272 MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES. 



parallel with tlie Rio Segovia, and those of the centre due east, while those of the 

 south, as, for instance, the vallej^ traversed b}^ the Rio San Juan, have a south- 

 easterly trend. 



In several places these fragmentary sections of the plateau present the aspect 

 of distinct sierras. Such are, in the north, the Sierra de Yeluca, and in the 

 south that of Yolaina, which terminates seawards in the Punta Mico, the Monkey 

 Point of English writers. Amongst the various foot-hills of the main range, 

 there is one ridge which had passed unnoticed by all geographers till indicated 

 for the first time by the naturalist Belt, in 1874, when it attracted universal 

 attention owing to the curious resemblance of its name to that of the New World 

 itself. This is the little Sierra d'Amerrique, near Libertad, otherwise remarkable 

 for its sheer rocky walls, its obelisks and huge isolated crags. The name of the 

 continent has now been connected by M. Marcou with these hitherto unknown 

 rugged heights, the theory being that Amerigo Yespucci and other early naviga- 

 tors heard the natives speak of the hills in question as abounding in treasures, and 

 then applied the term to the whole region ; thereupon it occurred to Amerigo to 

 turn to his personal glory the accidental resemblance of this name to his own. 



The Sierra d'Amerrique, called also Amerisque and Amerrisque from a local 

 tribe said to have been formerly powerful, lies in the territory of the ancient 

 Lencas, as is shown by the ending rique generally occurring in the Honduras 

 regions inhabited by these Indians. 



West of the Nicaraguan main range, the region facing the Pacific was originally 

 an extensive low-lying plain, where the underground forces have raised two lines 

 of eminences, or even mountains, some isolated, others forming veritable chains. 

 The first of these ranges is so inconspicuous that, when seen from the plain, it seems 

 merged in the chain disposed immediately to the east of it. Its indistinct cha- 

 racter is due to the fact that the volcanoes have been upheaved on the very flanks 

 of the plateau. Thus Guisisil (4,550 feet) rises in close proximity to the Mata- 

 galpa Mountains, and by damming up the waters formerly descending to the 

 Pacific, has deflected them through the Rio Grande eastwards to the Atlantic. 



South-west of Guisisil, loftiest of these volcanoes, other cones have emerged 

 along the depression which is flooded by the two Lakes Managua and Nicaragua ; 

 here the Cerro de la Palma, Ouisaltepe, Juigalpa, Platotepe, P.ju de Azucar, Jaën, 

 Picara and the Yentanillas are all disposed in a line running close to the east side 

 of the great reservoir. 



But far more important in the geological history of the country are the peaks 

 of the main range, which forms a continuation of the Salvador volcanic system. 

 The truncated cone of Coseguina, at the southern entrance of the Gulf of Fonseca 

 opposite Conchagua, is the first link in this igneous chain ; it still rises 3,860 feet 

 above the sea, but according to Belcher, the regular cone must have been at least 

 double that height. Before the Krakatau explosion, Coseguina was usually referred 

 to with Timboro, of Sumbawa Island, as a typical example of the tremendous catas- 

 trophes caused by the sudden escape of gases pent up in the bowels of the earth. 

 On January 20, 1835, the summit of Coseguina was blown ta atoms, day was 



