Granada

Stories about Granada and its volcanoes in the adventures of E.G. Squier

Granada, like an other Spanish towns, has an appearance of meanness to one accustomed to European architecture. But he soon comes to comprehend the perfect adaptation of the buildings to the conditions of the country, where security from earthquakes and protections from heats and rains are the prime requisites to be consulted in their erection. As the windows are never glazed and the apartments seldom ceiled, theyare always well ventilated while the thick adobe walls successfully resist the heating rays of the sun.

Granada was founded by Hernandez de Cordova in 1552, and is, consequently, one of the oldest cities of the continent. The country around it, in the language of the pious Las Casas, "was one of the best peopled in all America” and was rich in agricultural products, among which the cacao, or chocolate-nut, had the most value, and soon carne to constitute an important article of export. In later times, the facilities which it possessed for communication with both the Atlantic and Pacific made it the center of a large commerce.

I have said that the position of Granada is well chosen. Upon the south, at the distance of a few miles, rises the volcano of Mombacho, with its ragged crater, while on the west, undulating plains and low ridges of land intervene between the town and the Pacific ocean. Toward the north are only broad, alluvial, and densely wooded plains, possessing a soíl rich and well adapted to the cultivation of rice. sugar, cotton, and cacao. But from no point of the surrounding country can the traveler obtain a satisfactory view of the city.

Lake of Nicaragua

Lake Nicaragua, the ancient Cocibolca, is nevertheless the great feature of the country, and is unquestionably, in all respects, one of the finest bodies of water in the world, and second to none in the variety and beauty of its scenery. It is about one hundred and twenty miles in greatest length, by sixty in greatest, and forty in average breadth. On its southern shore, near the head of the lake, stands the ancient city of Granada, lately the rival of Leon, and once the most important commercial town in the republic. A few miles below Granada, and projecting boldly into the lake, is the extinct volcano of Mombacho, 5,000 feet in height. Studding the lake, at its base, is a cluster of innumerable small islands, called Los Corales, of volcanic origin, rising in the form of cones to the height of from twenty to one hundred feet, and covered with verdure. On the same shore with Granada, but forty miles distant, is the town of Rivas or Nicaragua, the capital of a large, fertile, and comparatively well-cultivated district.

The northern shore of the lake, called Chontales, for the most part is undulating, abounding in broad savannahs, well adapted for grazing and supporting large herds of cattle. There are a number of considerable islands in the lake, the largest of which are El Zapatero, Solentenami, and Ometepec. The former two are deserted, but the latter has a considerable population of Indians, of the pure Mexican or Aztec stock. This island is distinguished by two high, conical mountains or volcanic peaks, called respectively Ometepec and Madeira, which are visible from every part of the lake, and from a distance of many leagues on the Pacific. The name of the island, in the Nahuatl or Mexican language, signifies " two mountains," from ome, two, and tepec, mountain.

The great lake of Nicaragua was called Cociboeca by the aborigines. It is undoubtedly the most remarkable natural feature of the country. and, apart from its beauty, has been invested with singular interest from the supposed facilities which it holds out for the opening of a ship-canal between the two great oceans. Modern investigations have dispelled many of the illusions which have existed in reference to that project, and shown that the difficulties in the way of its realization have hitherto been but very imperfectly comprehended. …

Los Corales

By the middle of the afternoon we were skirting the fairy- like group of “Los Corales.” It comprises, literally, hundreds of isIets of volcanic origin, elevated in the form of cones to the height of from twenty to one hundred feet. They are composed of immense rocks of lava, black and blistered by the fire; but their surnmits are covered with verdure, and long vines hang trailing over their rugged sides to the very edge of the water. Some of them, upon which there is a sufficient accumulation of soil, are crowned with the picturesque thatched huts of Indians, shadowed over by tall palms and surrounded with plantain- trees. But most are left to the dominion of nature, and are the favorite retreats of myriads of parrots and flocks of water-fowl.

Suddenly, doubling the isIet of Cuba, the outlier of Los Corales, the Playa of Granada, opened before us. There stood the ancient fort as of oId, and the beach swarmed as it had done when I last saw it, with its varied groups of boatmen. lavadoras, and loungers. There were the same graceful canoes drawn up on the shore, and the same cumbrous bongos, wherein the commerce of Granada had been carríed on from the time of the Conquest. But contrasting strangely with all, the only new or novel object in the picture was one of the steamers of the Transit Company, with its plume of escaping steam, and its starry flag streaming in the wind - portentous pioneer in that career of enterprise which must soon give a new life, a new spirit, and a new peopIe to these glorious lands of the sun.

