The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-01-20
!. word anous Nicaragua.
From the Louisville Journal.

attracted much OF the puDllc altehtoii,
and is likely to do so for some time to
come, q geographical description of it
might be Of interest to many readers who
meet every day with newspaper accounts
of events occurring there. Nicaragua
lies between the 10th and 10Th parallels
of North Latitude it has an average
length of 22O miles to a breadth of about
900, consequently has an area of about
$4,000 square miles, which is about the
s,ze of the State of Illinois. One-tenth
part OF the whole State is covered by the
Lake of Nicaragua, which is Ito miles
long, with an average breadth of 40 miles,
and lies in the southwestern part of the
State, ten or fifteen miles from the Pacific
coast. This lake receives great many
small streams of watcr, and discharges
them again through the sinuous river
San Juan pronounced San Wan) which,
running from the southwest end of the
lake, after course of about 100 miles,
cmpties into the Caribbean Sea, at Pun
ta Arenas in the southeast corner OF the
State. 1t was at this point that Walker
landed with AGO followers on the 25th Ct
last month. The river is deep, but narrow
and crooked, and is navigable for small
steam vessels from its mouth to the lake.
Nicaragua is bounded on the south by
Costa Rica, tho most southern of the
States of Central America; on the north
by the State of Honduras; cast by the
Caribbean See, and west by the Pacific
Ocean. It has about 800 miles of coast
! on either ocean. 1t was in the south
western side of the lake, and in the vicin-
ity of Rivas and Grenada, that most of
Walkers military exploits were perform
cd.
Nicaragua has q population of $780,
600 in all, counting the remnants of the
aboriginal tribes, half breeds and Spanish;
of the last there are hut few, but they are
IN fact the strength of the State, being
mostly priests and officers of the govern
ment, and owners of the soil and masters
of the native population. Nowhere, per-
haps, on the continent of America has the
original population reached so great a
depth of human degradation as in the
Central American States With no pros
poet but extinction or the most abiect sla-
very before them, they are indolent, vi
cious, faithless and filthy to the last de-
gree, subsis;ing on the spontaneous boun-
ties of nature, and, when this resource
fails, on any description Of offal or gar
bage that presents itself to their depraved
palates. The climate is warm. and they
require but little clothing, and this little
is so filthy as to render the sight of them
unbearably loathsome. Whether Walk
ers success would improve their moral or
physical condition is n fair subject for
speculation.
TERRIBLE SCENE IN A THEArRE.-A
writer from Europe gives the following
description of the scene at Leghorn, in
which, in an agony of ceaseless alarm,
one hundred men, in crowd were tram
pied to death, and five hundred wound
ed:
The house was crowded the play
''The taking of Sebastopol." The first
acts went off well; battery after battery
exploded, and the thrilling spectacle made
the theatre ring with pplause.-All eyes
were turned to see them take Malakoff.
At last twas stormel. Tie soldiers rus
he'd inland the explosion amid the
widest cheers.-At that moment spark
caught the scenes-they bazed-the au-
dience thought it part of the play, and
cheercd the louder, the scene was SO nat
ural. Alas! it was too perfect. Anoth-
or moment they saw their mistake, a
wild cry of misery drowned tho applause.
Higher and higher it rose, maddening
the spectators with fright. Five minutes
more and the fire was extinguished, but
the spectators, like herd of bufaloes,
like panic-stricken army, like flock
of sheep before wolves, like passengers
from sinking ship, losing all thought but
of self-preservation, rushed from their
seats. The shrieks of women, the shrll
cry of children, the hoarse voices of men,
all struggling for life, presented scene
net dascrba5.e. Some threw themselves
from the boxes into the pit, killing them
selves and those beneath them. No
iudgement-no forcthought; out Ct via
dows-over the dges-stamping each
other to death. I G sentinels were or
dcred to stay the passage with their
bayonets. They planted them, and those
in the front ranks were run through,
and the soldiers with the rest, were mu-
tllated with the feet of hundseds.
NovELs.-How far f ON life and man