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+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
+and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not
+located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+
+Title: The Naturalist in Nicaragua
+
+Author: Thomas Belt
+
+Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6321]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on November 26, 2002]
+[Last updated: December 7, 2020]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA ***
+
+
+
+
+This Project Gutenberg Etext Prepared Down Under In Australia by:
+Sue Asscher  <asschers@bigpond.com>
+in connivance with her Californian co-conspirator
+Robert Prince <rkp277@msn.com>
+
+
+
+
+
+THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA
+
+BY
+
+THOMAS BELT
+
+WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ANTHONY BELT, F.L.S.
+
+HOC SOLUM SCIO QUOD NIHIL SCIO.
+
+THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA
+
+BY
+
+THOMAS BELT.
+
+
+EVERYMAN, I WILL GO WITH THEE, & BE THY GUIDE
+IN THY MOST NEED TO GO BY THY SIDE.
+
+
+LONDON: PUBLISHED BY
+J.M. DENT & SONS LTD.
+AND IN NEW YORK
+BY E.P. DUTTON & CO.
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+In the "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," edited by his son, Mr.
+Francis Darwin (volume 3 page 188), the following passage occurs:--
+
+"In the spring of this year (1874) he read a book which gave him
+great pleasure, and of which he often spoke with admiration, "The
+Naturalist in Nicaragua," by the late Thomas Belt. Mr. Belt, whose
+untimely death may well be deplored by naturalists, was by
+profession an engineer, so that all his admirable observations in
+natural history, in Nicaragua and elsewhere, were the fruit of his
+leisure. The book is direct and vivid in style, and is full of
+description and suggestive discussions. With reference to it my
+father wrote to Sir J.D. Hooker: 'Belt I have read, and I am
+delighted that you like it so much; it appears to me the best of
+all natural history journals which have ever been published.'"
+
+Now that the book so highly recommended by such an authority is
+about to be introduced to a public which has hitherto only known it
+by hearsay, it will be interesting to inquire into the reason of
+its appreciation by such men as Darwin and Hooker--and Lyell,
+Huxley, and Wallace, with other leaders of the scientific world of
+that day, might be quoted to the same effect--and to give some
+particulars of the author's short active life.
+
+The Belts were an old family which had been established at Bossal
+in Yorkshire since the reign of Richard II. The main line died out
+some twenty years ago, but about the beginning of the eighteenth
+century a member of the family went to the Tyne to join the
+well-known ironworks of Crawley at Winlaton. He and his descendants
+remained with the firm for over a century, and he was the
+great-great-grandfather of the grandfather of Thomas Belt born at
+Newcastle-on-Tyne on November 27, 1832.
+
+Thomas was the fourth child of a family of seven. His mother
+possessed a singularly sweet and beautiful disposition; his father,
+much given to hobbies, was stern and unbending, and he himself
+combined an almost womanly gentleness with a quiet determination
+that unflinchingly faced all obstacles. With a high sense of
+personal honour, unassuming and even-tempered, he was only roused
+to anger by acts of oppression or wanton cruelty. Then his
+indignation, though not loud, was very real, and he acted with a
+promptitude which would hardly have been expected from his usually
+placid demeanour. A story is told of how one day sitting at table
+he saw through the window a man belabouring a woman. Without saying
+a word, he rushed out, pinioned the offender by the elbows and,
+running him to the top of a steep slope in the street, gave him a
+kick which sent him flying down the declivity. The incident is
+recalled merely as an illustration of his practical way of dealing
+with difficulties which stood him in good stead in many an
+out-of-the-way corner of the world when contending with obstacles
+caused either by the perversity of man or the forces of nature. He
+never carried fire-arms even when travelling in the most unsettled
+districts, and his firm but conciliatory manner overcame opposition
+in a wonderful way. In ordinary life he was the kindest and most
+considerate of men, and his transparent sincerity made friends for
+him everywhere. Nor was he ever happier than when assisting others
+in those pursuits which occupied his own leisure.
+
+The interesting question as to what led Belt to become a naturalist
+is difficult to answer. "Environment" nowadays accounts for much,
+but none of his brothers--and all the family had a similar
+bringing-up--showed any inclination for what with him became the
+ruling passion of his life. And yet, in a wider sense, "environment"
+had probably something to do with it. In the first half of the
+nineteenth century Newcastle could boast of a succession of
+field-naturalists unequalled in the country--Joshua Alder and
+Albany Hancock, who wrote the monograph on British nudibranchiate
+mollusca for the Ray Society; William Hutton and John Thornhill,
+botanists; W.C. Hewitson, Dr. D. Embleton, and John Hancock,
+zoologists; Thomas Athey and Richard Howse,
+palaeontologists--these, and others like them, were
+enthusiastically at work collecting, observing, recording,
+classifying. Fresh discoveries were being made every day; what are
+now commonplace scientific truisms wore then all the charm of
+novelty; the secrets of nature were being unveiled, and modern
+science was entering upon an ever-extending kingdom.
+
+Into all this scientific activity Belt was born, and from his
+earliest years it may be said of him, as in the well-known lines it
+was said of Agassiz:--
+
+   "And he wandered away and away
+   With Nature, the dear old nurse,
+   Who sang to him night and day
+   The rhymes of the universe."
+
+   "And whenever the way seemed long,
+   Or his heart began to fail,
+   She would sing a more wonderful song,
+   Or tell a more marvellous tale."
+
+"If happiness," he wrote in his twenty-second year, "consists in
+the number of pleasing emotions that occupy our mind--how true is
+it that the contemplation of nature, which always gives rise to
+these emotions, is one of the great sources of happiness."
+
+The earliest instance which has been remembered of his fondness for
+animal life occurred when he was about three years old. He had been
+in the garden and came running to show his mother what he had
+found. Opening his carefully gathered up pinafore, out jumped two
+frogs--to the great dismay of the good lady, for frogs are first
+cousins to toads, the dire effects of whose glance and venom were
+known to every one.
+
+He received the best education the town could give, and was
+fortunate in his schoolmasters--first Dr. J.C. Bruce of antiquarian
+fame, and then Mr. John Storey, second to none in his day as a
+north-country botanist.
+
+Belt's father was much interested in horticulture; and, possessing
+some meteorological instruments, entrusted him, when only twelve
+years old, with the keeping of a set of observations which showed
+not only the barometric and thermometric readings twice a day, and
+the highest and lowest temperatures, but also the rainfall, the
+state of the sky, the form of the clouds, and the force and
+direction of the wind. The elaborately arranged columns, full of
+symbols and figures, look very quaint in the careful boyish
+handwriting, and must have absorbed much of his spare time.
+
+Insects, however, had the greatest attraction for him. He writes in
+his journal: "I have made a great improvement in the study of
+entomology, to which I have an ardent attachment." And a little
+later: "I find I have not time to study so many things. I am afraid
+that I will not be able to carry on entomology and botany together;
+but entomology I will not give up." He had been studying
+"electricity, astronomy, botany, conchology, and geology." At the
+age of sixteen he wrote: "I feel a longing, a natural desire, to
+explore and understand the ways of science. I am ambitious of doing
+something that will deserve the praise or excite the admiration of
+mankind." When the praise and admiration came, no one could have
+been more indifferent to them than himself. Nature, his "nurse,"
+had become his queen; and never was there a more devoted,
+whole-hearted subject, a more simple-minded follower of science for
+its own sake without any thought of the honour or glory that might
+accrue thereby.
+
+On August 10, 1849, he records: "I have been thinking for the last
+few days about fixing on some subject or pursuit on which to devote
+my life, as it is of no use first starting one subject and then
+another, thus learning nothing. After giving it a good deal of
+consideration, I have determined on studying 'Natural History,' not
+confining myself to any one branch of that vast subject. As this is
+a subject on which I intend to devote my leisure hours during the
+greater part if not the whole of my lifetime, I consider it to be
+of the greatest importance that I should lay a good foundation for
+it. I therefore intend during the ensuing winter to study the
+English language and composition, so as to be able to describe
+objects and explain my sentiments with greater clearness and
+precision than I can at present." The last sentence illustrates the
+systematic thoroughness of all his work which was one reason of his
+success.
+
+Belt's "leisure hours" were soon more numerous than he had
+anticipated when recording his determination to devote them to
+natural history. Already his health had shown signs of giving way,
+and presently there was a nervous break-down which necessitated his
+giving up all work and being out in the open air as much as
+possible. But what appeared to be probably the wrecking of his life
+provided the opportunity which might not otherwise have occurred of
+encouraging and developing his inborn love of nature. Becoming a
+member of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, he interested
+himself greatly in the local fauna and flora, and formed very
+complete collections of the plants, insects, and shells. His name
+occurs frequently in the "Transactions" of the Club as the recorder
+of species new to the district. His health gradually improved, but
+it was doubtful whether he would be able to bear the strain of any
+indoor occupation, for which indeed he felt an ever-increasing
+aversion.
+
+It was the time of the discovery of gold in Australia, and after
+much discussion he and his elder brother joined the stream of
+adventurers and sailed in 1852 for Victoria. In this rough "school
+of mines" he acquired that insight into the building-up of the
+earth's crust and that practical knowledge of minerals which served
+him so well in after-life as a mining engineer. But although the
+whole colony was in the grip of the gold-fever, Belt retained the
+same quiet habits of observation which had marked him at home--for
+there, as to whatever part of the world his work subsequently
+called him, the engineer was always at heart a naturalist. He
+proved an excellent observer, and a certain speculative tendency
+led him to group his observations so as to bring out their full
+theoretical bearing.
+
+Amid real hard work he found time to evolve a theory of whirlwinds
+and to speculate upon the soaring of birds. A companion has
+recorded in the following terms another matter which engaged much
+of his attention at this time: "The boldest of his speculations,
+and one of the soundest, as after-events proved, was his plan for
+crossing the Australian continent. He proposed, at the time the
+government expedition was mooted, to replace the costly plans of
+the government by the following scheme:--That he and his brother
+Anthony (who was unfortunately lost in the "Royal Charter") should
+be conveyed to the Gulf of Carpentaria, with about twenty
+pack-horses loaded with provisions and water; that an escort should
+protect them for some twenty miles from the coast, and that then
+the two voyagers only, with their pack-horses, should make their
+way to Cooper's Creek, the farthest known accessible point from the
+Victorian settled districts. Belt argued justly: 'If we fail, only
+two lives will be lost, but all chances are in our favour; we are
+provided with water and food more than ample to cover the distance
+we have to travel. Every step of our road carries us homeward and
+to safety. If we never find a drop of water on the road, our
+animals have enough to carry those who have to bear the whole
+journey to their goal, and as the animals succumb they will be shot
+or turned adrift.' The event showed Belt's sagacity. The
+unfortunate government expedition left Melbourne loaded with
+camp-followers and impedimenta, and by the time they reached a few
+stages beyond Cooper's Creek were well-nigh exhausted. Burke, the
+leader of the expedition, in desperation started with his two men,
+Wills and King, and bravely struck out for the Gulf of Carpentaria.
+Through desert and fertile plains, not altogether destitute of
+water, they reached in safety the northern shore of Australia; but
+the energy, the courage, and the strength that took them this long,
+weary journey did not suffice to carry them back over double the
+distance to their camp. Brave hearts! they struggled on; but King
+only, and as a worn-out man, ever saw Cooper's Creek again. Belt's
+plan would have solved the problem without loss of life and at a
+tenth of the cost." He always regretted that he had not the means
+of carrying it out independently of government assistance.
+
+After eight years in Australia Belt returned to England, married,
+and was successively manager of mining companies in Nova Scotia,
+North Wales, and Nicaragua, sandwiching in between these
+appointments a visit to Brazil to report upon some gold mines in
+the province of Maranham. In whatever part of the world his work
+took him he turned for rest and relaxation to the branches of
+natural science for which the locality offered the greatest
+opportunity.
+
+In Nova Scotia he began those investigations into the cause and
+phenomena of the glacial period which were to be the study of the
+last years of his life, and to which he himself attached the
+greatest importance. In Wales he took up the question of the age of
+the rocks in the neighbourhood of Dolgelly, and after much study of
+their fossils proposed the now accepted classification of the
+Lingula flags of the Lower Silurian system into the Maenturog flags
+and slates, the Festiniog flags, and the Dolgelly slates. The
+collecting of lepidoptera was his chief amusement in Brazil, where
+he made his first acquaintance with the teeming life of the torrid
+zone and laid the foundation for those observations on tropical
+nature which his longer stay in Nicaragua gave rise to, and which
+are recorded in this book.
+
+After his return from Central America, his services were in great
+request as a consulting mining engineer, and the succeeding years
+of his life were spent in almost continual travel: over all parts of
+Great Britain, to North and South Russia, Siberia, the Kirghiz
+Steppes, Mexico, and the United States. It was on one of his annual
+visits to Colorado that he was seized with sudden sickness and died
+on September 21, 1878, at the early age of forty-five.
+
+Thomas Belt was an accurate and intelligent observer possessed of
+the valuable faculty of wonder at whatever is new or strange or
+beautiful in nature, and the equally valuable habit of seeking a
+reason for all he saw. Having found or imagined one, he went on to
+make fresh observations, and sought out new facts to see how they
+accorded with his supposed cause of the phenomena. "The Naturalist
+in Nicaragua" has therefore a value and a charm quite independent
+of the particular district it describes. As a mere book of travel
+it is surpassed by scores of other works. The country and the
+people of Nicaragua are too much like other parts of tropical
+Spanish America, with their dull, lazy inhabitants, to possess any
+novelty. There is little in the book that can be called adventure,
+and still less of geographical discovery.
+
+And yet, the many and highly diversified phases in which life
+presents itself in the tropics enabled the skilled naturalist to
+fill a volume with a series of episodes, experiences, and
+speculations of which the reader will never tire. His keen powers
+of observation and active intellect were applied to various
+branches of scientific inquiry with unflagging ardour; and he had
+the faculty of putting the results of these inquiries in a clear,
+direct form, rendered the more attractive by its simplicity and
+absence of any effort at fine writing. He does not obtrude his own
+personality, and, like all genuine men, he forgets "self" over his
+subject. Instead of informing us whether or not he received "the
+salary of an ambassador and the treatment of a gentleman," he
+scatters before us, broadcast, facts interesting and novel,
+valuable hints for future research, and generalisations which amply
+repay a close study. Not alone the zoologist, the geologist, but
+the antiquarian, the ethnologist, the social philosopher, and the
+meteorologist will each find in these pages additions to his store
+of knowledge and abundant material for study.
+
+With all this, the work is not a mere catalogue of dry facts: it is
+eminently a readable book, bringing vividly before us the various
+subjects with which it is concerned. Minutely accurate in his
+description of facts and bold in his reasoning upon them, Belt
+covered so much ground that some of his theories have not held
+their own; but others have stood the test of time and been absorbed
+into the world's stock of knowledge, while all bear witness to the
+singular grasp of his mind and have stimulated thought and
+observation--which is a great virtue in theories, be they true or
+false.
+
+It has been already stated that Belt devoted the scanty leisure of
+his last years to the study of the glacial period, entering with
+zest into the consideration of its cause, the method of deposition
+of its beds, and the time-relationship of man to it--complex
+questions on which his imagination had full scope, and which, had
+his life been prolonged, his patient accumulation of evidence might
+have ultimately led him to suggest answers that would have been
+generally accepted by scientific men. But the cause of the
+remarkable change of climate during those late Tertiary and
+post-Tertiary times known as the glacial period is still without a
+completely satisfactory explanation. In Belt's day geologists were
+inclined to get over the difficulty of accounting for the phenomena
+by any feasible terrestrial change by explaining them as the result
+of cosmical causes, and Croll's theory of the increase of the
+eccentricity of the earth's orbit was widely received among them.
+Belt, on the other hand, held that the cold was due to an increase
+in the obliquity of the ecliptic. But these astronomical
+explanations have not met with much acceptance by physicists; and
+so chemists have been turned to by some geologists for support of
+the hypothesis of the variation in the amount of carbon dioxide in
+the air, or of other alterations in the atmosphere, while others
+have gone back to the idea of geographical changes. That
+considerable oscillations of the relative levels of land and sea
+took place during the Ice Age has been now clearly established, and
+the general result of the investigations favours Belt's opinion
+that the land during part of that period stood much higher than now
+over the northern regions of Europe and North America. It would,
+however, lead us too far away from the present book to enter into
+even a cursory examination of his views upon the glacial period,
+and those readers who desire to pursue the matter will find
+assistance for doing so in the bibliography at the end of this
+Introduction.
+
+Of more immediate interest to us are the "observations on animals
+and plants in reference to the theory of evolution of living forms"
+which the title-page announces as a part of the narrative, and
+which indeed form the main portion of the work. Upon the
+publication of Darwin's "Origin of Species" in 1859, Belt had
+become an ardent evolutionist, and was henceforth always on the
+look-out for facts in support of the theories which had breathed
+such new life into biological studies. In Nicaragua he devoted
+special attention to those wonderful protective resemblances,
+especially among insects, which Bates had explained by his theory
+of "Mimicry;" and as the subject crops up again and again in this
+book, the non-scientific reader will find it helpful to have before
+him an outline of the expanded and completed theory--though he
+should be warned that some writers have been too much inclined to
+attribute to "mimicry" any accidental resemblance between two
+species. How far such accidental resemblances may be carried is
+probably well illustrated by the bee, the spider, and the fly
+orchis of our own downs and copses.
+
+"Mimicry" proper is often confused with "protective resemblance,"
+and it will be advisable to begin with the consideration of the
+latter.
+
+Concealment, while useful at times to all animals, is absolutely
+essential to some; and it is wonderful in what different ways it is
+attained. In cases of "cryptic resemblance to surroundings" the
+shape, colouration, or markings are such as to conceal an animal by
+rendering it difficult to distinguish from its immediate
+environment. In most cases the effect is PROTECTIVE; but in snakes,
+spiders, mantids, and other preying animals it is termed
+AGGRESSIVE, since it enables these animals to stalk their prey
+undetected. It is probable that this power, when possessed by a
+vertebrate animal, nearly always bears the double meaning, as in
+the green tree frog, where the colouration is protective so far as
+it provides concealment from snakes, which are particularly fond of
+these frogs, and aggressive in that it allows flies and other
+insects to approach without suspicion.
+
+There may be either General Resemblance to surrounding objects or
+Special Resemblance to definite objects. The plain sandy colour of
+desert animals, the snow white of the inhabitants of the arctic
+regions, the inconspicuous hues of nocturnal animals, the stripes
+of the tiger and the zebra, the spots of the leopard and the
+giraffe have all a cryptic effect which at a very short distance
+renders the creatures invisible amid their natural surroundings.
+Nor is it necessary in order to attain this invisibility that the
+colouring should be really dull and plain. It all depends upon the
+habitat. Mr. Wallace has described "a South American goatsucker
+which rests in the bright sunshine on little bare rocky islets in
+the upper Rio Negro where its unusually light colours so closely
+resemble those of the rock and sand that it can scarcely be
+detected till trodden upon." A little observation will supply large
+numbers of instances of such protective colouration.
+
+It is, however, in the insect world that this principle of
+adaptation of animals to their environment is most fully and
+strikingly developed. "There are thousands of species of insects,"
+says Mr. Wallace again, "which rest during the day clinging to the
+bark of dead or fallen trees; and the greater portion of these are
+delicately mottled with grey and brown tints, which though
+symmetrically disposed and infinitely varied, yet blend so
+completely with the usual colours of the bark, that at two or three
+feet distance they are quite undistinguishable."
+
+In protective resemblances at their highest state of perfection the
+colouring is not constant but, as Professor Poulton puts it in his
+delightful book on "The Colours of Animals", "can be adjusted to
+harmonise with changes in the environment or to correspond with the
+differences between the environment of different individuals." The
+seasonal change of colour in northern animals is a well-known
+instance of the former, and the chameleon's alterations of hue of
+the latter.
+
+Besides General Resemblance, in which the general effects of
+surrounding colours are reproduced, we have Special Resemblance, in
+which the appearance of a particular object is copied in shape and
+outline as well as in colour. Numerous instances will be found in
+this book, and a "Leaf Insect" and a "Moss Insect" are illustrated.
+But the classic example is the butterfly from the East Indies so
+graphically described by Mr. Wallace, Kallima paralekta, which
+always rests among dead or dry leaves and has itself leaf-like
+wings spotted over with specks to imitate the tiny fungi growths on
+the foliage it resembles. "It sits on a nearly upright twig, the
+wings fitting closely back to back, concealing the antennae and
+head, which are drawn up between their bases. The little tails of
+the hind wings touch the branch and form a perfect stalk to the
+leaf, which is supported in its place by the claws of the middle
+pair of feet which are slender and inconspicuous. The irregular
+outline of the wings gives exactly the perspective effect of a
+shrivelled leaf." The wonderful "stick insects" in like manner
+mimic the twigs of the trees among which they lurk. Nor need we go
+abroad in search of examples, for among our own insects are
+countless instances of marvellous resemblances to the inanimate or
+vegetable objects upon which they rest. One of the most interesting
+is that of the geometer caterpillars, which are very plentiful, and
+any one can observe them for himself even in a London garden. They
+support themselves for hours by means of their posterior legs,
+forming an angle of various degrees with the branch on which they
+are standing and looking for all the world like one of its twigs.
+The long cylindrical body is kept stiff and immovable, with the
+separations of the segments scarcely visible, and its colour is
+obscure and similar to that of the bark of the tree. Kirby and
+Spence tell of a gardener mistaking one of these caterpillars for a
+dead twig, and starting back in great alarm when, on attempting to
+break it off, he found it was a living animal.
+
+Sometimes concealment is secured by the aid of adventitious
+objects. Many lepidopterous larvae live in cases made of the
+fragments of the substances upon which they feed; and certain
+sea-urchins cover themselves so completely with pebbles, shells,
+and so forth, that one can see nothing but a heap of little stones.
+Perhaps, however, the most interesting instance is the crab
+described by Mr. Bateson, which "takes a piece of weed in his two
+chelae and, neither snatching nor biting it, deliberately tears it
+across, as a man tears paper with his hands. He then puts one end
+of it into his mouth, and after chewing it up, presumably to soften
+it, takes it out in the chelae and rubs it firmly on his head or
+legs until it is caught by the peculiar curved hairs which cover
+them. If the piece of weed is not caught by the hairs, the crab
+puts it back in his mouth and chews it up again. The whole
+proceeding is most human and purposeful."
+
+There is another class of colours in which not concealment but
+conspicuousness is the object aimed at. Such colours are borne by
+animals provided with formidable weapons of defence (the sting of
+the wasp, for example), or possessed of an unpleasant taste or
+offensive odour, and their foes come by experience to associate
+this form of colouring with disagreeable qualities and avoid the
+animals so marked. Belt was the first to account, in this way, for
+the conspicuous colouration of the skunk; and it is now believed
+that startling colours and conspicuous attitudes are intended to
+assist the education of enemies by enabling them to learn and
+remember the animals which are to be avoided. The explanation of
+warning colours was devised by Mr. Wallace to account for the
+brilliancy in the tints of certain caterpillars which birds find
+disagreeable, and the subject has been principally studied by
+experiments upon such caterpillars. But examples of warning colours
+are recognised, among many others, in the contrasted black and
+yellow of wasps, bees, and hornets, the bright red, black, and
+yellow bands of the deadly coral snakes, and the brilliantly
+coloured frog of Santo Domingo which hops unconcernedly about in
+the daytime in his livery of red and blue--"for nothing will eat
+him he well doth know."
+
+But--and here comes in the principle to which the term "mimicry" is
+now restricted--if warning colours are helpful to noxious animals,
+then defenceless animals acquiring these colours will share in the
+protection afforded by them. And so we find a deceptive similarity
+between animals occurring in the same district, but not closely
+related, in which the mimicked form is unpalatable or has an odour
+repulsive to birds and lizards. It must, of course, be understood
+that the mimicry is unconscious, the result, as in the cases of
+cryptic resemblance, having been brought about by natural
+selection--the less perfect the mimicry the more liable are the
+individuals to be attacked, and the less chance have they of
+reproducing their kind.
+
+This imitation was first accounted for by Mr. Bates in the case of
+the Heliconidae, a group of showy, slow-flying abundant butterflies
+possessing "a strong pungent semi-aromatic or medicinal odour which
+seems to pervade all the juices of their system." It does not
+follow, of course, that what seems to us a disagreeably smelling
+fluid should prove distasteful to the palate of a lizard or a bird.
+But careful observation of the butterflies convinced both Bates and
+Wallace that they were avoided, or at any rate not pursued, by
+birds and other creatures; and Belt found that they were rejected
+by his tame monkey which was very fond of other insects. So their
+conspicuous wings, with spots and patches of yellow, red, or white
+upon a black, blue or brown ground, may fairly be considered an
+example of warning colouration--though Mr. Thayer has with great
+ingenuity and acumen endeavoured to show that the markings are
+effective for concealment and that their value as warning marks is
+doubtful. Now, says Mr. Beddard, "in the same situations as those
+in which the Heliconias are found there also occur, more rarely,
+specimens of butterflies minutely resembling the Heliconias, but
+belonging to a perfectly distinct family--the Pieridae. They belong
+to the two genera Leptalis and Euterpe, consisting of numerous
+species, each of which shows a striking likeness to some one
+particular species of Heliconia. This likeness is not a mark of
+near affinity; it affects no important character, but only the
+shape and colouration of the wings."
