----- “I do not regard what are called the two lakes of Nicaragua as separate lakes, because they connect the one with the other. They are separated from the South Sea by a very narrow strip of land; and I should say that the distance from their upper extremity to the outlet in the North Sea, is two hundred and fifty leagues.[16] The measures given by Pedro Arias and others are not true, since they did not know their extent. They have made a separate lake on the side where is Leon de Nagrando, on the lands of a cazique named Tipitapa, which communicates with a narrow channel with that of Granada (Nicaragua.) In summer there is but little water in this channel, so little that a man may traverse it; the water coming up no higher than his breast. This lake is filled with excellent fish. But what proves that they are both one lake is the fact that they equally abound in sea-fish and turtles. Another proof is that in 1529, there was found in the province of Nicaragua, upon the bank of this lake, a fish never seen except in the sea, and called the sword-fish, (_pexe biguela_,) on account of a bone armed on both sides with sharp points, placed in the extremity of its jaw. I have seen some of these fish of so great size, that two oxen attached to a cart could hardly draw them. A description of these may be found in Cap. iii. lib. 13, Part first of this work. The one found on the shores of this lake was small, being only about twelve feet in length, and must have entered at the outlet of the lake. Its sword only of a hand’s breadth, and of the width of two fingers. ----- Footnote 16: Oviedo overshoots the mark here; read miles for leagues, and the distance is very near the truth. ----- “The water of the lakes is very good and healthful, and a large number of small rivers and brooks empty into them. In some places the great lake is fifteen or twenty fathoms deep: in other places it is scarcely a foot in depth; so that it is not navigable in all parts, but only in the middle, and with barks constructed expressly for the purpose. “It has a large number of islands, of some extent, covered with flocks and precious woods. The largest is eight leagues in circumference, and is inhabited by Indians. It is very fertile, filled with deer and rabbits, and named _Ometepec_, which signifies _two mountains_. It formerly contained a population much more numerous than now, divided into eight or ten villages. The mountain on this island towards the east is lowest; the other is so high that its summit is seldom seen. When I passed by this island the atmosphere was very clear, and I could easily see the summit. I passed the night at a farm belonging to a gentleman named Diego Mora, situated on the main land near the island. The keeper told me that during the two years he had been in that place he had seen the summit but once, because it was always covered with clouds.