confounded with the sites of minor eruptions from 

 their own sides. In travelling from the Volcano de Masaya 

 along the Laguna of Tiscapa across Nagaroti to the city of 

 Leon, east of the city you see, at the north end of Laguna 

 de Leon or de Managua, the lofty volcano of Momotombo ; 

 further down, between lat. 12^ 20' and 13*^ 15', or between the 

 city of Leon and the Gulf of Amapala or Fonseca, appear the 

 four volcanos of Felica, theViejo, Giletepe, and Guanacaure. 

 The volcano of Felica is still active, like Mombacho and Mo- 

 motombo : })ersous also who visited the harbour of Rialejo 

 last year, saw the Volcano del Viejo smoking considerably. 

 The volcano of Giletepe is named in the Spanish manuscript 

 charts V. de C'usiguiJia, from the neighbouring Puntu de Cosi- 

 guina, as has been correctly conjectured by M. von Puch. 



West of the (iulf of Amapala rise, as it were from tiie same 

 cavernous bed,thevolcanosofSan Miguel Bosotlan( I Jsulutan?), 

 Tccapa, San V iucente or Sacatecoluca, San Salvador, Isaico, 



Apanecu 



