The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-10-21
sobered and toned down As Thave been since

sobered and tened dow1i As Ihave been since
by the hard rtIbs Of q busy life. =
A. ian Juan s Del N2sss TT eRts Sd
| river steamer, and carried BY easy stages up
| the San Jtah river, past Serapiqli, Castillo
| Vieio, and Fort San Carlos, acrOss Lake Mica
| ragua to Granada. was profoundly, Inn
majestic tropical vegetation OF The country
bordering the river. It seemed to my sunso-
phisticated eyes Ikea fairy land. The dense
Jungle Of the forests with their endless variety
Of palms, the bold outlines OF the distant
mountain chains, the frowning cliffs of Cas-
tilloVieie, where Nelson had, nearly q hundred
years ago. measured swords with the naughty
Spanard all impressed themselves indelf-
bly, on my excited imagination. But the
deepest, strongest, most lasting impression
expressibly beautiful twin volcanoes that lie
not far to The left OF the travellers route from
San Carlos to Granada the mountains OF
Omatepe and MADEIRA. Languageis too poor
to do adequate justice to scene so resplen-
lar and gracefu! as the pyramids Of Egypt,
tower thousands OF feet into the sky. And
such q skylA deep clear blue. suffused all
around the horizon with q. golden golden
apz' md tnst nszn ssRns y f6es oysE Ts
lake itself, q miniature ocean, limitless on all
sides, sleeping among the golden mountains
like a silver mirror. from which the twin vol
canoes and the romantic Iapatero Islands
were reflected with startling distinctness
Even now, after lapse OF more than twenty
years, 1t stirs my blood to think OF the wild
fascination that trip across Nicaragua and
the lake exerted over me- e H@'
Fl But the reaction was sudden ana severe. A
single day. after disembarking at Granada,
was sufficient to dispel all the romance and
enthusiasm that / was overfiOwing with.
Never was poor mortal so terribly. olsen
chaated as was when found myself face to
face with stern reality, found out, on the
Walkers headquarters and the seat OF gov
eminent that had made q terrible mistake
In joining that expedition. / saw that IN the
little flibuster army hopeless Generalization
that the coalition of the other Central Ameri-
can States was too powerful to be-
much longer resisted; and that
dependency and apathy reigned
supreme in the little army. iIl-fed and worse
dence in their leaders, with the sole exception
of Gen. Hennfngsen, between whom and Gen.
Walker there was said to bea growing cool
ness and estrangement, apparently caused on
Walkers part BY the great popularity, that
nsaneSe s syca sed snd ans sae
ton inspired. Our arrival occurred at On OPP
ton existed among the rank and tile which,
Walker attempted to repress with an iron
and discomfort had been met by his ex.
press orders by summary courts-martial
plaza. But I did not think that
this military reign OF terror had pro
troops seemed to me very bad. Sullen dis
content pervaded the whole garrison Every
body was clothed in rags and 1t was impossi-
bic even to obtain soap to keep the rags clean.
The commissary department existed In name
bO nr1x ruftp ionr, ffsvy
pounds Of badly butchered beef to each mess,
and q pound or two OF cocoa per day. Bread,
potatoes, BEANS rice, pork, etc, were eonspicu--
GUS by their absence, but fruit OF all
kinds was abundant Each company, or
rather each "mess," was expected to send one
or two Of It's members into the neighborhood
TO bring in q supply Of plantains, which
served as the universal staff OF life. Oranges,
lemons, mangoes and cocoa nuts could behad
everywh here, and nearly everybody. gorged
themselves with the choicest varieties of
tropical fruit, against the constant warnings
and entreaties of Che few physicians that
were to be found among, us. The nat.
ural consequences Of such unrestrained
MalaTial fevers and bowel complaints more
than decimated the little army, and as the
sanitary system and the hospital arrange
ments were Of the poorest description, the
mortality became frightful. The disease that
carried off the most victims closely resem,
bled cholera, and ran It's course to a fatal
termination in a few hours. There were
surgical attendance f was of SO poor
description that gangrene became
epidemic in the hospital, and to be
wounded, however slightly, was equiva-
lent to death warrant. Such was my first,
impression of Nicaragua, of its capital, Graz
NADIA, and the filibustering army, of which I
had SO ardently longed to become compo-
nent part. But with the elasticity Of youth,
soon recovered from the first shock of dis
appointment and resolved to make the best
OF q bad bargain, and how succeeded in this
laudable and heroic plan will relate in my
next paper. +. II. H