Chinandega
We remained but two days at El Viejo, and on the morning of the third started on our return to Leon. Chinandega, by dayliglit, more than confirmed the favorable opinion which I had formed of it from descriptions and starlight glimpses. It covers a very large space of ground, and is regularly laid out in "cuadras" or squares, which are again subdivided into what can best be described as gardens, each one embowering a dwelling of some kind, generally built of canes and thatched, but often of adobes and neatly roofed with tiles. The central, or what may be called the business part of the town in the vicinity of the grand plaza, is compact, and as well built as any part of Leon or Granada. Yet it is scarcely twenty years since there was but a single tile-roofed house in the town. Altogether, Chinandega has an air of thrift and enterprise which I have seen nowhere else in Central America ; and as the trade now springing up on tte Pacific coast increases, its importance will continue to augment. The country around it is flat, yet the soil is dry, and although the heat during the day is considerable, yet here, as in El Viejo, the evenings and nights are cool and pleasant. This is perhaps due to its position in respect both to the sea and the great volcano of El Viejo, which stands guard at this extremity of the plain of Leon.
Stories about Chinandega and its volcanoes in the adventures of E.G. Squier
Chinandega City
Realejo is about two leagues distant from Chinandega. It is a small town, situated upon a tide-water stream, full five miles from the harbor proper, and can only be reached by the ordinary bongos or lighters, at high water. The position is low, and is reputed unhealthy. The customs' establishment is located there, but the merchants who conduct their trade through the port have their stores in Chinandega and Leon. It is said that the town was originally built nearer the harbor, and that the present site was afterwards adopted in consequence of the frequent attacks of the pirates, who, as I have already observed, infested this coast. The population of Realejo is about twelve hundred, who find employment in loading and unloading vessels, and supplying them with fruits and provisions.
Recently the place has derived a great impulse from the Californian trade ; docks and warehouses have been built, depots for coal established, and several of the American steamers now touch there regularly for supplies ; the station, in this respect, being favorably situated intermediately between Panama and Acapulco. It seems likely, however, that the old town will be abandoned and a new one built up, immediately on the harbor, opposite the anchorage, where there is a fine position, adapted to all the wants of commerce. A road has, in fact, lately been opened to the mouth of the Estero Dona Paula, by a company of native merchants, and the site of the new town has already been laid out under direction of the government. It is to bear the classical name of " Corinth," and will not be distant more than eighteen or twenty miles from Leon, to which place it is supposed it will sustain the same relation that Realejo has hitherto done to Chinandega. The official paper, the "Correo del Istmo," of the 30th of January last, advertises four hundred and twenty of the lots in " Corinth," varying from 1000 to 1500 square yards, and the minimum prices at which they are to be sold, i. e. from $25 to $37. There seems to be little doubt that this enterprise will prove successful, and that the Port of Realejo will become second in importance to no other on the entire Pacific coast from Panama northward.
Volcano of Coseguina and its eruption on 1835
Although believing that most of the volcanic cones have been formed in the manner above indicated, by gradual ac- cumulations, yet the volcanoes which have shown the greatest energy are low and irregular, and devoid of anything remarkable in their appearance. Such is the Volcano of Coseguina, in Nicaragua, the eruption of which in 1835 was one of the most terrible on record.
On the morning of the 20th of January of that year, several loud explosions were heard for a radius of a hundred leagues around this volcano, followed by the rising of an inky black cloud above it, through which darted tongues of flame resembling lightning. This cloud gradually spread outward, obscuring the sun, and shedding over everything a yellow, sickly light, and at the same time depositing a fine sand, which rendered respiration difficult and painful. This continued for two days, the obscuration becoming more and more dense, the sand falling more thickly, and the explosions becoming louder and more frequent. On the third day the explosions attained their maximum, and the darkness became intense. Sand continued to fall, and people deserted their houses and sheltered themselves under tents of hide in the courts, fearing the roofs might be crushed beneath the weight. This sand fell several inches deep at Leon, more than one hundred miles distant. It fell in Jamaica, Vera Cruz, and Santa Fe de Bogota, over an area of one thousand five hundred miles in diameter. The noise of the explosions was heard nearly as far, and the Superintendent of Belize, eight hundred miles distant, mustered his troops, under the impression that there was a naval action off the harbor. All Nature seemed overawed ; the birds deserted the air, and the wild beasts their fastnesses, crouching, terror-stricken and harmless, in the dwellings of men. The people for a hundred leagues groped, dumb with horror, amidst the thick darkness, bearing crosses on their shoulders and stones on their heads, in penitential abasement and dismay. Many believed the day of doom had come, and crowded with noiseless footsteps over a bed of ashes to the tottering churches,where, in the pauses of the explosions, the voices of the priests were heard in solemn invocation to Heaven.
