Doc. No. 75. 



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above the sea, to the northeastward of the port, forms an unmistakable 

 landmark for the mariner, long before any other part of the coast is visible. 

 This line, starting from the nearest practicable point of lake Managua, 

 cannot fall short of forty- five or fifty miles in length. It is said that the 

 Doha Paula might be made use of for a considerable distance — so far as 

 the tide flows; but that can only be determined by actual survey. I can 

 discover no reason why this route could not be advantageously pursued. 

 It has the present advantage of passing through the most populous and 

 best cultivated part of the country, and terminating at a point already well 

 known. There is no stream upon this line which, as has been supposed 

 by Louis Napoleon, and some other writers on this subject, can be made 

 available for supplying this section of the proposed canal with water. The 

 *^Rio Tosta" of which they speak (by which, from its described position, 

 it is supposed the Rio Telica is meant, for no .stream known as the Rio 

 Tosta exists) was formerly a stream of some size, but never furnished a 

 quantity of water sufficient to supply an ordinary canal The local 

 geography of the plain of Leon is little known to its inhabitants; and, as 

 the roads are hemmed in by impenetrable forests, it is impossible for the 

 traveller to inform himself of the minor topographical features of the 

 country. The Rio Telica empties into the estero of Realejo, and it may 

 possibly be made to answer a useful purpose. I have crossed it at many 

 points where it has (as it probably has throughout) the character of a 

 huge natural canal, from sixty to ninety feet deep by perhaps one hundred 

 and fifty or tv/o hundred yards broad at the top, and having steep banks, 

 for the most part of a friable substratum of rock or compact earth. And 

 as, at its source, it is not m.ore than ten miles distant from lake Managua, 

 it is not improbable that, by proper cuttings, the waters of the lake might 

 be brought into it, and, after the necessary level is attained, the bed of 

 the stream might be used from that point to the sea, securing the neces- 

 sary depth of water by locks or dams. If this suggestion is well founded, 

 the principal part of the estimated excavation of this section of the canal 

 may be avoided. In any event the cutting would not, with the aids 

 furnished by this mechanical age, be an object to deter the engineer. We 

 have examples of much more serious undertakings of this character. In 

 the canal from Aries to Bouc the table-land has been cut through to the 

 extent of two thousand two hundred and eighty-nine yards, the extreme 

 depth being from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and sixty two 

 feet. The deepest cutting required here, in order to furnish a depth of 

 twenty-five feet of water in the canal, or, in other words, to that depth 

 below the level of the lake, would be eighty- one feet. I need hardly add 



harbor, but. extending opp)Osite the nnain land, forming the port in such a manner as to protect 

 it entirely from any wind that can possibiy blow, and also breaking the swell which enters 

 the outer bay of Conchagua from the ocean. The north entrance is about a quarter of a mile 

 wide, and that at the south of ihe island rather narrower—both being entirely free from 

 rocks or hidden dangers, and having in no part less than five fathoms depth ot water. At 

 one of these openings vessels can at all tunes enter with a leading wind, from whatever 

 qiiatter it may blow. The inside consists of a noble basin of water, nowhere less than four 

 fathoms deep, with a bottom of mud, where two hundred ships of the line might lie at all 

 times m the most perfect security. Merchant vessels generally lie about a mile from the 

 entrance, in the branch of the creek which runs up to Realejo, where there are about five 

 fathoms w-ater over a mud bottom. Opposite this port there is a fine level beach, possessing 

 deep water close to the edge, which would form an admira^de site for a town, and where, 

 at very little expense, a wharf m ght be constructed capable of accommodating almost any 

 number of vessels."~( CenJra^ America, p. 26.) 



