ON ITS EXTERIOR. VOLCANOES. 253 



and Spratt, in the "Travels in Lycia," are perfectly 

 confirmed. An eruptive mass of serpentine rock tra- 

 verses the dense limestone, in a ravine which ascends 

 from south-east to north-west. At the northern extre- 

 mity of the ravine the serpentine is cut off, or perhaps 

 only concealed, by a curved crest of calcareous rock. 

 The specimens of serpentine brought home are partly 

 green and fresh, and partly brown and weathered. In 

 both, diallage is clearly recognisable. 



The volcano of Masaya, ( 376 ) which was celebrated even 

 at the beginning of the 16th century, and concerning 

 which, under the name of the Infierno de Masaya, reports 

 were made to the Emperor Charles V., is situated between 

 the lakes of Nicaragua and Managua, south-west of 

 the charming Indian village of Nindiri. For centuries 

 it presented the same rare and curious phenomena as 

 those described at the volcano of Stromboli. In look- 

 ing down from the margin of the crater, the waves of fluid 

 lava, as moved by the subterranean vapours, were seen to 

 rise and fall in the red-glowing abyss. The Spanish 

 historian Gonzalez Fernando de Oviedo first ascended 

 Masaya in July 1529, and drew comparisons between it 

 and Vesuvius, which he had previously visited (1501) in 

 the suite of the Queen of Naples, as her xefe de guarda- 

 ropa. The name " Masaya " belongs to the Chorotega 

 language of Nicaragua, and signifies " burning moun- 

 tain." This volcano, surrounded by an extensive lava- 

 field (mal-pays), which it has probably formed, was then 

 reckoned as belonging to the mountain-group of the 

 " nine burning Maribios." " In its ordinary state," 

 says Oviedo, " the surface of the Java, on which black 

 scoria3 are floating, remains several hundred feet below 



