Chap. VII. NAGASCOLO. 109 
ground. When I rose in the morning the beach was 
covered with the dead bodies of a large species of eels 
thrown out by the waves together with other sea animals. 
This kind of fish, which has a skin spotted like that of a 
panther, is said to be poisonous, and it is even asserted 
that it communicates death to other animals approaching 
it in the water. 
The bay is of an almost circular form, with a narrow 
entrance between perpendicular rocks. Close by, on the 
other side of the hill by which it is locked in to the north- 
ward, is the bay of Nagascolo, somewhat smaller, but of a 
similar form. The narrow neck of land between the upper 
part of the two bays has but a slight elevation, and if ever 
a town of importance should spring up here, it might easily 
extend across this locality from the bay of Concordia to 
that of Nagascolo. 
Five years had elapsed when, in October, 1855, re- 
turning from California, I visited this place again. The 
rush of travellers, and the haste in passing on to the other 
side of the isthmus, did not leave me time to examine the 
town of San Juan del Sur, which, since my first visit, had 
risen here, nor to ask for information as to the number of 
its houses and inhabitants. But my impression is that 
there could not be more than twenty houses. These were 
built of wood, and the materials had been sent, ready for 
erection, from the United States. They were pleasantly 
situated, scattered amongst the trees that had been spared 
from the primitive forest, and the little place looked quite 
snug and comfortable. 
What may have become of this rising town since the 
transit has been interrupted in consequence of the proceed- 
ings of Walker, the filibuster, I am unable to tell. When I 
passed, in 1855, the place was the head-quarters of this 