+
+The particular resemblance here described was the origin of the
+theory of Protective Mimicry, the conditions under which it occurs
+being, according to Mr. Wallace:
+
+1. That the imitative species occur in the same area and occupy
+   the same station as the imitated.
+2. That the imitators are always the more defenceless.
+3. That the imitators are also less numerous in individuals.
+4. That the imitators differ from the bulk of their allies.
+5. That the imitation, however minute, is external and visible
+   only, never extending to internal characters or to such as do
+   not affect the external appearance.
+
+There are plenty of examples of this phenomenon, such as the
+hornet-like moths and bee-like flies of our own country, and many
+other instances will be found in these pages. One discovered in
+tropical America by Mr. W.L. Sclater would have much delighted Belt
+had he come across it. In that region of the world the leaf-cutting
+ants present a very characteristic appearance as the column
+proceeds homewards, each ant carrying a piece of leaf held
+vertically in its jaws; and a homopterous insect has been found
+that faithfully resembles an ant bearing its burden. The latter is
+suggested by the thin compressed green body of the insect, and its
+profile is precisely like that of the jagged edge of the fragment
+of leaf held over the back of the ant.
+
+Of all the Nicaraguan fauna, judging from the narrative, the ants
+occupy the most prominent position. Both indoors and out they are
+ever in evidence. Belt describes the foraging ants, which do not
+make regular nests of their own, but attack those of other species
+and prey upon every killable living thing that comes in their way;
+the leaf-cutting ants, whose attacks upon his garden were repelled
+with so much difficulty; standing armies of ants maintained by
+certain trees for their protection, and many other kinds, some of
+which kept his attention constantly on the stretch. Much space is
+devoted to their habits and wonderful instincts, amounting in many
+cases, so Belt considered, to as clear an evidence of reasoning
+intelligence as can be claimed for man himself. Indeed, after
+reading the account of their freeing of an imprisoned comrade and
+their grappling with problems arising out of such modern inventions
+as carbolic acid and tramways, we need not feel surprised if an
+observer accustomed to scrutinise the animal world so closely feels
+sceptical on the subject of "instinct" viewed as a mysterious
+entity antithetically opposed to "reason" and supposed to act as
+its substitute in the lower orders.
+
+In reference to their methods of obtaining food, ants have been
+classified as hunting, pastoral, and agricultural, "three types,"
+as Lord Avebury remarks, "offering a curious analogy to the three
+great phases in the history of human development." As regards their
+social condition they differ from mankind in having successfully
+established communism. At the present day all the social
+hymenoptera possess a unique interest on account of their
+working-order or neuters. These, as is well-known, are females
+whose normal development has been checked. Are we to assume that
+"once upon a time" a woman's rights movement sprang up in bee-hives
+and ant-hills which ended in reducing the males to a very
+unimportant position and in limiting the number of the fully
+developed females? Are we to expect that the "strong-minded" women
+arising among us are the forerunners of a "neuter" order and the
+heralds of a corresponding change in human society?
+
+"It is full of theories," says the author, writing of his book;
+modestly adding, "I trust not unsupported by facts." And so
+naturally does he dovetail the two together that the theories often
+seem portions of the facts. On all kinds of subjects suggestive
+reasons are proposed:--why the scarlet-runners which flowered so
+profusely in his garden never produced a single pod; why the banana
+and sugar-cane are probably not indigenous to America; why gold
+veins grow poorer as they descend into the earth; why whirlwinds
+rotate in opposite directions in the two hemispheres; why the
+earthenware vessels of the Indians are rounded at the bottom and
+require to be placed in a little stand--on all the varied matters
+that come under his observant eyes he has something interesting to
+say. You learn how the natives obtain sugar, palm-wine, and rubber;
+what is the use of the toucan's huge beak, and how plants secure
+the fertilisation of their flowers. You watch the tricks of the
+monkey, the humming-bird's courtship, the lying in wait of the
+alligator, and all the ceaseless activity of the forest--that
+forest so monotonous in its general features, but fascinating
+beyond measure when the varied life-histories working out within it
+are realised--and you share in the keen joy of the naturalist who
+has written with such simple eloquence of the beauty, the wonder,
+and the mystery of the natural world.
+
+A.B.
+
+The following is a list of the works of Thomas Belt:--
+
+An inquiry into the Origin of Whirlwinds,
+   Philosophical Magazine volume 17 1859 pages 47-53.
+Mineral Veins: an Inquiry into their Origin
+   founded on a Study of the Auriferous Quartz Veins of Australia,
+   London 1861.
+On some Recent Movements of the Earth's Surface
+   and their Geological Bearings [1863] Nova Scotian Institute of
+   Natural Science Proceedings and Transactions
+   volume 1 part 1 1867 pages 19-30.
+List of Butterflies observed in the Neighbourhood of Halifax,
+   Nova Scotia [1863] Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science
+   Proceedings and Transactions volume 2 part 1 1867 pages 87-92.
+On the Formation and Preservation of Lakes by Ice Action,
+   Geological Society Quarterly Journal volume 20 1864 pages 463-465,
+   Philosophical Magazine volume 28 1864 page 323,
+   Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science Proceedings and
+   Transactions volume 2 part 3 1867 page 70.
+The Glacial Period in North America [1866] Nova Scotian Institute
+   of Natural Science Proceedings and Transactions
+   volume 2 part 4 1867 pages 91-106.
+On some New Trilobites from the Upper Cambrian Rocks of North Wales,
+   Geological Magazine volume 4 1867 pages 294-295.
+On the "Lingula Flags" or "Festiniog Group" are the
+   Dolgelly District, Geological Magazine
+   volume 4 1867 pages 493-495, 536-543; volume 5 1868 pages 5-11.
+The Naturalist in Nicaragua, London 1874 2nd edition
+   revised and corrected 1888.
+Glacial Phenomena in Nicaragua, American Journal of Science
+   volume 7 1874 pages 594-595.
+An Examination of the Theories that have been proposed to account
+   for the Climate of the Glacial Period,
+   Journal of Science volume 4 1874 pages 421-464.
+The Steppes of Siberia, Geological Society Quarterly Journal
+   volume 30 1874 pages 490-498,
+   Geological Magazine Decade 2 volume 1 1874 pages 423-424.
+The Glacial Period, Nature volume 10 1874 pages 25-26.
+Niagara: Glacial and Post-Glacial Phenomena,
+   Journal of Science volume 5 1875 pages 135-156.
+The Drift of Devon and Cornwall: its Origin, Correlation with
+   that of the South-West of England, and Place in the Glacial
+   Series, Geological Society Quarterly Journal
+   volume 32 1876 pages 80-90;
+   Geological Magazine volume 2 1875 pages 622-624,
+   Philosophical Magazine volume 1 1876 pages 159-161.
+On the Geological Age of the Deposits containing Flint Implements
+   at Hoxne, in Suffolk, and the Relation that Palaeolithic Man
+   bore to the Glacial Period,
+   Journal of Science volume 6 1876 pages 289-304.
+On the First Stages of the Glacial Period in Norfolk and Suffolk,
+   Geological Magazine volume 4 1877 pages 156-158.
+The Steppes of Southern Russia, Geological Society Quarterly Journal
+   volume 33 1877 pages 843-862;
+   Philosophical Magazine volume 4 1877 pages 151-152.
+On the Loess of the Rhine and the Danube,
+   Journal of Science volume 7 1877 pages 67-90.
+The Glacial Period in the Southern Hemisphere,
+   Journal of Science volume 7 1877 pages 326-353.
+Quartzite Implements at Brandon,
+   Nature volume 16 1877 page 101.
+On the Discovery of Stone Implements in Glacial Drift
+   in North America, Journal of Science volume 8 1878 pages 55-74.
+The Superficial Gravels and Clays around Finchley, Ealing,
+   and Brentford, Journal of Science volume 8 1878 pages 316-360.
+Notes on the Discovery of a Human Skull in the Drift near Denver,
+   Colorado, Proceedings of the American Association for the
+   Advancement of Science at St. Louis,
+   Missouri August 1878 volume 27 (1879) pages 298-299.
+
+[The notes within square brackets have been added to this edition
+by the writer of the Introduction. ]
+
+[Title-page of the First Edition.]
+
+THE
+
+NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA
+
+A NARRATIVE OF
+
+A RESIDENCE AT THE GOLD MINES OF CHONTALES;
+
+JOURNEYS IN THE SAVANNAHS AND FORESTS;
+
+With Observations of Animals and Plants in Reference to
+the Theory of Evolution of Living Forms.
+
+
+BY THOMAS BELT, F.G.S.
+
+AUTHOR OF
+"MINERAL VEINS," "THE GLACIAL PERIOD IN NORTH AMERICA," ETC. ETC.
+
+
+   "It was his faith--perhaps is mine--
+   That life in all its forms is one,
+   And that its secret conduits run
+   Unseen, but in unbroken line,
+   From the great fountain-head divine,
+   Through man and beast, through grain and grass."
+
+                       LONGFELLOW.
+
+[Dedication of the First Edition.]
+
+
+
+TO
+
+HENRY WALTER BATES,
+
+WHOSE ADMIRABLE WORK,
+
+"THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS,"
+
+HAS BEEN MY GUIDE AND MODEL,
+
+I DEDICATE THIS BOOK,
+
+AS A TOKEN OF RESPECT AND FRIENDSHIP.
+
+(SKETCH MAP OF NICARAGUA.)
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+CHAPTER 1.
+
+Arrival at Greytown.--The river San Juan.--Silting up of the
+harbour.--Crossing the bar.--Lives lost on it.--Sharks.
+--Christopher Columbus.--Appearance of the town.--Trade.
+--Healthiness of the town and its probable cause.--Comparison
+between Greytown, Pernambuco, and Maceio.--Wild fruits.--Plants.
+--Parrots, toucans, and tanagers.--Butterflies and beetles.
+--Mimetic forms.--Alligators: boy drowned at Blewfields by one.
+--Their method of catching wild pigs.
+
+CHAPTER 2.
+
+Commence journey up San Juan river.--Palms and wild canes.
+--Plantations.--The Colorado river.--Proposed improvement of the
+river.--Progress of the Delta.--Mosquitoes.--Disagreeable night.
+--Fine morning.--Vegetation of the banks.--Seripiqui river.
+--Mot-mots.--Foraging ants: their method of hunting.--Ant-thrushes.
+--They attack the nests of other ants.--Birds' nests, how preserved
+from them.--Reasoning powers in ants.--Parallel between the
+mammalia and the hymenoptera.--Utopia.
+
+CHAPTER 3.
+
+Journey up river continued.--Wild pigs and jaguar.--Bungos.--Reach
+Machuca.--Castillo.--Capture of Castillo by Nelson.--India-rubber
+trade.--Rubber-men.--Method of making india-rubber.--Congo monkeys.
+--Macaws.--The Savallo river.--Endurance of the boatmen.--San
+Carlos.--Interoceanic canal.--Advantages of the Nicaraguan route.
+--The Rio Frio.--Stories about the wild Indians.--Indian captive
+children.--Expeditions up the Rio Frio.--American river steamboats.
+
+CHAPTER 4.
+
+The lake of Nicaragua.--Ometepec.--Becalmed on the lake.--White
+egrets.--Reach San Ubaldo.--Ride across the plains.--Vegetation of
+the plains.--Armadillo.--Savannahs.--Jicara trees.--Jicara bowls.
+--Origin of gourd-shaped pottery.--Coyotes.--Mule-breeding.--Reach
+Acoyapo.--Festa.--Cross high range.--Esquipula.--The Rio Mico.
+--Supposed statues on its banks.--Pital.--Cultivation of maize.
+--Its use from the earliest times in America.--Separation of the
+maize-eating from the mandioca-eating indigenes of America.
+--Tortillas.--Sugar-making.--Enter the forest of the Atlantic
+slope.--Vegetation of the forest.--Muddy roads.--Arrive at Santo
+Domingo.
+
+CHAPTER 5.
+
+Geographical position of Santo Domingo.--Physical geography.--The
+inhabitants.--Mixed races.--Negroes and Indians compared.--Women.
+--Establishment of the Chontales Gold-Mining Company.--My house and
+garden.--Fruits.--Plantains and bananas; probably not indigenous to
+America: propagated from shoots: do not generally mature their
+seeds.--Fig-trees.--Granadillas and papaws.--Vegetables.
+--Dependence of flowers on insects for their fertilisation.--Insect
+plagues.--Leaf-cutting ants: their method of defoliating trees:
+their nests.--Some trees are not touched by the ants.--Foreign
+trees are very subject to their attack.--Method of destroying the
+ants.--Migration of the ants from a nest attacked.--Corrosive
+sublimate causes a sort of madness amongst them.--Indian plan of
+preventing them ascending young trees.--Leaf-cutting ants are
+fungus-growers and eaters.--Sagacity of the ants.
+
+CHAPTER 6.
+
+Configuration of the ground at Santo Domingo.--Excavation of
+valleys.--Geology of the district.--Decomposition of the rocks.
+--Gold-mining.--Auriferous quartz veins.--Mode of occurrence of the
+gold.--Lodes richer next the surface than at lower depths.
+--Excavation and reduction of the ore.--Extraction of the gold.--
+"Mantos".--Origin of mineral veins: their connection with intrusions
+of Plutonic rocks.
+
+CHAPTER 7.
+
+Climate of the north-eastern side of Nicaragua.--Excursions around
+Santo Domingo.--The Artigua.--Corruption of ancient names.
+--Butterflies, spiders, and wasps.--Humming-birds, beetles, and
+ants.--Plants and trees.--Timber.--Monkey attacked by eagle.
+--White-faced monkey.--Anecdotes of a tame one.--Curassows and
+other game birds.--Trogons, woodpeckers, mot-mots, and toucans.
+
+CHAPTER 8.
+
+Description of San Antonio valley.--Great variety of animal life.
+--Pitcher-flowered Marcgravias.--Flowers fertilised by
+humming-birds.--By insects.--Provision in some flowers to prevent
+insects, not adapted for carrying the pollen, from obtaining access
+to the nectaries.--Stories about wasps.--Humming-birds bathing.
+--Singular myriapods.--Ascent of Pena Blanca.--Tapirs and jaguars.
+--Summit of Pena Blanca.
+
+CHAPTER 9.
+
+Journey to Juigalpa.--Description of Libertad.--The priest and the
+bell.--Migratory butterflies and moths.--Indian graves.--Ancient
+names.--Dry river-beds.--Monkeys and wasps.--Reach Juigalpa.--Ride
+in neighbourhood.--Abundance of small birds.--A poor cripple.--The
+"Toledo."--Trogons.--Waterfall.--Sepulchral mounds.--Broken
+statues.--The sign of the cross.--Contrast between the ancient and
+the present inhabitants.--Night life.
+
+CHAPTER 10.
+
+Juigalpa.--A Nicaraguan family.--Description of the road from
+Juigalpa to Santo Domingo.--Comparative scarcity of insects in
+Nicaragua in 1872.--Water-bearing plants.--Insect-traps.--The
+south-western edge of the forest region.--Influence of cultivation
+upon it.--Sagacity of the mule.
+
+CHAPTER 11.
+
+Start on journey to Segovia.--Rocky mountain road.--A poor lodging.
+--The rock of Cuapo.--The use of large beaks in some birds.
+--Comoapa.--A native doctor.--Vultures.--Flight of birds that soar.
+--Natives live from generation to generation on the same spot.--Do
+not give distinctive names to the rivers.--Caribs barter guns and
+iron pots for dogs.--The hairless dogs of tropical America.
+--Difference between artificial and natural selection.--The cause
+of sterility between allied species considered.--The disadvantages
+of a covering of hair to a domesticated animal in a tropical
+country.
+
+CHAPTER 12.
+
+Olama.--The "Sanate."--Muy-muy.--Idleness of the people.--Mountain
+road.--The "Bull Rock."--The bull's-horn thorn.--Ants kept as
+standing armies by some plants.--Use of honey-secreting glands.
+--Plant-lice, scale-insects, and leaf-hoppers furnish ants with
+honey, and in return are protected by the latter.--Contest between
+wasps and ants.--Waxy secretions of the homopterous hemiptera.
+
+CHAPTER 13.
+
+Matagalpa.--Aguardiente.--Fermented liquors of the Indians.--The
+wine-palm.--Idleness of the Nicaraguans.--Pine and oak forests.
+--Mountain gorge.--Jinotega.--Native plough.--Descendants of the
+buccaneers.--San Rafael.--A mountain hut.
+
+CHAPTER 14.
+
+Great range composed of boulder clay.--Daraily.--Lost on the
+savannahs.--Jamaily.--A deer-hunter's family.--Totagalpa.--Walls
+covered with cement and whitewashed.--Ocotal.--The valley of
+Depilto.--Silver mine.--Geology of the valley.--Glacial drift.--The
+glacial period in Central America.--Evidence that the ice extended
+to the tropics.--Scarcity of gold in the valley gravels.
+--Difference of the Mollusca on the east and west coast of the
+Isthmus of Darien.--The refuge of the tropical American animals and
+plants during the glacial period.--The lowering of the sea-level.
+--The land shells of the West Indian Islands.--The Malay
+Archipelago.--Easter Island.--Atlantis.--Traditions of the deluge.
+
+CHAPTER 15.
+
+A Nicaraguan criminal.--Geology between Ocotal and Totagalpa.
+--Preparations at Totagalpa for their annual festival.
+--Chicha-drinking.--Piety of the Indians.--Ancient civilisation of
+tropical America.--Palacaguina.--Hospitality of the Mestizos.
+--Curious custom at the festival at Condego.--Cross range between
+Segovia and Matagalpa.--Sontuli.--Birds' nests.
+
+CHAPTER 16.
+
+Concordia.--Jinotega.--Indian habits retained by the people.
+--Indian names of towns.--Security of travellers in Nicaragua.
+--Native flour-mill.--Uncomfortable lodgings.--Tierrabona.--Dust
+whirlwind.--Initial form of a cyclone.--The origin of cyclones.
+
+CHAPTER 17.
+
+Cattle-raising.--Don Filiberto Trano's new house.--Horse-flies and
+wasps.--Teustepe.--Spider imitating ants.--Mimetic species.
+--Animals with special means of defence are conspicuously marked,
+or in other ways attract attention.--Accident to horse.--The
+"Mygale."--Illness.--Conclusion of journey.
+
+CHAPTER 18.
+
+Division of Nicaragua into three zones.--Journey from Juigalpa to
+lake of Nicaragua.--Voyage on lake.--Fresh-water shells and
+insects.--Similarity of fresh-water productions all over the world.
+--Distribution of European land and fresh-water shells.--Discussion
+of the reasons why fresh-water productions have varied less than
+those of the land and of the sea.
+
+CHAPTER 19.
+
+Iguanas and lizards.--Granada.--Politics.--Revolutions.--Cacao
+cultivation.--Masaya.--The lake of Masaya.--The volcano of Masaya.
+--Origin of the lake basin.
+
+CHAPTER 20.
+
+Indian population of the country lying between the great lakes of
+Nicaragua and the Pacific.--Discovery and conquest of Nicaragua by
+the Spaniards.--Cruelties of the Spaniards.--The Indians of Western
+Central America all belonged to one stock.--Decadence of Mexican
+civilisation before the arrival of the Spaniards.--The designation
+"Nahuatls" proposed to include all the Mexican, Western Central
+American, and Peruvian races that had descended from the same
+ancient stock.--The Nahuatls distinct from the Caribs on one side
+and the Red Indians on the other.--Discussion of the question of
+the peopling of America.
+
+CHAPTER 21.
+
+Return to Santo Domingo.--The birds of Chontales.--The insects of
+Chontales.--Mimetic forms.--Departure from the mines.--Nicaragua as
+a field for emigration.--Journey to Greytown.--Return to England.
+
+INDEX.
+
+. . .
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+PLATE 1. SKETCH MAP OF NICARAGUA.
+
+PLATE 2. ALLIGATORS.
+
+PLATE 3. HEADS OF MOT-MOTS.
+
+PLATE 4. COMMISSIONER'S HOUSE AT SANTO DOMINGO.
+
+PLATE 5. NEST OF LEAF-CUTTING ANT.
+
+PLATE 6. MACHINERY OF CHONTALES GOLD-MINING COMPANY.
+
+PLATE 7. SECTION OF MINE SHOWING METHOD OF EXTRACTING THE ORE.
+
+PLATE 8. SECTION OF SAN ANTONIO LODE.
+
+PLATE 9. HUMMING-BIRDS (Florisuga mellivora, LINN.).
+
+PLATE 10. TONGUES OF HUMMING-BIRD AND WOODPECKER.
+
+PLATE 11. PITCHER-FLOWER (Marcgravia nepenthoides).
+
+PLATE 12. FLOWER OF THE "PALOSABRE."
+
+PLATE 13. ADVENTURE WITH A JAGUAR.
+
+PLATE 14. PENA BLANCA.
+
+PLATE 15. INDIAN STATUES.
+
+PLATE 16. PATH UP STEEP HILL.
+
+PLATE 17. QUISCALUS.
+
+PLATE 18. BULL'S-HORN THORN.
+
+PLATE 19. LEAF OF MELASTOMA.
+
+PLATE 20. NATIVE STILL.
+
+PLATE 21. NATIVE PLOUGH.
+
+PLATE 22. GEOLOGICAL SECTION NEAR OCOTAL.
+
+PLATE 23. HORNET AND MIMETIC BUG.
+
+PLATE 24. GEOLOGICAL SECTION AT MASAYA.
+
+PLATE 25. LONGICORN BEETLES OF CHONTALES.
+
+PLATE 26. LEAF INSECT.
+
+PLATE 27. MOSS INSECT.
+
+. . .
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
+
+The following pages have been written in the intervals between
+arduous professional engagements. Begun on the Atlantic during my
+voyage home from Central America, the first half relieved the
+tedium of a long and slow recovery from the effects of an accident
+occurring on board ship. The middle of the manuscript found me
+traversing the high passes of the snow-clad Caucasus, where I made
+acquaintance with the Abkassians, in whose language Mr. Hyde Clark
+finds analogies with those of my old friends the Brazilian Indians.
+I now write this brief preface and the last chapter of my book
+(with Bradshaw's "Continental Guide" as my only book of reference),
+on my way across the continent to the Urals, and beyond, to the
+country of the nomad Kirghizes and the far Altai mountains on the
+borders of Tibet; and when readers receive my work I shall probably
+have turned my face homewards again, and for weeks be speeding
+across the frozen Siberian steppes, wrapped in furs, listening to
+the sleigh bells, and wondering how my book has sped. It is full of
+theories--I trust not unsupported by facts: some thought out on the
+plains of Southern Australia; some during many a solitary sleigh
+drive over frozen lakes in North America; some in the great forests
+of Central and South America; some on the wide ocean, with the
+firmament above and below blending together on the horizon; and
+some, again, in the bowels of the earth when seeking for her hidden
+riches. The thoughts are those of a lifetime compressed into a
+little book; and, like the genie of the Arabian tale, imprisoned in
+an urn, they may, when it is opened, grow and magnify, or, on the
+contrary, be kicked back into the sea of oblivion.
+
+This much is necessary; not to disarm criticism, but to excuse
+myself to those authors whose labours on some of the subjects I
+have treated of I may not have mentioned. I have, during my
+sojourns in England, worked hard to read up the literature of the
+various questions discussed, but I know there must be many
+oversights and omissions in referring to what others have done;
+especially with regard to continental writers, for I know no
+language but my mother-tongue; and their works, excepting where I
+have had access to translations, have been sealed books to me.
+
+I am indebted to Mr. H.W. Bates for much assistance, and especially
+for undertaking the superintendence of these sheets in their
+passage through the press; to Mr. W.C. Hewitson, of Oatlands Park,
+I am under many obligations, for taking charge of my entomological
+collections, for naming many of my butterflies, and for access to
+his magnificent collection of Diurnal Lepidoptera. Mr. Osbert
+Salvin and Dr. P.L. Sclater have named for me my collection of
+birds; and for much entomological information I am indebted to
+Professor Westwood, Mr. F. Smith, and Dr. D. Sharp; whilst, in
+botany, Professor D. Oliver, of Kew, has kindly named for me some
+of the plants. Through the assistance of these eminent authorities,
+I trust that the scientific names scattered throughout the book may
+be depended upon as correct.
+
+Nijni Novgorod,
+
+October 9th, 1873.
+
+
+
+THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.
+
+
+CHAPTER 1.
+
+Arrival at Greytown.
+The river San Juan.
+Silting up of the harbour.
+Crossing the bar.
+Lives lost on it.
+Sharks.
+Christopher Columbus.
+Appearance of the town.
+Trade.
+Healthiness of the town and its probable cause.
+Comparison between Greytown, Pernambuco, and Maceio.
+Wild fruits.
+Plants.
+Parrots, toucans, and tanagers.
+Butterflies and beetles.
+Mimetic forms.
+Alligators.
+Boy drowned at Blewfields by an alligator.
+Their method of catching wild pigs.
+
+At noon on the 15th February 1868, the R.M.S.S. "Solent," in which
+I was a passenger, anchored off Greytown, or San Juan del Norte,
+the Atlantic port of Nicaragua in Central America. We lay about a
+mile from the shore, and saw a low flat coast stretching before us.
