Masaya
Stories about Masaya and its volcanoes in the adventures of E.G. Squier
Masaya City & Nindiri
We reached the large town of Masaya, situated near the foot of the volcano of the same name, a distance of four leagues from Granada, at sunset. The intervening country is undulating, and much cut up by the ravines, which I have described as radiating from the base of Mombacho. There are, nevertheless, occasional open spaces of level ground, occupied by fields of maize, cotton, or tobacco, and having the invariable accompaniment of a plantain walk. The plantain, in fact constitutes the principal vegetable reliance of the peopIe of Nicaragua. …
As we approached Masaya the country became studded with "huertas;" or gardens, and we overtook hundreds of the Indians loaded, some with fire-wood, others with plantains, oranges, papayas, cocoa-nuts, and maize, all contained in bags of network, which they were carrying from their fields to their homes. Little girls and boys, perfectly naked, were trotting along the paths with loads graduated to their strength, and supported on their backs by bands passing over their foreheads; for it is an invariable rule among the Indians of all parts of Central America, to require a certain amount of labor from their children from the earliest moment they are capable of rendering it.
Masaya is one of the principal towns of Nicaragua, and contains a larger population than Granada itself. It is inhabited almost exclusively by Indians, who are distinguished for their skill and industry. They have not only extensive plantations. spreading for several miles around the town which are cultivated with the greatest care, and from which Granada obtains a large part of its supplies, but are also largely engaged in the manufacture of hats of palm-Ieaf, petates, or mats, hammocks and cordage of pita (agave), saddles, shoes, and many other articles of use. …
Beyond Masaya our road led through a broad and beautiful avenue, lined on both sides by luxuriant fields, which extend to the pueblo of Nindiri. It was thronged with mules, men, women, and children, all bearing fruits, provisions, or other articles of sale, on their way to the markets of Masaya and Granada; for the lndian thinks nothing of carrying his load, worth perhaps half a dollar, to the distance of twenty miles, or even farther.
Níndiri itself is one of the loveliest spots on earth. Oranges, plantains, marañons, nísperos, mamays, and tall palms, with their variously-colored fruits, blushing brown or golden among the leaves, and here and there a low calabash tree, with its green globes strung on every limb; all these, clustering together, literally embowered the picturesque cane huts of the simple-minded and industrious inhabitants. lndian wornen, naked to the waist, sat beneath the trees spinning snow-white cotton, or the fibre of the agave, while their noisy, naked little ones tumbled joyously about on the smoothly-beaten ground, where the sunlight fell in flickering, shifting mazes, as the winds bent the branches of the trees with their unseen fingers. …
Lake of Masaya
But the most remarkable thing connected with Masaya is its lake, concerning which the ancient chroniclers wrote in their most exalted strain. lt is of volcanic origin, shut in on all sides by perpendicular cliffs, which are only descended, with difficulty and danger, by paths half cut in the rock. Old Oviedo, who visited it in 1529, estimated the descent to the surface of the water at "more than one hundred and thirty fathoms;' and most modern visitors who have scrambled down and toiled up again, are ready to make solemn oath that it is not one inch less than a thousand feet! Yet it is really only 480 feet by the barometer. …
"I went with the chief of Lendiri:" says Oviedo, "to visit this wonderful lake. To reach it we had to go down by a path the steepest and most dangerous that can be imagined, for it is necessary to descend over rocks which appear to be of rnassive iron, and in some places absolutely perpendicular, where Iadders of six or seven steps have to be placed. The entire descent is shrouded with trees and it is more than one hundred and thirty fathoms to the lake, which is very beautiful, and may be a league and a half in diameter. The cazique told me that there were around the lake more than twenty descents worse than that by which we had passed, and that the inhabitants of the villages around, numbering more than one hundred thousand, all came here for water. I must confess that in making the descent I repented more than once of my rashness, but persisted, chiefly from shame of avowing my fears, and partly from the encouragement of my companions, and from beholding Indians Ioaded with an aroba and a half of water (about 40 pounds), who ascended as tranquilly as though traveling on a plain. On reaching the bottom, I found the water so warm that nothing but intense thirst could have induced me to drink it. But when carried away it soon cools, and becomes the best water in the world to drink. Among the descents there is one formed of a single ladder of ropes. As there is no water for several leagues around, and the country is fertile, the Indians put up with the inconvenience, and obtain their supply from the lake.”
