Chap. II. ASPECT OF THE LAKE OF NICAKAGUA. 23' 
tillo waiting for the means of being towed over this rapid ; 
the other had grounded in the rapid of Machuca, and never 
got afloat again. When I passed down the river some 
years later the wreck had given origin to a little island, 
and, though the structure still kept together, trees were 
growing on the deck. 
After the opening of the steam navigation on the river, 
several houses have been erected at the Castillo, and the 
place promised to become a little town. In 1855 several 
hotels stood here, in which two or three thousand dollars 
were spent every fortnight by passing travellers, detained 
for a few hours by the change of steamer. The total inter- 
ruption of the transit, in consequence of the high-handed 
proceedings of William Walker, the filibuster, soon after 
checked the progress of this dawning settlement. 
Above the region of the rapids the river is almost stag- 
nant, and the designation of the " aguas muertas" or dead 
waters, is not inappropriately applied to it. It is a deep 
and still water, full of fish, with low and swampy banks, 
on which the palm thickets of the delta reappear. 
Beyond this latter portion of the river the lake of Nica- 
ragua opens to the view. On the little promontory 
formed by the lake and the inlet of the river, the custom- 
house of Nicaragua, designated by the high-sounding name 
of the fort of San Carlos, has been established. There 
are a few houses at this place, and a small military force 
is kept up to protect the establishment and, in case of 
necessity, enforce the payment of the duties. The ruins 
of an old Spanish castle still exist here, but they are 
hidden among the trees and shrubs with which they are 
overgrown. 
The view from this elevation has a peculiar character of 
grandeur. At the foot of the hill a broad sheet of water 
