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422 NICARAGUA ble course for the Atlantic section of the pro- posed Nicaraguan interoceanic canal. It was indicated as one of the four possible routes by Gomara in 1551. In 1781 the route was sur- veyed, by order of the Spanish government, by Don Manuel Galisteo ; in 1838 by John Baily for the government of Central America ; and in 1851 by Col. Childs under the direction of the "Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Com- pany." Several concessions have been made to different parties for the construction of a ca- nal, but no practical operations have ever been undertaken. In 1873 and 1874 the route was again thoroughly surveyed by a party under the charge of Commander Lull for the United States government. The "W. coast of Nicaragua is about 200 m. long, and has a general N. W. and S. E. direction. It is nearly straight, and has but few inlets. At its S. extremity is the bay of Salinas, the N. shore of which belongs to Nicaragua and the remainder to Costa Rica. The harbors of San Juan del Sur, Brito, and Tamarinda are small and insecure. About lat. 12 25' is the bay of Corinto, formed on the south by a long peninsula and on the north by the island of Aserradores, on the end of which is the town of Corinto (lat. 12 28' N., Ion. 87 12' W.), the principal port of Nicaragua on the Pacific. On the mainland, N. E. of it, is Real e jo, once a good port, but now almost de- stroyed by the growth of the mangrove trees, which are rapidly filling it up. On the most northerly part of this coast the peninsula of Chinandega forms the bay of Fonseca, the shores of which are divided between Nicaragua, Honduras, and San Salvador. At the S. E. end of the bay is the Estero Real, a long arm of the sea forming an estuary for several small rivers, of which the Villanueva is the largest. The Estero is 300 yards wide, has three fathoms of water at 30 m. from its mouth, and is free from impediments to navigation ; yet Nicaragua has but two small ports in it, Playa Grande and Tempi's que. From 10 to 20 m. back from the coast line, and running nearly parallel to it, is a range of mountains, sometimes rising in high volcanic cones, and sometimes subsiding into low hills and plains of slight elevation. It seems to have been the principal line of vol- canic action, and in Nicaragua is marked by the volcanoes of Cosegtiina (3,835 ft.), Chon- co, Viejo (6,266), Santa Clara, Telica (4,190), Orota (2,665), Las Pilas (3,985), Asososca, Momotombo (7,200), Momotombita, Chilte- peque (2,800), Masaya (2,972), Mombacho (4,588), Zapotera (2,000), Ometepe (5,350), and Madera (4,190). Of these, Cosegtiina is remarkable for its famous eruption in 1835, when it scattered ashes over a circle 1,500 m. in diameter. Santa Clara and Telica were in eruption at the time of the conquest. A few of these peaks are still active, but most of them have long been extinct. There are many smaller extinct craters in the chain, sur- rounded by vast beds of lava and scorise, and numerous vents called infiernillos, which emit smoke and sulphurous vapors. Nearly paral- lel to this range is a second mountain chain, the backbone of the continent and the true Cordillera, which enters from Honduras into the department of Segovia, and extends S. E. to the San Juan river about 50 m. above its mouth. There are several volcanic peaks in this range. It sends out numerous spurs toward the Atlantic, between which are the valleys of the streams flowing into the Carib- bean sea. The principal of these subordinate ranges are the cordillera of Dipilto, which forms a part of the boundary line of Hondu- ras, the Yali and Yeluca mountains between the departments of Segovia and Matagalpa, the Huapi range in Chontales, and the cor- dillera of Yolaina, which ends at Monkey point on the Mosquito coast. Between these two principal ranges of mountains lies a great in- terior basin, the plain of Nicaragua, about 300 m. long by 100 m. wide, containing the beautiful lakes of Nicaragua and Managua. (See MANAGUA, and NICARAGUA, LAKE.) Ni- caragua is thus divided into three zones : the most easterly one, between the main mountain range and the Atlantic, a country of almost un- broken forest ; the central one, between the two chains, composed of grassed savannas and the lakes; and the western, which skirts the Pa- cific, a country of rich and fertile soil. The sole outlet of the central basin and of the lakes which occupy it is the San Juan river, which flows from the S. E. end of Lake Nicaragua. The mountain regions of N. Nicaragua are connected geologically with the metalliferous region of Honduras. In Segovia the rocks are generally quartz and gneiss, succeeded in many places by overlying, highly inclined, and con- torted schists, with small quartz veins running through their laminae. Near Ocotal are uri- stratified beds of gravel, sometimes from 200 to 300 ft. thick, consisting mostly of quartz sand with numerous angular blocks of quartz and talcose schist. Many of these bowlders are large, some of them 15 ft. in diameter. There are many evidences throughout this region of glacial action. Silver is found in many places, but few mines are worked; those at Dipilto are now closed. There are mines also at Jalapa, Jicaro, and Macuelizo. In Chontales are rich auriferous quartz lodes in fissure veins, running generally E. and W., and cutting nearly vertically through beds of do- lerite. These veins vary greatly in thickness, a lode sometimes widening from 1 to 17 ft. in 100 yards. The gold is a natural alloy, con- taining about three parts of gold to one of silver. Sulphide of silver, peroxide of mag- nesia, peroxide of iron, sulphides of iron and copper, and occasionally ores of lead, are also found in the lodes. The mining centre of Chon- tales is at Libertad, in the vicinity of which more than 300 gold mines have been discov- ered, and several are profitably worked by English, German, and French companies. Cop- per, iron, lead, tin, zinc, and antimony are