Managua

“ MANAGUA, the capital of Nicaragua, and of the department of Managua; on the southern shore of Lake Managua, and on the railway from Diriamba to El Viejo, 65 m. by rail S.E. of the Pacific port of Corinto. Pop. (1905) , about 30,000. Managua is a modern city, with many flourishing industries and a rapidly growing population. ”

“ Proper Names.—But few native families of the Mangue districts of Nicaragua have retained names drawn from their ancient tongues. In a list before me of several hundred persons in Masaya and Managua, the only surnames from the Mangue are Norori, Ñamendi, Namullure, Putoi, Nionongue, Macanche, and perhaps Huembes and Piura. Generally, the natives adopted Spanish surnames. ”

“ On one side is the beautiful lake, sixty miles long and thirty miles wide, surrounded by volcanoes, and on the other are fertile slopes, on which are coffee plantations and cocoa groves, both yielding prodigious crops. The peons of the city work upon the estancias when there is anything to be done, travelling five or six miles each day in going to and returning from the scene of their labor. The country about Managua must have been densely populated by the aborigines, and is full of most curious and puzzling relics of a prehistoric{169} race, which the natives regard with great veneration. ”

“ The Ollita, or Little Jar, is an instrument still remembered in Nicaragua, and the drama, in the Mangue dialect, to which I have referred, bearing this name, proves that it was familiarly known at Managua early in this century. Its sound is described as grave and suitable to serious emotions. ”

“ When Gil Gonzalez first entered the country it was densely populated, and the city of Managua alone contained forty thousand souls, it was said. A few years of Spanish rule sufficed to turn whole tracts of flourishing country into uninhabited wilds, leaving here and there only small communities of terrorized natives groaning under extortionate and cruel masters. On appealing to their idols they were assured that a flood could be called forth, but in it would perish Indians as well as Spaniards. ”

“ Nicaragua is a lowland of tropical heat. It has the least invigorating climate in Central America. The natives are not particularly blessed with energy or industry, and are consequently rather eager to blame their lack of initiative to the stifling effect of their subserviency to the United States.
Individually they are quite ready to be friendly to any American. Collectively they love to damn the gringos. And the newspapers of Managua and León cater regularly to their taste by soaking every Yankee who attains prominence in the republic. ”

“ Managua is a pleasant city of ten or fifteen thousand inhabitants. The great cathedral is situated, like that at Leon, on one side of the plaza, but is far inferior in extent and magnificence. Our hotel also stood on the plaza; but lest the reader should form from this a too exalted notion of its appearance, I would add that it contained but two apartments, of moderate dimensions, one of which was occupied by the family, while the other served as a store-room and poultry house. ”

“ We passed along down to Matares, a small town situated on an eminence overlooking the lake, and inhabited by descendants of the African race. We breakfasted on chickens, frijoles, tortillos, eggs, &c., and after an hour’s detention started for Managua. We passed through a delightful region of country, the soil, in many places, highly cultivated, bearing the impress of thrift and industry, I had not before seen in the country. Fruits grow in abundance, cattle had an unlimited range, and were the finest I ever saw ”

“ Ha, Güegüence! it is known in the Royal Province of the Governor Tastuanes that you are to obey him, and treat the Royal Court of the Governor Tastuanes to a yoke of jars of Spanish wine.
Güe. Ho, boys! you see we are already provided for. It is a fine thing to be married, but now we have a big job on hand. The Provincial is coming, and we have not prepared for him. Friend Captain Chief Alguacil, where did you leave the Provincial, in Managua or in Nindiri? ”

“ The Republic of Salvador is not obliged by the contract of Amapala to acknowledge any authority in the constitution of Managua of the 27th August of the current year, and it is released from the contract of union with the Republics of Honduras and Nicaragua. ART. 2. The Republic of Salvador assumes in full its self-government and independence, and will enter the union with the sister Republics of Central America when same is convenient to its positive interests and is the express and free will of the Salvadorean people." United States, 55th Congress, 3d Session, Senate Document Number 50. ”

