A MONKISH LEGEND. 



11 



who in those days never stopped half way in any mat- 

 ter that touched the imagination, called it El Infierno 

 de Masaya, or the Hell of Masaya. The historian, in 

 speaking of Nicaragua, says, " There are burning mount- 

 ains in this province, the chief of which is Masaya, 

 where the natives at certain times offered up maids, 

 throwing them into it, thinking by their lives to appease 

 the fire, that it might not destroy the country, and they 

 went to it very chearful ;" and in another place he 

 says, " Three leagues from the city of Masaya is a small 

 hill, flat and round, called Masaya, being a burning 

 Mountain, the Mouth of it being half a League in Com- 

 pass, and the Depth within it two hundred and fifty 

 Fathoms. There are no Trees nor Grass, but Birds 

 build without any Disturbance from the Fire. There 

 is another Mouth like that of a Well about a Bowshot 

 over, the distance from which to the Fire is about a 

 hundred and fifty Fathoms, always boiling up, and that 

 mass of Fire often rises and gives a great Light, so 

 that it can be seen at a considerable Distance. It 

 moves from one Side to the other, and sometimes roars 

 so loud that it is dreadful, yet never casts up any- 

 thing but Smoak and Flame. The Liquor never ceas- 

 ing at the Bottom, nor its Boiling, imagining the same 

 to be Gold, F. Blase de Yniesta, of the Order of St. 

 Dominick, and two other Spaniards, were let down into 

 the first Mouth in two Baskets, with a Bucket made of 

 one Piece of Iron, and a long Chain to draw up some of 

 that fiery Matter, and know whether it was Metal. 

 The Chain ran a hundred and fifty Fathoms, and as 

 soon as it came to the Fire, the Bucket melted, with 

 some Links of the Chain, in a very short Time, and 

 therefore they could not know what was below. They 

 lay there that Night without any Want of Fire or Can- 



