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 NICARAGUA 421 alluvial, forming broad savannas, which are intersected where the rivers traverse them by belts of forest. Off the coast are numerous coral keys and sandy islets, the principal of which are the Pearl islands, numbering 15 or 20; and within the coast line are many lagoons with densely wooded shores and con- nected by channels, which in the wet sea- son furnish interior navigation from Bluefields lagoon to Cape Gracias. Pearl lagoon, the largest, covers an area of 200 sq. m. The bar at its entrance has but 8 ft. of water. It re- ceives the waters of the little lake Tapac and of two or three small rivers. Near its S. end is Hog island. Blue- fields lagoon, which covers a surface of 100 sq. m., has hilly shores on the west. Within its entrance, about 5 m. from the mouth of the Blue- fields river, lies Casa- da island, and opposite it, on the W. coast of the lagoon, is the town of Bluefields, formerly the capital of the Mosquito king- dom. The lagoon has from 4 to 6 fathoms of water, but the bar at its mouth has but 10 or 12 ft. The Mico, Escondido, or Bluefields river, and a number of smaller streams, flow into it. All the lagoons are brackish in the rainy season and salt in the dry. Other rivers on the Atlantic coast, be- sides the San Juan, are : Indio, Rama, Grande or Awaltara, Prinzapulka, Wawa, Brackma, Duckraw, Coco, and Wanks or Segovia. All these are rough and rapid near their sources, but smoother as they approach the sea. Most of them have different names inland. The Grande rises in the sierra of Gua- guali in Matagalpa, and has a course of about 230 m., the last 90 m. of which has a depth of 15 ft., but there is a dangerous bar at its mouth. The Coco is the longest river in Central Amer- ica, having a course of about 350 m. from its source in the mountains of Segovia. There are many rapids in its upper part, but it is naviga- ble for small steamers for about 140 m. from its mouth. The only port of Nicaragua on the Atlantic is San Juan del Norte, also called San Juan de Nicaragua and Greytown, at the mouth of the San Juan river. By treaty with Great Britain, it has been a free port since 1860. The San Juan river receives a large part of the drainage of both Nicaragua and Costa Rica, its watershed extending to within a few miles of the Pacific. In the rainy season it pours out a very large volume of water, and vast quantities of earth and silt, which have formed an extensive delta, through which it seeks the sea by three channels, the Colorado, the Taura, and the San Juan. The last was formerly the main channel, but a few years ago a flood enlarged the Colorado channel, and seven eighths of the water now flows through it, in consequence of which the harbor of San Juan has filled with sand. Ships now have to lie outside of the bar, which is very dangerous for even small boats in heavy weather, while the bar at the mouth of the Colorado has 12 ft. of water in the dry season. The obvious remedy would be to remove the town to the latter channel, but unfortunately for Nicaragua it is in Costa Rican territory. With its wind- ings the San Juan is 120 m. long. The largest of its numerous affluents are the San Carlos and the Sarapiqui, both rising in the highlands of Costa Rica. The streams entering it from the north are all small. The width of the San Juan varies from 100 to 400 yards, and its depth from 2 to 20 ft. It is interrupted by five rapids, two of which form natural dams across the river. The San Juan derives its chief im- portance from the fact that it is the only possi-