Zapatero “The Shoemaker”

When the sun rose, lighting up the high volcanic peaks of Ometepec and Madeira with its rays, we were in mid-Iake, steering boldly for the blue cone of the volcano of Mombacho, which towers over the city of Granada. The sailors on the lake seldom venture across it in their rude bongos, but coast along its northern shore, sometirnes stretching past the little bays, but oftener conforming to the curves of the land. One reason for this caution is to be found in the turbulence of the lake. Swept by the strong northeast trade-winds, its waves emulate those of the ocean, and roIl in majestically on its southern shores. During certain seasons of the year, sudden thunder-gusts, which appear as if by enchantment on the horizon, rush over its surface with impetuous force, often whelming the frail boats which they encounter in their track beneath the seething waters. Fortunately for us the weather was serene and the wind fair, and we sped on our way with exhilarating speed. By noon, the outlines of the high island of Zapatero became clearly defined, and the clusters of islets, calIed "Los Corales," which stud the lake at the base of the volcano of Mombacho, began to rise, like points of emerald, above the waters.

Zapatero, “The Shoemaker,” had to me a special interest. Three years before I had spent a week in exploring the ancient ruins which are crumbling beneath its gigantic forests - a week of surpassing interest and excitement; for every hour brought with it some new discovery, and every foot of ground bore some quaint witness of a people that had passed away. I felt half- inclined to turn the course of our boat toward its shores, and to resume the investigations which I had then been obliged to suspend in deference to official duties. Zapatero anciently bore the name of Chomitl-Tenamitl, and its distant neighbor, with its two lofty peaks, had the characteristic Mexican designation of Ometepec, Two Mountains. With the islands of Solenterami, and the narrow isthmus which intervenes between the lake and the Pacific, they constituted the seat of a peopIe speaking a common Ianguage, and having common modes of life and forms of government and religion, with those who dwelt on the pIateau ofMexico, and made up the empire of Montezuma. But whether a coIony from the latter, or their progenitors, who shall undertake, in the maze of conflicting tradition and the absence of authentic records, to decide?

Volcano of Mombacho

“A story of his hike to the summit of Mombacho”

The volcano of Mombacho, sometimes written in the old maps Bombacho, has a broad base and ragged summit. It measures about 4500 feet, or little less than one mile, in vertical height. Very few of the natives have ever ascended it, although nearly every one has some story to tell of the marvelous lake which exists at its summit, and of the wonderful things which the traveler encounters in reaching it. I had great difficulty in persuading an ancient marinero, who had gone up, several years before, with the Chevalier Friedrichthal, and spent several days with him at the top, to act as my guide. The face of the volcano toward Granada is inaccessible, and we found it was necessary to go to the lndian town of Diriomo, situated at the southwestern base of the mountain, and take our departure thence.

We accordingly rnade our arrangerncnts over night, and early on the following morning, while it was yet dark, mounted our mules and started for Diriomo. We passed under the walls of the Campo Santo, white and spectral in the uncertain light, and struck at once into a narrow path in the forest. We could barely distinguish the white mule of our guide, who led the way, and had to trust to the sagacity of our animals to foIlow the road. At intervals the scraping of the drooping branches over the glazed hat of our guide, and his sharp "Cuidado!,,-("Take care!") warned us to bend to our saddle-bows, to avoid being dragged from our seats. "Stoop and go safe;' is a motto of sound application in riding by night through a tropical forest. After an hour or more of this precarious traveling, day began to break, and shortly afterward we emerged from the woods into a comparatively rough and broken country. The slopes of the volcano are cut in deep ravines, which furrow its sides, and radiate from its base. These ravines are filled with trees, bushes, and vines, while the ridges between them are bare, supporting only long coarse grass, now crisp and yellow from the protracted heats. And as we rode on, we were one moment immersed in dark thickets, only to emerge the next on the narrow savannas of the ridges, whence we could catch glimpses of the lake, just reflecting the ruddy light which streamed above the hilIs of Chontales. The morning breeze breathed cool and grateful on our foreheads, and filled our lungs with an exhilarating freshness.

