The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-08-07
LEON, NICARAGUA.
LEON; ONE OF THE OLDEST
TOWNS ON THE CONTINENT,
The Great ST. Peters Cathedral, Moorish
Structure, With Walls Thirteen Feet
Thick-Volcanoes of Axusco and Momo-
tOmbo-The Commercial METROPOLIS.
Leon, Nicaragua

tombo-The Commercial Metropolis.
Leon, Nicaragua -Spec1a,
CGrresponGence.-In this DID, old town which
Vas founded within thirty years after Colum
bus discovered America, everything savors of
days long gone by. The first Europeans, head
ed by Don Pedro de Avila, touched the western
edge ST the country in 1914. Five years later
aViln, then Governor of Panama, sent his
bother, Gil Gonzalez, with thousand lusty
E',ccaneers to explore the interior. They
named the little Pacific bay where they came
ashore Puerto Realjo Cnow Corinto), and
thence they marched inland, through mighty
forests and past burning volcanoes, until a
great lake barred further progress They
fond the country densely populated with In
dams, ruled by the brave cacique, Nicaro In
their reports to the home government tho
SEaniards were lavish in their praise of Nj
caro's land, and of "Nicaro Agua"-the water
OF Nicaro-as they called the great inland sea,
Hence the name Nicaragua, less changed
after $50 years of use than most old time ap-
relations. According to his own account
Captain Gil was very great evangel among
the heather. 1t is to be feared, however.
that his methods were hardly up to modern
Ideas OF Christianity. His plan was to demoI-
ish the temples and idols of their ancestors
ana compel the wondering Indians to worship
the cross instead He baptized them into the
true church In the lump, so to speak, at the
rate Of thousands day, and at the same time
never failed to convert the available wealth
OF the brands thus snatched from the burning
70 his own possession. Converting souls and
shekels all the way, the crusading buccaneers
came as far as the pOpulous Indian city Nj
oulchlZl (now Granada), and then returned
10 Panama, reporting their extraordinary
success: Thereupon. in 1871, Governor Avila
dispatched Don Francisco Cordova to com
piete the temporal and spiritual conquest of
Nlcaros kingdom. All readers of history are
familiar with the the brilliant but bloody rec
ord Of Cordova and his host OF Castilian ad-
EcHturers. They swept through the country
with lire and sword, halberds and blood-red
banners. Close upon their heels followed
no less cruel and greedy train of dark gowned
monks and friars, armed with crosses AMI
instruments Of torture.
And so We're established the Spanish colo
Mes which consequently were incorporated
into the great "Vice Royalty of Guatemala -
including the divisions now known as Nicara
gIa. honduras, San Salvador, Guatemala, and
COSTA RIGA. The first thing that Cordova did
was to found this old city of Leon upon the
1u1ns OF city many centuries older. The
carrier history OF Nicaragua is lost in the
Mists or Cbscurity. Its ruined temples and
palaces, overgrown by mighty forests, attest
that powerful nations lived here in the morn
ing twilight of time before Christ was born
before the pyramids were builded, before thu.
sinking of Atlantis in midocean gave rise to
traditions of a universal deluge.
In Other tDays,a~4.4-,-. .-.-- to-
For many decades Leon tlourished as the
richest, gayest, and most popuous city OF
Central America, up to the war between the
arlstocrats and Indians, beginning in 1929,
during which more than thousand of it's
statellest buildings were plundered and
burned and many of the wealthy inhabitants
murdered. The Indians won the day, assist
ca by what is known as the Liberal, or anti
clerical party, and a few Yankee filibusters,
and the best part of Leon was never rebuilt
Today there are long, wide streets whose
paVements are OvergrOWn with weeds and
ullderbrush, still lined with half fallen walls
that disclose beautiful marble columns artis-
TIC carvings, and coats of arms upon molder-
ing facades. In mockery of the former mag
niticeLce which their ancestors destroyed the
miserable Indian poems of the present have
erected their bamboo huts and surrounded
them with cactus hedges on top of the ruined
casas OF proud hidalgos. Consistency is
rare jewel. even among Indians. These are
extremely plous and superstltlous, though
etcrnally fighting the Conservative or church
party.
They are firm believers in the tradition
that Leon was cursed by q Pope be-
cause of a murder of an Archbishop within
Ger walls, and hence the calamities she has
suffered The present population Is about
iUUUU, nearly as can De SueSSeu, LOT d CSlSllS
is never taken. The streets of Leon, like
those of most Central American cities, are
reasonably straight and wide, radiating from
a central plaza like the spOkes Of a Wheel
but the sidewalks are remarkable, and, let us
hope, original, affairs. The North American
conception of sidewalk is terrestrial in
stitution, which, to be effective, must be
built upon the ground and somewhere near
q common level; but not so the Nicaraguan
idea. These are elevated to various alti-
tudes between the cellars and second story
windows of the houses, with massive founda-
lions Of stone beneath them. 1t behooves
the pedestrian to keep perfectly sober in
Leon. Passing along the street he is con-
stantly climbing from one mans walk on to
that Of another, sometimes by stone stair
ways placed so as &c assist in the ascent or
descent, but frequently compelled to jump
down three or four feet, or shin up, fingers
and toes, best he can. The walks them
selves are mostly of cut stone, often finely
inlaid in patterns with surface blocks OF
black and white.
st. Peters.
The wonder of Leon is it's great st. Peters
Cathedral. a Moorish structure, with walls
thirteen feet thick, built to withstand the
throes of earthquakes and the assaults O.
revOlutiOnSts. 1t is undoubtedly the fines
structure in Central America, and is an en-
during monument to the zeal and tireles:
energy of the early priests. Modelled after
forty years in course of erection and cos
over $4,000, GEO. It's SCARED and battered
walls bear mute testimony to the fact tina
it has served as a fortress during hundred
revolutions, and it is still strong enough t.
protect the people through as many more
Leon has scores Of other churches and mon
asteries, ali falling to decay, with weeds an,
grass growing upon their belfries in the dus
OF centuries.
The interior of none of the churches bea
out the fanciful designs of their exteriors
The inside walls are all black with mold, bar
and Irregular, and the trappings are few an
tawdry. Even splendid st. Peters has n
altar which can be compared with that Q
any church in the City of Mexico. Maybe thi
is due to the frequency of revolutions il
Nicaragua, one might almost say the unin
terrupted succession of them, and to the fac
that the so-called Liberal party has bee
extremely liberal in the matter of helpin
itself to church treasures. Yet Nicaragu
is eminently Catholic country, and the COZ
stitution recognizes the fact by declaring
ARTICLE 6. The religion of the republic is tn
Roman Catholic Apostolic The government
will protect it's practice 1t ais
tolerates other religions, and now
adays nobody is molested on az
count of his faith, or lack of faith, in an
creed. So far as can ascertain, there is b,