In addition to this, there is bad feeling between Costa Rica and
Nicaragua, which may break out into war at any moment.
As this last quarrel concerns the Nicaraguan Canal, in which our country
is so much interested, it is perhaps better to tell you about it before
we speak of the more serious troubles in Guatemala.
The cause of the unpleasantness between Nicaragua and Costa Rica is the
boundary line which divides them.
This boundary question involves the mouth of the Nicaragua Canal.
In 1858 it was agreed between the two countries that the channel of the
Rio San Juan del Norte at its exit into the ocean should be the dividing
line between them.
Owing to changes of current and other causes, the course of this river
has changed, until it is now several miles farther south than it was in
1858.
Costa Rica claimed that the boundary should be the spot where the old
channel was; Nicaragua, that the treaty called for the channel of the
river where it emptied itself into the sea, and that therefore the new
mouth of the river is the boundary.
It is a serious matter for Nicaragua, for the opening to the Nicaragua
Canal on the Atlantic Ocean side is through the Rio San Juan del Norte.
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