Chapter I: Front Matter

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NICARAGUA;
ITS
PEOPLE, SCENERY, MONUMENTS,
RESOURCES, CONDITION, AND PROPOSED CANAL;

WITH

ONE HUNDRED ORIGINAL MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

BY E. G. SQUIER,

FORMERLY CHARGE D’AFFAIRES OF THE UNITED STATES
TO THE REPUBLICS OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

“HIC LOCUS EST GEMINI JANUA VASTA MARIS.”—OVID

A REVISED EDITION

NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1860.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Southern District of
New York.

CONTENTS.

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NARRATIVE.

CHAPTER I.—The Brig Francis—Departure from New York—San Domingo—The
Coast of Central America—Monkey Point—Shrewd Speculations—A Naked
Pilot—Almost a Shipwreck—San Juan de Nicaragua—Music of the Chain
Cable—A Pompous Official—Delivering a Letter of Introduction—Terra
Firma again—“Naguas” and “Guipils”—The Town and its Laguna—Snakes
and Alligators—Practical Equality—Celt _vs._ Negro—A Wan
Policeman—The British Consul General for Mosquitia—“Our House” in
San Juan—An Emeute—Pigs and Policy—A Viscomte on the Stump—A
Serenade—Mosquito Indians—A Picture of Primitive Simplicity, 17

CHAPTER II.—The Port of San Juan de Nicaragua; its Position;
Climate; Population; Edifices of its Inhabitants; its Insects; The
Nigua; The Scorpion, etc.; its Exports and Imports; Political
Condition; Importance, Present and Prospective; Seizure by the
English, etc.—Mouth of the River San Juan—The Colorado Mouth—The
Tauro—Navigation of the River—Bongos and Piraguas—Los
Marineros—Discovery and early History of the Port of San Juan, 41