+It was the delta of the river San Juan, into which flows the
+drainage of a great part of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and which is
+the outlet for the waters of the great lake of Nicaragua. Its
+watershed extends to within a few miles of the Pacific, for here
+the isthmus of Central America, as in the great continents to the
+north and south of it, sends off by far the largest portion of its
+drainage to the Atlantic. In the rainy season the San Juan is a
+noble river, and even in the dry months, from March to June, there
+is sufficient water coming down from the lake to keep open a fine
+harbour, if it were not that about twenty miles above its mouth it
+begins to dissipate its force by sending off a large branch called
+the Colorado river, and lower down parts with more of its waters by
+side channels. Twenty years ago the main body of water ran past
+Greytown; there was then a magnificent port, and large ships sailed
+up to the town, but for several years past the Colorado branch has
+been taking away more and more of its waters, and the port of
+Greytown has in consequence silted up. All ships now have to lie
+off outside, and a shallow and, in heavy weather, dangerous bar has
+to be crossed.* [* Greytown is still the headquarters of Nicaraguan
+trade with Europe and Eastern America though the attempts to
+improve the harbour by dredging and building jetties have had only
+partial success. Its great opportunity passed with the final
+abandonment, in favour of the Panama route, of the scheme for an
+inter-oceanic canal by way of the lakes, with its eastern terminus
+a mile to the north of the town at a spot which was named
+"America."]
+
+All we could see from the steamer was the sandy beach on which the
+white surf was breaking, a fringe of bushes with a few coco-nut
+palms holding up their feathery crowns, and in the distance a low
+background of dark foliage. Before we anchored a gun was fired, and
+in quick answer to the signal some canoes, paddled by negroes of
+the Mosquito coast, here called "Caribs," were seen crossing the
+bar, and in a few minutes were alongside. Getting into one of the
+canoes with my boxes, I was rapidly paddled towards the shore. When
+we reached the bar we were dexterously taken over it--the Caribs
+waited just outside until a higher wave than usual came rolling in,
+then paddling with all their might we were carried over on its
+crest, and found ourselves in the smooth water of the river.
+
+Many lives have been lost on this bar. In 1872 the commander of the
+United States surveying expedition and six of his men were drowned
+in trying to cross it in heavy weather. Only a few mangled remnants
+of their bodies were ever found; for what adds to the horror of an
+upset at this place, and perhaps has unnerved many a man at a
+critical moment, is that large sharks swarm about the entrance to
+the river. We saw the fin of one rising above the surface of the
+water as it swam lazily about, and the sailors of the mail steamers
+when lying off the port often amuse themselves by catching them
+with large hooks baited with pieces of meat. It is probable that it
+was at one of the mouths of the San Juan that Columbus, in his
+fourth voyage, lost a boat's crew who had been sent for wood and
+fresh water, and when returning were swamped on the bar. Columbus
+had rounded Cape Gracias a Dios four days before, and had sailed
+down the coast with a fair wind and tide, so that he might easily
+have reached the San Juan.
+
+Inside the bar we were in smooth water, for but a small stream is
+discharged by this channel. On our right was a sandy beach, on our
+left great beds of grass growing out of the shoal water--weedy
+banks filled up the once spacious harbour, and cattle waded amongst
+the long grass, where within the last twenty years a frigate has
+lain at anchor. Wading and aquatic birds were abundant in the
+marshes, amongst which white cranes and a chocolate-brown jacana,
+with lemon-yellow under wing, were the most conspicuous. A large
+alligator lazily crawled off a mud-spit into the water, where he
+floated, showing only his eyes and the pointed scales of his back
+above the surface. The town was now in full view--neat,
+white-painted houses, with plume-crowned palms rising amongst and
+over them, and we landed at one of several wooden wharves that jut
+into the river.
+
+Greytown, though only a small place, is one of the neatest tropical
+towns that I have visited. The houses, especially in the business
+portion of the town, are well built of wood, and painted white with
+brown roofs. Pretty flower gardens surround or front many of them.
+Others are nearly hidden amongst palms and bread-fruit, orange,
+mango, and other tropical fruit trees. A lovely creeper (Antigonon
+leptopus), with festoons of pink and rose-coloured flowers, adorns
+some of the gardens. It is called la vegessima, "the beautiful," by
+the natives, and I found it afterwards growing wild in the
+provinces of Matagalpa and Segovia, where it was one of the great
+favourites of the flower-loving Indians. The land at and around
+Greytown is perfectly level. The square, the open spaces, and many
+of the streets are covered with short grass that makes a beautiful
+sward to walk on.
+
+The trade in the town is almost entirely in the hands of foreign
+residents, amongst whom Mr. Hollenbeck, a citizen of the United
+States, is one of the most enterprising. A considerable import
+trade is done with the States and England. Coffee, indigo, hides,
+cacao, sugar, logwood, and india-rubber are the principal exports.
+I called on Dr. Green, the British Consul, and found him a most
+courteous and amiable gentleman, ready to afford protection or
+advice to his countrymen, and on very friendly terms with the
+native authorities. He has lived for many years in Nicaragua, and
+his many charitable kindnesses, and especially the medical
+assistance that he renders in all cases of emergency, free of
+charge, have made him very popular at Greytown. His beautiful house
+and grounds, with a fine avenue of coco-nut trees in full bearing,
+form one of the most attractive sights in Greytown. I found Mr.
+Paton, the vice-consul, equally obliging, and I am indebted to him
+for much information respecting the trade of the port, particularly
+with regard to the export of india-rubber, the development of which
+trade he was one of the first to encourage.
+
+Behind the town there is a long lagoon, and for several miles back
+the land is quite level, and interspersed with lakes and ponds with
+much marshy ground. Perfectly level, surrounded by swamps, and
+without any system of drainage, either natural or artificial,
+excepting such as the sandy soil affords, Greytown might be thought
+a very unhealthy site for a town. Notwithstanding, however, its
+apparent disadvantages, and that for nine months of the year it is
+subject to heavy tropical rains, it is comparatively healthy, and
+freer from fever than many places that appear at first sight better
+situated. Much is due to the porous sandy soil, but more I believe
+to what appears at first sight an element of danger, the perfect
+flatness of the ground. Where there are hills there must be
+hollows, and in these the air stagnates; whilst here, where the
+land is quite level, the trade winds that blow pretty constantly
+find their way to every part, and carry off the emanations from the
+soil. As a similar instance I may mention the city of Pernambuco,
+on the eastern coast of Brazil, containing 80,000 inhabitants. It
+is perfectly level like Greytown, surrounded and intersected with
+channels of water, above the level of which it only stands a few
+feet. The crowded parts of the town are noted for their evil smells
+and filth, but, though entirely without drainage, it is celebrated
+for its healthiness; whilst a little lower down the coast, the town
+of Maceio, situated about sixty feet above the sea, surrounded by
+undulating ranges and with a good natural drainage, is much more
+unhealthy, fevers being very prevalent. As at Greytown so at
+Pernambuco, the trade winds blow with much regularity, and there
+are neither hills nor hollows to interfere with the movements of
+the air, so that miasmatic exhalations cannot accumulate.
+
+Surrounding the cleared portions around Greytown is a scrubby bush,
+amongst which are many guayava trees (Psidium sp.) having a fruit
+like a small apple filled with seeds, of a sub-acid flavour, from
+which the celebrated guava jelly is made. The fruit itself often
+occasions severe fits of indigestion, and many of the natives will
+not swallow the small seeds, but only the pulpy portion, which is
+said to be harmless. I saw another fruit growing here, a yellow
+berry about the size of a cherry, called "Nancito" by the natives.
+It is often preserved by them with spirit and eaten like olives.
+Beyond the brushwood, which grows where the original forest has
+been cut down, there are large trees covered with numerous
+epiphytes--Tillandsias, orchids, ferns, and a hundred others, that
+make every big tree an aerial garden. Great arums perch on the
+forks and send down roots like cords to the ground, whilst lianas
+run from tree to tree or hang in loops and folds like the
+disordered tackle of a ship.
+
+Green parrots fly over in screaming flocks, or nestle in loving
+couples amidst the foliage, toucans hop along the branches, turning
+their long, highly-coloured beaks from side to side with an
+old-fashioned look, and beautiful tanagers (Ramphocaelus
+passerinii) frequent the outskirts of the forest, all velvety
+black, excepting a large patch of fiery-red above the tail, which
+renders the bird very conspicuous. It is only the male that is thus
+coloured, the female being clothed in a sober suit of
+greenish-brown. I think this bird is polygamous, for several of the
+brown ones were always seen with one of the red-and-black ones. The
+bright colours of the male must make it very conspicuous to birds
+of prey, and, probably in consequence, it is not nearly so bold as
+the obscurely-coloured females. When a clear space in the brushwood
+is to be crossed, such as a road, two or three of the females will
+fly across first, before the male will venture to do so, and he is
+always more careful to get himself concealed amongst the foliage
+than his mates.
+
+I walked some distance into the forest along swampy paths cut by
+charcoal burners, and saw many beautiful and curious insects.
+Amongst the numerous butterflies, large blue Morphos and narrow,
+weak-winged Heliconidae, striped and spotted with yellow, red, and
+black, were the most conspicuous and most characteristic of
+tropical America. Amongst the beetles I found a curious longicorn
+(Desmiphora fasciculata), covered with long brown and black hairs,
+and closely resembling some of the short, thick, hairy caterpillars
+that are common on the bushes. Other closely allied species hide
+under fallen branches and logs, but this one clung exposed amongst
+the leaves, its antennae concealed against its body, and its
+resemblance to a caterpillar so great, that I was at first deceived
+by it. It is well known that insectivorous birds will not touch a
+hairy caterpillar, and this is only one of numberless instances
+where insects, that have some special protection against their
+enemies, are closely imitated by others belonging to different
+genera, and even different orders. Thus, wasps and stinging ants
+have hosts of imitators amongst moths, beetles, and bugs, and I
+shall have many curious facts to relate concerning these mimetic
+resemblances. To those not acquainted with Mr. Bates's admirable
+remarks on mimetic forms, I must explain that we have to speak of
+one species imitating another, as if it were a conscious act, only
+on account of the poverty of our language. No such idea is
+entertained, and it would have been well if some new term had been
+adopted to express what is meant. These deceptive resemblances are
+supposed, by the advocates of the origin of species by natural
+selection, to have been brought about by varieties of one species
+somewhat resembling another having special means of protection, and
+preserved from their enemies in consequence of that unconscious
+imitation. The resemblance, which was perhaps at first only remote,
+is supposed to have been increased in the course of ages by the
+varieties being protected that more and more closely approached the
+species imitated, in form, colour, and movements. These
+resemblances are not only between insects of different genera and
+orders, but between insects and flowers, leaves, twigs, and bark of
+trees, and between insects and inanimate nature. They serve often
+for concealment, as when leaves are imitated by leaf-insects and
+many butterflies, or for a disguise that enables predatory species
+to get within reach of their prey, as in those spiders that
+resemble the petals of flowers amongst which they hide.
+
+(PLATE 1. ALLIGATORS IN SAN JUAN RIVER.)
+
+That I may not travel over the same ground twice, I may here
+mention that on a subsequent visit to Greytown I rode a few miles
+northward along the beach. On my return, I tied up the horse and
+walked about a mile over the sand-bank that extends down to the
+mouth of the river. A long, deep branch forms a favourite resort
+for alligators. At the far end of a sand-spit, near where some low
+trees grew, I saw several dark objects lying close to the water on
+the shelving banks. They were alligators basking in the sun. As I
+approached, most of them crawled into the water. Mr. Hollenbeck had
+been down a few days before shooting at them with a rifle, to try
+to get a skull of one of the monsters, and I passed a dead one that
+he had shot. As I walked up the beach, I saw many that were not
+less than fifteen feet in length. One lay motionless, and thinking
+it was another dead one, I was walking up to it, and had got within
+three yards, when I saw the film over its eye moving; otherwise it
+was quite still, and its teeth projecting beyond its lips added to
+its intense ugliness and appearance of death. There was no doubt,
+however, about the movement of the eye-covers, and I went back a
+short distance to look for a stick to throw at it; but when I
+turned again, the creature was just disappearing into the water. It
+is their habit to lie quite still, and catch animals that come near
+them. Whether or not it was waiting until I came within the swoop
+of its mighty tail I know not, but I had the feeling that I had
+escaped a great danger. It was curious that it should have been so
+bold only a few days after Mr. Hollenbeck had been down shooting at
+them. There were not less than twenty altogether, and they swam out
+into the middle of the inlet and floated about, looking like logs
+in the water, excepting that one stretched up its head and gave a
+bellow like a bull. They sometimes kill calves and young horses,
+and I was told of one that had seized a full-grown horse, but its
+struggles being observed, some natives ran down and saved it from
+being pulled into the water and drowned. I heard several stories of
+people being killed by them, but only one was well authenticated.
+This was told me by the head of the excellent Moravian Mission at
+Blewfields, who was a witness of the occurrence. He said that one
+Sunday, after service at their chapel at Blewfields, several of the
+youths went to bathe in the river, which was rather muddy at the
+time; the first to plunge in was a boy of twelve years of age, and
+he was immediately seized by a large alligator, and carried along
+under water. My informant and others followed in a canoe, and
+ultimately recovered the body, but life was extinct. The alligator
+cannot devour its prey beneath the water, but crawls on land with
+it after he has drowned it. They are said to catch wild pigs in the
+forest near the river by half burying themselves in the ground. The
+pigs come rooting amongst the soil, the alligator never moves until
+one gets within its reach, when it seizes it and hurries off to the
+river with it. They are often seen in hot weather on logs or
+sand-spits lying with their mouths wide open. The natives say they
+are catching flies, that numbers are attracted by the saliva of the
+mouth, and that when sufficient are collected, the alligator closes
+its jaws upon them, but I do not know that any reliance can be
+placed on the story. Probably it is an invention to account for the
+animals lying with their mouths open; as in all half-civilised
+countries I have visited I have found the natives seldom admit they
+do not know the reason of anything, but will invent an explanation
+rather than acknowledge their ignorance.
+
+
+CHAPTER 2.
+
+Commence journey up San Juan river.
+Palms and wild canes.
+Plantations.
+The Colorado river.
+Proposed improvement of the river.
+Progress of the delta.
+Mosquitoes.
+Disagreeable night.
+Fine morning.
+Vegetation of the banks.
+Seripiqui river.
+Mot-mots.
+Foraging ants: their method of hunting.
+Ant-thrushes.
+They attack the nests of other ants.
+Birds' nests, how preserved from them.
+Reasoning powers in ants.
+Parallel between the Mammalia and the Hymenoptera.
+Utopia.
+
+I FOUND at Greytown the mail-boat of the Chontales Gold-Mining
+Company, which came down monthly in charge of Captain Anderson, an
+Englishman who had knocked about all over the world. The crew
+consisted of four Mosquito negroes, who are celebrated on this
+coast for their skill as boatmen. Besides the crew, we were taking
+three other negroes up to the mines, and with my boxes we were
+rather uncomfortably crowded for a long journey. The canoe itself
+was made from the trunk of a cedar-tree (Cedrela odorata). It had
+been hollowed out of a single log, and the sides afterwards built
+up higher with planking. This makes a very strong boat, the
+strength and thickness being where it is most required, at the
+bottom, to withstand the thumping about amongst the rocks of the
+rapids. I was once in one, coming down a dangerous rapid on the
+river Gurupy, in Northern Brazil, when we were driven with the full
+force of the boiling stream broadside upon a rock, with such force
+that we were nearly all thrown down, but the strong canoe was
+uninjured, although no common boat could have withstood the shock.
+
+Having determined to go up the river in this boat, we took
+provisions with us for the voyage, and one of the negroes agreed to
+act as cook. Having arranged everything, and breakfasted with my
+kind friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hollenbeck, I bade them adieu, and
+settled myself into the small space in the canoe that I expected to
+occupy for six days. Captain Anderson took the helm, the "Caribs"
+dipped their paddles into the water, and away we glided into a
+narrow channel amongst long grass and rushes that almost touched us
+on either side. Greytown, with its neat white houses, and feathery
+palms, and large-leaved bread-fruit trees, was soon shut from our
+view, and our boatmen plying their paddles with the greatest
+dexterity and force, made the canoe shoot along through the still
+water. Soon we emerged into a wider channel where a stronger stream
+was running, and then we coasted along close to the shore to avoid
+the strength of the current. The banks at first were low and marshy
+and intersected by numerous channels; the principal tree was a
+long, coarse-leaved palm, and there were great beds of wild cane
+and grass, amongst which we occasionally saw curious green lizards,
+with leaf-like expansions (like those on the leaf-insects),
+assimilating them in appearance to the vegetation amongst which
+they sought their prey. As we proceeded up the river, the banks
+gradually became higher and drier, and we passed some small
+plantations of bananas and plantains made in clearings in the
+forest, which now consisted of a great variety of dicotyledonous
+trees with many tall, graceful palms; the undergrowth being ferns,
+small palms, Melastomae, Heliconiae, etc. The houses at the
+plantations were mostly miserable thatched huts with scarcely any
+furniture, the owners passing their time swinging in dirty
+hammocks, and occasionally taking down a canoe-load of plantains to
+Greytown for sale. It is one of the rarest sights to see any of
+these squatters at work. Their plantain patch and occasionally some
+fish from the river suffice to keep them alive and indolent.
+
+At seven o'clock we reached the Colorado branch, which carries off
+the greater part of the waters of the San Juan to the sea. This is
+about twenty miles above Greytown, but only eighteen by the
+Colorado to the sea, and is near the head of the delta, as I have
+already mentioned. The main body of water formerly flowed down past
+Greytown, and kept the harbour there open, but a few years ago,
+during a heavy flood, the river greatly enlarged and deepened the
+entrance to the Colorado Channel, and since then year by year the
+Greytown harbour has been silting up. Now (I am writing in 1873)
+there is twelve feet of water on the bar at the Colorado in the
+height of the dry season, whilst at Greytown the outlet of the
+river is sometimes closed altogether. The merchants at Greytown
+have entertained the project of dredging out the channel again, but
+now that the river has found a nearer way to the sea by the
+Colorado this would be a herculean task, and it would cost much
+less money to move the whole town to the Colorado, where by
+dredging the bar a fine harbour might easily be made, but
+unfortunately the Colorado is in Costa Rica, the Greytown branch in
+Nicaragua, and there are constant bickerings between the two states
+respecting the outlet of this fine river, which make any
+well-considered scheme for the improvement of it impracticable at
+present. A sensible solution of the difficulty would be a
+federation of the two small republics. The heads of the political
+parties in the two countries see, however, in this a danger to
+their petty ambitions, and will not risk the step, and so the
+boundary question remains an open one, threatening at any moment to
+plunge the two countries into an impoverishing war.
+
+If the Colorado were not to be interfered with by man, it would, in
+the course of ages, carry down great quantities of mud, sand, and
+trunks of trees, and gradually form sandbanks at its mouth, pushing
+out the delta further and further at this point, until it was
+greatly in advance of the rest of the coast; the river would then
+break through again by some nearer channel, and the Colorado would
+be silted up as the Lower San Juan is being at present. The
+numerous half filled-up channels and long lagoons throughout the
+delta show the various courses the river has at different times
+taken.
+
+Our boatmen paddled on until nine o'clock, when we anchored in the
+middle of the stream, which was here about one hundred yards wide.
+Distant as we were from the shore, we were not too far for the
+mosquitoes, which came off in myriads to the banquet upon our
+blood. Sleep for me was impossible, and to add to the discomfort,
+the rain came down in torrents. We had an old tarpaulin with us,
+but it was full of holes, and let in the water in little streams,
+so that I was soon soaked to the skin. Altogether, with the
+streaming wet and the mosquitoes, it was one of the most
+uncomfortable nights I have ever passed.
+
+The waning moon was sufficiently high at four o'clock to allow us
+to bring the long dreary night to an end, and to commence paddling
+up the river again. As the day broke the rain ceased, the mists
+cleared away, our spirits revived, and we forgot our discomforts of
+the night in admiration of the beauties of the river. The banks
+were hidden by a curtain of creeping and twining plants, many of
+which bore beautiful flowers, and the green was further varied here
+and there by the white stems of the cecropia trees. Now and then we
+passed more open spots, affording glimpses into the forest, where
+grew, in the dark shade, slender-stemmed palms and beautiful
+tree-ferns, contrasting with the great leaves of the Heliconiae. At
+seven we breakfasted on a sand-bank, and got our clothes and
+blankets dried. There were numerous tracks of alligators, but it
+was too early to look for their eggs in the sand; a month later, in
+March, when the river falls, they are found in abundance, and eaten
+by the canoe-men. At noon we reached the point where the Seripiqui,
+a river coming down from the interior of Costa Rica, joins the San
+Juan about thirty miles above Greytown. The Seripiqui is navigable
+by canoes for about twenty miles from this point, and then
+commences a rough mountain mule-track to San Jose, the capital of
+Costa Rica. We paddled on all the afternoon with little change in
+the river. At eight we anchored for the night, and although it
+rained heavily again, I was better prepared for it, and, coiling
+myself up under an umbrella beneath the tarpaulin, managed to sleep
+a little.
+
+We started again before daylight, and at ten stopped at a small
+clearing for breakfast. I strolled back a little way into the
+gloomy forest, but it was not easy to get along on account of the
+undergrowth and numerous climbing plants that bound it together. I
+saw one of the large olive-green and brown mot-mots (Momotus
+martii), sitting upon a branch of a tree, moving its long curious
+tail from side to side, until it was nearly at right angles to its
+body. I afterwards saw other species in the forests and savannahs
+of Chontales. They all have several characters in common, linked
+together in a series of gradations. One of these features is a spot
+of black feathers on the breast. In some species this is edged with
+blue, in others, as in the one mentioned above, these black
+feathers form only a small black spot nearly hidden amongst the
+rust-coloured feathers of the breast. Characters such as these,
+very conspicuous in some species, shading off in others through
+various gradations to insignificance, if not extinction, are known
+by naturalists to occur in numerous genera; and so far they have
+only been explained on the supposition of the descent of the
+different species from a common progenitor.
+
+(PLATE 3. HEADS OF MOT-MOTS.)
+
+As I returned to the boat, I crossed a column of the army or
+foraging ants, many of them dragging along the legs and mangled
+bodies of insects that they had captured in their foray. I
+afterwards often encountered these ants in the forests and it may
+be convenient to place together all the facts I learnt respecting
+them.
+
+ECITONS, OR FORAGING ANTS.
+
+The Ecitons, or foraging ants, are very numerous throughout Central
+America. Whilst the leaf-cutting ants are entirely vegetable
+feeders, the foraging ants are hunters, and live solely on insects
+or other prey; and it is a curious analogy that, like the hunting
+races of mankind, they have to change their hunting-grounds when
+one is exhausted, and move on to another. In Nicaragua they are
+generally called "Army Ants." One of the smaller species (Eciton
+predator) used occasionally to visit our house, swarm over the
+floors and walls, searching every cranny, and driving out the
+cockroaches and spiders, many of which were caught, pulled or
+bitten to pieces, and carried off. The individuals of this species
+are of various sizes; the smallest measuring one and a quarter
+lines, and the largest three lines, or a quarter of an inch.
+
+I saw many large armies of this, or a closely allied species, in
+the forest. My attention was generally first called to them by the
+twittering of some small birds, belonging to several different
+species, that follow the ants in the woods. On approaching to
+ascertain the cause of this disturbance, a dense body of the ants,
+three or four yards wide, and so numerous as to blacken the ground,
+would be seen moving rapidly in one direction, examining every
+cranny, and underneath every fallen leaf. On the flanks, and in
+advance of the main body, smaller columns would be pushed out.
+These smaller columns would generally first flush the cockroaches,
+grasshoppers, and spiders. The pursued insects would rapidly make
+off, but many, in their confusion and terror, would bound right
+into the midst of the main body of ants. A grasshopper, finding
+itself in the midst of its enemies, would give vigorous leaps, with
+perhaps two or three of the ants clinging to its legs. Then it
+would stop a moment to rest, and that moment would be fatal, for
+the tiny foes would swarm over the prey, and after a few more
+ineffectual struggles it would succumb to its fate, and soon be
+bitten to pieces and carried off to the rear. The greatest catch of
+the ants was, however, when they got amongst some fallen brushwood.
+The cockroaches, spiders, and other insects, instead of running
+right away, would ascend the fallen branches and remain there,
+whilst the host of ants were occupying all the ground below. By and
+by up would come some of the ants, following every branch, and
+driving before them their prey to the ends of the small twigs, when
+nothing remained for them but to leap, and they would alight in the
+very throng of their foes, with the result of being certainly
+caught and pulled to pieces. Many of the spiders would escape by
+hanging suspended by a thread of silk from the branches, safe from
+the foes that swarmed both above and below.
+
+I noticed that spiders were generally most intelligent in escaping,
+and did not, like the cockroaches and other insects, take shelter
+in the first hiding-place they found, only to be driven out again,
+or perhaps caught by the advancing army of ants. I have often seen
+large spiders making off many yards in advance, and apparently
+determined to put a good distance between themselves and their foe.
