Boundary Between Nicaragua and Costa Rica 25 



bank of the San Juan River, below Castillo, 

 follows the lowest water mark of a navig- 

 able stage of river. And, if now the lake 

 shore were itself to be the boundary of 

 Costa Rica, I would not hesitate to declare 

 that the semi-submerged land went with 

 the permanent land and carried her limits 

 at least to the mean low-water line. 



" Put this case is not one of a water 

 boundary ; nor is it at all similar, or ' on 

 all fours ' with one, for none of the equi- 

 ties above set forth have any application. 

 It is a case of rare and singular occur- 

 rence and without precedent, within my 

 knowledge. A water line is in question, 

 but not as a boundary. It is only to 

 furnish starting points whence to meas- 

 ure ofif a certain strip of territory. Clear- 

 ly the case stands alone, and must be gov- 

 erned strictly by the instrument under 

 which it has arisen. That is the treaty of 

 1858; and its language is as follows: 



" ' Thence the line shall continue tow- 

 ards the river Sapoa, which discharges 

 into the Lake of Nicaragua, following a 

 course which is distant always two miles 

 from the right bank of the river San Juan, 

 with its sinuosities, up to its origin at the 

 lake, and from the right bank of the lake 

 itself, up to the said river Sapoa, where 

 this line parallel to . the said banks will 

 terminate.' 



" The principles upon which the lan- 

 guage and intent of treaties are to be in- 

 terpreted are well set forth in the Costa 

 Rica argument by many quotations from 

 eminent authors. All concur that words 

 are to be taken as far as possible in their 

 first and simplest meanings — ' in their 

 natural and obvious sense, according to 

 the general use of the same words ' — ' in 

 the natural and reasonable sense of the 

 terms ' — ' in the usual sense, and, not in 

 any extraordinary or unused occupation.' 



" We must suppose that the language 

 of the treaty above quoted suggested to 

 its framers some very definite, picture of 

 the lake with its banks, and of the two- 

 mile strip of territory. It, evidently, 

 seemed to them all so simple and obvious 



that no further words were necessary. 

 Let us first call up pictures of the lake, 

 at different levels, and see which seems 

 the most natural, obvious and reasonable. 

 " The very effort to call up a picture of 

 the lake, at either extreme high water 

 or extreme low water, seems to me imme- 

 diately to rule both of these levels out of 



A. P. Davis, Chief Hydrographer, 

 Isthmian Canal Commission. 



further consideration. Both seem un- 

 natural conditions, and I must believe 

 that, had either been intended, additional 

 details would have been given. 



" Next ; is the mean low water mark 

 the first, most obvious and natural picture 

 called up by the expression, ' the bank of 

 the lake ? ' It seems to me decidedly not. 

 During about eleven months of the year 

 this line is submerged, invisible and in- 

 accessible. It seems rather a technical 



