ertile, but the place itself is reckoned
unhealthy, owing to some swamps in the vicinity and to the southward;
but which, it is believed, might be drained and cleared, which would
render the climate salubrious, or, at least, as much so as any
tropical climate can be to Europeans.

Lake Nicaragua, in its broadest part, is about 35 miles: it has
several considerable islands, some of them active volcanoes, and all
of them fertile. The country around its shores is stated to be very
healthy and very fertile, and studded with high peaks, mostly
volcanic, and many of them, on both sides, volcanoes in activity. At
the point on its north-east corner, where the River St. Juan issues
from it, there is (according to some of our best maps) erected the
castle of St. Carlos; and lower down, about 16 miles on the banks (p. 097)
of the river, is placed the castle of St. Juan, which castle was taken
by the English in 1780. Alcedo says that this river is navigable for
ships of large size; but others add, that during the dry season, when
the river is low, in one or two places the navigation is obstructed by
sand banks, which, however, could easily be removed by a deepening
machine, such as that used for a similar purpose on the Clyde. Lake
Managua in its western shore approaches in its southern portion to
within 8 to 9 miles of the Pacific; and here the conical peak range
appears to be discontinued and broken. So also it is in the route from
Leon to Rialejo, a distance of 21 miles. The next nearest point of
communication is to the southward of the town of Grenada, situate on
the upper part of Lake Nicaragua, westward to the port of St. Juan,
which runs considerably into the country from the Pacific. Here the
distance from the lake to the sea is 10 miles. The next point of
communication is from the neighbourhood of the town of Nicaragua to
the bottom of the Gulf of Papagayo, the distance being about 15 miles.
The river Partido flows from the S. E. through a course of fully 60
miles, and enters the Pacific at the bottom of the Gulf of Papagayo.
At this point, also, the volcanic peaks and the ridge appear to be
interrupted, and very low, thereby rendering a passage more probable
and easy. On the neck of land, also, between the upper part of Lake
Nicaragua and the Pacific, there are situated in three different
places between the Pacific and the interior part, three lakes, which,
while it shows the low nature of the coast, tends also to shorte