“Towards the middle of the first crater, a large number of parroquets might be seen, circling around, of that species having the long tails, and called _jijaves_. I could only see their backs, for I was much higher than they. They make their nests among the rocks, below the spectator. I threw some stones into the abyss, and made the negro do likewise, but could never distinguish where they fell; which proves clearly how high was the place where I stood. Some persons have asserted that when the paroquets are fluttering among these places, and one looks fixedly, he seems not to see fire but sulphur. I am not far removed from this opinion, but leave the decision to those knowing more of the matter than myself. “On the top of the volcano, on the eastern part, an elevation rises up, in which is an opening like to the crater, but deeper. A smoke ascends through it, which cannot be seen during the daytime, but which projects into the darkness a great light, uniting itself to that proceeding from the larger opening. This opening does not terminate in a broad bottom, but is a funnel-shaped orifice, apparently filled with coals. The cazique told me that, in the times of his ancestors, the main crater was here, but that subsequently it changed its location to the spot it now occupies. These two craters are separated from each other only by some rocks. The ground is covered with barren trees, yielding no fruit, except one alone, which produces yellow berries, about the size of a musket ball, named _nanzi_; they are good to eat, and the Indians say that they are good for bowel complaints. No birds are seen on this mountain, except crows, and the parroquets I have spoken of. “A remarkable circumstance, told me by Machuca and Fr. Francis de Bobadilla is, that the melted matter sometimes mounts to the top of the crater, whilst I could see it only at a great depth. Having made due inquiry in regard to this, I have learnt that when much rain falls, the fire does, in fact, ascend as far as the top; for the cavity becomes filled with water, which flows in from all parts of the mountain, and remains full until it has been overcome and destroyed by the heat of the opposing element. This view of the matter is confirmed by what Olaus Magnus says of the volcanoes of Iceland, which do not consume the combustibles around them, but the water which they contain. It must be so at Masaya; for when the flame is seen at the distance of a league and a half, it does not look like flame, but burning smoke which covers the whole mountain. If it were fire, it would leave neither tree, leaf, nor verdure; on the contrary, the whole mountain is covered with trees and herbage, almost to the borders of the crater.