+I once saw one of the false spiders, or harvest-men (Phalangidae),
+standing in the midst of an army of ants, and with the greatest
+circumspection and coolness lifting, one after the other, its long
+legs, which supported its body above their reach. Sometimes as many
+as five out of its eight legs would be lifted at once, and whenever
+an ant approached one of those on which it stood, there was always
+a clear space within reach to put down another, so as to be able to
+hold up the threatened one out of danger.
+
+I was much more surprised with the behaviour of a green, leaf-like
+locust. This insect stood immovably amongst a host of ants, many of
+which ran over its legs, without ever discovering there was food
+within their reach. So fixed was its instinctive knowledge that its
+safety depended on its immovability, that it allowed me to pick it
+up and replace it amongst the ants without making a single effort
+to escape. This species closely resembles a green leaf, and the
+other senses, which in the Ecitons appear to be more acute than
+that of sight, must have been completely deceived. It might easily
+have escaped from the ants by using its wings, but it would only
+have fallen into as great a danger, for the numerous birds that
+accompany the army ants are ever on the look out for any insect
+that may fly up, and the heavy flying locusts, grasshoppers, and
+cockroaches have no chance of escape. Several species of
+ant-thrushes always accompany the army ants in the forest. They do
+not, however, feed on the ants, but on the insects they disturb.
+Besides the ant-thrushes, trogons, creepers, and a variety of other
+birds, are often seen on the branches of trees above where an ant
+army is foraging below, pursuing and catching the insects that fly
+up.
+
+The insects caught by the ants are dismembered, and their too bulky
+bodies bitten to pieces and carried off to the rear. Behind the
+army there are always small columns engaged on this duty. I have
+followed up these columns often; generally they led to dense masses
+of impenetrable brushwood, but twice they led me to cracks in the
+ground, down which the ants dragged their prey. These habitations
+are only temporary, for in a few days not an ant would be seen in
+the neighbourhood; all would have moved off to fresh
+hunting-grounds.
+
+Another much larger species of foraging ant (__Eciton hamata__) hunts
+sometimes in dense armies, sometimes in columns, according to the
+prey it may be after. When in columns, I found that it was
+generally, if not always, in search of the nests of another ant
+(Hypoclinea sp.), which rear their young in holes in rotten trunks
+of fallen timber, and are very common in cleared places. The
+Ecitons hunt about in columns, which branch off in various
+directions. When a fallen log is reached, the column spreads out
+over it, searching through all the holes and cracks. The workers
+are of various sizes, and the smallest are here of use, for they
+squeeze themselves into the narrowest holes, and search out their
+prey in the furthest ramifications of the nests. When a nest of the
+Hypoclinea is attacked, the ants rush out, carrying the larvae and
+pupae in their jaws, only to be immediately despoiled of them by
+the Ecitons, which are running about in every direction with great
+swiftness. Whenever they come across a Hypoclinea carrying a larva
+or pupa, they capture the burden so quickly, that I could never
+ascertain exactly how it was done.
+
+As soon as an Eciton gets hold of its prey, it rushes off back
+along the advancing column, which is composed of two sets, one
+hurrying forward, the other returning laden with their booty, but
+all and always in the greatest haste and apparent hurry. About the
+nest which they are harrying everything is confusion, Ecitons run
+here and there and everywhere in the greatest haste and disorder;
+but the result of all this apparent confusion is that scarcely a
+single Hypoclinea gets away with a pupa or larva. I never saw the
+Ecitons injure the Hypoclineas themselves, they were always
+contented with despoiling them of their young. The ant that is
+attacked is a very cowardly species, and never shows fight. I often
+found it running about sipping at the glands of leaves, or milking
+aphides, leaf-hoppers, or scale-insects that it found unattended by
+other ants. On the approach of another, though of a much smaller
+species, it would immediately run away. Probably this cowardly and
+un-antly disposition has caused it to become the prey of the Eciton.
+At any rate, I never saw the Ecitons attack the nest of other
+species.
+
+The moving columns of Ecitons are composed almost entirely of
+workers of different sizes, but at intervals of two or three yards
+there are larger and lighter-coloured individuals that will often
+stop, and sometimes run a little backward, halting and touching
+some of the ants with their antennae. They look like officers
+giving orders and directing the march of the column.
+
+This species is often met with in the forest, not in quest of one
+particular form of prey, but hunting, like _Eciton predator_, only
+spread out over a much greater space of ground. Crickets,
+grasshoppers, scorpions, centipedes, wood-lice, cockroaches, and
+spiders are driven out from below the fallen leaves and branches.
+Many of them are caught by the ants; others that get away are
+picked up by the numerous birds that accompany the ants, as
+vultures follow the armies of the East. The ants send off exploring
+parties up the trees, which hunt for nests of wasps, bees, and
+probably birds. If they find any, they soon communicate the
+intelligence to the army below, and a column is sent up immediately
+to take possession of the prize. I have seen them pulling out the
+larvae and pupae from the cells of a large wasp's nest, whilst the
+wasps hovered about, powerless, before the multitude of the
+invaders, to render any protection to their young.
+
+I have no doubt that many birds have acquired instincts to combat
+or avoid the great danger to which their young are exposed by the
+attacks of these and other ants. Trogons, parrots, toucans,
+mot-mots, and many other birds build in holes of trees or in the
+ground, and these, with their heads ever turned to the only
+entrance, are in the best possible position to pick off singly the
+scouts when they approach, thus effectually preventing them from
+carrying to the main army intelligence about the nest. Some of
+these birds, and especially the toucans, have bills beautifully
+adapted for picking up the ants before they reach the nest. Many of
+the smaller birds build on the branches of the bull's-horn thorn,
+which is always thickly covered with small stinging honey-eating
+ants, that would not allow the Ecitons to ascend these trees.
+
+Amongst the mammalia the opossums can convey their young out of
+danger in their pouches, and the females of many of the tree-rats
+and mice have a hard callosity near the teats, to which the young
+cling with their milk teeth, and can be dragged away by the mother
+to a place of safety.
+
+The eyes in the Ecitons are very small, in some of the species
+imperfect, and in others entirely absent; in this they differ
+greatly from those ants which hunt singly, and which have the eyes
+greatly developed. The imperfection of eyesight in the Ecitons is
+an advantage to the community, and to their particular mode of
+hunting. It keeps them together, and prevents individual ants from
+starting off alone after objects that, if their eyesight were
+better, they might discover at a distance. The Ecitons and most
+other ants follow each other by scent, and, I believe, they can
+communicate the presence of danger, of booty, or other
+intelligence, to a distance by the different intensity or qualities
+of the odours given off. I one day saw a column of __Eciton hamata__
+running along the foot of a nearly perpendicular tramway cutting,
+the side of which was about six feet high. At one point I noticed a
+sort of assembly of about a dozen individuals that appeared in
+consultation. Suddenly one ant left the conclave, and ran with
+great speed up the perpendicular face of the cutting without
+stopping. It was followed by others, which, however, did not keep
+straight on like the first, but ran a short way, then returned,
+then again followed a little further than the first time. They were
+evidently scenting the trail of the pioneer, and making it
+permanently recognisable. These ants followed the exact line taken
+by the first one, although it was far out of sight. Wherever it had
+made a slight detour they did so likewise. I scraped with my knife
+a small portion of the clay on the trail, and the ants were
+completely at fault for a time which way to go. Those ascending and
+those descending stopped at the scraped portion, and made short
+circuits until they hit the scented trail again, when all their
+hesitation vanished, and they ran up and down it with the greatest
+confidence. On gaining the top of the cutting, the ants entered
+some brushwood suitable for hunting. In a very short space of time
+the information was communicated to the ants below, and a dense
+column rushed up to search for their prey.
+
+The Ecitons are singular amongst the ants in this respect, that
+they have no fixed habitations, but move on from one place to
+another, as they exhaust the hunting grounds around them. I think
+_Eciton hamata_ does not stay more than four or five days in one
+place. I have sometimes come across the migratory columns. They may
+easily be known by all the common workers moving in one direction,
+many of them carrying the larvae and pupae carefully in their jaws.
+Here and there one of the light-coloured officers moves backwards
+and forwards directing the columns. Such a column is of enormous
+length, and contains many thousands, if not millions of
+individuals. I have sometimes followed them up for two or three
+hundred yards without getting to the end.
+
+They make their temporary habitations in hollow trees, and
+sometimes underneath large fallen trunks that offer suitable
+hollows. A nest that I came across in the latter situation was open
+at one side. The ants were clustered together in a dense mass, like
+a great swarm of bees, hanging from the roof, but reaching to the
+ground below. Their innumerable long legs looked like brown threads
+binding together the mass, which must have been at least a cubic
+yard in bulk, and contained hundreds of thousands of individuals,
+although many columns were outside, some bringing in the pupae of
+ants, others the legs and dissected bodies of various insects. I
+was surprised to see in this living nest tubular passages leading
+down to the centre of the mass, kept open just as if it had been
+formed of inorganic materials. Down these holes the ants who were
+bringing in booty passed with their prey. I thrust a long stick
+down to the centre of the cluster, and brought out clinging to it
+many ants holding larvae and pupae, which probably were kept warm
+by the crowding together of the ants. Besides the common
+dark-coloured workers and light-coloured officers, I saw here many
+still larger individuals with enormous jaws. These they go about
+holding wide open in a threatening manner, and I found, contrary to
+my expectation, that they could give a severe bite with them, and
+that it was difficult to withdraw the jaws from the skin again.
+
+One day when watching a small column of these ants, I placed a
+little stone on one of the ants to secure it. The next that
+approached, as soon as it discovered the situation of the prisoner,
+ran backwards in an agitated manner, and communicated the
+intelligence to the others. They rushed to the rescue, some bit at
+the stone and tried to move it, others seized the captive by the
+legs, and tugged with such force that I thought the legs would be
+pulled off, but they persevered until they freed it. I next covered
+one up with a piece of clay, leaving only the ends of its antennae
+projecting. It was soon discovered by its fellows, which set to
+work immediately, and by biting off pieces of the clay, soon
+liberated it. Another time I found a very few of them passing along
+at intervals. I confined one of these under a piece of clay, at a
+little distance from the line, with his head projecting. Several
+ants passed it, but at last one discovered it and tried to pull it
+out, but could not. It immediately set off at a great rate, and I
+thought it had deserted its comrade, but it had only gone for
+assistance, for in a short time about a dozen ants came hurrying
+up, evidently fully informed of the circumstances of the case, for
+they made directly for their imprisoned comrade, and soon set him
+free. I do not see how this action could be instinctive. It was
+sympathetic help, such as man only among the higher mammalia shows.
+The excitement and ardour with which they carried on their
+unflagging exertions for the rescue of their comrade could not have
+been greater if they had been human beings, and this to meet a
+danger that can be only of the rarest occurrence. Amongst the ants
+of Central America I place the Eciton as the first in intelligence,
+and as such at the head of the Articulata. Wasps and bees come next
+to ants, and then others of the Hymenoptera. Between ants and the
+lower forms of insects there is a greater difference in reasoning
+powers than there is between man and the lowest mammalian. A recent
+writer has argued that of all animals ants approach nearest to man
+in their social condition.* (*Houzeau, "Etudes sur les Facultes
+mentales des Animaux comparees a celles de l'Homme.") Perhaps if we
+could learn their wonderful language we should find that even in
+their mental condition they also rank next to humanity.
+
+I shall relate two more instances of the use of a reasoning faculty
+in these ants. I once saw a wide column trying to pass along a
+crumbling, nearly perpendicular, slope. They would have got very
+slowly over it, and many of them would have fallen, but a number
+having secured their hold, and reaching to each other, remained
+stationary, and over them the main column passed. Another time they
+were crossing a water-course along a small branch, not thicker than
+a goose-quill. They widened this natural bridge to three times its
+width by a number of ants clinging to it and to each other on each
+side, over which the column passed three or four deep. Except for
+this expedient they would have had to pass over in single file, and
+treble the time would have been consumed. Can it not be contended
+that such insects are able to determine by reasoning powers which
+is the best way of doing a thing, and that their actions are guided
+by thought and reflection? This view is much strengthened by the
+fact that the cerebral ganglia in ants are more developed than in
+any other insect, and that in all the Hymenoptera, at the head of
+which they stand, "they are many times larger than in the less
+intelligent orders, such as beetles."* (* Darwin, "Descent of Man"
+volume 1 page 145.)
+
+The Hymenoptera standing at the head of the Articulata, and the
+Mammalia at the head of the Vertebrata, it is curious to mark how,
+in geological history, the appearance and development of these two
+orders (culminating, one in the Ants; the other in the Primates)
+run parallel. The Hymenoptera and the Mammalia both make their
+first appearance early in the secondary period, and it is not until
+the commencement of the tertiary epoch that ants and monkeys appear
+upon the scene. There the parallel ends. No one species of ant has
+attained any great superiority above all its fellows, whilst man is
+very far in advance of all the other Primates.
+
+When we see these intelligent insects dwelling together in orderly
+communities of many thousands of individuals, their social
+instincts developed to a high degree of perfection, making their
+marches with the regularity of disciplined troops, showing
+ingenuity in the crossing of difficult places, assisting each other
+in danger, defending their nests at the risk of their own lives,
+communicating information rapidly to a great distance, making a
+regular division of work, the whole community taking charge of the
+rearing of the young, and all imbued with the strongest sense of
+industry, each individual labouring not for itself alone but also
+for its fellows--we may imagine that Sir Thomas More's description
+of Utopia might have been applied with greater justice to such a
+community than to any human society. "But in Utopia, where every
+man has a right to everything, they do all know that if care is
+taken to keep the public stores full, no private man can want
+anything; for among them there is no unequal distribution, so that
+no man is poor, nor in any necessity, and though no man has
+anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as
+to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties, neither
+apprehending want himself, nor vexed with the endless complaints of
+his wife? He is not afraid of the misery of his children, nor is he
+contriving how to raise a portion for his daughters, but is secure
+in this, that both he and his wife, his children and grandchildren,
+to as many generations as he can fancy, will all live both
+plentifully and happily."
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.
+
+Journey up river continued.
+Wild pigs and jaguar.
+Bungos.
+Reach Machuca.
+Castillo.
+Capture of Castillo by Nelson.
+India-rubber trade.
+Rubber-men.
+Method of making india-rubber.
+Congo monkeys.
+Macaws.
+The Savallo river.
+Endurance of the boatmen.
+San Carlos.
+Interoceanic canal.
+Advantages of the Nicaraguan route.
+The Rio Frio.
+Stories about the wild Indians.
+Indian captive children.
+Expeditions up the Rio Frio.
+American river steamboats.
+
+AFTER breakfast we again continued our voyage up the river, and
+passed the mouth of the San Carlos, another large stream running
+down from the interior of Costa Rica. Soon after we heard some wild
+pigs (Dicoteles tajacu) or Wari, as they are called by the natives,
+striking their teeth together in the wood, and one of the boatmen
+leaping on shore soon shot one, which he brought on board after
+cutting out a gland on its back that emits a musky odour, and we
+afterwards had it cooked for our dinner. These Wari go in herds of
+from fifty to one hundred. They are said to assist each other
+against the attacks of the jaguar, but that wary animal is too
+intelligent for them. He sits quietly upon a branch of a tree until
+the Wari come underneath; then jumping down kills one by breaking
+its neck; leaps up into the tree again and waits there until the
+herd depart, when he comes down and feeds on the slaughtered Wari
+in quietness. We shortly afterwards passed one of the large boats
+called bungos, that carry down to Greytown the produce of the
+country and take up merchandise and flour. This one was laden with
+cattle and india-rubber. The bungos are flat-bottomed boats, about
+forty feet long and nine feet wide. There is generally a little
+cabin, roofed over at the stern, in which the wife of the captain
+lives. The bungo is poled along by twelve bungo-men, who have
+usually only one suit of clothes each, which they do not wear
+during the day, but keep stowed away under the cargo that it may be
+dry to put on at night. Their bronzed, glistening, naked bodies, as
+they ply their long poles together in unison, and chant some
+Spanish boat-song, is one of the things that linger in the memory
+of the traveller up the San Juan. Our boatmen paddled and poled
+until eleven at night, when we reached Machuca, a settlement
+consisting of a single house, just below the rapids of the same
+name, seventy-miles above Greytown.
+
+We breakfasted at Machuca before starting next morning, and I
+walked up round the rapids and met the canoe above them. About five
+o'clock, after paddling all day, we came in sight of Castillo,
+where there is an old ruined Spanish fort perched on the top of a
+hill overlooking the little town, which lies along the foot of the
+steep hill; hemmed in between it and the river, so that there is
+only room for one narrow street. It was near Castillo that Nelson
+lost his eye. He took the fort by landing about half a mile lower
+down the river, and dragging his guns round to a hill behind it by
+which it was commanded. This hill is now cleared of timber and
+covered with grass, supporting a few cows and a great many goats.
+In front of the town run the rapids of Castillo, which are
+difficult to ascend, and as there is no road round them excepting
+through the town of Castillo, advantage has been taken of the
+situation to fix the custom-house there, where are collected the
+duties on all articles going up to the interior. The first view of
+Castillo when coming up the river is a fine one. The fort-crowned
+hill and the little town clinging to its foot form the centre of
+the picture. The clear, sparkling, dancing rapids on one side
+contrast with the still, dark forest on the other, whilst the whole
+is relieved by the bright green grassy hills in the background.
+This view is the only pleasant recollection I have carried away of
+the place. The single street is narrow, dirty, and rugged, and when
+the shades of evening begin to creep up, swarms of mosquitoes issue
+forth to buzz and bite.
+
+I here made the acquaintance of colonel McCrae, who was largely
+concerned in the india-rubber trade. He afterwards distinguished
+himself during the revolutionary outbreak of 1869. He collected the
+rubber men and came to the assistance of the government, helping
+greatly to put down the insurrection. Originally a British subject,
+but now a naturalised Nicaraguan, he has filled with great credit
+for some time the post of deputy-governor of Greytown, and I always
+heard him spoken of with great esteem both by Nicaraguans and
+foreigners. He showed to me pieces of cordage, pottery, and stone
+implements brought down by the rubber men from the wild Indians of
+the Rio Frio. Castillo is one of the centres of the rubber trade.
+Parties of men are here fitted out with canoes and provisions, and
+proceed up the rivers, far into the uninhabited forests of the
+Atlantic slope. They remain for several months away, and are
+expected to bring the rubber they obtain to the merchants who have
+fitted them out, but very many prove faithless, and carry off their
+produce to other towns, where they have no difficulty in finding
+purchasers. Notwithstanding these losses, the merchants engaged in
+the rubber trade have done well; its steadily increasing value
+during the last few years having made the business a highly
+remunerative one. According to the information supplied to me at
+Greytown by Mr. Paton, the exports of rubber from that port had
+increased from 401,475 pounds, valued at 112,413 dollars, in 1867,
+to 754,886 pounds, valued at 226,465 dollars, in 1871. India-rubber
+was well-known to the ancient inhabitants of Central America.
+Before the Spanish conquest the Mexicans played with balls made
+from it, and it still bears its Aztec name of Ulli, from which the
+Spaniards call the collectors of it Ulleros. It is obtained from
+quite a different tree, and prepared in a different manner, from
+the rubber of the Amazons. The latter is taken from the Siphonia
+elastica, a Euphorbiaceous tree; but in Central America the tree
+that yields it it is a species of wild fig (Castilloa elastica). It
+is easily known by its large leaves, and I saw several whilst
+ascending the river. When the collectors find an untapped one in
+the forest, they first make a ladder out of the lianas or "vejuccos
+" that hang from every tree; this they do by tying short pieces of
+wood across them with small lianas, many of which are as tough as
+cord. They then proceed to score the bark, with cuts which extend
+nearly round the tree like the letter V, the point being downwards.
+A cut like this is made about every three feet all the way up the
+trunk. The milk will all run out of a tree in about an hour after
+it is cut, and is collected into a large tin bottle made flat on
+one side and furnished with straps to fix on to a man's back. A
+decoction is made from a liana (Calonyction speciosum), and this on
+being added to the milk, in the proportion of one pint to a gallon,
+coagulates it to rubber, which is made into round flat cakes. A
+large tree, five feet in diameter, will yield when first cut about
+twenty gallons of milk, each gallon of which makes two and a half
+pounds of rubber. I was told that the tree recovers from the wounds
+and may be cut again after the lapse of a few months; but several
+that I saw were killed through the large Harlequin beetle
+(Acrocinus longimanus) laying its eggs in the cuts, and the grubs
+that are hatched boring great holes all through the trunk. When
+these grubs are at work you can hear their rasping by standing at
+the bottom of the tree, and the wood-dust thrown out of their
+burrows accumulates in heaps on the ground below. The government
+attempts no supervision of the forests: any one may cut the trees,
+and great destruction is going on amongst them through the young
+ones being tapped as well as the full-grown ones. The tree grows
+very quickly, and plantations of it might easily be made, which
+would in the course of ten or twelve years become highly
+remunerative.
+
+We left Castillo at daylight the next morning, and continued our
+journey up the river. Its banks presented but little change. We saw
+many tall graceful palms and tree ferns, but most of the trees were
+dicotyledons. Amongst these the mahogany (Swietonia mahogani) and
+the cedar (Cedrela odorata) are now rare near the river, but a few
+such trees were pointed out to me. High up in one tree, underneath
+which we passed, were seated some of the black congo monkeys
+(Mycetes palliatus) which at times, especially before rain and at
+nightfall, make a fearful howling, though not so loud as the
+Brazilian species. Screaming macaws, in their gorgeous livery of
+blue, yellow, and scarlet, occasionally flew overhead, and tanagers
+and toucans were not uncommon.
+
+Twelve miles above Castillo we reached the mouth of the Savallo,
+and stayed at a house there to breakfast, the owner, a German,
+giving us roast wari, fowls, and eggs. He told me that there was a
+hot spring up the Savallo, but I had not time to go and see it.
+Above Savallo the San Juan is deep and sluggish, the banks low and
+swampy. The large palm, so common in the delta of the river, here
+reappeared with its great coarse leaves twenty feet in length,
+springing from near the ground.
+
+Our boatmen continued to paddle all day, and as night approached
+redoubled their exertions, singing to the stroke of their paddles.
+I was astonished at their endurance. They kept on until eleven
+o'clock at night, when we reached San Carlos, having accomplished
+about thirty-five miles during the day against the current. San
+Carlos is at the head of the river, where it issues from the great
+lake of Nicaragua, about one hundred and twenty miles from
+Greytown. The mean level of the waters of the lake, according to
+the survey of Colonel O.W. Childs, in 1851, is 107 1/2 feet, so
+that the river falls on an average a little less than one foot per
+mile. The height of the lowest pass between the lake and the
+Pacific is said to be twenty-six feet above the lake, therefore at
+that point the highest elevation between the two oceans is only
+about 133 feet; but even allowing that an error of a few feet may
+be discovered when a thorough survey is made across from sea to
+sea, there can be no doubt that at this point occurs the lowest
+pass between the Atlantic and the Pacific in Central America. This
+fact, and the immense natural reservoir of water near the head of
+the navigation, point out the route as a practicable one for a ship
+canal between the two oceans.
+
+Instead of cutting a canal from the head of the delta of the San
+Juan to the sea, as has been proposed, the Colorado branch might be
+straightened, and dredged to the required depth. Higher up, the
+Torre, Castillo, and Machuca Rapids form natural dams across the
+river. These might be raised, locks formed round them, and the
+water deepened by dredging between them. In this way the great
+expense of cutting a canal, and the fearful mortality that always
+arises amongst the labourers when excavations are made in the
+virgin soil of the tropics, especially in marshy lands, would be
+greatly lessened between the lake and the Atlantic. Another great
+advantage would be that the deepening of the river could be
+effected by steam power, so that it would not be necessary to bring
+such a multitude of labourers to the isthmus as would be required
+if a canal were cut from the river; the whole track, moreover,
+passes through virgin forests rich in inexhaustible supplies of
+fuel.* (* The commission appointed by the United States Government
+to examine into the practicability of making a canal across the
+isthmus reported in favour of the Nicaraguan route, and the work
+was begun at Greytown in 1889. But after an expenditure of 4,500,
+000 dollars, the scheme was abandoned, for political reasons, in
+favour of the Panama route.)
+
+San Carlos is a small town at the foot of the great lake, where it
+empties its waters into the San Juan river, its only outlet to the
+ocean. On a hill behind the town, and commanding the entrance to
+the river, are the ruins of a once strong fort built by the
+Spaniards, the crumbling walls now green with the delicate fronds
+of a maiden hair fern (Adiantum). The little town consists of a
+single rugged street leading up from the lake. The houses are
+mostly palm-thatched huts, with the bare earth floors seldom or
+never swept. The people are of mixed origin, Indian, Spanish, and
+Negro, the Indian element predominating. Two or three better built
+stores, and the quarters of the military governor, redeem the place
+from an appearance of utter squalor. Behind the town there are a
+few small clearings in the forest, where maize is grown. Some
+orange, banana, and plantain trees exhaust the list of the
+productions of San Carlos, which is supported by being a calling
+place for all vessels proceeding up and down the river, and by the
+Ulleros or rubber-men who start from it for expeditions up the Rio
+Frio and other rivers. We found there two men who had just been
+brought down the Rio Frio by their companions, greatly injured, by
+the lianas up which they had made their ladder to ascend one of the
+rubber trees, having broken and precipitated them to the ground. I
+learnt that this was a very unusual accident, the lianas generally
+being very tough and strong, like great cables.
