GEORGE. "Is not Papagayo Bay close to the Lake of Nicaragua?"
EMMA. "It is only divided from the Ocean by a portion of the district of Nicaragua. It is a great lake, ninety five miles long, and thirty broad, and is navigable for ships of the largest class."
DORA. "It is covered with beautiful and populous islands, and two of them—viz. Isola and Madeira—contain burning mountains. The largest volcano—Omotepeque—always continues burning, and reminds one of Mount Etna rising from the water's edge, a smooth unbroken cone to the height of nearly 1000 feet. The waters of this lake descend by the river St. John towards the Atlantic; but there is no outlet into the Pacific Ocean."
GEORGE. "I should like to know why the Pacific is so called?"
CHARLES. "I can tell you, George. In the year 1520, when Magellan was on his way to the Spice Islands (the Moluccas, you know), he and the crew suffered dreadful privations: they were nearly four months at sea without discovering land. Their stock of provisions was almost exhausted, the water became putrid, and in consequence the poor men were attacked with that horrible disease the scurvy. The only source of consolation, under these troubles, was the uninterrupted fair weather they enjoyed, and the favorable winds which wafted them gently onward; so that Magellan was induced to call the Ocean Pacific: hence the origin of its name."
GEORGE. "Thank you, Charles. How pleasant it is to get all the information we require, without the trouble of searching in great dusty books. Now, Emma, will it please you to travel onward?"
EMMA. "What, George! Have you, too, caught the mania, that you are in such a hurry to get to California?"
GEORGE. "Not to go gold-hunting, indeed; but the Rocky Mountains are up in the north, and I have a story about them."
EMMA. "Well, to oblige you and ourselves too, we will proceed. The Gulfs of Fonseca and Conchagua are deep indentations, about the middle of the coast of Guatemala, to which country Costa Rica belongs."