Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-02-02
NICARAGUA'S RESOURCES.
THE PRODUCTIONS AND CApABL.
ITIES OF THE COUNTRY.
Leon, Its Ancient Capitol-Interest-
ing and Valuable Data About
a Little Known Locality.

Especial Correspondence of the RECORD UNION.
LEON, Nicaragua, January 10, 1889.
Although Nicaragua's seat of govern
ment has been removed to Manasua, this
st. Leon, the former capitol, is still its
largest and most interesting city. 1t oc-
cuples the northwest shore of the Lago de
Managua Cor Lake Leon as it is often
called, and is only about ten miles from
the Pacific Ocean, separated from it by a
low range Of hills. On three sides of it
stretches magnificent plain, shut in on
one hand by the Coast Range, on the other
by the great Cordillera, which terminates
IN the towering volcano, of Viego. The soil
OF this lovely valley is unsurpassed in fer
tility anywhere in the world, but-so far
as cultivation is concerned-it is as DESC
late to-day as when seen by the first Span
lard, and far more so than when that con-
quering nation were compelled to resign
its rule again to native hands.
Leon occupies the site of an ancient
&Aiui'ii toWh, CdiiSu toutdDd, anu near II
are several deep ravines, which to-day, as
IN the oldeu times, supplies the people
with an abundance of purest water.
The old city, which has now popula-
ton of only about $4,000, was once the
seat of the most distinguished Bishopric
of Central America, remarkable for the
costliness of its churches and the number
of its converts, for its institutions of learn
ing and men of science. But since It's
revolution against Spain, its glory has de-
parted. Now half the city is in ruins, the
palaces of church dignitaries and Cas-
lillian mobiles are now roofess and dis
mantled, and most of its present citizens
are pictures either of abject poverty or CT
broken-down gentility. Leon suffered
more than her share of the wars and reVo-
buttons that so long agitated the country,
of which her present sorry diiapidation is
the natural result. During one of these
conflicts more than a thousand houses, in
the richest and best-built quarter of the
city, were burned in a single night
Yet, despite its decay, the city preserves
an appearance of aristocratic respectable
ity, not common in Central america.
Though Its suburbs are miserable 10 de-
gree, there are still many splendid and
spacious casds, whose fronts are covered
with stucco adornments, each inclosing
an ample court, entered by profusely
embeliished portal in the lofty style of the
moresque arches SO common in Spain. The
city covers large area, its wide streets,
with their intervening squares, having
been laid out on q generous and regular
plan. The public buildings were once
among the finest in all Spanish-America
Among the most notable eff those now
standing may be mentioned the enormous
cathedral, crowned by lofty central
dome, the splendid episcopal palace. sur
rounded by fine gardens, and at least q
dozen once magnificent churches, each in
the center of an ample square. OF the
sanctuaries now in use, the most remarka-
bic next to the cathedral) for their size
elaborate facades and inner adornments
are those of La MERGED, Recollection and
Calvarrs.
The plazas of Leon are still beautiful
numerous and well shaded. The Govern
or's Palace also deserves visit thong
no longer gubernatorial abode since the
capital has been removed to Managua.
Then there is the Quartet General. or
head barracks; the Hospital San Juan de
Dlas, occupying what was once an extern
siye convent of the same name, and the
celebrated Tridentine College of San Ra-
mon. This last-named institution was
once, justly, the pride Of the republic, with
protessorships of medicine and jurispru-
dence, and numerous students; but in these
degenerate days 1t possesses only nominal
existence.
Icons manufactures are principally
confined to articles in cutlery and tanned
leather; but, partly owing to its inland
situation and the poverty and Incidence of
the people, it does little more than TO sup
ply local needs. We are told that the
Castilian founders of the city, who changed
It's Indian name to that it now bears, came
to the new world direct from the
province of Leon, in northwestern
Spain, bordering on Portugal. Certainly
the present citizens of the Nicaraguan
Leon show many of the characteristics of
their ancestors, and are not unlike their
relatives of to-day III the mother country.
who inhabit those fertile valleys between
the Douro hills. The people of Spanish
Leon, like these of Central America, are
proverbially high-spirited, brave, sincere
and hospitable, but mainly uneducated,
and so lazy that the rich soil is uncuti-
yated-those across the sea depending
upon their ilocks OF merino sheep to Weld
them livelihood, as these of the Ameri-
can continent depend upon their INTENDED
herds of cattle.
1t is TO be presumed that the reason why
Leon is name so often repeated through
out all SpanishAmerica, is because the
Conq,istddores, who came mostly from north
ern Spain, held sacred the traditions of
the Kingdom OF Leon, which was erected
A. ID. TAG, by Alfonso the Catholic, out of
the provinces he had wrested from the
Saracens and the older Kingdom of As
turias. That Leon was enlarged by Or
dono ii. in the year 915; and in the
eleventh century was annexed TO the
crown of CASTLE by Frederick the Great.
1t is asserted that in the Spanish province
of Leon, in the high districts south of
Salamanca, are to-day to be fanDd rem
nants of the pure Gothic tribes; and that
from them some of the citizens Of Nicar-
agua's Leon were directly descended
At any rate, this Leon shows
many features like those of its
far-away sister, the capital of the
Spanish province of the same name
IS miles northwest of Valladolid, the an
cient Lego serfisa Gemiai Of the Romans.
10 De sure, lnet OF laStlIe is still
partly surrounded by the old Roman
wall, twenty fact thick but the ridges
and ravines that environ this Leon
bear out the resemblance; both cities
are situated in the midst of beautifully
wooded plain bearing the same name.
Both have dirty aud crooked streets, but
numerous and aplendid sanctuaries, rich
n gold and silver and the more doubtful
wealth of moIdy bones and sanity relics.
or section SO near the equator, the
climate OF Nicaragua Is, on the whole,
exceptionally healthy, though varied.
The coasts are hot, humid and nuwhose-
some, especially throughout the Mosquito
territory, where frequent river floods and
the uiasmatic marches breed epidemic
fevers, which are alnsest certain death to
Europeans. The moasntain region and the
great iHterior basin ars much. dryer, cooler
and more salubrious Especially in the
uplandsef Segovia and Ghontales north
erners MAJ enjoy life an6 health as never
in colder climates
As elsewhere in CentrsS America, there
are but twe.seasons, the ws< and the dry
IL Co.. -