+
+Most fabulous stories have been told about the Rio Frio and its
+inhabitants; stories of great cities, golden ornaments, and
+light-haired people, and it may be useful to relate what is known
+about it.
+
+The Rio Frio comes down from the interior of Costa Rica, and joins
+the San Juan, near where the latter issues from the lake. The banks
+of its upper waters are inhabited by a race of Indians who have
+never been subjugated by the Spaniards, and about whom very little
+is known. They are called Guatuses, and have been said to have red
+or light-coloured hair and European features, to account for which
+various ingenious theories have been advanced; but, unfortunately
+for these speculations, some children, and even adults, have been
+captured and brought down the river by the Ulleros, and all these
+have the usual features and coarse black hair of the Indians. One
+little child that Dr. Seemann and I saw at San Carlos, in 1870, had
+a few brownish hairs amongst the great mass of black ones; but this
+character may be found amongst many of the indigenes, and may
+result from a very slight admixture of foreign blood. I have seen
+altogether five children from the Rio Frio, and a boy about sixteen
+years of age, and they had all the common Indian features and hair;
+though it struck me that they appeared rather more intelligent than
+the generality of Indians. Besides these, an adult woman was
+captured by the rubber-men and brought down to Castillo, and I was
+told by several who had seen her that she did not differ in any way
+from the usual Indian type.
+
+The Guatuse (pronounced Watusa) is an animal about the size of a
+hare, very common in Central America, and good eating. It has
+reddish-brown fur, and the usual explanation of the Nicaraguans is
+that the Indians of the Rio Frio were called "Guatuses" because
+they had red hair. It is very common to find the Indian tribes of
+America called after wild animals, and my own opinion is that the
+origin of the fable about the red hair was a theory to explain why
+they were called Guatuses; for the natives of Nicaragua, and of
+parts much nearer home, are fond of giving fanciful explanations of
+the names of places and things: thus, I have been assured by an
+intelligent and educated Nicaraguan, that Guatemala was so-called
+by the Spaniards because they found the guate (a kind of grass) in
+that country bad, hence "guate malo," "bad guate,"--whereas every
+student of Mexican history knows that the name was the Spanish
+attempt to pronounce the old Aztec one of Quauhtemallan, which
+meant the Land of the Eagle. I shall have other occasions, in the
+course of my narrative, to show how careful a traveller in Central
+America must be not to accept the explanations of the natives of
+the names of places and things.
+
+The first people who ascended the Rio Frio were attacked by the
+Indians, who killed several with their arrows. Exaggerated opinions
+of their ferocity and courage were in consequence for a long time
+prevalent, and the river remained unknown and unexplored, and
+probably would have done so to the present day, if it had not been
+for the rubber-men. When the trade in india-rubber became fully
+developed, the trees in the more accessible parts of the forest
+were soon exhausted, and the collectors were obliged to penetrate
+farther and farther back into the untrodden wilds of the Atlantic
+slope. Some more adventurous than others ascended the Rio Frio, and
+being well provided with fire-arms, which they mercilessly used,
+they were able to defy the poor Indians, armed only with spears and
+bows and arrows, and to drive them back into the woods. The first
+Ulleros who ascended the river were so successful in finding
+rubber, that various other parties were organised, and now an
+ascent of the Rio Frio from San Carlos is of common occurrence. The
+poor Indians are now in such dread of fire-arms, that on the first
+appearance of a boat coming up the river they desert their houses
+and run into the woods for shelter. The Ulleros rush on shore and
+seize everything that the poor fugitives have left behind them; and
+in some cases the latter have not been able to carry off their
+children, and these have been brought down in triumph to San
+Carlos. The excuse for stealing the children is that they may be
+baptised and made Christians; and I am sorry to say that this
+shameful treatment of the poor Indians is countenanced and connived
+at by the authorities. I was told of one commandante at San Carlos
+who had manned some canoes and proceeded up the river as far as the
+plantain grounds of the Indians, loaded his boats with the
+plantains, and brought them down to San Carlos, where the people
+appear to be too indolent to grow them themselves. All who have
+ascended the river speak of the great quantities of plantains that
+the Guatuses grow, and this fruit, and the abundant fish of the
+river, form their principal food. Their houses are large sheds open
+at the sides, and thatched with the "suiti" palm. As is often the
+case amongst the Indians, several families live in one house. The
+floor is kept well cleaned. I was amused with a lady in San Carlos
+who, in describing their well-kept houses to Dr. Seemann and
+myself, pointed to her own unswept and littered earth floor and
+said, "They keep their houses very, very clean--as clean as this."
+The lad and the woman who were captured and brought down the Rio
+Frio both ran away--the one from San Carlos, the other from
+Castillo; but neither could succeed in reaching home, on account of
+the swamps and rivers in their way, and after wandering about the
+woods for some time they were recaptured. I saw the lad soon after
+he was taken the second time. He had been a month in the woods,
+living on roots and fruits, and had nearly died from starvation. He
+had an intelligent, sharp, and independent look about him, and kept
+continually talking in his own language, apparently surprised that
+the people around him did not understand what he was saying. He was
+taken to Castillo, and met there the woman who had been captured a
+year before, and had learnt to speak a little Spanish. Through her
+as an interpreter, he tried to get permission to return to the Rio
+Frio, saying that if they would let him go he would come back and
+bring his father and mother with him. This simple artifice of the
+poor boy was, of course ineffectual. He was afterwards taken to
+Granada, for the purpose, they said, of being educated, that he
+might become the means of opening up communication with his tribe.
+
+The rubber-men bring down many little articles that they pillage
+from the Indians. They consist of cordage, made from the fibre of
+Bromeliaceous plants, bone hooks, and stone implements. Amongst the
+latter, I was fortunate enough to obtain a rude stone hatchet, set
+in a stone-cut wooden handle: it was firmly fixed in a hole made in
+the thick end of the handle.* [* Figured in Evans' "Ancient Stone
+Implements" second edition page 155. In Evans' first edition it is
+erroneously stated in the text to be from Texas. It has been
+pointed out that early man adopted the opposite method to the
+modern in the mounting of his axes: we fix the handle into a hole
+in the axe head; he jammed the head into a hole in the handle.] It
+is a singular fact, and one showing the persistence of particular
+ways of doing things through long ages amongst people belonging to
+the same race, that, in the ancient Mexican, Uxmal, and Palenque
+picture-writings, bronze axes are represented fixed in this
+identical manner in holes at the thick ends of the handles.
+
+We slept on board one of the steamers of the American Transit
+Company. It was too dark when we arrived at San Carlos to see
+anything that night of the great lake, but we heard the waves
+breaking on the beach as on a sea-shore, and from further away came
+that moaning sound that has from the earliest ages of history
+connected the idea of the sea with sorrow and sadness.* (* "There
+is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet" Jeremiah 49:23.) The
+steamer we stayed in was one of four river-boats belonging to the
+Transit Company, which was at this time in difficulties, and
+ultimately the boats were sold; part of them being bought by Mr.
+Hollenbeck, and used by the navigation company which he
+established. These steamers are built expressly for shallow rivers,
+and are very different structures from anything we see in England.
+The bottom is made quite flat, and divided into compartments; the
+first deck being only about eighteen inches above the water, from
+which it is divided by no bulwarks or other protection. Upon this
+deck are placed the cargo and the driving machinery. A vertical
+boiler is fixed at the bow, and two horizontal engines, driving a
+large paddle-wheel, at the stern. The second deck is for
+passengers, and is raised on light wooden pillars braced with iron
+rods about seven feet above the first. Above this is another deck,
+on which are the cabins of the officers and the steering apparatus.
+The appearance of such a structure is more like that of a house
+than a boat. The one we were in, the "Panaloya," drew only three
+feet of water when laden with 400 passengers and twenty tons of
+cargo.
+
+
+CHAPTER 4.
+
+The lake of Nicaragua.
+Ometepec.
+Becalmed on the lake.
+White egrets.
+Reach San Ubaldo.
+Ride across the plains.
+Vegetation of the plains.
+Armadillo.
+Savannahs.
+Jicara trees.
+Jicara bowls.
+Origin of gourd-shaped pottery.
+Coyotes.
+Mule-breeding.
+Reach Acoyapo.
+Festa.
+Cross high range.
+Esquipula.
+The Rio Mico.
+Supposed statues on its banks.
+Pital.
+Cultivation of maize.
+Its use from the earliest times in America.
+Separation of the maize-eating from the mandioca-eating
+   indigenes of America.
+Tortillas.
+Sugar-making.
+Enter the forest of the Atlantic slope.
+Vegetation of the forest.
+Muddy roads.
+Arrive at Santo Domingo.
+
+As daylight broke next morning, I was up, anxious to see the great
+lake about which I had heard so much. To the north-west a great
+sheet of quiet water extended as far as the eye could reach, with
+islands here and there, and--the central figure in every view of
+the lake--the great conical peak of Ometepec towered up, 5050 feet
+above the sea, and 4922 feet above the surface of the lake. To the
+left, in the dim distance, were the cloud-capped mountains of Costa
+Rica; to the right, nearer at hand, low hills and ranges covered
+with dark forests. The lake is too large to be called beautiful,
+and its vast extent and the mere glimpses of its limits and
+cloud-capped peaks appeal to the imagination rather than to the
+eye. At this end of the lake the water is shallow, probably filled
+up by the mud brought down by the Rio Frio.
+
+We had still a voyage of sixty miles before us up the lake, and
+this was to be accomplished not by paddling, but by sailing; so we
+now rigged two light masts, and soon after seven o'clock sailed
+slowly away from San Carlos before a light breeze, which in an
+hour's time freshened and carried us along at the rate of about six
+miles an hour. The sun rose higher and higher; the day waxed hotter
+and hotter. About noon the wind failed us again, and the sun right
+overhead, in a clear pitiless sky, scorched us with its rays, while
+our boat lay like a log upon the water, the pitch melting in the
+seams with the heat. The surface of the lake was motionless, save
+for a gentle heaving. We were almost broiled with the stifling
+heat, but at last saw a ripple on the water come up from the
+north-east; soon the breeze reached us, and our torment was over;
+our sails, no more idly flapping, filled out before the wind; the
+canoe dashed through the rising waves; our drooping spirits
+revived, and there was an opening out of provisions, and life again
+in the boat. The breeze continued all the afternoon, and at dark we
+were off the islands of Nancital, having been all day within a few
+miles of the north-eastern side of the lake, the banks of which are
+everywhere clothed with dark gloomy-looking forests. One of the
+islands was a favourite sleeping-place for the white egrets. From
+all sides they were flying across the lake towards it; and as night
+set in, the trees and bushes by the water-side were full of them,
+gleaming like great white flowers amongst the dark green foliage.
+Flocks of muscovy and whistling ducks also flew over to their
+evening feeding-places. Great masses of a floating plant, shaped
+like a cabbage, were abundant on the lake, and on these the white
+egrets and other wading birds often alighted. The boatmen told
+me--and the story is likely enough to be true--that the alligators,
+floating about like logs, with their eyes above the water, watch
+these birds, and, moving quietly up until within a few yards of
+them, sink down below the surface, come up underneath them, catch
+them by the legs and drag them under water. Besides the alligators,
+large freshwater sharks appear to be common in the lake. Sometimes,
+when in shallow water, we saw a pointed billow rapidly moving away
+from the boat, produced by some large fish below, and I was told it
+was a shark.
+
+After dark the wind failed us again, and we got slowly along, but
+finally reached our port, San Ubaldo, about ten o'clock, and found
+an officer of the mining company, living in a small thatched hut,
+stationed there to send on the machinery and other goods that
+arrived for the mines. A large tiled store had also just been built
+by the owner of the estate there, Don Gregorio Quadra, under the
+verandah of which I hung my hammock for the night. Mules were
+waiting at San Ubaldo for us, and early next morning we set off,
+with our luggage on pack mules. We crossed some rocky low hills,
+with scanty vegetation, and, after passing the cattle hacienda of
+San Jose, reached the plains of the same name, about two leagues in
+width, now dry and dusty, but in the wet season forming a great
+slough of water and tenacious mud, through which the mules have to
+wade and plunge.
+
+In the midst of these plains there are some rocky knolls, like
+islands, on which grow spiny cactuses, low leathery-leaved trees,
+slender, spiny palms, with plum-like fruit, prickly acacias, and
+thorny bromelias. This spiny character of vegetation seems to be
+characteristic of dry rocky places and tracts of country liable to
+great drought. Probably it is as a protection from herbivorous
+animals, to prevent them browsing upon the twigs and small branches
+where herbaceous vegetation is dried up. Small armadillos abound
+near these rocky knolls, and are said to feed on ants and other
+insects. We had a long chase after one, which we observed some
+distance from the rock, over the cracked and dried-up plain: though
+it could not run very fast, it doubled quickly, and the rough
+cracked ground made odds in its favour; but it was ultimately
+secured. Pigeons, brown coloured, of various sizes, from that of a
+thrush to that of a common dove, were numerous and very tame. One
+of the smallest species alights and seeks about in the streets of
+small towns for seeds, like a sparrow, and more boldly than that
+bird, for it is not molested by the children--more perhaps from
+indolence than from any lack of the element of cruelty in their
+dispositions. After crossing the plains we rode over undulating
+hills, here called savannahs, with patches of forest on the rising
+ground, and small plains on which grows the ternate-leaved jicara
+(pronounced hickory), a tree about as large as an apple-tree, with
+fruit of the size, shape, and appearance of a large green orange,
+but growing on the trunk and branches, not amongst the leaves. The
+outside of the fruit is a hard thin shell, packed full of seeds in
+a kind of dry pulp, on which are fed fowls, and even horses and
+cattle in the dry season; the latter are said sometimes to choke
+themselves with the fruit, whilst trying to eat it. Of the bruised
+seeds is also made a cooling drink, much used in Nicaragua. The
+jicara trees grow apart at equal distances, as if planted by man.
+The hard thin shell of the fruit, carved in various patterns on the
+outside, is made into cups and drinking-vessels by the natives, who
+also cultivate other species of jicara, with round fruit, as large
+as a man's head, from which the larger drinking-bowls are made. In
+the smaller jicaras chocolate is always made and served in Central
+America, and, being rounded at the bottom, little stands are made
+to set them in; these are sometimes shaped like egg-cups, sometimes
+like toy washhand-stands. In making their earthenware vessels, the
+Indians up to this day follow this natural form, and their
+water-jars and bowls are made rounded at the bottom, requiring
+stands to keep them upright.
+
+The meals of Montezuma were served on thick cushions or pillows.
+This was probably on account of the rounded bases of the bowls and
+dishes used. The gourd forms of bowls possibly originated from the
+clay being moulded over gourds which were burnt out in the baking
+process. It is said that in the Southern States the kilns in which
+the ancient pottery was baked have been found, and in some the
+half-baked ware remained, retaining the rinds of the gourds over
+which they had been moulded. Afterwards, when the potter learned to
+make bowls without the aid of gourds, he still retained the shape
+of his ancient pattern.
+
+The name, too, like the form, has had a wonderful vitality. It is
+the "xicalli" of the ancient Aztecs, changed to "jicara" by the
+Spaniards, by which they mean a chocolate-cup; and even in Italy a
+modification of the same word may be heard, a tea-cup being called
+a chicchera.
+
+On top of one of the hills we just got a glimpse of a small pack of
+wolves, or coyotes, as they are called, from the Aztec coyotl. They
+are smaller than the European wolf, and are cunning, like a fox,
+but hunt in packs. They looked down at us from the ridge of the
+hill for a few moments, then trotted off down the other side. Their
+howlings may often be heard in the early morning.
+
+Cattle, horses, and mules are bred on these plains. Male asses are
+kept at some of the haciendas. They are not allowed to mix with any
+of their own kind, and are well fed and in good condition; but they
+are only of small size, and the breed of mules might be greatly
+improved by the introduction of larger asses.
+
+The vegetation on the plains was rapidly drying up. Many of the
+trees shed their leaves in the dry season, just as they do with us
+in autumn. The barrenness of the landscape is relieved in March by
+several kinds of trees bursting into flower when they have shed
+their leaves, and presenting great domes of brilliant colour--some
+pink, others red, blue, yellow, or white, like single-coloured
+bouquets. One looked like a gigantic rhododendron, with bunches of
+large pink flowers. The yellow-flowered ones belong to wild
+cotton-trees, from the pods of which the natives gather cotton to
+stuff pillows, etc. About one o'clock we reached rather a large
+river, and after crossing it came in sight of the town of Acoyapo,
+one of the principal towns of the province of Chontales. we stayed
+and had dinner with Senor Don Dolores Bermudez, a Nicaraguan
+gentlemen who had been educated in the States, and spoke English
+fluently. He very kindly took me over the town, and I always found
+him ready to give me information respecting the antiquities and
+natural products of the country. Acoyapo and the district around it
+contains about two thousand inhabitants. The store-keepers,
+lawyers, and hacienderos are of Spanish and mixed descent. Amongst
+the lower classes there is much Indian and some negro blood; but
+there are many pure Indians scattered through the district, living
+near the rivers and brooks, and growing patches of maize and beans.
+In the centre of the town is a large square or plaza, with a
+stucco-fronted church occupying one side, and the principal stores
+and houses ranging around the other three sides. A couple of
+coco-palms grow in front of the church, but do not thrive like
+those near the sea-coast. It was Saturday, the 22nd of February,
+when we arrived; this was a great feast-day, or festa, at Acoyapo,
+and the town was full of country people, who were amusing
+themselves with horse-races, cock-fights, and drinking aguardiente.
+Their mode of cock-fighting is very cruel, as the cocks are armed
+with long sickle-shaped lancets, tied on to their natural spurs,
+with which they give each other fearful gashes and wounds. All
+classes of Nicaraguans are fond of this amusement; in nearly every
+house a cock will be found, tied up in a corner by the leg, but
+treated otherwise like one of the family. The priests are generally
+great abettors of the practice, which forms the usual amusement of
+the towns on Sunday afternoons. I have heard many stories of the
+padres after service hurrying off to the cock-pit with a cock under
+each arm. Bets are made on every fight, and much money is lost and
+won over the sport.
+
+Like most of the Nicaraguan towns, Acoyapo appears to have been an
+Indian city before the Spanish conquest. The name is Indian, and in
+the plaza Senor Bermudez pointed out to me some flat bared rock
+surfaces, on which were engraved circles and various straight and
+curved characters, covering the whole face of the rock. Some rude
+portions of stone statues that have been found in the neighbourhood
+are also preserved in the town. The Spaniards called the town San
+Sebastian; but the more ancient name is likely to prevail,
+notwithstanding that in all official documents the Spanish one is
+used. Acoyapo is a grazing district, and there are some large
+cattle haciendas, especially towards the lake. The town suffers
+from fever owing to the neighbouring swamp. Much of the land around
+is very fertile; but little of it is cultivated, as the people are
+indolent, and content if they make a bare livelihood. We left
+Acoyapo about three o'clock: our road lay up the river, which we
+crossed three times. Excepting near the river, the country was very
+thinly timbered; and it was pleasant, after riding across the open
+plains, exposed to the hot rays of the sun, to reach the shady
+banks of the stream, by which grew many high thick-foliaged trees,
+with lianas hanging from them, and bromelias, orchids, ferns, and
+many other epiphytes perched on their branches. At these spots,
+too, were various beautiful birds, amongst which the Sisitote, a
+fine black and orange songster, and a trogon (Trogon
+malanocephalus, Gould), were the most conspicuous.
+
+We reached and crossed a high range, from the summit of which we
+had a splendid view over the plains and savannahs we had crossed,
+to the great lake, with its islands and peaked hills, and beyond
+the dark dim mountains of Costa Rica, amongst which dwell the
+Indians of the Rio Frio and other little-known tribes. Before us
+were spread out well-grassed savannahs, thinly timbered, excepting
+where dark winding lines of trees or light green thickets of
+bamboos marked the course of rivers or mountain brooks. Here and
+there were dotted thatched huts, in which dwelt the owners of the
+cattle, mules, and horses feeding on the meadows. Far in the
+distance the view was bounded by a line of dark, nearly
+black-looking forest, which, there commencing, extends unbroken to
+the Atlantic. Near its edge, a seven-peaked range marked the
+neighbourhood of Libertad--the beginning of the gold-mining
+district. Descending the slope of the range, we found the savannahs
+on its eastern side much more moist than those to the westward of
+it; and as we proceeded, the humidity of the ground increased, and
+the crossings of some of the valleys and swamps were difficult for
+the mules. The dry season had set in, and these places were rapidly
+drying up; but in many it had just reached that stage when the mud
+was most tenacious; at one very bad crossing, called an "estero,"
+my mule fell, with my leg underneath him, pinning me in the mud.
+The poor beast was exhausted, and would not move. Night had set
+in--it was quite dark, and I had lagged some distance behind my
+companions: fortunately they heard my shouts, and, soon returning,
+extricated me from my awkward predicament. Without further mishap
+we reached Esquipula, a village inhabited mostly by half-breeds,
+and slung our hammocks for the night in a small thatched house
+belonging to the mining company, who kept many of their draught
+bullocks at this place on account of the excellent pasture around.
+The village of Esquipula is built near the river Mico, which,
+rising in the forest-clad ranges to the eastward, runs for several
+miles through the savannahs, then again enters the forest and flows
+into the Atlantic at Blewfields, a broad and deep river. This river
+must have had at one time a large Indian population dwelling in
+settled towns near its banks. Their burial places, marked with
+great heaps of stones, are frequent, and pieces of pottery, broken
+stone statues, and pedestals are often met with. Near Esquipula
+there are some artificial-looking mounds, with great stones set
+around them; in fact, this and another village, a few miles to the
+south, called San Tomas, are, I believe, both built on the sites of
+old Indian towns. The Indians of the Rio Mico gave the Spaniards
+some trouble on their first settlement of the country. About two
+leagues from Acoyapo, the site of a small town was pointed out to
+me, now covered with low trees and brushwood. Here the Spaniards
+were attacked in the night-time by the Rio Mico Indians, and all of
+them killed, excepting the young women, who were carried off into
+captivity, and the place has ever since lain desolate.
+
+Many extravagant stories have been told of the great statues that
+are said to have been seen on the banks of the Mico, much lower
+down the river than where we crossed it; but M. Etienne, of
+Libertad, who descended it to Blewfields, and some Ulleros of San
+Tomas, who had frequently been down it after india-rubber, assured
+me that the reported statues were merely rude carvings of faces and
+animals on the rocks. They appear to be similar to what are found
+on many rivers running into the Caribbean Sea, and to those which
+were examined by Schomburgk on the rocks of the Orinoco and
+Essequibo. As others like them, of undoubted Carib workmanship,
+have been found in the Virgin Islands, it is possible that they are
+all the work of that once-powerful race, and not of the settled
+agricultural and statue-making Indians of the western part of the
+continent.
+
+We started from Esquipula early next morning, and crossed low
+thinly-timbered hills and savannahs to Pital, a scattered
+settlement of many small thatched houses, close to the borders of
+the great forest; on the edge of which were clearings, made for
+growing maize, which is cultivated entirely on burnt forest land.
+At some parts they had already commenced cutting down trees for
+fresh clearings; these would be burnt in April, and the maize sown
+the following month, in the usual primitive way, just as it was in
+Mexico before and at the Spanish conquest. In commencing a
+clearing, the brushwood is first cut close to the ground, as it
+would be difficult to do so after the large trees are felled. The
+big timber is then cut down, and in April it is set fire to. All
+the small wood and leaves burn well; but most of the large trunks
+are left, and many of the branches. Most of the latter are cut up
+to form a fence round the clearing, this at Pital and Esquipula
+being made very close and high to keep out deer. In May, the maize
+is sown; the sower makes little holes with a pointed stick, a few
+feet apart, into each of which he drops two or three grains, and
+covers them with his foot. In a few days the green leaves shoot up,
+and grow very quickly. Numerous wild plants also spring up, and in
+June these are weeded out; the success of the crop greatly
+depending upon the thoroughness with which this is done. In July
+each plant has produced two or three ears; and before the grain is
+set these are pulled off, excepting one, as if more are left they
+do not mature well. The young ears are boiled whole, and make a
+tender and much-esteemed vegetable. They are called at this stage
+"chilote," from the Aztec xilotl; and the ancient Mexicans in their
+eighth month, which began on the 16th July, made a great festival,
+called the feast of Xilonen. The poor Indians now have often reason
+to rejoice when this stage is reached, as their stores of corn are
+generally exhausted before then, and the "chilote" is the first
+fruits of the new crop. In the beginning of August the grains are
+fully formed, though still tender and white; and it is eaten as
+green corn, now called "elote." In September the maize is ripe, and
+is gathered when dry, and stowed away, generally over the rooms of
+the natives. A second crop is often sown in December.
