CHAPTER I. 



OMETEPEC. 



Opposite Rivas, and about eight miles from the west coast of Lake Nicara- 

 gua, is the island of Ometepec, some twenty miles long by nine wide. Its length 

 is in the same general direction as that of the lake, northwest. It is formed by 

 two extinct volcanoes, Ometepec and Madera, between which is a strip of low- 

 land said to be occasionally overflowed by the high water of the rainy season. 

 The geological formation is, of course, volcanic ; enormous blocks of basalt in 

 some places cover the mountain side, while near the lake, on the northern or 

 Ometepec end, there is quite level land, extending at some points as far as two 

 miles inland, and extremely fertile. 



Of the mountains, Madera has the more aged appearance, with rugged out- 

 line and ridged and shaggy sides. Dense forests cover it, except where the rock 

 shows in a few grim patches. There is very little arable land on this end of the 

 island, the inhabitants being confined to a few favorable spots near the lake 

 shore. There is a beautiful stream down the north side of the mountain, which, 

 with two small ones in the level connecting slip, constitutes the only running 

 water on the island during the dry season. 



The volcano Ometepec, according to my aneroid, is 4,550 feet high, some 

 four or five hundred feet more elevated than Madera. It is very regular in out- 

 line ; in form, the model volcano. Its gracefully sloping sides fall with less 

 abruptness as the lake is approached, until a tolerably level plain on the north- 

 east and another on the southwest form, respectively, the districts of Alta Gracia 

 and Moyogalpa. This mountain also is well wooded to the top. except on the 

 southwest side, where, about a third of the way down from the summit, the 

 timber abruptly terminates, and grass llanos spread down towards the shore. 

 The southwest side of the crater seems to have been blown out by one of the 

 later eruptions, and a depression near the middle of the remaining portion of the 

 rim gives the two points to the peak. An enormous gulch extends from the 

 blown-out side of the crater half way down the mountain, bounding the llanos 

 on the south. The latter are on a formation of ash, cinder, and lava, the results 

 of the last eruptions. The cinder, and in some places the lava, overlies the ash, 

 and has on the surface just enough of soil to support a magnificent growth of 



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