294 



MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



" Rich Coast," given formerly to the whole of the south-western shores of the 

 Caribbean Sea, that is, to the Gulf of Columbus taken in its widest sense, was 

 later restricted mainly to the district of Veragua in Colombia, where gold had been 

 discovered. But the present Costa Rica, at first known as Nueva Cartago, was 

 found so little productive by its first white settlers, that, according to some writers, 

 the name of " Rich Coast " was retained by a sort of antiphrasis. 



Like the other Central American republics, Costa Rica has scarcely ceased to 



Fig-. 128. — Gulf of Coltxmbus. 

 Scale 1 : 5,000,000. 



West oF Greenwich 



Depths. 



0to50 



Fathoms. 



50 to 1,000 

 Fathoms. 



1,000 to 1,500 

 Fathoms. 



1 500 F.i thorns 

 aud upwards. 



124 Allies. 



be troubled with frontier questions, which, especially with Nicaragua, have at 

 times led to sanguinary conflicts. The Nicoya and Guanacaste districts, at present 

 the most important region of the state on the Pacific side, formed at one time a 

 part of the province of Nicaragua, the natural limit between the two countries 

 being the Gulf of Nicoya. But during the first years of independence, political 

 discussions waxed so furious in Nicaragua, that those more peacefully- disposed 