+
+Maize is very prolific, bearing a hundredfold, and ripening in
+April. From the most ancient times, maize has been the principal
+food of the inhabitants of the western side of tropical America. On
+the coast of Peru, Darwin found heads of it,* along with eighteen
+species of marine shells, in a raised beach eighty-five feet above
+the level of the sea (* "Geological Observations in South America"
+1846 page 49 and "Animals and Plants under Domestication" volume 1
+page 320.); and in the same country it has been found in tombs
+apparently more ancient than the earliest times of the Incas.*
+(*Von Tschudi "Travels in Peru" English edition page 177.) In
+Mexico it was known from the earliest times of which we have any
+record, in the picture writings of the Toltecs; and that ancient
+people carried it with them in all their wanderings. In Central
+America the stone grinders, with which they bruised it down, are
+almost invariably found in the ancient graves, having been buried
+with the ashes of the dead, as an indispensable article for their
+outfit for another world. When Florida and Louisiana were first
+discovered, the native Indian tribes all cultivated maize as their
+staple food; and throughout Yucatan, Mexico, and all the western
+side of Central America, and through Peru to Chili, it was, and
+still is, the main sustenance of the Indians. The people that
+cultivated it were all more or less advanced in civilisation; they
+were settled in towns; their traders travelled from one country to
+another with their wares; they were of a docile and tractable
+disposition, easily frightened into submission. It is likely that
+these maize-eating peoples belonged to closely affiliated races. In
+the West India Islands they occupied most of Cuba and Hayti; but
+from Porto Rico southwards the islands were peopled by the warlike
+Caribs, who harassed the more civilised tribes to the north. From
+Cape Gracias a Dios southward, the eastern coast of America was
+peopled on its first discovery by much ruder tribes, who did not
+grow maize, but made bread from the roots of the mandioca (Manihot
+aipim); and still in British Guiana, on the Lower Amazon, and in
+north-eastern Brazil, farina made from the roots of the mandioca is
+the staple food. Maize has been introduced by the Portuguese, but
+it has no native name, and is used mostly for feeding cattle and
+fowls, scarcely at all for the food of the people. This fundamental
+difference in the food of the indigenes points to a great
+distinction between the peoples to which I shall have in the sequel
+to revert. In the West India Islands, Cuba and Hayti seem to have
+been peopled from Yucatan, and Florida, Porto Rico, and all the
+islands to the southwards, from Venezuela.
+
+In Central America, the bread made from the maize is prepared at
+the present day exactly as it was in ancient Mexico. The grain is
+first of all boiled along with wood ashes or a little lime; the
+alkali loosens the outer skin of the grain, and this is rubbed off
+with the hands in running water, a little of it at a time, placed
+upon a slightly concave stone, called a metlate, from the Aztec
+metlatl, on which it is rubbed with another stone shaped like a
+rolling-pin. A little water is thrown on it as it is bruised, and
+it is thus formed into paste. A ball of the paste is taken and
+flattened out between the hands into a cake about ten inches
+diameter and three-sixteenths of an inch thick, which is baked on a
+slightly concave earthenware pan. The cakes so made are called
+tortillas, and are very nutritious. When travelling, I preferred
+them myself to bread made from wheaten flour. When well made and
+eaten warm, they are very palatable.
+
+There are a few small sugar plantations near Pital. The juice is
+pressed out of the canes by rude wooden rollers set upright in
+threes, the centre one driving the one on each side of it by
+projecting cogs. The whole are set in motion by oxen travelling
+round the same as in a thrashing-mill. The ungreased axles of the
+rollers, squeaking and screeching like a score of tormented pigs,
+generally inform the traveller of their vicinity long before he
+reaches them. The juice is boiled, and an impure sugar made from
+it. I do not think that the sugar-cane was known to the ancient
+inhabitants of the country: it is not mentioned by the historians
+of the conquest of Mexico and Peru, nor has it, like maize and
+cacao, any native name.
+
+As soon as we passed Pital we entered the great forest, the black
+margin of which we had seen for many miles, that extends from this
+point to the Atlantic. At first the road lay through small trees
+and brushwood, a second growth that had sprung up where the
+original forest had been cut for maize plantations; but after
+passing a brook bordered by numerous plants of the pita, from which
+a fine fibre is obtained, and which gives its name to Pital, we
+entered the primeval forest. On each side of the road great trees
+towered up, carrying their crowns out of sight amongst a canopy of
+foliage; lianas wound round every trunk and hung from every bough,
+passing from tree to tree, and entangling the giants in a great
+network of coiling cables, as the serpents did Laocoon; the simile
+being strengthened by the fact that many of the trees are really
+strangled in the winding folds. Sometimes a tree appears covered
+with beautiful flowers, which do not belong to it, but to one of
+the lianas that twines through its branches and sends down great
+rope-like stems to the ground. Climbing ferns and vanilla cling to
+the trunks, and a thousand epiphytes perch themselves on the
+branches. Amongst these are large arums that send down aerial
+roots, tough and strong, and universally used instead of cordage by
+the natives. Amongst the undergrowth several small species of
+palms, varying in height from two to fifteen feet, are common; and
+now and then magnificent tree ferns, sending off their feathery
+crowns twenty feet from the ground, delight the sight with their
+graceful elegance. Great broad-leaved heliconiae, leathery
+melastomae, and succulent-stemmed, lop-sided-leaved begonias are
+abundant, and typical of tropical American forests. Not less so are
+the cecropia trees, with their white stems and large palmated
+leaves standing up like great candelabra. Sometimes the ground is
+carpeted with large flowers, yellow, pink, or white, that have
+fallen from some invisible tree-top above, or the air is filled
+with a delicious perfume, for the source of which one seeks around
+in vain, as the flowers that cause it are far overhead out of
+sight, lost in the great overshadowing crown of verdure. Numerous
+babbling brooks intersect the forest, with moss-covered stones and
+fern-clad nooks. One's thoughts are led away to the green dells in
+English denes, but are soon recalled; for the sparkling pools are
+the favourite haunts of the fairy humming-birds, and like an arrow
+one will dart up the brook, and, poised on wings moving with almost
+invisible velocity, clothed in purple, golden, or emerald glory,
+hang suspended in the air; gazing with startled look at the
+intruder, with a sudden jerk, turning round first one eye, then the
+other, and suddenly disappear like a flash of light.
+
+Unlike the plains and savannahs we crossed yesterday, where the
+ground is parched up in the dry season, the Atlantic forest, bathed
+in the rains distilled from the north-east trades, is ever verdant.
+Perennial moisture reigns in the soil, perennial summer in the air,
+and vegetation luxuriates in ceaseless activity and verdure, all
+the year round. Unknown are the autumn tints, the bright browns and
+yellows of English woods, much less the crimsons, purples, and
+yellows of Canada, where the dying foliage rivals, nay, excels the
+expiring dolphin in splendour. Unknown the cold sleep of winter;
+unknown the lovely awakening of vegetation at the first gentle
+touch of spring. A ceaseless round of ever-active life weaves the
+forest scenery of the tropics into one monotonous whole, of which
+the component parts exhibit in detail untold variety and beauty.
+
+To the genial influence of ever-present moisture and heat we must
+ascribe the infinite variety of the trees of these forests. They do
+not grow in clusters or masses of single species, like our oaks,
+beeches, and firs, but every tree is different from its neighbour,
+and they crowd upon each other in unsocial rivalry, each trying to
+overtop the other. For this reason we see the great straight trunks
+rising a hundred feet without a branch, and carrying their domes of
+foliage directly up to where the balmy breezes blow and the sun's
+rays quicken. Lianas hurry up to the light and sunshine, and
+innumerable epiphytes perch themselves high up on the branches.
+
+The road through the forest was very bad, the mud deep and
+tenacious, the hills steep and slippery, and the mules had to
+struggle and plunge along through from two to three feet of sticky
+clay. One part, named the Nispral, was especially steep and
+difficult to descend, the road being worn into great ruts. We
+crossed the ranges and brooks nearly at right angles, and were
+always ascending or descending. About two we reached a clearing and
+hacienda, belonging to an enterprising German, named Melzer, near a
+brook called Las Lajas, who was cultivating plantains and
+vegetables, and had also commenced brick and tile making, besides
+planting some thousands of coffee trees. His large clearings were a
+pleasant change from the forest through which we had been toiling,
+and we stayed a few minutes at his house. After riding over another
+league of forest-covered ranges, we reached Pavon, one of the mines
+of the Chontales Company, and passing the Javali mine soon arrived
+at Santo Domingo, the headquarters of the gold-mining company whose
+operations I had come out to superintend.
+
+
+CHAPTER 5.
+
+Geographical position of Santo Domingo.
+Physical geography.
+The inhabitants.
+Mixed races.
+Negroes and Indians compared.
+Women.
+Establishment of the Chontales Gold-Mining Company.
+My house and garden.
+Fruits.
+Plantains and bananas; probably not indigenous to America:
+   propagated from shoots: do not generally mature their seeds.
+Fig-trees.
+Granadillas and papaws.
+Vegetables.
+Dependence of flowers on insects for their fertilisation.
+Insect plagues.
+Leaf-cutting ants: their method of defoliating trees: their nests.
+Some trees are not touched by the ants.
+Foreign trees are very subject to their attack.
+Method of destroying the ants.
+Migration of the ants from a nest attacked.
+Corrosive sublimate causes a sort of madness amongst them.
+Indian plan of preventing them ascending young trees.
+Leaf-cutting ants are fungus-growers and eaters.
+Sagacity of the ants.
+
+The gold-mining village of Santo Domingo is situated in the
+province of Chontales, Nicaragua, in latitude 12 degrees 16
+minutes north and longitude 84 degrees 59 minutes west, nearly
+midway between the Atlantic and the Pacific, where Central America
+begins to widen out northward of the narrow isthmus of Panama and
+Costa Rica. It is in the midst of the great forest that covers most
+of the Atlantic slope of Central America, and which continues
+unbroken from where we had entered it, at Pital, eastward to the
+Atlantic; westward it terminates in a sinuous margin about seven
+miles from the village, and there commence the lightly timbered and
+grassy plains and savannahs stretching to the Lake of Nicaragua.
+The surface of the land in the forest region forms a succession of
+ranges and steep valleys, covered with magnificent timber and much
+undergrowth. Santo Domingo lies about 2000 feet above the level of
+the sea, and the hills around it rise from 500 to 1000 feet higher.
+It is built in the bend of a small stream, the head waters of a
+branch of the Blewfields river, on a level, low piece of ground,
+with the brook winding almost round it, and, beyond that, encircled
+by an amphitheatre of low hills in the hollow of which it lies. The
+road to the mines runs through it, and forms the main street,
+having on each side thatched stores and irregularly built houses.
+The inhabitants, about three hundred in number, are entirely
+dependent on the mines around, there being no cultivation or any
+other employment in the immediate neighbourhood. The people are of
+a mixed descent, in which Indian blood predominates, then Spanish
+with a slight admixture of the Negro element, whilst amongst the
+rising generation many fair-haired children can claim paternity
+amongst the numerous German and English workmen that have been
+employed at the mines. The store-keepers form the aristocracy of
+the village. They are indolent; lounging about, or lying smoking in
+their hammocks the greater part of the day, but generally civil and
+polite. They are particular in their dress, and may often be seen
+in faultless European costume, silk umbrella in hand, in twos or
+threes, taking a short quiet walk up the valley. The lower class of
+miners are scantily and badly clothed, especially when they come
+first to the mines. They are bare-footed, with poor ragged cotton
+trousers and a thin jacket of the same material. Generally, after
+being a year or two at the mines, they begin to wear better
+clothing, and may often be seen with a new shirt, which to show off
+is worn hanging down outside, like a surtout coat. Amongst these
+are many pure Indians, short sturdy men, who make the steadiest
+workmen, patient and industrious, but with little appreciation of
+the value of money, and spending the whole of their wages at the
+end of the month, before they resume work. At these times the
+commandant comes in from the town of Libertad, about nine miles
+distant, with half-a-dozen bare-footed soldiers carrying old
+muskets on their shoulders, and levies blackmail upon the poor
+patient "Mosas," as they are called, in the shape of a fine for
+drunkenness. But the "aguardiente," a native-made rum, is
+nevertheless always kept on hand, being a government monopoly, and
+ever ready, so that the Mosas may have no excuse to be sober and
+escape being fined.
+
+Even in their drink the poor Indians are not very violent, and get
+intoxicated with surprising stolidity and quietness. Amongst the
+half-breeds, especially where the Negro element exists, there are
+often quarrellings and rows, when they slash away at each other
+with their long knives or "machetes," and get ugly cuts, which,
+however, heal again quickly.
+
+Both the Negroes and Indians are decidedly inferior to the whites
+in intellect, but they do not differ so much from the Europeans as
+they do from each other. The Negro will work hard for a short
+while, on rare occasions, or when compelled by another, but is
+innately lazy. The Indian is industrious by nature, and works
+steadily and well for himself; but if compelled to work for
+another, loses all heart, and pines away and dies. The Negro is
+talkative, vivacious, vain, and sensual; the Indian taciturn,
+stolid, dignified, and moderate. As freemen, regularly though
+poorly paid and kindly treated, the Indians work well and
+laboriously in the mines; but the Negro seldom engages either in
+that or any other settled employment, unless compelled as a slave,
+in which condition he is happy and thoughtless. I do not defend
+slavery, but I believe it to be a greater curse to the masters than
+to the slaves, more deteriorating to the former than to the latter.
+The Spaniards at first enslaved the Indians, but they died away so
+rapidly that in a very short time the indigenes of the whole of the
+once-populous islands of the West Indies were exterminated, and
+large numbers of Indians were carried off from the mainland to
+supply their places, but died with equal rapidity; so that the
+Spaniards found it more profitable to bring negroes from Africa,
+who thrived and multiplied in captivity as readily as the enslaved
+Indians pined away and died. In Central America there never were
+many black slaves; since the States threw off the yoke of Spain
+there have been none; and this comparative scarcity of the Negro
+element makes these countries much more pleasant and safer to dwell
+in than the West Indies, where it is much larger. The Indian seldom
+or never molests the whites, excepting in retaliation for some
+great injury; whilst amongst the free Negroes, robbery, violence,
+and murder need no other incentives than their own evil passions
+and lust.
+
+The women at Santo Domingo are much the same as those found at all
+the small provincial towns of Central America. Morality is at a low
+ebb, and most of them live as mistresses, not as wives, for which
+they do not seem to suffer in the estimation of their neighbours.
+This is greatly due in Nicaragua, as it is throughout Central and
+South America, to the profligate lives led by the priests, who,
+with few rare exceptions, live in concubinage more or less open.
+The women have children at an early age, and make kind and
+indulgent mothers.
+
+(PLATE 4. COMMISSIONER'S HOUSE AT SANTO DOMINGO.)
+
+The village is bounded to the eastward by the mines and hacienda of
+the Chontales Mining Company, whose houses, workshops, and
+machinery are on rising ground on each side of the valley, with the
+brook running down between. About fifty acres of the forest have
+been cut down, and a great deal of this is fenced in and covered
+with grass. Going up the valley from the village, on the right hand
+side, about fifty yards from the road, on a grass-covered slope,
+stand the houses of the commissioner and cashier, in the latter of
+which the medical officer also lives. The former, a large,
+white-washed, square, two-storied, wooden house, with verandahs
+round three sides of it, and communicating by a covered passage
+with a detached kitchen behind, had been built by one of my
+predecessors, Captain Hill, R.N., who did not live to inhabit it.
+It was a roomy, comfortable house, commanding a view of the
+machinery, workshops, and part of the mines on the other side of
+the valley, and formed my residence for upwards of four years.
+
+The slope in front of the house, down to the river, was covered
+with weedy bushes when I arrived; but I had these cleared away, and
+a fine greensward of grass took their place. On this I planted
+young orange, lime, and citron trees; and I had the pleasure,
+before I left, to see them beginning to bear their fine fruit. To
+the west of the house was a dell, covered with fallen logs and
+rubbish thrown from the hill, in which was a perennial spring of
+limpid water. I had the logs and rubbish gathered together and
+burnt, put a light fence round it, and formed a small vegetable,
+fruit, and flower garden. The mango and avocado trees had not come
+into bearing before I left; but pineapples, figs, grenadillas,
+bananas, pumpkins, plantains, papaws, and chioties fruited
+abundantly. The last named is a native of Mexico; it is a climbing
+plant with succulent stems and vine-like leaves, and grows with
+great rapidity. The fruit, of which it bears a great abundance, is
+about the size and shape of a pear, covered with soft prickles. It
+is boiled and eaten as a vegetable, and resembles vegetable marrow.
+At Santo Domingo it continues to bear a succession of fruits during
+eight months of the year.
+
+Next to maize, plantains and bananas form the principal sustenance
+of the natives. The banana tree shoots up its succulent stem, and
+unfolds its immense entire leaves with great rapidity; and a group
+of them waving their silky leaves in the sun, or shining ghostly
+white in the moonlight, forms one of those beautiful sights that
+can only be seen to perfection in the tropics. There are a great
+many varieties of them, and they are cooked in many ways--boiled,
+baked, made into pastry, or eaten as a fruit. The varieties differ
+not only in their fruits, but in the colour of their leaves and
+stems; the natives can distinguish them without seeing the fruit,
+and have names for each, by which they are known throughout all
+Central America, Mexico, and Peru. These names are of Spanish
+origin; and this fact, together with the absence of any native,
+Mexican, or Peruvian name for the fruit, inclines me to adopt the
+opinion of Clavigero, who contends, in opposition to other writers,
+that the plantain and banana were not known in these countries
+before the Spanish conquest, but were first brought from the
+Canaries to Hayti in 1516, and from thence taken to the mainland.
+
+Neither the sugar-cane* nor the plantain is given in the list of
+the indigenous productions of Mexico by the careful and accurate
+Hernandez. (* The sugar-cane is said never to bear seed in the West
+Indies, Malaga, India, Cochin China, or the Malay Archipelago.
+--Darwin's "Animals and Plants under Domestication" volume 2 page
+169.) The natives made sugar from the green stems of the maize.
+Humboldt thinks that some species of plantain were indigenous to
+America; but it seems incredible that such an important fruit could
+have been overlooked by the early historians. In the old world the
+cultivation of the banana dates from the earliest times of which
+tradition makes mention. One of the Sanscrit names was
+bhanu--fruit, from which probably the name "banana" was derived.*
+(* Humboldt's "Aspects of Nature" volume 2 page 141.)
+
+Both the plantain and the banana are always propagated from shoots
+or suckers that spring from the base of the plants; and it is to be
+remarked that the pineapple and the bread-fruit, that are also
+universally grown from cuttings or shoots, and have been cultivated
+from remote antiquity, have in a great measure lost the faculty of
+producing mature seed. Such varieties could not arise in a state of
+nature, but are due to selection by early races of mankind, who
+would naturally propagate the best varieties; and, to do this, seed
+was not required. As the finest kinds of bananas, pineapples, and
+bread-fruit are almost seedless, it is probable that the nutriment
+that would have been required for the formation of the seeds has
+been expended in producing larger and more succulent fruits. We
+find some varieties of oranges, which also have been cultivated
+from very early ages, producing fruits without seeds; but as these
+trees are propagated from seeds, these varieties could not become
+so sterile as those just mentioned. There can be no doubt that the
+seedless varieties of banana, bread-fruits, and pineapples have
+been propagated for hundreds of years; and this fact ought to
+modify the opinions generally entertained by horticulturists that
+the life of plants and trees propagated from shoots or cuttings
+cannot be indefinitely prolonged in that way. Perhaps this may be
+the case in trees, such as apples, that have come under their
+notice; and the reason that the varieties die out after a certain
+time, if not reproduced from seed, may be that the vigour of the
+trees is at last used up by the production of mature seed, but that
+in the seedless bananas, pineapples, and bread-fruits this does not
+happen.
+
+Figs grow well in Nicaragua, and by many their luscious fruit is
+preferred to all others. My trees suffered greatly from the attacks
+of a large and fine longicorn beetle (Taeniotes scalaris, Fab.)
+which laid its eggs in the green bark, and produced white grubs
+that mined into the stem. I had to dig down to them with a knife to
+extricate them and prevent them destroying the young trees. We were
+surrounded at a short distance by the forest, in which grow many
+species of wild fig-trees; and this probably was the reason that my
+trees suffered so much, for at Granada the fig-growers were not
+troubled with this insect.
+
+The grenadilla is the fruit of one of the passion-flowers
+(Passiflora quadrangularis), and is shaped like a large oblong
+apple, which it also resembles in perfume. It makes fine tarts and
+puddings, being somewhat like the gooseberry in taste. I had much
+difficulty in preserving it from being eaten by small forest rats
+that came out of the woods, where they had already been accustomed
+to eat the wild fruit of this climber.
+
+The moist, warm climate seemed to suit the papaw tree, as it grew
+with great vigour, and produced very large and fine melon-like
+fruits. The green fruits are excellent for making pastry, if
+flavoured with a little lime-juice.
+
+In vegetables, I grew three species of sweet potatoes--yellow,
+purple, and white skinned, and which differ also in their leaves
+and flowers; cabbages, kidney-beans, pumpkins, yuccas (Jatropha
+manihot), quequisque (a species of arum, Colocasia esculenta),
+lettuces, tomatoes, capiscums, endives, parsley, and carrots.
+
+The climate was too damp to grow onions; neither could I succeed
+with peas, potatoes, or turnips. Scarlet runners (Phaseolus
+multiflorus) grew well, and flowered abundantly, but never produced
+a single pod. Darwin has shown that this flower is dependent, like
+many others, for its fertilisation upon the operations of the busy
+humble-bee, and that it is provided with a wonderful mechanism, by
+means of which its pollen is rubbed into the head of the bee, and
+received on the stigma of the next plant visited.* (* "Gardener's
+Chronicle" October 24, 1857 and November 14, 1858; also T.H. Farrer
+in "Annals of Natural History" October 1868.) There are many
+humble-bees, of different species from ours, in tropical America;
+but none of them frequented the flowers of the scarlet runner, and
+to that circumstance we may safely ascribe its sterility. An
+analogous case has been long known. The vanilla plant (Vanilla
+planifolia) has been introduced from tropical America into India,
+but though it grows well, and flowers, it never fruits without
+artificial aid. It is the same in the hothouses of Europe. Dr.
+Morren, of Liege, has shown that, if artificially fertilised, every
+flower will produce fruit; and ascribes its sterility to the
+absence, in Europe and India, of some insect that in America
+carries the pollen from one flower to another.* (* Taylor's "Annals
+of Natural History" volume 3 page 1.) When those interested in the
+acclimature of the natural productions of one country on the soil
+of some distant one, study the mutual relations of plants and
+animals, they will find that in the case of many plants it is
+important that the insects specially adapted for the fertilisation
+of their flowers should be introduced with them. Thus, if the
+insect or bird that assists in the fertilisation of the vanilla
+could be introduced into and would live in India, the growers of
+that plant would be relieved of much trouble, and it might be
+thoroughly naturalised. Judging from my experience, it would be
+useless to attempt the acclimature of the scarlet-runner bean in
+Chontales unless the humble-bee were also introduced.
+
+Caterpillars, plant-lice, bugs, and insect pests of all kinds were
+numerous, and did much harm to my garden; but the greatest plague
+of all were the leaf-cutting ants, and I had to wage a continual
+warfare against them. During this contest I gained much information
+regarding their habits, and was successful in checking their
+ravages, and I shall occupy the remainder of this chapter with an
+account of them.
+
+LEAF-CUTTING ANTS.
+
+Nearly all travellers in tropical America have described the
+ravages of the leaf-cutting ants (Oecodoma); their crowded,
+well-worn paths through the forests, their ceaseless pertinacity in
+the spoliation of the trees--more particularly of introduced
+species--which are stripped bare and ragged with the midribs and a
+few jagged points of the leaves only left. Many a young plantation
+of orange, mango, and lemon trees has been destroyed by them. Again
+and again have I been told in Nicaragua, when inquiring why no
+fruit-trees were grown at particular places, "It is no use planting
+them; the ants eat them up." The first acquaintance a stranger
+generally makes with them is on encountering their paths on the
+outskirts of the forest crowded with the ants; one lot carrying off
+the pieces of leaves, each piece about the size of a sixpence, and
+held up vertically between the jaws of the ant; another lot
+hurrying along in an opposite direction empty-handed, but eager to
+get loaded with their leafy burdens. If he follows this last
+division, it will lead him to some young trees or shrubs, up which
+the ants mount; and then each one, stationing itself on the edge of
+a leaf, commences to make a circular cut, with its scissor-like
+jaws, from the edge, its hinder feet being the centre on which it
+turns. When the piece is nearly cut off, it is still stationed upon
+it, and it looks as though it would fall to the ground with it;
+but, on being finally detached, the ant is generally found to have
+hold of the leaf with one foot, and soon righting itself, and
+arranging its burden to its satisfaction, it sets off at once on
+its return. Following it again, it is seen to join a throng of
+others, each laden like itself, and, without a moment's delay, it
+hurries along the well-worn path. As it proceeds, other paths, each
+thronged with busy workers, come in from the sides, until the main
+road often gets to be seven or eight inches broad, and more
+thronged than the streets of the city of London.
+
+After travelling for some hundreds of yards, often for more than
+half a mile, the formicarium is reached. It consists of low, wide
+mounds of brown, clayey-looking earth, above and immediately around
+which the bushes have been killed by their buds and leaves having
+been persistently bitten off as they attempted to grow after their
+first defoliation. Under high trees in the thick forest the ants do
+not make their nests, because, I believe, the ventilation of their
+underground galleries, about which they are very particular, would
+be interfered with, and perhaps to avoid the drip from the trees.