It is only necessary to add, that the Lake of Masaya has no outlet, and is clearly of volcanic origin. The volcano of Masaya, or Nindiri, stands on its northwestern border, and on that side the cliffs are hidden, and an inclined plane has been formed, coincident with the slope of the mountain, by the lava which has run down and into the lake during sorne ancient eruption. The depth of the lake is very great. When I made my first visit to Masaya, I descended to the edge of the water, and found there many of the aguadoras. They were bathing, carrying their jars out several rods from the shore, filling them, and then towing them in. They were not at all disconcerted by my presence, so I sat down on the rocks and talked with these brown Naiads.
Volcano of Masaya - The Hell of Masaya
After leaving Nindiri, we began to ascend one of the slopes or spurs of the volcano of Masaya, passing over disintegrated lava and pumice, now converted into soil, and sustaining a luxuriant growth of trees. At the distance of about a league we reached what is called the mal pais, literally “bad country:” This is an immense field of lava, which, at the last eruption, flowed down the sides of the volcano, for a distance of many miles, in the direction of Lake Managua. Where the road crosses it the field is narrowest, but on both sides it spreads out over a wide area. lt can only be compared to a vast plain oí cast-iron just cooled, or to an ocean of ink suddenly congealed during a storm. In places the lava is rolled up in black, frowning masses; elsewhere it is piled up, flake on flake, like ice in the spring-time on the banks of our northern rivers. Here and there broad ragged sheets had been turned completely over as it cooled on the surface, while the molten current flowed below, exposing a regularly striated face, resembling the curling fibres of the oak or maple. Not a tree intervened between us and the volcano, only a broad, black and rugged waste of lava!
As I have said, the volcano of Masaya is broad and low, and bears unmistakable signs of recent activity. Its latest eruption, at which time the vast lava-fieId which I have described was formed, took place in 1670. It was quiet enough at the time of our visit, but has since - within the last eighteen months - again broken out. Vast clouds of smoke now rise from it, which at night glow with the light of the fierce fires that burn at the bottom of the crater; and it is not unIikely that the voIcano may soon come to regain the celebrity which it enjoyed for many years after the conquest, during which time it was in a state of constant eruption, and was called El Infierno de Masaya-"The Hell of Masaya."
The old chronicler Oviedo has left us a detailed and interesting account of it, as it was at the time of his visit in 1529. He says he had visited Vesuvius and Etna, and enumerates many other volcanoes; "but it seems to me:' he continues, "that none of these volcanoes are to be compared to that of Masaya, which, as I have said, I have seen and examined for myself. I wiIl now relate what I saw. It was about the middle of the night ofJuly 25, 1529, that we left the house of Machuca, and by sunrise we had nearly reached the summit. The night was very dark, in consequence of which the flame of the mountain appeared exceedingly brilliant. I have heard persons worthy of credit say that when the night is very dark and rainy, the light from the crater is so vivid that one may see to read at the distance of half a league, but this I will neither affirm nor deny, for at Granada, when there is no moon, the whole country is illuminated by the flame of the volcano; and it is a fact that it can be seen at a distance of sixteen or twenty leagues, for I have seen it at that distance myself. However, we can not call that which proceeds from the crater a flame, but rather a smoke which is as bright as a flame.
I was accompanied by an lndian cazique, whose name was Natatime, who, when we got near the crater, sat down, fifteen or twenty paces off, and pointed to the frightful orifice. The summit of the mountain forms a plain, covered with red, yellow, and black rocks, spotted with diverse colors. The orífice is so broad that, in my opinion, a musket-baIl could not traverse it. The depth, to the best of my judgment, is about one hundred and thirty fathoms; and although it was difficult to see the bottom of the crater for the thick smoke and vapors, yet I could discern there a place perfectly round, and large enough to contain a hundred cavaliers, who could play at fencing, and have more than a thousand spectators. It would hold even more than that number, were it not for still another deeper crater in the middle of it. At the bottom of this second crater I beheld a fire, which was as liquid as water, and of the color of brass. From time to time this molten matter rose in the air, with a prodigious force, hurling great masses to the height of many feet, as it appeared to me. Sometimes these were arrested on the sides of the crater, and remained there, before becoming extinguished, time enough to repeat the Credo six times. After they had cooled, they resembled the scoriae of a forge.
"I can not believe that a Christian could behold this spectacle unmindful of hell, and without repenting of his sins; particularly while comparing this vein of sulphur with the eternal grandeur of everlasting fire which awaits those who are ungratefuI to God!
"A remarkable circumstance was told me by Machuca and the Fray Bobadilla, which is, that the melted matter sometimes mounts to the top of the crater, whereas I could only see it at a great depth. Having made due inquiry in regard to this, I learned that when much rain falls, the fire does, in fact, ascend as far as the top.
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