“ Nicaragua, as a whole, never endorsed the invitation to the American capitalists. When the Conservatives invited them, the entire country turned Liberal. If Zelaya were to come to life and return to Managua, he would find the republic waiting with open arms. But while the marines are present, the Liberals are helpless.
IF THE AMERICAN MARINES WERE WITHDRAWN FROM NICARAGUA A REVOLUTION WOULD TRANSPIRE OVER-NIGHT
At the time of my visit another election campaign was starting. ”

“ In the great lacustrine depression of Nicaragua is collected all the drainage from the eastern versant of the volcanic mountains, from the sheer western escarpment of the main cordillera, and from a large area of northern Costa Rica. The only river which flows out of the depression on the north enters the Bay of Fonseca at Tempisque. The accumulated waters which pour down into the depression are gathered into the two basins of Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua. Both basins have a maximum depth of some 260 ft. ”

“ The opposition of the liberals culminated in an attempt 259 at revolution in Leon, promoted by Castellon, Jerez, and Mariano Salazar. The government then residing at Managua defeated their plan for the time, and banished the leaders and a few of their influential followers. [XII-80] The exiles sought refuge in Salvador and Honduras, and with the favor of Cabañas, who was then on bad terms with Chamorro, [XII-81] obtained resources for a second attempt against the government of the latter. With a few men and a quantity of arms and ammunition, they went from Tigre Island to Realejo. ”

“ President Morazan then contemplated doing the work on Central American account, and the survey was begun in 1837, interrupted by Morazan's fall, but continued in 1838 for account of Nicaragua. This same year Edward Belcher, of the Brit. navy, suggested the possibility of an artificial communication between Lake Managua and the bay of Fonseca. Baily's explorations along the line from Rio Lajas to San Juan del Sur were terminated in 1843, and their publication furnished exact data on the canal. ”

“ The mountains of Salvador are all volcanic and shoreward of the main chain; but in Honduras the lines again repeat the general arrangement of Guatemala, while the names are many, indicating a more broken system. Between the ranges are broad and fertile valleys, the Llano de Comayagua being forty miles in length, with a breadth [7] of from five to fifteen miles. In Nicaragua the ridges slope towards the southwest, breaking abruptly to the Mosquito coast, and an important part of its territory is occupied by the lakes of Managua and Nicaragua. ”

“ Juan, according to the late survey by Capt. Owen, lays in 10°53' N. lat. and in 83°40' W. long. Leon, the capital of the province in which Lake Managua is situated, and from which the name of Leon is generally given to the latter, stands, according to the best Spanish authorities, in 12°20' N. lat. and 86°45' W. long.; and its port, Rialejo, on the Pacific, in 12°29'50" N. lat., and 87°6' W. long. From the mouth of the River St. Juan to Rialejo, in a bearing of N. 66° W. the distance is 235 miles ”

“ Area, 49,500 square miles. Population, 400,000. Fifty-five per cent, of inhabitants are Indians. Climate is healthy; mean annual temperature about 80°; rainfall about 100 inches. Constitution adopted 1858. Presidential term, 4 years. Legislative power rests with a Senate and a House of Representatives. Capital, Managua; population, 12,000.
Through want of peace and industry the great natural resources are undeveloped. Lead, iron, zinc, antimony, tin, quicksilver and gold are found. The vegetable products are cotton, coffee, indigo, rice, tobacco and corn. ”

“ With my men I am fleeing from the revolutionists.”
“Revolutionists?” echoed Shirley.
“Exactly. I was in Corinto with some of my army for diplomatic purposes. While absent from Managua there was an uprising. It seems to have 116 been well planned, for it broke out in all parts of the republic at once, even here in Corinto.”
“I was surprised with my men this morning and was forced to flee. That’s about all there is to it.”
“But why did you bring us with you?” demanded Shirley. “Why didn’t you allow us to return to our ship.” ”

