-)14- rill AliK rtcdii (r< ohx/lsf. NovciiilMT. IS!»1 
('ixicli. Tlii'ic :ii'(' ;it(»Us :iu(l hnrr'nT rcct's in tluit sc;i. which, in 
:ill prolijihility. :irc continuations by corals, upward, at the rate 
of sca-lKMl (lc})rcssion. or snitsidcncc of Ihc tops of mountains 
tiiat now arc the suli-niarino. Itut once wcic the suli-ai-rial parts 
of tlie Nicara<iuensian continent. \Vlien elevation had coni- 
jjU'ted its work here, it is j)rol)able that sulisidence deeply suh- 
meriri'd the j)resent Istlnniis of Panama. 
.No river Hows from the deep, concave western side of Nicara- 
«iua into the J'acilic ocean of sutticient s'v/.v to lie considered a 
factor in connection with this subject. 
Tile foreo;oin*>; facts indicate: 
(a) That, at least, two or three mountain ranjies in Nicaragua 
were deeply covered by ice during a (llacial epoch contemporane- 
ous with that which existed in the North American continent. 
(1») That at that time there was. because of great elevation of 
land and sea-hed, a Nicaraguensian continent extending eastward, 
about fifteen hundred miles further than at present, over the 
northern and middle part of the area now occupied by that part 
of the Caril)l)ean sea eastward from the Nicanigua coast, to the 
Atlantic ocean at about the GOth meridian west from (Ireenwich. 
(c) It is prol)a1)le that the submergence of the Isthmus of Pan- 
ama was then suHicient to allow a large part of the south equato- 
rial current (which now carries so much heat to noi-thern latitudes) 
to pass into the J'aciiic ocean. 
(d) Cosmic conditions, as irregulaiity in the amount of heat 
from the sun, equinoxial precessions, variations in the excentricity 
of the earth's orl)it. and extreme variations of the magnetic 
north and south poles, may have lieen factors: but the two latter 
were certainly of very moderate effect in producing a (llacial epoch, 
(treat elevation of land ai)|)ears to have been the jjotent cause in 
Nicaragua. 
(e) The movi'ments of elevation and sul)sidence a[ti)car to have 
iieen more rapid in this country, than in latitudes many degrees 
further north, and more frecpient and vigorous in (Jlacial and 
llecent tinu's. 
(f) It is ([uite i)rol»ablc that the extcnsivi' fra<'turing and lissur- 
ing during the early (llacial oi' late Pliocene ejHK'h gave rise to sev- 
eral additiomjl volcanoes along the western i)ait of Xictiragua 
and added variety to the scenery of mountains clad in ice in the 
^•entral part. 