An hour more, and we had reached the base of the high, conical hilIs of scoria, bare of trees, but covered with grass, which form so striking features in the scenery back of Granada. They are of exceeding regularity of shape, and seern to have been formed of ashes and scoria, ejected from the volcano when in a state of eruption, and carried here by the wind. They are, in fact, the ash-heaps of the volcanoes, and as they are found in greater or less numbers near evcry volcano in the country, thcy form infaIlible indications of the direction of the prevailing winds.

Around these cones we found patches of cleared lands, now overgrown with rank weeds. which had been ancientIy estates of maize and indigo. Beyond these, the road enters a thick forest, and winds over a high ridge of volcanic rocks and lava, which extends off in the direction of the volcano of Masaya. Midway to the summit. sparkling like a diamond beneath the rocks, is a copious spring of cool water, bearing a musical lndian name which I have forgotten, where we stopped to filI our canteens and rest our mules. It is a lovely spot, arched over with trees, which the nourishing waters keep clothed in perennial green. It has been from time immemorial a favorite resort of the Indians, and the rocks around it have been worn smooth by the tread of their rnyriad feet.

At the surnmit of the hill we came upon a figure, carved in stone, planted firmly in the ground, by the side of the path. It is of the same character with the idoIs which I had discovered during my first visit to Nicaragua in the islands of the lake, but is now used-so said our guide-to mark the boundary between the lands of the Indians of Diriomo and ]alteva. Throughout all Central America the traveler encounters piles of stones raised by the sides of the paths, for a similar purpose. With the lndians, as between Laban and Jacob, they certify to the covenant “that I wiIl not pass over this heap to thee, and thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm.”

After ascending the ridge the ground became undulating, and we came frequently upon patches of plantains, canes, and maize, which looked fresh and luxuriant, as compared with vegetation elsewhere. This is due to the volcano, which intervenes in the direction of the trade-winds, and which intercepts the clouds that they bear on their wings, and precipitates them in showers under its lee. And thus, while the country at large is suffering from drought, this favored spot is cherished by the grateful rain, and retains its verdure and its beauty.

It was scarcely nine o'dock when we reached the large but straggling village of Diriomo. But we did not stop there. Turning abruptly to the left, we rode rapidly through a broad and well- beaten path, to the cacao hacienda of the family of Bermudez. It is a retired and lovely spot, commanding a fine view of the southern declivity of Mombacho. A little lake in the foreground, and clumps of trees, interspersed with patches of dark lava, and occasional fields of reddish scoria, filled up the middle space of a picture of novel and surpassing beauty in which the volcano rose grandly in the distance.

Leaving the mules in charge of the mozos of the hacienda, we lost no time in prosecuting our expedition. Our path for two hours wound through a very broken country. At times we struggled over beds of crinkling lava, already hot under the blaze of the sun, and then plunged in thickets of dwarfed trees, to emerge, perhaps, upon an arid slope of cinders and scoria, supporting only the dry spikes of the maguey or agave, and clusters of the spiny cactus.

Finally, we began the ascent of the mountain proper. Upon this side the walls of the crater are broken down, exposing a fearfully rugged orífice, in the form of an inverted cone, walled up with black and forbidding rocks, which seemed to frown angrily upon our approach. The summit now looked twice as high as it had done before, and we strained our eyes in vain to discover the semblance of a path among the jagged masses of lava and volcanic stones piled in wild disorder on every hand. Two of our party, appalled by the difficulties which presented themselves, decided to forego the pleasure of witnessing a sunrise from the summit, and the prospect of broken necks or shattered limbs in reaching it, for a quiet night in a comfortable hammock at the hacienda. So we drained their canteens for them, under the shadow of a large rock, and separated.

From this point our ascent was simply a fatiguing scramble. Now clinging to rough angular rocks, anon grasping at the roots and branches of gnarled and scraggy trees, or painfully struggling over steep slopes of ashes and volcanic sand, which yielded beneath the feet, we toiled slowly up the mountain, the summit of which seemed to lift itself higher and higher in the air, while the clouds rushed past it with dizzy velocity. The sun, too, shone down upon the arid declivities with fervent heat, and the radiations from the blistered rocks fairly seared our eyes and blinded our sight. At the end of two hours we had gone up so far as scarcely to be able to distinguish our friends below us, and yet, as we gazed upward, it was impossible to discover that we had made any perceptible progress in our ascent.

