16 SAN JUAN DEL NORTE — POPULATION. Book I. 
tioned is in the rear of the town, a few hundred paces from 
the last houses as they stood at that time. Its water is 
sweet, as it is connected with the river and shut up towards 
the sea. It does not appear to have a marked influence 
in making the situation unhealthy, which may be accounted 
for by the prevailing sea-breeze driving the exhalations 
towards the interior. 
The water of this lagoon is of a dark brown colour, 
which contributes to the peculiar character of the scenery. 
It is surrounded by a thick growth of trees of the most 
luxuriant vegetation. Heavy masses of foliage, leaving an 
opening here and there through which the eye is led into 
the darkest shades of the forest, are resting on the very 
surface of the lake. These openings are narrow channels, 
by which the lagoon extends into the woods to a consider- 
able distance, covered, for the most part, with so dense a 
foliage that no ray of the sun can penetrate. The lagoon 
is full of alligators, or rather crocodiles, some of them of 
an extraordinary size for an American species ; the peculiar 
degree of savageness imputed to the alligators of San Juan 
may be explained by their not being true alligators, but, 
in fact, a species of crocodile — Crocodilus Americana, of 
which a fine specimen, from this very place, is in the 
British Museum. 
The population of- San Juan was by far superior in cha- 
racter to that of Chagres, and ever since has this town 
represented a very respectable community. The most 
perfect order and security prevailed at the time of my visit, 
though hundreds of Californians, who had come through 
the interior of Nicaragua from Realejo, filled the taverns. 
The English protectors of the King of Mosquito kept up 
an excellent police here. A considerable proportion of the 
inhabitants were coloured people from the interior as well 