+It is on the outskirts of the forest, or around clearings, or near
+wide roads that let in the sun, that these formicariums are
+generally found. Numerous round tunnels, varying from half an inch
+to seven or eight inches in diameter, lead down through the mounds
+of earth; and many more from some distance around, also lead
+underneath them. At some of the holes on the mounds ants will be
+seen busily at work, bringing up little pellets of earth from
+below, and casting them down on the ever-increasing mound, so that
+its surface is nearly always fresh and new-looking.
+
+Standing near the mounds, one sees from every point of the compass
+ant-paths leading to them, all thronged with the busy workers
+carrying their leafy burdens. As far as the eye can distinguish
+their tiny forms, troops upon troops of leaves are moving up
+towards the central point, and disappearing down the numerous
+tunnelled passages. The out-going, empty-handed hosts are partly
+concealed amongst the bulky burdens of the incomers, and can only
+be distinguished by looking closely amongst them. The ceaseless,
+toiling hosts impress one with their power, and one asks--What
+forests can stand before such invaders? How is it that vegetation
+is not eaten off the face of the earth? Surely nowhere but in the
+tropics, where the recuperative powers of nature are immense and
+ever active, could such devastation be withstood.
+
+Further acquaintance with the subject will teach the inquirer that,
+just as many insects are preserved by being distasteful to
+insectivorous birds, so very many of the forest trees are protected
+from the ravages of the ants by their leaves either being
+distasteful to them, or unfitted for the purpose for which they are
+required, whilst some have special means of defence against their
+attacks. None of the indigenous trees appear so suitable for them
+as the introduced ones. Through long ages the trees and the ants of
+tropical America have been modified together. Varieties of plants
+that arose unsuitable for the ants have had an immense advantage
+over others that were more suitable; and thus through time every
+indigenous tree that has survived in the great struggle has done so
+because it has had originally, or has acquired, some protection
+against the great destroyer. The leaf-cutting ants are confined to
+tropical America; and we can easily understand that trees and
+vegetables introduced from foreign lands where these ants are
+unknown could not have acquired, excepting accidentally, and
+without any reference to the ants, any protection against their
+attacks, and now they are most eagerly sought by them. Amongst
+introduced trees, some species of even the same genus are more
+acceptable than others. Thus, in the orange tribe, the lime (Citrus
+lemonum) is less liked than the other species; it is the only one
+that I ever found growing really wild in Central America: and I
+have sometimes thought that even in the short time since the lime
+was first introduced, about three hundred years ago, a wild variety
+may have arisen, less subject to the attacks of the ants than the
+cultivated variety; for in many parts I saw them growing wild, and
+apparently not touched. The orange (Citrus aurantium) and the
+citron (Citrus medicus), on the other hand, are only found where
+they have been planted and protected by man; and, were he to give
+up their cultivation, the only species that would ultimately
+withstand the attacks of the ants, and obtain a permanent footing
+in Central America, would be the lime. The reason why the lime is
+not so subject to the attacks of the ants is unknown; and the fact
+that it is so is another instance of how little we know why one
+species of a particular genus should prevail over another nearly
+similar form. A little more or less acridity, or a slight chemical
+difference in the composition of the tissues of a leaf, so small
+that it is inappreciable to our senses, may be sufficient to ensure
+the preservation or the destruction of a species throughout an
+entire continent.
+
+The ravages of this ant are so great that it may not be without
+interest for me to enter upon some details respecting the means I
+took to protect my own garden against their attacks, especially as
+the continual warfare I waged against them for more than four years
+made me acquainted with much of their wonderful economy.
+
+In June 1869, very soon after the formation of my garden, the
+leaf-cutting ants came down upon it, and at once commenced denuding
+the young bananas, orange, and mango trees of their leaves. I
+followed up the paths of the invading hosts to their nest, which
+was about one hundred yards distant, close to the edge of the
+forest. The nest was not a very large one, the low mound of earth
+covering it being about four yards in diameter. At first I tried to
+stop the holes up, but fresh ones were immediately opened out: I
+then dug down below the mound, and laid bare the chambers beneath,
+filled with ant-food and young ants in every stage of growth; but I
+soon found that the underground ramifications extended so far, and
+to so great a depth, while the ants were continually at work making
+fresh excavations, that it would be an immense task to eradicate
+them by such means; and notwithstanding all the digging I had done
+the first day, I found them the next as busily at work as ever at
+my garden, which they were rapidly defoliating. At this stage, our
+medical officer, Dr. J.H. Simpson,* came to my assistance, and
+suggested pouring carbolic acid, mixed with water, down their
+burrows. (* This gentleman, beloved by all who knew him, of rare
+talent, and with every prospect of a prosperous career before him,
+died at Jamaica from hydrophobia, between two and three months
+after being bitten by a small dog that had not itself shown any
+symptoms of that disease.) The suggestion proved a most valuable
+one. We had a quantity of common brown carbolic acid, about a pint
+of which I mixed with four buckets of water, and, after stirring it
+well about, poured it down the burrows; I could hear it rumbling
+down to the lowest depths of the formicarium four or five feet from
+the surface. The effect was all I could have wished: the marauding
+parties were at once drawn off from my garden to meet the new
+danger at home. The whole formicarium was disorganised. Big fellows
+came stalking up from the cavernous regions below, only to descend
+again in the utmost perplexity.
+
+Next day I found them busily employed bringing up the ant-food from
+the old burrows, and carrying it to a new one a few yards distant;
+and here I first noticed a wonderful instance of their reasoning
+powers. Between the old burrows and the new one was a steep slope.
+Instead of descending this with their burdens, they cast them down
+on the top of the slope, whence they rolled down to the bottom,
+where another relay of labourers picked them up and carried them to
+the new burrow. It was amusing to watch the ants hurrying out with
+bundles of food, dropping them over the slope, and rushing back
+immediately for more. They also brought out great numbers of dead
+ants that the fumes of the carbolic acid had killed. A few days
+afterwards, when I visited the locality again, I found both the old
+burrows and the new one entirely deserted, and I thought they had
+died off; but subsequent events convinced me that the survivors had
+only moved away to a greater distance.
+
+It was fully twelve months before my garden was again invaded. I
+had then a number of rose-trees and also cabbages growing, which
+the ants seemed to prefer to everything else. The rose-trees were
+soon defoliated, and great havoc was made amongst the cabbages. I
+followed them to their nest, and found it about two hundred yards
+from the one of the year before. I poured down the burrows, as
+before, several buckets of water with carbolic acid. The water is
+required to carry the acid down to the lowest chambers. The ants,
+as before, were at once withdrawn from my garden; and two days
+afterwards, on visiting the place, I found all the survivors at
+work on one track that led directly to the old nest of the year
+before, where they were busily employed making fresh excavations.
+Many were bringing along pieces of the ant-food from the old to the
+new nests; others carried the undeveloped white pupae and larvae.
+It was a wholesale and entire migration; and the next day the
+formicarium down which I had last poured the carbolic acid was
+entirely deserted. I afterwards found that when much disturbed, and
+many of the ants destroyed, the survivors migrate to a new
+locality. I do not doubt that some of the leading minds in this
+formicarium recollected the nest of the year before, and directed
+the migration to it.
+
+Don Francisco Velasquez informed me, in 1870, that he had a powder
+which made the ants mad, so that they bit and destroyed each other.
+He gave me a little of it, and it proved to be corrosive sublimate.
+I made several trials of it, and found it most efficacious in
+turning a large column of the ants. A little of it sprinkled across
+one of their paths in dry weather has a most surprising effect. As
+soon as one of the ants touches the white powder, it commences to
+run about wildly, and attack any other ant it comes across. In a
+couple of hours, round balls of the ants will be found all biting
+each other; and numerous individuals will be seen bitten completely
+in two, whilst others have lost some of their legs or antennae.
+News of the commotion is carried to the formicarium, and huge
+fellows, measuring three-quarters of an inch in length, that only
+come out of the nest during a migration or an attack on the nest or
+one of the working columns, are seen stalking down with a
+determined air, as if they would soon right matters. As soon,
+however, as they have touched the sublimate, all their stateliness
+leaves them: they rush about; their legs are seized hold of by some
+of the smaller ants already affected by the poison; and they
+themselves begin to bite, and in a short time become the centres of
+fresh balls of rabid ants. The sublimate can only be used
+effectively in dry weather. At Colon I found the Americans using
+coal tar, which they spread across their paths when any of them led
+to their gardens. I was also told that the Indians prevent them
+from ascending young trees by tying thick wisps of grass, with the
+sharp points downwards, round the stems. The ants cannot pass
+through the wisp, and do not find out how to surmount it, getting
+confused amongst the numberless blades, all leading downwards. I
+mention these different plans of meeting and frustrating the
+attacks of the ants at some length, as they are one of the greatest
+scourges of tropical America, and it has been too readily supposed
+that their attacks cannot be warded off. I myself was enabled, by
+using some of the means mentioned above, to cultivate successfully
+trees and vegetables of which the ants were extremely fond.
+
+(PLATE 5. NEST OF LEAF-CUTTING ANT.)
+
+Notwithstanding that these ants are so common throughout tropical
+America, and have excited the attention of nearly every traveller,
+there still remains much doubt as to the use to which the leaves
+are put. Some naturalists have supposed that they use them directly
+as food; others, that they roof their underground nests with them.
+I believe the real use they make of them is as a manure, on which
+grows a minute species of fungus, on which they feed;--that they
+are, in reality, mushroom growers and eaters. This explanation is
+so extraordinary and unexpected, that I may be permitted to enter
+somewhat at length on the facts that led me to adopt it. When I
+first began my warfare against the ants that attacked my garden, I
+dug down deeply into some of their nests. In our mining operations
+we also, on two occasions, carried our excavations from below up
+through very large formicariums, so that all their underground
+workings were exposed to observation. I found their nests below to
+consist of numerous rounded chambers, about as large as a man's
+head, connected together by tunnelled passages leading from one
+chamber to another. Notwithstanding that many columns of the ants
+were continually carrying in the cut leaves, I could never find any
+quantity of these in the burrows, and it was evident that they were
+used up in some way immediately they were brought in. The chambers
+were always about three parts filled with a speckled, brown,
+flocculent, spongy-looking mass of a light and loosely connected
+substance. Throughout these masses were numerous ants belonging to
+the smallest division of the workers, which do not engage in
+leaf-carrying. Along with them were pupae and larvae, not gathered
+together, but dispersed, apparently irregularly, throughout the
+flocculent mass. This mass, which I have called the ant-food,
+proved, on examination, to be composed of minutely subdivided
+pieces of leaves, withered to a brown colour, and overgrown and
+lightly connected together by a minute white fungus that ramified
+in every direction throughout it. I not only found this fungus in
+every chamber I opened, but also in the chambers of the nest of a
+distinct species that generally comes out only in the night-time,
+often entering houses and carrying off various farinaceous
+substances, and which does not make mounds above its nests, but
+long, winding passages, terminating in chambers similar to the
+common species, and always, like them, three parts filled with
+flocculent masses of fungus-covered vegetable matter, amongst which
+are the ant-nurses and immature ants. When a nest is disturbed, and
+the masses of ant-food spread about, the ants are in great concern
+to carry every morsel of it under shelter again; and sometimes,
+when I had dug into a nest, I found the next day all the earth
+thrown out filled with little pits that the ants had dug into it to
+get out the covered up food. When they migrate from one part to
+another, they also carry with them all the ant-food from their old
+habitations. That they do not eat the leaves themselves I convinced
+myself; for I found near the tenanted chambers, deserted ones
+filled with the refuse particles of leaves that had been exhausted
+as manure for the fungus, and were now left, and served as food for
+larvae of Staphylinidae and other beetles.* (*This theory that the
+leaf-cutting ants feed on a fungus which they cultivate has been
+confirmed by Mr. Fritz Muller, who had arrived at it independently
+in Brazil. His observations on this and various other habits of
+insects are contained in a letter to Mr. Charles Darwin, published
+in "Nature" of June 11, 1874.)
+
+These ants do not confine themselves to leaves, but also carry off
+any vegetable substance that they find suitable for growing the
+fungus on. They are very partial to the inside white rind of
+oranges, and I have also seen them cutting up and carrying off the
+flowers of certain shrubs, the leaves of which they neglected. They
+are particular about the ventilation of their underground chambers,
+and have numerous holes leading up to the surface from them. These
+they open out or close up, apparently to keep up a regular degree
+of temperature below. The great care they take that the pieces of
+leaves they carry into the nest should be neither too dry nor too
+damp, is also consistent with the idea that the object is the
+growth of a fungus that requires particular conditions of
+temperature and moisture to ensure its vigorous growth. If a sudden
+shower should come on, the ants do not carry the wet pieces into
+the burrows, but throw them down near the entrances. Should the
+weather clear up again, these pieces are picked up when nearly
+dried, and taken inside; should the rain, however, continue, they
+get sodden down into the ground, and are left there. On the
+contrary, in dry and hot weather, when the leaves would get dried
+up before they could be conveyed to the nest, the ants, when in
+exposed situations, do not go out at all during the hot hours, but
+bring in their leafy burdens in the cool of the day and during the
+night. As soon as the pieces of leaves are carried in they must be
+cut up by the small class of workers into little pieces. I have
+never seen the smallest class of ants carrying in leaves; their
+duties appear to be inside, cutting them up into smaller fragments,
+and nursing the immature ants. I have, however, seen them running
+out along the paths with the others; but instead of helping to
+carry in the burdens, they climb on the top of the pieces which are
+being carried along by the middle-sized workers, and so get a ride
+home again. It is very probable that they take a run out merely for
+air and exercise. The largest class of what are called workers are,
+I believe, the directors and protectors of the others. They are
+never seen out of the nest, excepting on particular occasions, such
+as the migrations of the ants, and when one of the working columns
+or nests is attacked; they then come stalking up, and attack the
+enemy with their strong jaws. Sometimes, when digging into the
+burrows, one of these giants has unperceived climbed up my dress,
+and the first intimation of his presence has been the burying of
+his jaws in my neck, from which he would not fail to draw the
+blood. The stately observant way in which they stalk about, and
+their great size, compared with the others, always impressed me
+with the idea that in their bulky heads lay the brains that
+directed the community in its various duties. Many of their
+actions, such as that I have mentioned of two relays of workmen
+carrying out the ant-food, can scarcely be blind instinct. Some of
+the ants make mistakes, and carry in unsuitable leaves. Thus grass
+is nearly always rejected by them, yet I have seen some ants,
+perhaps young ones, carrying in leaves of grass. After a while
+these pieces were invariably brought out again and thrown away. I
+can imagine a young ant getting a severe earwigging from one of the
+major-domos for its stupidity.
+
+I shall conclude this long account of the leaf-cutting ants with an
+instance of their reasoning powers. A nest was made near one of our
+tramways, and to get to the trees the ants had to cross the rails,
+over which the waggons were continually passing and repassing.
+Every time they came along a number of ants were crushed to death.
+They persevered in crossing for several days, but at last set to
+work and tunnelled underneath each rail. One day, when the waggons
+were not running, I stopped up the tunnels with stones; but
+although great numbers carrying leaves were thus cut off from the
+nest, they would not cross the rails, but set to work making fresh
+tunnels underneath them. Apparently an order had gone forth, or a
+general understanding been come to, that the rails were not to be
+crossed.
+
+These ants do not appear to have many enemies, though I sometimes
+found holes burrowed into their nests, probably by the small
+armadillo. I once saw a minute parasitic fly hovering over a column
+of ants, near a nest, and every now and then darting down and
+attaching an egg to one entering. Large, horned beetles (Coelosis
+biloba) and a species of Staphylinus are found in the nests, but
+probably their larvae live on the rotten leaves, after the ants
+have done with them.
+
+
+CHAPTER 6.
+
+Configuration of the ground at Santo Domingo.
+Excavation of valleys.
+Geology of the district.
+Decomposition of the rocks.
+Gold-mining.
+Auriferous quartz veins.
+Mode of occurrence of the gold.
+Lodes richer next the surface than at lower depths.
+Excavation and reduction of the ore.
+Extraction of the gold.
+"Mantos".
+Origin of mineral veins: their connection with intrusions
+   of Plutonic rocks.
+
+THERE is scarcely any level land around Santo Domingo, but in every
+direction a succession of hills and valleys. The hills are not
+isolated; they run in irregular ranges, having mostly an east and
+west direction, but with many modifications in their trend. From
+the main valleys numerous auxiliary ones cut deeply into the
+ranges, and bifurcate again and again, like the branches of a tree,
+forming channels for carrying off the great quantity of water that
+falls in these rainy forests. The branching valleys, all leading
+into main ones, and these into the rivers, have been excavated by
+subaerial agency, and almost entirely by the action of running
+water. It is the system that best effects the drainage of the
+country, and has been caused by that drainage.
+
+The wearing out of valleys near Santo Domingo proceeds more rapidly
+than in regions where less rain falls, and where the rocks are not
+so soft and decomposed. Even during the few years I was in
+Nicaragua there were some modifications of the surface effected; I
+saw the commencement of new valleys, and the widening and
+lengthening of others, caused not only by the gradual denudation of
+the surface, but by landslips, some of which occur every wet
+season.
+
+The rocks of the district are dolerytes, with bands and protrusions
+of hard greenstones. The decomposition of the dolerytes is very
+great, and extends from the tops of the hills to a depth (as proved
+in the mines), of at least two hundred feet. Next the surface they
+are often as soft as alluvial clay, and may be cut with a spade.
+This decomposition of the rocks near the surface prevails in many
+parts of tropical America, and is principally, if not always,
+confined to the forest regions. It has been ascribed, and probably
+with reason, to the percolation through the rocks of rain-water
+charged with a little acid from the decomposing vegetation. If this
+be so, the great depth to which it has reached tells of the immense
+antiquity of the forests.
+
+Gold-mining at Santo Domingo is confined almost entirely to
+auriferous quartz lodes, no alluvial deposits having been found
+that will pay for working. The lodes run east and west, and are
+nearly perpendicular, sometimes dipping a little to the north,
+sometimes a little to the south, and near the surface, generally
+turning over towards the face of the hill through which they cut.
+The trend of the main ranges, also nearly east and west, is
+probably due to the direction of the outcrops of the lodes which
+have resisted the action of the elements better than the soft
+dolerytes. The quartz veins now form the crests of many of the
+ranges, but are everywhere cut through by the lateral valleys. The
+beds of doleryte lie at low angles, through which the quartz veins
+cut nearly vertically. Excepting that they are very irregular in
+thickness, and often branch and send thin offshoots into the
+enclosing rocks, they resemble coal seams that have been turned up
+on edge, so as to be vertical instead of horizontal. They run for a
+great distance. Near Santo Domingo they had been traced for two
+miles in length, and probably they extend much further. They are
+what are called fissure-veins, owing their origin to cracks or
+fractures in the rocks that have been filled up with mineral
+substances through chemical, thermal, aqueous, or plutonic
+agencies. In depth, the bottom of fissure-veins has never been
+reached, and taking into consideration the deep-seated forces
+required to produce fissures of such great length and regularity,
+we may safely assume that they run for miles deep into the
+earth--that their extension vertically is as great as it is
+horizontally. The possibility that they extend to immense depths is
+increased when we reflect that mineral veins occur in parallel
+groups that run with great regularity for hundreds of miles; and
+further by the fact that, in all the changes of the earth's
+surface, by which deep-seated rocks have been brought up and
+exposed by denudation, no instance is known of the bottom of a
+fissure-vein having been brought by such movements within the reach
+of man.
+
+The gold-mines of Santo Domingo are in veins or loads of auriferous
+quartz that run parallel to each other, and are so numerous that
+across a band more than a mile in width one may be found every
+fifty yards. All that have been worked vary greatly in thickness;
+sometimes within a hundred yards a lode will thicken out from one
+to seventeen feet. Their auriferous contents vary still more than
+their width. The richest ore, worth from one to four ounces per
+ton, occurs in irregular patches and bands very small in comparison
+with the bulk of the ore stuff, which varies in value from two to
+seven pennyweights per ton. The average value of all the ore
+treated by the Chontales Mining Company, up to the end of 1871, has
+been about seven pennyweights per ton, and during that time small
+patches have been met with worth one hundred ounces of gold per
+ton. The gold does not occur pure, but is a natural alloy of gold
+and silver, containing about three parts of the former to one of
+the latter. Besides this metallic alloy (to which, for brevity, I
+shall, in the remarks I have to make, give its common designation
+of gold), the quartz lodes contain sulphide of silver, peroxide of
+manganese, peroxide of iron, sulphides of iron and copper, and
+occasionally ores of lead.
+
+The quartz is generally very friable, full of drusy cavities, and
+broken up into innumerable small pieces that are often coloured
+black by the peroxide of manganese. The gold is in minute grains,
+and generally distributed loosely amongst the quartz. Pieces as
+large as a pin's head are rare, and specimens of quartz showing the
+gold in it are seldom met with, even in the richest portions of a
+lode. The fine gold-dust can, however, easily be detected by
+washing portions of the lode-stuff in a horn. The quartz and clay
+is washed away, and the gold-dust sinks to the bottom, and is
+retained in the horn. This is the usual way in which a lode is
+tested by the mining agents, and long practice has made them very
+expert in valuing the ore by the wash in the "spoon." Although most
+of the gold occurs loose, amongst the soft portions of the lode,
+the hard quartz also contains it disseminated in minute grains
+throughout. These can be obtained in the horn by pounding the
+quartz to powder and then washing it.
+
+(PLATE 6. MACHINERY OF CHONTALES GOLD-MINING COMPANY.)
+
+One feature in the distribution of gold in the quartz lodes of
+Santo Domingo led to a most exaggerated opinion of their value when
+they were first mined by English companies. On the hills, near the
+outcrops of the lodes, the ore was in some places exceedingly rich.
+One thousand ounces of gold were obtained from a small patch of ore
+near the surface of the Consuelo lode, and at Santo Domingo, San
+Benito, San Antonio, and Javali lodes, very rich ore was also
+discovered within a few fathoms of the surface. When, however,
+these deposits were followed downwards, they invariably got poorer,
+and at one hundred feet from the surface, no very rich ore had been
+met with. Below that, when the works are prosecuted still deeper,
+there does not appear to be any further progressive deterioration
+in the value of the ore, and it varies in yield from two to seven
+pennyweights of gold per ton, upon which yield further depth does
+not seem to have any effect. The cause of these rich deposits near
+the surface does not appear to me to be that the lodes originally,
+before they were exposed by denudation, contained more gold in
+their upper portions than below, but to be the effect of the
+decomposition and wearing down of the higher parts, and the
+concentration of the gold they contained in the lode below that
+worn away. We have seen that in the decomposed parts of the lode
+the gold exists in loose fine grains. During the wet season water
+percolates freely from the surface down through the lodes, and the
+gold set free by the decomposition of the ore at the surface must
+be carried down into it, so that in the course of ages, during the
+gradual degradation and wearing away of the surface, there has, I
+believe, been an accumulation of the loose gold in the upper parts
+of the lodes from parts that originally stood much higher, and have
+now been worn away by the action of the elements.
+
+This accumulation of loose gold near the surface of auriferous
+veins, set at liberty from its matrix by the decomposition of the
+ore, and concentrated by degradation, is probably the reason of the
+great richness of many of what are called the "caps" of quartz
+veins; that is, the parts next the existing surface, and has also,
+perhaps, originated the belief that auriferous lodes deteriorate in
+value in depth. I at one time, after having studied the auriferous
+quartz veins of Australia, advocated this theory, which was first
+insisted upon by Sir R.I. Murchison, but further experience in
+North Wales, Nova Scotia, Brazil, and Central America has led me to
+doubt its correctness, excepting in cases such as we have been
+considering, where there has been an accumulation of gold in the
+superficial portions of lodes since their original formation. Gold
+is distributed in quartz veins in bands, and in patches of richer
+stone of more or less extent. These richer portions of the lodes,
+if sunk upon perpendicularly, will be passed through, but so also
+they would be if followed horizontally, their extent in one
+direction being as great as it is in the other. The chances of
+meeting with further patches of rich ore in depth, after one has
+been passed through, are about the same as they are in driving
+horizontally, and the frequency therefore with which the auriferous
+ores are met with along the surface will, as a rule, be an index of
+their occurrence in depth, if we be careful in distinguishing
+deposits belonging to the original condition of the lodes, and
+those due to subsequent concentration. To do this we must get below
+the immediate surface, and take as our guide the gold occurring in
+the solid undecomposed quartz, and not the loose grains contained
+in the fissures and cavities.
+
+(PLATE 7. SECTION OF MINE SHOWING METHOD OF EXTRACTING THE ORE.
+  SECTION OF GOLD MINE.
+  Diagram showing method of excavating ore at Santo Domingo Mines.
+    A, Levels.
+    B, Rise, down which the ore is thrown.
+    D, Stopes.
+    C, Stopes refilled with clay and barren rock.
+  Lowest level, Tramway to Stamps.)
