CHAPTER V.

THE GREAT LAKE.

FROM the ramparts of the old fort we saw the sun set on the great lake. In the glowing light of the evening it seemed like a sea of gold, studded with emerald isles. To the southwest, the forest-covered shore line receded to a mere thread. that vanished under the cloud-capped mountains of Costa Rica. Beneath the setting sun, with the golden water beyond as well as in front of them, were the verdant archipelagoes of Chichicaste and Solentiname. The twin mountains of the lake-the lofty, conical Ometepec and his shorter, dome-shaped brother, Medeira, in the northwest, alone interrupted the endless expanse of water, while the rugged, undulating eastern shore, its densely wooded headlands and hollows abounding in contrasts of light and shade, was lost in the dis tance below a range of peaks just showing

above the northern horizon. It has been well said: "The lake is too large to be called beautiful, and its vast extent and the mere glimpses of its limits and cloud-capped peaks appeal to the imagination rather than to the eye." Had we not known better, we might easily have believed that we were gazing on the Pacific Ocean.

The most prominent landmarks in sight were the twin peaks in the northwest and three more distant but equally lofty peaks in the southwest. These last are the volcanoes Miravaya, Rincon de la Vieja, and Orosi, in Costa Rica. The clouds, which bridge-like spanned their summits as well as those of Ometepec and Medeira, all purple and gold, became somber and black as the light went out of them. The natives, who are full of poetic fancies, call these clouds "the night cap." The clouds are still there in the morning, but all fleecy, and may then be called the white cap. Orosi, which is the northernmost of the Costa Rican peaks, was in active eruption in 1844, when it gave rise to earthquake shocks, felt with considerable force as far north as Rivas; but it is quiet now. Ometepec and Medeira stand in the lake about

twenty miles from its western shore. "Ometepec," says Mr. Belt, "is almost pure Aztec for two peaks, but the island itself only contains one, and the name was probably given by an invader who saw the two peaks of Ometepec and Medeira from the shore of the lake, and thought they belonged to one island." Mr. Belt, however, was wrong and the invader right, for the peaks really occupy one island. Although there is a strip of low land between them, it is seldom, if ever, covered by water. The island is about eighteen miles long by six wide, and is rather densely peopled, containing from 8,000 to 10,000 inhabitants. Medeira is wooded to its summit and Ometepec nearly so. On their slopes are numerous villages and coffee and cocoa plantations. Ometepec, the more northern of the two peaks, is 5,320 feet, or a little more than one mile high. Medeira is about a thousand feet shorter. Ometepec alone has

been active in historic times. Until 1885 it was supposed to be a dead volcano. Then it woke from its rest of ages, and also roused the people of the surrounding country, especially the inhabitants of the island and those of Rivas,

which stands near the western shore of the lake a little to the southward of the volcano. A considerable stream of lava flowed down the western side of the mountain, and destroyed many plantations and houses; but no lives were lost, as the people had time to flee from their homes. Earthquake shocks of considerable violence and several weeks' duration alarmed the people of Granada and Rivas, and there was a great upheaval of ashes, which covered many plantations on the island that the lava did not reach, and carried by the prevailing wind over to the mainland, injured many others in the vicinity of Rivas. It is said, however, that the ultimate effect of the ash deposit on the mainland was to increase the fertility of the soil. After some months of activity Ometepec lapsed into rest again and remained quiet until a few days before our visit, when it began to rumble and smoke a second time. As we passed it on our way up the lake a few thin jets of white smoke rose lazily from the apex and formed tufts and wreaths above. There was, however, no serious disturbance or active eruption.

The regularity of the trade wind, which is at

its strongest in the afternoon, heaps the water of the lake up on the western shore, and causes a diurnal tide-like movement that was long mistaken for an actual tide. The same force also produces a heavy surf along the western shore, while on the eastern shore there is usually little more than a ground swell. The shores of the lake are characterized generally by hard, sandy beaches, overlooked by bluffs or rocky promontories. With the exception of San Carlos there are only a few hamlets on the eastern shore, the large towns being all on the west side. The chief of these are Granada, near the head, and Rivas and San Jorge, near the foot of the lake.

Navigation on the lake is rendered dangerous for small boats by the prevalence of violent thunder squalls during at least nine months of the year. For that reason, probably, only an occasional sail is to be seen upon the lake, except near the western shore, where numerous small craft ply. A few clumsy, schoonerrigged bungoes cross the lake. There is only one steamer on the lake, the Victoria, a stanch vessel of the seagoing type and about