la légende des siecles

premiers temps de la conquête. Tous les cratères du Nicaragua furent alors sanctifiés, à
l'exception du Momotombo, d'où l'on ne vit jamais revenir les religieux qui s'étaient
chargés d'aller y planter la croix.' (SQUIER, Voyage dans l'Amérique du Sud.)
Momotombo is a volcano in the state of Nicaragua. E.G.Squier was an American
antiquarian and author who was appointed chargé d'affaires to all the Central American
States in 1849. He does not appear to have written any work with the title quoted by
Hugo. The passage quoted occurs in his Nicaragua, its people, scenery, and monuments,
published in 1852. He relates in this book an instance of a bishop being asked to baptize
a volcanic vent which had suddenly opened in a mountain!
Torquemada (1420-1489) was the notorious inquisitor-general of Castile and Aragon,
whose name has become a by-word for relentless persecution and cruelty.
LA CHANSON DES AVENTURIERS DE LA MER. (Page 101)
le golfe d'Otrante, between Italy and Albania.
au Phare: it is not clear what lighthouse is intended.
une Tarentaise, woman of Tarentum, in South Italy.
Gaëte, English Gaeta, a bay and town on the west coast of Italy, north of Naples.
L. 47. The historical allusion here is not clear. Prince Eugene of Savoy, Marlborough's
colleague, and Cardinal Mazarin were not contemporaries.
Livourne, Leghorn. Spinola: the reference may or may not be to the famous Imperialist
general in the Thirty Years War.
prames, big flat-bottomed boats, capable of carrying cannon, and used for coast
defence.
Notre-Dame de la Garde, a sanctuary at Marseilles.
Palma, a town in Majorca.
APRÈS LA BATAILLE.
Victor Hugo's father was an officer in the army of the great Napoleon and fought in
Spain as a general, but nothing is known of this incident except what is here told.
Caramba (Spanish), a colloquial interjection, implying surprise and astonishment.