Doc. No. 75. 139 



lines of communication, viz: through the river San Juan and lake of 

 Nicaragua, to a point opposite the city of the same name, and thence 

 overland to the port of San Juan del Sur; and, secondly, via same river 

 and lake, river Panaloya, or Zipetapa, lake of Nicaragua, and overland 

 to Realejo. 



I also informed myself of a third route, or rather a modification of the 

 second route, substituting on the Pacific the port of Tamarindo for that 

 of Realejo. 



It may not be improper to state that frequent casual observation of the 

 river San Juan had already convinced me that the statements of its ca- 

 pacity contained in the works of Mr. J. L. Stephens and Baron Bulow were 

 erroneous. I therefore prepared to ascertain by actual measurement the 

 depth of water in the river channel; and the results I give you as indi- 

 cated by a graduated rod during the dry season — from March to May — 

 when the volume of water passing through the river is much less than 

 during the rainy months. 



Of the length of the river, variously estimated at from seventy-nine to 

 ninety miles, the portion presenting the greatest impediment to actual 

 navigation is that included between the harbor of San Juan and the 

 Colorado river, at its point of exit from the San Juan, a supposed distance 

 of fifteen miles. The Colorado, abroad, deep stream, conveys the great 

 mass of waters from the principal river to the ocean, leaving a compara- 

 tively small quantity to escape through the San Juan, the velocity of 

 whose current is correspondingly diminished. Hence occur, during the 

 dry season, accumulations of quicksand, floating trees, and vegetable 

 debris, changing with the current, and producing a tortuous and shallow 

 channel. The freshets of the rainy seasons sweep away these obstruc- 

 tions, leaving an uninterrupted passage; but the geological formation of 

 the lateral banks of the river and its tributaries, and of the numerous 

 islands, consisting of mingled sand and light vegetable mould, presents 

 a weak resistance to the waters, and prevents a permanent removal of the 

 obstacles . 



In March last I found no less than three feet of water in any part of 

 the channel from San Juan to the Colorado; but in May it was diminished 

 in many places to two feet, and in none did it exceed two and a half. 



With tliis depth of water the loaded " bongos" of the country, whose 

 draught is from two to three feet, cannot pass, and generally discharge part 

 of their cargo of Brazil wood, hides, or indigo, returning from San Juan 

 for the remainder. 



From the divergence of the San Juan and Colorado to the lake, there 

 is in no part of the main channel less than five feet of water at any season 

 of the year; but the three ^' randales," or rapids of Machuca," ^'San 

 Carlos," and '^El Toro," increasing in a great degree the current, present 

 material difficulties to ascending bongos." The widest channel be- 

 tween the rocks at San Carlos, the narrowest passage on the river, is 

 about thirty feet. These rapids are not falls, as sometimes represented, 

 but strong ripples," in mariners' language, caused by a rocky bed. 

 Below this point, sand constitutes the bottom of the stream, while above, 

 towards the lake, mud predominates. The lake of Nicaragua is navigable 

 for boats and vessels of moderate draught throughout its whole extent, 

 though its depth is probably less than has been supposed. In November, 

 1826; Captain Peter Sheppard, of San Juan^ an intelligent man, and 



