INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL 



OF 



CENTRAL AMERICA, CHIAPAS, AND YUCATAN. 



CHAPTER I. 



Visit to the Volcano of Masaya.— Village of Masaya. — Lake of Masaya.— Nindi- 

 ri.— Ascent of the Volcano.— Account of it.— The Crater.— Descent into it.— 

 Volcano of Nindiri. — Ignorance of the People concerning Objects of Interest. — 

 Return to Masaya. — Another Countryman. — Managua. — Lake of Managua. — 

 Fishing. — Beautiful Scenery. — Mateares. — Questa del Relox, — Nagarotis. — 

 Crosses. — A Gamekeeper. — Pueblo Nuevo. 



March 1. Anxious as I was to hurry on, I resolved 

 nevertheless to give one day to the Volcano of Masaya. 

 For this purpose I sent a courier ahead to procure me 

 a guide up the volcano, and did not get off till eleven 

 o'clock. At a short distance from the city we met a 

 little negro on horseback, dressed in the black suit that 

 nature made him, with two large plantain leaves sewed 

 together for a hat, and plantain leaves for a saddle. 

 At the distance of two leagues we came in sight of the 

 volcano, and at four o'clock, after a hot ride, entered 

 the town, one of the oldest and largest in Nicaragua, 

 and though completely inland, containing, with its sub- 

 urbs, a population of twenty thousand. We rode to 

 the house of Don Sabino Satroon, who lay, with his 

 mouth open, snoring in a hammock; but his wife, a 

 pretty young half-blood, received me cordially, and 

 with a proper regard for the infirmities of an old hus- 

 band and for me, did not wake him up. All at once 