“ Nicaragua presents yet another unique physical feature. Lying between the elevated mountain masses of Costa Rica on the south and Honduras on the north, the average elevation of its own mountain backbone hardly one thousand feet, it is the natural thoroughfare of the beneficent northeast Trades. These winds sweep in from the Caribbean across the Atlantic slopes, break the surface of the lakes into sparkling waves, and then disappear over the Pacific, aerating, cooling and purifying the country, destroying the germs of disease and making Nicaragua the healthiest region in Central America. ”

“ Nicaragua was a country of many natural advantages. Its people appeared to be of better caliber than those of Honduras. Its area—49,200 square miles—was the greatest in Central America. Its land was all suitable for cultivation. Its potential wealth—in mahogany and hardwoods, in gold and silver and other metals—is estimated by many authorities to exceed that of any of its neighbors. Yet the imports and exports of this largest republic were far below those of Salvador, the smallest. ”

“ The Mangues at one time occupied the whole coast from the entrance of the Gulf of Nicoya to Fonseca bay. At a period which we may locate some time in the fourteenth century, a large colony of Aztecs descended the coast and seized the strip between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific, thus splitting the Mangues in two, and driving a large portion of them out of their homes. ”

“ The condition of Nicaragua would, it is believed, have been much more prosperous than it has been but for the occupation of its only Atlantic port by a foreign power, and of the disturbing authority set up and sustained by the same power in a portion of its territory, by means of which its domestic sovereignty was impaired, its public lands were withheld from settlement, and it was deprived of all the maritime revenue which it would otherwise collect on imported merchandise at San Juan del Norte. ”

“ During the middle of the last century, when large coffee estates nestled in the hills of Pinar del Rio, the mango, with its grateful shade and luscious fruit, indicated the home or summer residence of the owner. Today, of the house only broken stones and vine-covered fallen walls remain, but the mangoes, old and gnarled, still stand, while around them have spread extensive groves of younger trees, bearing each year tons of fruit, with none to eat it save the occasional prospector, or the wild hog of the forest. ”

“ Nicaragua.—Of nearly the same area as Honduras, Nicaragua is chiefly distinguished by its lower level and the great lake which offers so inviting a route for an inter-oceanic canal. The same fertility and genial climate extend from the Hondureñan uplands into Chontales and Segovia, where Northerners can enjoy life; but it is hot and unwholesome near the sea, especially throughout the Mosquito Reservation, where the frequent river-floods and the miasmatic marshes breed an endemic fever very fatal to Europeans. ”

“ The municipality of the Pueblo of Subtiaba, of which we are members, entertain the highest enthusiasm in view of the relations which your arrival induces us to believe will speedily be established between Nicaragua and the United States, the greatest and most glorious republic beneath the sun. We rejoice in the depths of our hearts that a man like yourself has been chosen to convey to us the assurances of future prosperity, in the name of the sons of Washington; and we trust in the Almighty, that the flag of the United States may soon become the shield of Nicaragua on land and sea. ”

“ OF all Oriental fruits brought to the Occident, the golden mango of India is undoubtedly king. For thousands of years, horticulturists of the Far East, under the direction of native princes, have worked towards its perfection. Just when the seeds were introduced into Cuba, no one knows, but certain it is that so favorable were both soil and climate that the mango today, in the opinion of the natives at least, furnishes the Island its finest fruit. It has so multiplied and spread throughout all sections that it plays an important part in the decoration of the landscape. ”

“ Many will, however, smile at the objection I have to emigration to Nicaragua, when they perceive that it is founded only on the ease with which people can live in plenty there. There is one form of colonisation that will be successful, and that is the gradual moving down southward of the people of the United States. When the destiny of Mexico is fulfilled, with one stride the Anglo-American will bound to the Isthmus of Panama, and Central America will be filled with cattle estates, and with coffee, sugar, indigo, cotton, and cacao plantations. ”