Still we kept on, and on, tearing our hands and bruising our limbs, in our eagerness to reach the surnmit before the setting of the sun. At three o’ clock we were brought to a stand-still by the sudden fainting of Señor Z. , a young gentleman of Granada, who had volunteered to accompany us. Fortunately I saw him stagger, and was able to catch him in my arms before he had lost all consciousness. A moment later he would have fallen among the rocks, and inevitably have been killed. He soon recovered from the attack, and, after resting a while, attempted to proceed. But his efforts were feeble, and another recurrence of faintness and indications of a suffusion of the brain, rendering it evident that he could neither go on nor return that afternoon. There was but one alternative left, and that was to encamp where we were for the night. But he would not listen to the proposition, and insisted on being Ieft with the guide until our return. So we led him to a cleft in the rocks, where he was sheltered from the sun, and, supplying him with water and food, bade hirn farewell, and continued our ascent.

The lead, now that we had lost our guide, devolved upon me. It was a position of some responsibility, for the mountain was here rent in numerous deep rifts or chasms, some of which were hundreds of feet deep, and it was difficult to select a course which should avoid them, and yet conduct us toward the top of the mountain. Besides, we had now reached the region of clouds, which ofien obscured the sumrnit, and enveIoped us in their dark and clamp, but refreshing folds. While they were passing we could not move, for a single incautious step might now be fatal.

I had directed my course toward a high angular peak, which, to us, seemed to be the highest part of the mountain. But when, after prodigious toil, we had attained it, I found that it was only one of the broken lips of the crater, and that the true bulk of the mountain lay far to the Ieft, separated from the point on which we stood by a deep deft, which could onIy be passed by descending the rocks again for the distance of nearly a thousand feet. This was a severe disappointment in some respects, yet we feIt glad that we were not obliged to pass the night there. Before retracing our steps, I crawled cautiously to the very edge of the rock. It overhung the ancient crater, which yawned like a hell beneath. I recoiled with a shudder; but not until I had observed, at the very bottom of the rocky gulf a little lake of water, which gIeamed brightly in its rough setting.

After regaining the body of the volcano, we came upon a comparatively smooth slope, supporting a few bushes and a little hardy grove; and, just before sunset, after passing several small craters or ancient vents, succeeded in attaining the summit of the mountain.

I had abstained from looking around me while ascending, anxious to witness the glorious prospect, which, I knew, must open upon my vision there, in all of its vastness and beauty. Worn, weary, bruised and bleeding, yet that one sublime view compensated for all! Language can faintly picture it. The great Pacific, all golden under the setting sun, spread away boundlessly in the west; and Lake Nicaragua, its glowing waters studded with islands, lay motionless at our feet. Beyond it rose the umber-tinted hills of Chontales, and still beyond these, rank on rank, the high, blue ranges of the silver-veined Cordilleras of Honduras! I turned to the southward, and there, piercing the clear air with their lofty canes, towered the graceful peaks of Ometepec and Madeira. And yet beyond these, rose the volcano of Orosi, with its dark banner of smoke trailing away, league on league, along the horizon, and tracing an ebon beIt across the gigantic buIk of cloud-crowned Cartaga, proudly dominating over both great oceans! To the northward the view was equally varied and extensive. There, cradled among hilIs of eternal green, spread out the Iarge and beautiful Lake of Managua. At its further extremity loomed the high volcano of Momotombo, watching, like sorne gigantic warder, over the slumbering waters. And more distant still, terminating the dim perspective, were the receding peaks which bristle around the plain of Leon. And, apparently at our feet, although ten miles distant from the base of the mountain, stood the broad, Iow volcano of Masaya, in the midst of wide expanse of lava fields, which, rugged and black, strongly contrasted with the adjacent forests and cultivated grounds. The white churches of Granada and of the surrounding villages appeared like points of silver in the slant rays of the sun. Rarely, indeed, has the eye of mortal looked upon a fairer scene!

But as we gazed with unwearying delight the sun declined, and broad purple shadows crept over lake and plain, while every peak and mountain shone with increased brightness, like fairy islands in sorne enchanted sea. Soon the shadows began to invade their slopes, mounting higher and higher, and wrapping them, one by one, in their cool embrace. At last, only the top- most crests of Ometepec and Madeira were left, and around them the sun's rays dallied, as a lover dwells upon the lips of his mistress, in fond and lingering adieus.

