DISCOVERY OF NICARAGUA IN 1522; GIL GONZALES DE AVILA, AND HIS MARCH INTO THE COUNTRY; LANDS AT NICOYA; REACHES NICARAGUA AND HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH ITS CAZIQUE; IS CLOSELY QUESTIONED; MARCHES TO DIRIANGA, WHERE HE IS AT FIRST RECEIVED, BUT AFTERWARDS ATTACKED AND FORCED TO RETREAT; PECULIARITIES OF THE ABORIGINES; THEIR WEALTH; ARRIVAL OF FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA; HE SUBDUES THE COUNTRY, AND FOUNDS THE CITIES OF GRANADA AND LEON; RETURN OF GONZALES; QUARRELS BETWEEN THE CONQUERORS; PEDRO ARIAS DE AVILA THE FIRST GOVERNOR OF NICARAGUA; HIS DEATH; IS SUCCEEDED BY RODERIGO DE CONTRERAS; HIS SON, HERNANDEZ DE CONTRERAS, REBELS AGAINST SPAIN; MEDITATES THE ENTIRE INDEPENDENCE OF ALL SPANISH AMERICA ON THE PACIFIC; SUCCEEDS IN CARRYING NICARAGUA; SAILS FOR PANAMA; CAPTURES IT; MARCHES ON NOMBRE DE DIOS, BUT DIES ON THE WAY; FAILURE OF HIS DARING AND GIGANTIC PROJECT; SUBSEQUENT INCORPORATION OF NICARAGUA IN THE VICE-ROYALTY OF GUATEMALA.—THE CITY OF GRANADA IN 1665, BY THOMAS GAGE, AN ENGLISH MONK; NICARAGUA CALLED “MAHOMET’S PARADISE;” THE IMPORTANCE OF GRANADA AT THAT PERIOD; SUBSEQUENT ATTACK BY THE PIRATES IN 1668; IS BURNT; THEIR ACCOUNT OF IT; THE SITE OF GRANADA; ELIGIBILITY OF ITS POSITION; POPULATION; COMMERCE; FOREIGN MERCHANTS; PROSPECTIVE IMPORTANCE.—LAKE NICARAGUA; ITS DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION; INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF IT BY THE CHRONICLER OVIEDO, WRITTEN IN 1541; ITS OUTLET DISCOVERED BY CAPTAIN DIEGO MACHUCA; THE WILD BEASTS ON ITS SHORES; THE LAGUNA OF SONGOZANA; SHARKS IN THE LAKE, THEIR RAPACITY; SUPPOSED TIDES IN THE LAKE; EXPLANATION OF THE PHENOMENON. The first Spaniard who penetrated into Nicaragua, was Gil Gonzales de Avila, in the year 1522. He sailed from Panama, and landed somewhere upon the shore of the Gulf of Nicoya, probably in the southern department of Nicaragua, now bearing the name of Nicoya, or Guanacaste. With four horses and a hundred followers, he advanced to the northward over land, meeting in his progress with several petty chiefs, and finally came to the territories of a powerful cazique called _Nicoya_, who, says Peter Martyr, “courteously entertained him, and gave him fourteen thousand pieces of eight in gold thirteen carats fine, and six idols of the same metal, each a span long,” in return for which, adds Herrara, Gonzales “gave him some Spanish toys, and baptized him and all his subjects, being six thousand in number.”