“There is another mountain in this province, called Masaya, of which I can speak as an eye-witness, having visited it in person, after having heard many fables related by those who pretended to have ascended to the crater. I once went up Vesuvius, and beheld a crater of twenty-five or thirty fathoms in diameter, from which smoke rose perpetually, which smoke people say changes to a very bright flame at night. I remained there a whole night, with the Queen of Naples, whose chief of the wardrobe (guarda ropa) I was, whither I accompanied her in 1501. From thence we went to Palermo, in Sicily, near which is Mount Etna.” Oviedo here makes a long enumeration of the volcanoes known at the time he wrote, and continues: “But it seems to me that none of these volcanoes are to be compared with that of Masaya, which, as I have said, I have seen and examined myself. Of this the reader shall be the judge, after he has read the description of that mountain, whose name signifies ‘the burning mountain,’ in the language of the Chorotegans, in whose territory it is situated. In the language of Nicaragua it is called ‘_Popogatepec_,’ which means ‘boiling stream.’[17] ----- Footnote 17: This is a mistake of the chronicler. _Popo_ or _poco_ is the Mexican for smoke, and _tepec_ mountain, i. e. “Smoking Mountain.” _Ca_ or _ga_ is a word used to impersonate, embody, or individualize. It will shortly be seen that a Mexican colony existed in Nicaragua. -----