THE MOSQUITO COAST.
Our next move northward carries us to Cape Gracias á Dios on the Atlantic, and to the gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific, the inclosed territory of Nicaragua stretching some two hundred and fifty miles north-westward to the Wanks River and Rio Negro, widening in this distance from one hundred and fifty to about three hundred miles. Dividing this territory by a line along the central mountain ranges, or water-shed, into two nearly equal portions, the western or Pacific slope is the state of Nicaragua proper, while the eastern or Atlantic side is known as the Mosquito Coast. This latter region is almost entirely unexplored except along the low marshy shore, and the natives of the interior have always been independent of any foreign control.
In respect of ancient remains the Mosquito Coast has proved even more barren of results than Costa Rica. A pair of remarkable granite vases preserved in an English museum are said to have come from this region, but as no particulars of their discovery are given, it is of course possible, considering the former unsettled condition of all Central American boundary lines, not altogether remedied in later times, that there may be an error in locality. It is from ten to twelve inches in diameter and height, as nearly as can be ascertained from the drawing, and Humboldt remarks the similarity of its ornamentation to that found on some parts of the ruins of Mitla in Oajaca, described in a future chapter. One of the vases as represented in Humboldt's drawing, is shown in the cut. The second vase is somewhat larger, more nearly uniform in size at top and bottom, with plain legs, only diamond-shaped ornaments on the body of the vessel, and handles which take the form of a head and tail instead of two heads as in the first specimen.[II-26]
Granite Vase from the Mosquito Coast.
Christopher Columbus in a letter speaks of having seen on this coast, which he calls Cariay, a sculptured tomb in the forest as large as a house; and Mr Helps imagines the Spanish conquerors sailing up the coast and beholding amidst the trees white structures "bearing some likeness to truncated pyramids, and, in the setting sun, dark figures would be seen against the horizon on the tops of these pyramids;"[II-27] but as he is describing no particular voyage, some allowance may be made for the play of his imagination. Mr Boyle is enthusiastic over "the vast remains of a civilization long since passed away," but far superior to that of Spain, including rocks cut down to human and animal shapes, artificial hills encased in masonry, streams turned from their courses, and hieroglyphic sculptures on the cliffs,—all in the Mosquito wilds. As a foundation for this, three men who descended the Rio Mico and Blewfields River from Libertad, Nicaragua, to the sea, claim to have beheld extraordinary ancient works. These took the form of a cliff cut away where the river passed through a narrow cañon, leaving a group of stone animals, among which was a colossal bear, standing erect on the brink of the precipice as if to guard the passage. The natives reported also to Mr Pim the existence of grand temples of the antiguos, with an immense image of the aboriginal god Mico (a monkey) on the banks of this river; but when subjected to cross-questioning, their wonderful stories dwindled to certain rude figures painted on the face of a cliff, which Mr Pim was unable to examine, but which seemed from the native description similar to the cliff-paintings at Nijapa Lake in Nicaragua, to be described on a future page.[II-28]
Golden Image.