4 JANUARY 1868, Page 9

On December 14th there was a sudden outburst of volcanic

fires in Nicaragua, about ten miles from Leon, near the foot of an extinct volcano called Rota. The first eruption sounded like the booming of heavy artillery to the people of Leon. At night two large volcanic fires in a circle of several smaller ones lit up the whole country, and even illuminated the towers of the cathedral of Leon—ten miles off. The effect of these huge and lurid lamps, with all their associations of terror, must have been curiously Dantesque.