Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1868-01-25
NICARAGUA,

WASHINGTON. d. c., Jan 4.-The fol
lowing letter has been received by the
Secretary of State from. the Hon. A. B.
Dickerson, United States Minister to,
Nicaragua, dated Leon, Dec 4, 1868:
SIR: On the 14th of November last
new volcano broke out in Nicaragua,
about eight leagues to the east of the city
of Leon. on crowded line of volcanoes
running thrqugh the State parallel to the
Pacific coast. 1t commenced about one
o'clock in the morning with succession
of explosions, which were distinctly felt
and heard at Leon. These explosions
opened fssure through the earth crust
about half mile in length. cunning
from the old fissure in southwest di-
rection, about midway between the eX-
tinct volcanoes of Las Pilas and Orota,
which are two of. the numerous cones
studding the ancient assures. Before day
| light on the morning of the 18th fire was
seen issuing from the new volcano in va
rious places. The explosions continued
irregularly during the whole time that
! the volcano was in a state of eruption,
sometimes in rapid succession, and at 9th
er times at intervals of half an hour. Low
rumbling sounds were heard almost in
ceSsautiv. In the course of few days
two craters were opened on the new fis
sure about thousand feet apart, the one
at the southwestern extremity discharg
ing perpcndicularly, and the other shoot
| ing out toward the northeast at AL angle
of As degrees The flames from these
two craters slowly increased in size and
hight, while jets of flame aud slighter
discharges were quilted from two to
three other side fssures. On the morn-
ing of November %, l went to the new
volcano for the purpose Of observing it
more closely, though L had 81 en- and heard
it every day from Leon. The best view
l. obtained of it on that occasion was just
before daylight, from mountain summit,
about one mile To the NORTHEAST Of the
fssure, and at right angles with it. The
main crater at the right was actively at
work throwing out flames and ha!t-melted
cinders, through circular orifice about
| 60 feet in diameter. which was constant
ly filled to its utmost capacity by the as
cendng masses. A regular cone, built
up entirely by the falling cinders to the
hight of about 200 feet, had already form
ed around tie crater. The rim ofthe cone
was white with heat, and the outside was
red hot tor half way down: while the re-
mainder Of its background work was gilt
tering with inumerable glowing sparks
1t was putting quite regularly about once
a second, with'a strong constant blast,
| ,,.h;.b I-o,,f M n oolDr,r of Hop,a HIlo1
with flying ciinaers. to the hight of about
500 feet above the orificc. Irregular ex-
plosions occurred at intervals, varying
from ten to thirty minutes, increasing
the force and volume of the discharges,
and sending them far up into the rolling
clouds above The cinders went up in
halffused blazing masses from one to
three feet in diameter, and came down
upon the cone hardened, striking with Il
clinking, metallic sound. After daylight
the red appearance of the cone changed
to blush black The left hand crater was
shooting out oblique discharges Of flame
and cinders of a similar character at an
angle of As degrees from the other, and
evidently communicated with it about
1000 feet below the surface-the two
craters being that distance apart, and
both discharging simultaneously. This
half-horiZontal crater was about 90 feet
in diamter. On the afternoon of the 27th,
after series of explosions which seemed
to shake the earth to its center, the volca-
no commenced discharging vast guanti-
ties of black sand and heavier rocks The
column of flame at nj ght was considerably
increased in light, and bright mcteor-like
spots were seen ascending in the flames
to the hight of not less than 1000 feet.
These were large spherical stones, four
and five feet in diameter The next morn
ing the streets and housetops were COW
cred with fine black sand from the volca-
no, and vast luminous cloud of raining
sand overspread the whole surroaading
country. The rain of sand continued un-
til the morning of the SOth, when the vol
cano died away, apparently by its accu-
mulated eruptionS: The sand now cov-
ers the whole surrounding country from
the volcano to the Pacific, a distance OF
more than so miles from it. At Leon it
is from an eighth TO a quarter of an ipcn
in depth. As We approach the volcano,
it gradually grogs deeper and coarser
For a mile around the crater it lies in
particles from three-eights to half an inch
in diameter, and about a foot in depth.
!; Still nearer to the colp the sand increas:
! es to several feet in depth, and the parti
cles gradually increase in size until they
: become small broden rocks, Around the
base of the cone round heavy rocks lie
thickly scattered from four to five feet in
diameter, bat much tue larger portion Of
: them have been broken into fragments
The cone itself is 200 feet in height, witt
E a crater in the top 200 feet in diameter
# and about the same in depth. The inside
+ OF the crater, the same as the inside, il
covered with hard broken rocks general
$ ly less than foot in diameter A long
ridge OF black scoria leads out from the
t branch crater, in north-easterly direct
8 ion. The shaggy, lavy-like scoria which
: first issued from the main crater is now
principally covered up by hard plutonic
. rocks which came out from the profound
!. er depths with the last discharges. The
!; forest for leagues around is SCARED and
manned by the sharp-cutting storms O