NICARAGUA.

Southland Times, Issue 891, 31 January 1868, Page 3

NI CARAGUA.

In Nicaragua one of those not very uncommon phenomena in Central America has presented itself to rouse the superstitious fears of the ignorant, and excite the interest of the more intelligent of tho inhabitants of tbe city of Leon. On the afternoon of the 14ch inst, as near as I can learn, the people in that city were startled by the sudden and almost simultaneous breaking out of a number of volcanic vents on the "Western or Pacific slope, near the base of the long extinct twin volcano of Rota, the middle one of the chain of volcanic cones which follow each other in close succession from the northern extremity of the Lake of Managua to tho Volcannel Viejo, the most prominent of either, and a landmark for strangers desiring to enter the port of Kealejo. The first intimation of the erruption to the inhabitants of Leon, only ten miles distant in a direct line from the scene of the eruption, was a low rumMing sound like distant thunder, shortly followed by quick sharp and continuous reports, resembling the roar of a not far distant battery of heavy artillery ; these reports, and subsequent ones, were distinctly audible, on Btill nights, at the port of Corinto. On the night of the 14th ult., as soon as darkness followed the day, there was revealed a sight which but few people in Central America or elsewhere, ever witnessed. Two large volcanic fires, with several smaller ones scattered about on the plain, shed their lights on the surrounding country and even lit up with a warm glow the towers of the cathedral in tho plaza of Leon. Thus far the eruptive matter consists only of large masses of molten lava stream. The latest information states thet a cone of about twenty feet of elevation had been formed round the principal orifice, but whether caused by upheval or by the deposition of scoria and ashes, was not stated.