The air was literally filled with an almost impalpable powder, which entered the eyes, ears, and nostrils, and produced a sensation of suffocation, a gasping for breath. At first the doors and windows were closed, but without effect ; the exclusion of air, joined to the intense heat, became intolerable. The only relief was found in throwing wetted cloths over their heads. The horses and mules suffered not less than the people ; many died, and others were saved only by adopting the same precautions.
For some leagues around the volcano, the sand and ashes had fallen to the depth of several feet. Of course the operations of the volcano could only be known by the results. A crater had been opened, several miles in circumference, from which had flowed vast quantities of lava into the sea on one hand, and the Grulf of Fonseca on the other. The verdant sides of the mountain were now rough, burned, seamed, and covered with disrupted rocks and fields of lava. The quantity of matter ejected was incredible in amount. I am informed by the captain of a vessel which passed along the coast a few days thereafter, that the sea for fifty leagues was covered with floating masses of pumice, and that he sailed for a whole day through it, without being able to distinguish but here and there an open space of water.
The appearance of this mountain is now desolate beyond description. Not a trace of life appears upon its parched sides. Here and there are openings emitting steam, small jets of smoke and sulphurous vapors, and in some places the ground is swampy from thermal springs. It is said that the discharge of ashes, sand, and lava was followed by a flow of water, and the story seems corroborated by the particular smoothness of some parts of the slope. The height of this mountain is not, I think, more than three thousand five hundred feet.
The anniversary of this eruption is celebrated in the most solemn manner in Nicaragua. I witnessed the ceremony in the church of La Merced, where, in common with all the foreign residents, I was invited by a circular letter as follows :
Leon Enero 20 de 1850.
Por imposicion de las sagradas manos de S. E. Yllma. el dignisimo Sr. Obispo Dr. D. Jorje de Viteri y Ungo, he recibido hoy el orden sacro del Presbiterado ; y por su disposicion, subire al augusto Altar del Eterno a celebrar por la primera vez el tremendo sacrificio, el dia 23 del corriente, aniversario decimo quinto de la erupcion del volcan de Coseguina, en la Yglesia de Ntra. Senora de las Mercedes, por cuya poderosa intercesion, salvamos en aquella vez de los peligros que nos amenazaron. Alli predicara el mismo Excmo. Sr., mi amado Prelado.
Tengo el honor de participarlo todo a U., suplicandole su interesante concurrencia, y firmandome con placer, su muy respetuoso seguro servidor y capellan Q. B. S. M.
Rafael Pablo Jerez.
TRANSLATION
Leon, January 20, 1850.
By the imposition of the sacred hands of His Excellency the most illustrious and most dignified Bishop, Dr. Don Jorge de Viteri y Ungo, I have this day been invested vrith the orders of priesthood ; and by his direction, will ascend the august Altar of the Eternal, to celebrate for the first time the tremendous sacrifice, on the fifteenth anniversary of the eruption of the volcano of Coseguina, the 23rd inst, in the church of our Lady of Mercies, by whose powerful intercession we were then saved from the dangers which threatened us. There also will preach the same excellent Senor, my beloved prelate.
I have the honor to inform you of this, and to solicit your concurrence. With pleasure I subscribe myself your very respectful, faithful servant and chaplain,
Who kisses your hands,
Rafael Pablo Jerez.
