194 



Doc. No. 75. 



waters with those of Lake Managua^ in which case there would be a saving 

 over the Realejo line, besides having the western terminus of the great 

 work in the magnificent bay which I have just described^ where every 

 facihty is afforded for victualhng, repairing, etc., and where a local trade 

 of vast importance in sugar^ cotton, indigo, cacao, and cofFeO; would soon 

 spring up. 



It may therefore be safely asserted that a passage from the lake of 

 Managua to the sea is entirely feasible, and it only remains to determine 

 which of the routes here indicated offers the greatest advantages. 



Lake of Managua. — The lake of Managua is a fine body of water, and 

 of miich larger size than has heretofore been represented. It is certainly 

 not far from fifty or sixty miles in length, by thirty or thirty-five in greatest 

 breadth, and ranges from nine to ten and fifteen, and even thirty fathoms 

 in depth. The scenery which borders it is unsurpassed in beauty and 

 grandeur. Upon the northern and eastern shore, lifting their blue, rug- 

 ged peaks one above the other, are the mountains of Matagalpa, merg- 

 ing into those of Segovia, which are rich in metallic veins; and upon the 

 south are broad and fertile slopes and level plains, covered with luxuriant 

 verdure and of almost unlimited productiveness. The volcano of Momo- 

 tombo, like a giant warder, stands out boldly into the lake; its bare and 

 blackened summit, which no man has ever reached, covered with a light 

 Avreath of smoke, attesting the continued existence of those internal fires 

 which have seamed its steep sides with burning floods, and which stili 

 send forth hot and sulphurous springs at its base. Near it is the torn and 

 distorted Arota, with its yawning craters, and the high and verdure covered 

 peak of Acosusco. In the lake itself rises the regular cone of Momotom- 

 bita, so regular that it seems a work of art covered with a dense forest^ 

 under the shadows and in the deep recesses of which, frayed by the 

 storms of ages, stand the rude and frowning statues of the gods of aborigi- 

 nal superstition, raised long before European feet touched the soil of 

 America, and to which the minds of the christianized Indians still revert 

 with a mysterious reverence, impossible to conceal. The town or city of 

 Santiago de Managua, which gives its name to the lake, and which is the 

 place of the meeting of the legislative chambers of the State, is situated 

 upon the southwestern shore. Some considerable streams flow into the 

 lake from the direction of Segovia, and the level of water undergoes very 

 slight change with the different seasons. 



With the aid of steamers and with proper deepening near the shores, 

 there would probably exist no difficulty in making the passage of this lake 

 with the largest vessels. Its sole outlet is the river Tipitapa, or Panaloya^ 

 which connects it with the lake of Nicaragua. The distance between 

 the two lakes is about 18 miles, and the diflerence of level is stated to be 

 28 feet. The whole of this fall is comprised within the first four miles 

 from Lake Managua. The river below assumes the character of an estu- 

 ary of Lake Nicaragua, with a wide channel and from six to fifteen feet 

 of water. The estate of Pasquiel, at the head of this estuary, is the limit 

 of navigation. Above for a mile and a half, to Paso Chico," the bed 

 of the river is full of large and isolated rocks, resting upon a bed of rock 

 which seems to be calcareous breccia, but, singularly enough, intermixed 

 with fragments of lava, as well as various gianitic stones, jasper, and other 

 materials. Beyond Paso Chico" the bed, or rather the former bed of 

 the river, (for there is now no water here except what flows from springs, 



