The Savannah morning news., 1901-03-31
MAHoMET'S PARADISE.
REGION THROUGH WHICH THE
COURSE OF THE NICARAGUA
CANAL is LAID.

England and Has a Population ES-
mated at Only n Quarter of a Mill
ion--Its Geographical Characterfs-
tics Sharply Differentiated on
Either Side of the Dividing Line
Made by the Central Lakes-Queer
Inhabitnnts-Custom of the Mos
quito Tribe--CommerciaI Opportu-
mites i'm Agriculture, Gold and Sill
yer Mining, Cattle Raising, Timber
and Rubber.
Washington, March 29.-In the pride of
its busting. hurrying progress this coun-
try has been wont to look upon Central
American as a congeries of unimportant,
insignificant Latin-American states,
chiefly devoted to the civilizations of wars
and revlutoins and scarcely worthy of
great nations consideration. With the
increasing probability, of the great ship
canal, which is to connect Atlantic and
Pacific, one of these hitherto Insignificant
states becomes Of the greatest signih-
canoe, and the eyes of America are turn
ing to one of the most beautiful and
easeful countries in the world; a region
where life is so joyously worth living
that its earliest civilized discoveries,
finding a barba rism more soft and gen.
erous and appealing than their own civ
ilization, called the Nicaragua of the
habitants, "Mahomet's Paradise"
Nicaragua was the name of the great
aboriginal city which occupied the site
of the present city of Rivas, and is said
TO have contained million inhabitants.
The city as such was wiped out of ex-
istence by the usual methods of the
SQaniards in the New World, but the
name was applied to the country about,
and is retained by it at the present day.
Nature in lafshing her favors on this
land left little for the heart of man to
desire. Though the country lies in the
tropics, almost any climate desired may
be found. 1t is simply a matter of
climbing the mountains to the proper
altitude above the sea level, to find either
a perpetual summer, spring or autumn.
There where nature forestalls every ne
cessity, the primeval curse of labor is a
barely perceptible burden. Fruits grow
in reckless profuson Cattle breed and
multiply upon the fertile plains, furnish
ing meat and the material for the cloth
ing, which becomes mere matter Of
conventionality rather than of necessity
One might search far and find no other
country about which there is less re-
liable information than about Nicaragua
1T is as large as New England, with a
population less than that of Boston, which
being said, completes the sum of statis-
teal knowledge. There are no reliable
statistics No trustworthy census has
ever been taken. and none of any kind for
many years. A decade ago the popuia-
ton was estimated at 500, 900. Recently it
has been put at half that number, a
population of easy going, careless human
ity, regardless of to-day as of tomorrow,
for they know that tomorrow will be as
to-day and to-day is but a copy of yes
terday
The general configuration of the coun-
try has been compared to ones right
hand opened with the palm upward aud
the thumb close to the side. On the side
OF the thumb you will have the Atlantic;
on the other the Pacific Ocean, while in
the hollow of the hand you will hold the
Great Lake. The irregular line at the
junction of the wrist called by the palm
lists the life line, will represent the San
Juan river carrying off the water of the
lake to the ocean. The area of the coun-
try is $500 square miles, sufficient 10
maintain population of a million people.
The great lake is a remarkable sheet of
water 1875 miles long and from forty to
seventy-five miles wide. From the mid
die of the lake the shore line on either
side is invisible. There are a number
Of Islands in the lake, including the two
volcanoes, Omepetec and Mederia, which
rise to an altitude respectively of $3.50
and 400 feet. North of this great lake
there is another but smaller lake con-
nected with the former in times of flood.
There is a remarkable difference in the
character of the country east and west
of the lakes. The mountain sides and
the plateaus of the eastern slope are COW
cred with perennial green, while the coun-
try west of the lakes during the dry sea-
son, January to May, is sere and yell
low. Yet it Is this western part OF the
country that is the more thickly popu-
lated
Journeying westward from the Atlantic
coast the traveller crosses first the fat
lands covered with great forests of trop-
ical jungle. This land Is characterized
by the black alluval soil which covers
it at a great depth. Gradually the
land rises, and rocks and gravel crop out
of the loan. Settlements are rare and
human. habitations are far between,
though the fertility of the land is so
great when once cleared of its stupen-
dous growth, that corn planted with a
sharpened stick, grows luxuriantly, and
no cultivation with either pillow or hoe
is required This territory extending
from the San Juan river to Cape Hon
uuTdS On the HOIlIt has lDtlB Deel hHOWn
as the Mosquito Country or kingdom. It's
sparse Inhabitants constitute a tribe of
queer brown Indians, who paint their
faces red to scare the devil, and indulge
in a number of other more or less curious
customs and ceremonies But they are
a harmless people, under chiefs who make
their own laws as occasion requires. When
one of their number has transgressed, a
council is held around their tribal fire.
the gravity of the crime discussed, and
the penalty which the guilty one must
pay decided Uusually a fine is fixed
Being notified of the amount, the culprit
without demur seeks passage to some
port where, finding employment, he re-
mains till he has accumulated sufficient
to pay the fine, whereupon he returns
to the people with Joy and thus rehablli-
tates himself AS the chief means of con-
vevance among these people is by their
narrow dug-outs which they paddle up
enc down the numerous streams inter-
secting their interminable forests, they
MAKE admirable canoemen and are eager |
~ employed as such at Belize, British !
Honduras, by the mahogany cutters
whose traffic is up the rapidly flowing |
Belize river.
A few clumsy looking "bungoes" cross
the lake and one American built steamer, |
the Victoria. which carries passengers to |
and from Granada 1t IS here that the
aspect of the landscape changes and the |
great chain OF mountains forming the |