The glow and the glory passed; and the stately night in her glittering robe came on, in calm and majestic beauty. And then, face to face with the stars, we wrapped our blankets around us, and lay down upon the bare earth. The silence was profound, and almost painful, and deepened rather than disturbed by the subdued and distant, but distinct pulsations of the great Pacifico. Suddenly we heard the bells of Granada chiming the passing hour. The sound was almost startling from its apparent nearness, yet softened and harmonized in the rarified atmosphere, so as to resemble the sweIling notes of the Eolian harp when struck by a sudden breeze.

The early part of the night was deliciously cool, but toward morning we were all awakened by a cold mist, which settled upon the top of the mountain, covering the rocks with big drops of moisture, and which was not dispelled until long after the sun had risen above the horizon. We thus lost the principal object of our visit, but consoled ourselves with the reflection that our imaginations could picture nothing more glorious than the sunset of the preceding evening. It was past ten o' clock before we were able to extend our vision beyond the little circle within which we stood, or advance toward the eastern declivity of the mountain, where an abrupt depression, and the cries of birds, seemed to indicate that we should find the lake of which we had heard so much. We were not disappointed, for we came suddenly upon the edge of one of the subordinate ancient craters, or lava rents of the volcano. It was not so deep as the others we had seen, and its gentIy converging sides were covered evenly with grass. It was, to borrow a homely comparison, a beautiful saucer-shaped depression, something more than a quarter of a mile broad, and about two hundred feet deep. At the bottom slumbered a small lake, fringed round with trees and bushes, loaded with vines, which drooped over the water in Iuxuriant masses. Among the trees were a few coyol paIms, dwarfed, but otherwise flourishing. But most remarkable of all, growing between sorne loose rocks, and partly shadowed over by other trees, were severa! tree-ferns-the first we had seen in Nicaragua. I never met with them elsewhere in Central America, except in the great barranca of Guaramal in San Salvador. Their tender leaves seemed translucent in the rays of the sun, and as ethereal and delicate as the tracery of the frost on our Northern window-panes. Among the trees, and occasionally glancing out and in, were hundreds of noisy paraquets. As we advanced, a troap of lndian canies, a species of hare common to the tropics, suddenly lifted themselves on their hind legs above the grass, looked at us in evident amazement for an instant, and then scampered off for the covert. I fired at them fruitlessly with rny revolver. The effect oí the discharge was marvelous. A cloud of paraquets rose above the trees, and darted in wild confusion around the ancient crater. A couple of ravens, which we had not seen before, also rose and circled over the pool, uttering their harsh, discordant croaks, and a number of toucans fluttered heavily from one tree top to another. In fact, all that there was of life in that secluded spot seemed to have been frightened into wild activity. We were ourselves a little startled by the sudden rustle of wings.

But soon the tumult subsided, and the frightened birds again entered their leafy coverts, whence they watched us in silence. We endeavored to penetrate the thicket around the little lake, but it was so matted together with vines, and the soil withal was so marshy, that we gave up the attempt, and contented ourselves with making a cup of grateful coffee beneath the shadow of an overhanging tree. By barometrical measurement I found this mountain lake to be 4420 feet above the level of the sea.

About noon, after taking a final survey from the summit of Mombacho, we commenced our descent. This was more rapid and less fatiguing than our ascent, but more dangerous. We were far more alarmed in getting down some of the rocky and almost perpendicular declivities than we had been in surmounting them. Once or twice, indeed, we could scarcely persuade ourselves that we were returning by the same path we had ascended. Nevertheless, without any greater mishap than the usual one attendant on such adventures, of breaking our barometer, at two o' clock we reached the place where we had left our exhausted companion. To our surprise and momentary alarm he was gone. But after a little search we found a scrap of paper beneath a little pile of stones, informing us that his night's rest had restored him, and that he had availed himself of the freshness of the morning to return. Thankful that we were not to be embarrassed by a sick man, we continued our descent, and at sunset were seated to a cup of fragrant chocolate beneath the hospitable corridor of Bermudez.

Ephraim G. Squier, Nicaragua; its people, scenery, monuments, resources, condition, and proposed canal, New York, Harper & brothers, 1860

Ephraim G. Squier, Nicaragua: An Exploration From Ocean To Ocean, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, No. LXV, Vol. XI, October 1855