Chap. V. TIPITAPA. 63 
channel once occupied by a river, with a perpendicular 
rock from twelve to fifteen feet high, crossing it, which 
would form a cascade if there was water to fall over it. 
This is the present condition of the Eio and Salto de Tipi- 
tapa — or rather was its condition when I visited the place. 
I was afterwards informed, as I have already stated, that 
the river ceased to flow in consequence of an earthquake 
which happened in 1844. This, however, must not be 
understood in the absolute sense of the word. A little 
streamlet may run over the "salto" in the rainy season, 
and the more probably as there are several springs of hot 
water in the bed of the river. At the time of my visit 
they filled only some stagnant pools, but they may con- 
tribute to produce a rivulet during the rainy season. The 
lower section of the old river channel is now to be con- 
sidered as a narrow branch of the lake of Nicaragua, ex- 
tending upwards to the neighbourhood of the " salto," and 
called the Ester o Panaloya, of which I shall have to 
speak hereafter. To study the changes in the hydro- 
graphic system of this region produced by the earthquake 
mentioned above, more time would have been necessary 
than it was my intention to spend in my visit to Tipitapa ; 
but the principal cause of my inability to give a more 
exact account is that the fact of the earthquake was only 
communicated to me after my return to Granada, none of 
the inhabitants of Tipitapa mentioning the matter. While 
travelling along the shore of the lake of Managua I after- 
wards saw indubitable traces of the lake having had a 
higher level in former times and having decreased gradually, 
or in intervals, as indicated by the repetition of watermarks 
on the rocks. If the sudden sinking of the lake was pro- 
duced by earthquake, the slow and gradual diminution of 
its water, which I suppose is still going on, may have been 