+
+The lodes of Santo Domingo are worked by means of levels driven
+from near the bottoms of the valleys that intersect them. When
+these levels have entered sufficiently far into the hills, shafts
+are driven upwards from them to the surface, and other levels
+driven sixty feet higher than the first. This process is continued
+until the lode lying above the lowest level has been divided off
+into horizontal bands, each about sixty feet in depth. The quartz
+is then excavated above the topmost level, and thrown down the
+shafts to the lowest, where it is received into waggons and
+conveyed to the reduction works. As both the ore and the enclosing
+rocks are greatly decomposed and very soft, the whole of the ground
+has to be securely timbered as the work proceeds. The levels are
+timbered with "nispera," a wood of great durability and strength,
+but the excavated portions between them are only temporarily
+secured with common soft wood, and at the end of every fortnight
+filled up with clay and barren rock. The mining is entirely
+executed by native workmen, principally Mestizos from the border
+lands of Honduras and Nicaragua, where they have been engaged in
+silver-mining. They are paid according to the amount of ground
+excavated, and are very industrious when poor; but when they
+accumulate a little money, they take fits of idleness and
+dissipation until it is spent.
+
+The ore is taken down to the reduction works in waggons that run
+down by gravitation, and are drawn up by mules. It is then stamped
+to powder by iron beaters, each of which is lifted by cams, and let
+fall seventy times per minute. The stamped ore, in the form of fine
+sand, is carried by a stream of water over inclined copper plates
+covered with mercury, with which is mixed a little metallic sodium.
+Nearly the whole of the free gold is caught by the mercury, for
+which it has a great affinity, and accumulates as amalgam on the
+copper plates, from which it is cleaned off every twelve hours. The
+sand and water then pass over inclined tables covered with
+blankets, the fibres of which intercept particles of gold and
+mercury that have escaped from the first process, and afterwards
+into a concentrating box, where the coarsest grains of sand and the
+sulphurets of iron, copper, and silver are caught, and with the
+sand from the blankets re-treated in arrastres. These arrastres are
+round troughs, twelve feet in diameter, paved with stones. Four
+large stones of quartz are dragged round and round in this trough,
+and grind the coarse sand to fine powder. The gold liberated sinks
+into the crevices in the stone pavement, a little mercury being put
+into the trough to form it into amalgam. The arrastres and all the
+amalgamating apparatus is cleaned up once a month. The amalgam
+obtained is squeezed through thin dressed skins, and is then of the
+consistence of stiff putty, and of a silver colour. These balls of
+amalgam are placed in iron retorts, and the mercury driven off by
+heat and condensed again in water. The balls of gold so obtained
+are then melted into bars weighing about one hundred ounces each,
+and in that state sent to England. At Santo Domingo about two
+thousand tons of ore are treated monthly, and the whole cost of
+treatment, including all charges for mining, carriage, reduction,
+amalgamation, and management, is only about eight shillings per
+ton. The loss of mercury is about twenty pounds for every thousand
+tons of ore treated; the smallness of the loss in comparison with
+that of many other gold-extracting establishments being greatly due
+to the employment of sodium in the amalgamating process. The loss
+of mercury usually occurring in amalgamation work is principally
+caused by its mineralisation, and sodium has such an intense
+affinity for oxygen and sulphur, that it reduces the mercury to its
+metallic form again, and prevents its being carried off in light
+mineralised flakes and powder.
+
+(PLATE 8. SECTION ACROSS SAN ANTONIO LODE.
+  A, Lode.
+  B, Decomposed doleryte.
+  C, Surface soil.
+  D. Quartz rocks in surface soil.)
+
+The band of auriferous quartz veins worked at Santo Domingo
+continues westward for eight miles, as far as the savannahs near
+Libertad, and has been largely mined in the neighbourhood of that
+town, and between that point and Santo Domingo. Besides the working
+of the mines proper, some surface deposits, called by the Spaniards
+"Mantos," are also worked for gold, especially in the neighbourhood
+of Libertad. The "Mantos" consist of broken quartz, covering the
+faces of the hills in the neighbourhood of some of the lodes. In
+some places they form a broken but regular stratum over the whole
+side of a hill, and I was much puzzled at first to account for
+their origin.
+
+I have already mentioned that the lodes near their summit incline
+over towards the face of the hill through which they cut. In some
+cases, as in the San Antonio mine, the lode is in parts bent
+completely round, as shown in the section in Plate 8. This bending
+over of the lodes is always towards the face of the hill, and is, I
+think, produced by successive small landslips. It is evident that
+if carried still further than in the case shown in the diagram, the
+lode would be brought down over the face of the hill, and the
+result has, I think, been achieved in some places, and a regular
+"Manto" produced. I have already stated that small landslips are of
+frequent occurrence on the sides of the hills. We had several times
+the entrance to our mines temporarily closed by them in the wet
+season.
+
+Mr. David Forbes,* (* "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society"
+volume 17.) in his account of the geology of Peru and Bolivia, has
+advanced the opinion that auriferous quartz veins belong to two
+different systems, one occurring in connection with Granitic, the
+other with Diorytic intrusive rocks. In later papers he has shown
+that this occurrence of gold is not confined to South America, but
+appears to prevail in all parts of the world.* (* "Geological
+Magazine" September 1866.) One of the latest writers on the
+subject, Mr. R. Daintree, in his "Notes on the Geology of
+Queensland", has shown that the auriferous veinstones in that
+colony occur in connection with, or in the near vicinity of certain
+intrusive trap-rocks, and that even some of the trappean dykes
+themselves are auriferous.* (* "Quarterly Journal of the Geological
+Society" volume 28 page 308.) Several years ago, I endeavoured to
+show that mineral veins in granitic districts occurred in regular
+sequences, with certain intrusive rocks, as follows:--first,
+Intrusion of main mass of granite; second, Granitic veins; third,
+Elvan dykes; and, lastly, Mineral veins, cutting through all the
+other intrusive rocks.* (* See "Geological Survey of Canada" pages
+141 and 173.) Later observations have led me to conclude that a
+similar sequence of events characterised the occurrence of
+auriferous quartz veins in connection with the intrusive rocks,
+commonly designated Greenstones, in some districts consisting of
+diabase, as in North Wales, near Dolgelly; in others of dioryte, as
+in Santo Domingo; and in many parts of South America and Australia.
+In North Wales we have, firstly, an intrusion of diabase, occurring
+in great mountain masses; secondly, Irregular tortuous dykes of
+diabase; thirdly, Elvan dykes; and, lastly, auriferous quartz
+veins. In every region of intrusive plutonic rocks that has been
+thoroughly explored, a similar succession of events, culminating in
+the production of mineral veins, has been proved to have taken
+place,* (* "Mineral Veins" page 16.) and it appears that the origin
+of such veins is the natural result of the plutonic intrusion.
+There is, also, sometimes a complete gradation from veins of
+perfectly crystallised granite, through others abounding in quartz
+at the expense of the other constituents, up to veins filled with
+pure quartz, as at Porth Just, near Cape Cornwall; and, again, the
+same vein will in some parts be filled with felspar; in others,
+contain irregular masses of quartz, apparently the excess of silica
+beyond what has been absorbed in the trisilicate compound of
+felspar.* (* Mr. John Phillips in "Memoirs, Geological Survey of
+Great Britain" volume 2 page 45.) Granitic, porphyritic, and
+trappean dykes* also sometimes contain gold and other metals; (*
+Sir R.I. Murchison "Siluria" pages 479, 481, 488 and 500; and R.
+Daintree "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" volume 28
+pages 308, 310.) and I think the probability is great that quartz
+veins have been filled in the same manner--that if dykes and veins
+of granite have been an igneous injection, so have those of quartz.
+By an igneous injection, I do not mean that the fused rock owed its
+fluidity to dry heat. The celebrated researches of Sorby on the
+microscopical fluid cavities in the quartz of granite and quartz
+veins, have shown beyond a doubt that the vapour of water was
+present in comparatively large quantities when the quartz was
+solidifying. All strata below the surface contain water, and if
+melted up would still hold it as super-heated steam; and M. Angelot
+has suggested that fused rock under great pressure may dissolve
+large quantities of the vapour of water, just as liquids dissolve
+gases. The presence of the vapour of water would cause the
+liquefaction of quartz at a much lower temperature than would be
+possible by heat alone, unaided by water.* (* H.C. Sorby "Journal
+of the Geological Society" volume 14.) I know that this opinion is
+contrary to that usually held by geologists, the theory generally
+accepted being that mineral veins have been produced by deposits
+from hot springs; but during twenty years I have been engaged in
+auriferous quartz-mining in various parts of the world, and nowhere
+have I met with lodes, the phenomena of which could be explained on
+this hypothesis. The veinstone is pure quartz containing water in
+microscopical cavities, as in the quartz crystals of granite, but
+not combined as in the hydrous siliceous sinter deposited from hot
+springs. The lodes are not ribboned, but consist of quartz, jointed
+across from side to side, exactly like trappean dykes. There is
+often a banded arrangement produced by the repeated re-opening and
+filling of the same fissure; but never, in quartz veins, a regular
+filling up from the sides towards the centre, as in veins produced
+by deposits from springs. Quartz veins extend sometimes for miles,
+and it is necessary to suppose on the hydro-thermal theory that the
+fissures remained open sufficiently long for the gradual deposition
+of the veinstones, without the soft and shattered rocks at their
+sides falling in, nor yet fragments from above; although there are
+many lodes, fully twenty feet in width, filled entirely with quartz
+and mineral ores, without any included fragments of fallen rocks,
+and nowhere showing any trace of regular deposition on the sides.
+The gold also found in auriferous lodes is never pure, but forms
+varies alloys of gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, and bismuth; and
+no way is known of producing these alloys except by fusion.
+
+It is true that mineral veins contain many minerals that could not
+exist together undecomposed with even a moderate degree of heat;
+but it is only here contended that the original filling of the
+lodes was an igneous injection, not that the present arrangement
+and composition of all the minerals is due to the same action.
+Since the lodes were first filled they have been subjected to every
+variety of hydro-thermal and aqueous influence; for the cooling of
+the heated rocks must have been a slow process, and undoubtedly the
+veins have often been the channels both for the passage of hot
+water and steam from the interior, and of cold water charged with
+carbonic acid and carbonate of lime from the surface, and many
+changes must have taken place. Auriferous quartz veins have
+resisted these influences better than others, because neither the
+veinstone nor the metal is easily altered, and such veins therefore
+form better guides for the study of the origin of mineral lodes
+than fissures filled with calc spar and ores of the baser metals,
+all readily dissolved and re-formed by hydro-thermal agencies. Our
+mineralogical museums are filled with beautiful specimens of
+crystals of quartz, fluor spar, and various ores deposited one on
+the other; and the student who confines his attention to these is
+naturally led to believe that he sees before him the process by
+which mineral veins have been filled. But the miner, working far
+underground, knows that such crystals are only found in cavities
+and fissures, and that the normal arrangement of the minerals is
+very different. The deposition of various spars one on the other in
+cavities is a secondary operation even now going on, and has
+nothing necessarily to do with the original filling of the lodes;
+indeed, their arrangement is so different that it helps to prove
+they have been differently formed.
+
+It would take a volume to discuss this question in all its
+bearings, and as I have already entered more fully into it in
+another place,* (* "Mineral Veins" by Thomas Belt. John Weale 1861.
+) I shall only now give a brief resume of the conclusions I have
+arrived at respecting the origin of mineral veins.
+
+1. Sedimentary strata have been carried down, by movements of the
+earth's crust, far below the surface, covered by other deposits,
+and subjected to great heat, which, aided by the water contained in
+the rocks and various chemical reactions, has effected a
+re-arrangement of the mineral contents of the strata, so that by
+molecular movements, the metamorphic crystalline rocks, including
+interstratified granites and greenstones, have been formed.
+
+2. Carried to greater depths and subjected to more intense heat,
+the strata have been completely fused, and the liquid or pasty
+mass, invading the contorted strata above it, has formed perfectly
+crystalline intrusive granites and greenstones.
+
+3. As the heated rocks cooled from their highest parts downwards,
+cracks or fissures have been formed in them by contraction, and
+these have been filled from the still-fluid mass below. At the
+beginning these injections have been the same as the first massive
+intrusive rocks, either granite or greenstone; but as the rocks
+gradually cooled, the fissures reached greater and greater depths;
+and the lighter constituents having been drawn off and exhausted,
+only the heavier molten silica, mingled with metallic and aqueous
+vapours, has been left, and with these the last-formed and deepest
+fissures have been filled. These injections never reached to the
+surface--probably never beyond the area of heated rocks; so that
+there have been no overflows from them, and they have only been
+exposed by subsequent great upheaval and denudation.
+
+4. Probably the molten matter was injected into the fissures of
+rocks already greatly heated, and the cooling of these rocks has
+been prolonged over thousands of years, during which the lodes have
+been exposed to every degree of heat, from that of fusion to their
+present normal temperature. During the slow upheaval and denudation
+of the lodes, they have been subjected to various chemical,
+hydro-thermal, and aqueous agencies, by which many of their
+contents have been re-arranged and re-formed, new minerals have
+been brought in by percolation of water from the surrounding rocks,
+and possibly some of the original contents have been carried out by
+mineral springs rising through the lines of fissures which are not
+completely sealed by the igneous injection, as the contraction of
+the molten matter in cooling has left cracks and crevices through
+which water readily passes.
+
+5. Some of the fissures may have been re-opened since they were
+raised beyond the reach of molten matter, and the new rent may have
+been filled by hydro-thermal or aqueous agencies, and may contain,
+along with veinstones of calcite derived from neighbouring beds of
+limestone, some minerals due to a previous igneous injection.
+Crevices and cavities, called "vughs" by the miners, have been
+filled more or less completely with crystals of fluor spar, quartz,
+and various ores of metals from true aqueous solutions, or by the
+action of super-heated steam.
+
+6. By these means the signs of the original filling of many mineral
+lodes, especially those of the baser metals, have been obscured or
+obliterated; but in auriferous quartz lodes both the metal and the
+veinstone have generally resisted all these secondary agencies, and
+are presented to us much the same as they were first deposited,
+excepting that the associated minerals have been altered, and in
+some cases new ones introduced, by the passage of hot springs from
+below or percolation of water from the surface.
+
+
+CHAPTER 7.
+
+Climate of the north-eastern side of Nicaragua.
+Excursions around Santo Domingo.
+The Artigua.
+Corruption of ancient names.
+Butterflies, spiders, and wasps.
+Humming-birds, beetles, and ants.
+Plants and trees.
+Timber.
+Monkey attacked by eagle.
+White-faced monkey.
+Anecdotes of a tame one.
+Curassows and other game birds.
+Trogons, woodpeckers, mot-mots, and toucans.
+
+THE climate of Santo Domingo and of the whole north-eastern side of
+Nicaragua is a very damp one. The rains set in in May, and continue
+with occasional intermission until the following January, when the
+dry season of a little more than three months begins. Even during
+the short-lived summer there are occasional rains, so that although
+the roads dry up, vegetation never does, the ground in the woods is
+ever moist, and the brooks perennial. In the shady forest,
+mosquitoes and sand-flies are rather troublesome; but the large
+cleared space about the houses of the mining company is almost free
+from them, and in the beautiful light evenings one can sit under
+the verandahs undisturbed, watching the play of the moonbeams on
+the silky leaves of the bananas, the twinkling north star just
+peeping over the range in front, with "Charlie's Wain" in the upper
+half of its endless circlings, whilst in the opposite direction the
+eye rests on the beautiful constellations of the southern
+hemisphere. On the darkest nights innumerable fire-flies flash
+their intermittent lights as they pass amongst the low bushes or
+herbage, making another twinkling firmament on earth. On other
+evenings, sitting inside with lighted candles and wide opened
+doors, great bats flap inside, make a round of the apartment, and
+pass out again, whilst iris-winged moths, attracted by the light,
+flit about the ceiling, or long-horned beetles flop down on the
+table. In this way I made my first acquaintance with many
+entomological rarities.* (* In moths, numerous fine Sphingidae and
+Bombycidae; and in beetles, amongst many others, the rare Xestia
+nitida (Bates) and Hexoplon albipenne (Bates) were first described
+from these evening captures.)
+
+The heaviest rains fall in July and August, and at these times the
+brooks are greatly swollen. The one in front of my house sometimes
+carried away the little wooden bridge that crossed it, and for an
+hour or two became impassable, but subsided again almost as soon as
+the heavy rain ceased falling, for the watershed above does not
+extend far. Every year our operations were impeded by runs in the
+mines, or by small landslips stopping up our tramways and levels,
+or floods carrying away our dam or breaking our watercourses; but
+after August we considered our troubles on this score at an end for
+the season. Occasionally the rains lasted three or four days
+without intermission, but generally they would come on in the
+afternoon, and there would be a downpour, such as is only seen in
+the tropics, for an hour or two, then some clear weather, until
+another great bank of clouds rolled up from the north-east and sent
+down another deluge. In September, October, and November there are
+breaks of fine weather, sometimes lasting for a fortnight; but
+December is generally a very wet month, the rains extending far
+into January, so that it is not until February that the roads begin
+to dry up.
+
+I had much riding about. The mines worked by us, when I first went
+out, extended from Consuelo, a mile higher up the valley, to Pavon,
+a mile below Santo Domingo; and even after I had concentrated our
+operations on those nearer to our reduction works, there were many
+occasions for me to ride into the woods. I had to look after our
+wood-cutters and charcoal-burners, to see that they did not
+encroach upon the lands of our neighbours, as they were inclined to
+do, and involve us in squabbles and lawsuits; paths had to be
+opened out, to bring in nispera and cedar timber, our property
+surveyed, and new mines, found in the woods, visited and explored.
+Besides this, I spent most of my spare time in the forest, which
+surrounded us on every side. Longer excursions were frequent. The
+Nicaraguans, like all Spanish Americans, are very litigious, and
+every now and then I would be summoned, as the representative of
+the company, to appear at Libertad, Juigalpa, or Acoyapo, to answer
+some frivolous complaint, generally made with the expectation of
+extorting money, but entertained and probably remanded from time to
+time by unscrupulous judges, who are so badly paid by the
+government that they have to depend upon the fees of suitors for
+their support, and are much open to corruption. These rides and
+strolls into the woods were very fruitful in natural-history
+acquisitions and observations. I shall give an account of some of
+those made in the immediate vicinity of Santo Domingo, and I wish I
+could transfer to my readers some of the pleasure that they
+afforded me. They gave the relief that enabled me to carry on for
+years an incessant struggle, under great difficulties, to bring the
+mines into a paying state, continually hampered for want of
+sufficient capital, with most inadequate machinery, and all the
+annoyances, delays, and disappointments inevitable in carrying on
+such a precarious enterprise as gold-mining far in the interior of
+a half-civilised country.
+
+The brook that ran at the foot of the bank below my house, and
+there called the "Quebrada de Santo Domingo," is dignified half a
+mile lower down, after passing the mines of the Javali Company and
+receiving the waters of another brook coming down from the
+westward, by the name of the Javali river. The Indians, however,
+both at the Indian village of Carca, seven miles back in the
+mountains, and those lower down the river itself, call it "Artigua."
+The preservation of these old Indian names is important, as they
+might some time or other throw considerable light on the early
+inhabitants of the country. In all parts of the world the names of
+mountains, valleys, lakes, and rivers are among the most certain
+memorials of the ancient inhabitants. The reason the names of the
+natural features of a country remain unchanged under the sway of
+successive nations, speaking totally different languages, appears
+to be this. The successful invaders of a country, even in the most
+cruel times, never exterminated the people they conquered; at the
+least, the young women were spared. The conquerors established
+their own language, and to everything they had known in their own
+land they gave their own names; but to things quite new to them,
+which nearly always included the mountains, valleys, lakes, and
+rivers, and often the towns and many of the natural productions,
+they accepted the existing names from the survivors of the
+conquered people. Often the names were corrupted, the new
+inhabitants altering them just a little, to render their
+pronunciation easier, or to make them significant in their own
+language. Thus the fruit of the Persea gratissima was called
+"ahuacatl" by the ancient Mexicans; the Spaniards corrupted it to
+"avocado," which means an advocate; and our sailors still further,
+to "alligator pears." The town of Comelapa, in Chontales, the name
+of which means, in Spanish, "Eat a macaw," is undoubtedly a
+corruption of some old Indian name of similar form to that of the
+neighbouring village of Comoapa, although the Spaniards give an
+absurd explanation of it, evidently invented, according to which it
+was so called because a sick man was cured of a deadly disease by
+eating the bird indicated.
+
+The Artigua--I shall call it so, to do what I can to save the name
+from oblivion--is woefully polluted by the gold-mining on its
+banks, and flows, a dark muddy stream, through the village of Santo
+Domingo, and just below it precipitates itself one hundred and
+twenty feet over a rocky fall. One of the forest roads leads down
+its banks for several miles to some small clearings, where a few
+scattered, Spanish-speaking Indians and half-breeds cultivate maize
+and plantains. After leaving Santo Domingo, it at first follows the
+left bank of the stream, through low bushes and small trees of
+second growth, then crosses a beautiful clear brook coming down
+from the east, and finally winding round a slope covered with great
+trees and dense undergrowth, reaches the site chosen for the
+machinery at Pavon, where a large space has been cleared, much of
+which is covered with grass. After descending a steep hill, the
+Artigua, with its muddy water, is crossed. Here, in the dry season,
+in the hot afternoons, the wet sandy banks were the favourite
+resorts of multitudes of butterflies, that gathered in great masses
+on particular moist spots in such numbers that with one swoop of my
+net I have enclosed more than thirty in its gauzy folds. These
+butterflies were principally different species of Callidryas,
+yellow and white, mixed with brown and red species of Timetes,
+which, when disturbed, rose in a body and circled about; on the
+ground, looking like a bouquet; when rising, like a fountain of
+flowers. In groups, by themselves, would be five or six specimens
+of yellow and black Papilios, greedily sucking up the moisture, and
+vibrating their wings, now and then taking short flights and
+settling again to drink. Hesperidae, too, abounded; and in a
+favourable afternoon more than twenty different species of
+butterflies might be taken at these spots, the finest being a
+lovely white, green, and black swallow-tailed Papilio, the first
+capture of which filled me with delight. Near the river were some
+fallen-down wooden sheds, partly overgrown with a red-flowered
+vine. Here a large spider (Nephila) built strong yellow silken
+webs, joined one on to the other, so as to make a complete curtain
+of web, in which were entangled many large butterflies, generally
+forest species, caught when flying across the clearing. I was at
+first surprised to find that the kinds that frequent open places
+were not caught, although they abounded on low white-flowered
+shrubs close to the webs; but, on getting behind them, and trying
+to frighten them within the silken curtain, their instinct taught
+them to avoid it, for, although startled, they threaded their way
+through open spaces and between the webs with the greatest ease. It
+was one instance of many I have noticed of the strong instinct
+implanted in insects to avoid their natural enemies. I shall
+mention two others. The Heliconidae, a tribe of butterflies
+peculiar to tropical America, with long, narrow, weak wings, are
+distasteful to most animals: I have seen even spiders drop them out
+of their webs again; and small monkeys, which are extremely fond of
+insects, will not eat them, as I have proved over and over again.
+Probably, in consequence of this special protection, they have not
+needed stronger wings, and hence their weak flight. They are also
+very bold, allowing one to walk close up to flowers on which they
+alight. There is one genus with transparent wings that frequents
+the white-flowered shrubs in the clearings, and I have sometimes
+advanced my hand within six inches of them without frightening
+them. There is, however, a yellow and black banded wasp that
+catches them to store his nest with; and whenever one of these came
+about, they would rise fluttering in the air, where they were safe,
+as I never saw the wasp attack them on the wing. It would hawk
+round the groups of shrubs, trying to pounce on one unawares; but
+their natural dread of this foe made it rather difficult to do so.
+When it did catch one, it would quietly bite off its wings, roll it
+up into a ball, and fly off with it. Again, the cockroaches that
+infest the houses of the tropics are very wary, as they have
+numerous enemies--birds, rats, scorpions, and spiders: their long,
+trembling antennae are ever stretched out, as if feeling the very
+texture of the air around them; and their long legs quickly take
+them out of danger. Sometimes I tried to chase one of them up to a
+corner where on the wall a large cockroach-eating spider stood
+motionless, looking out for his prey; the cockroach would rush away
+from me in great fear; but as soon as it came within a foot of its
+mortal foe nothing would force it onwards, but back it would
+double, facing all the danger from me rather than advance nearer to
+its natural enemy.
+
+To return to the spiders. Besides the large owner and manufacturer
+of each web who was stationed near its centre, there were on the
+outskirts several very small ones, belonging, I think, to two
+different species. I sometimes threw a fly into one of the webs.
+The large spider would seize it and commence sucking its blood. The
+small ones, attracted by the sight of the prey, would advance
+cautiously from the circumference, but generally stop short about
+halfway up the web, evidently afraid to come within reach of the
+owner; thus having to content themselves with looking at the
+provisions, like hungry urchins nosing the windows of an
+eating-house. Sometimes a more audacious one would advance closer,
+but the owner would, when it came within reach, quickly lift up one
+of its feet and strike at it, like a feeding horse kicking at
+another that came near its provender, and the intruder would have
+to retire discomfited. These little spiders probably fed on minute
+insects entangled in the web, too small for the consideration of
+the huge owner, to whom they may be of assistance in clearing it.
+
+(PLATE 9. HUMMING-BIRDS (Florisuga mellivora, LINN.).)
+
+(PLATE 10. TONGUE OF HUMMING-BIRD AND WOODPECKER.
+  TONGUE OF HUMMING-BIRD, WITH THE BLADES A LITTLE OPENED.
+  TONGUE OF LARGE RED-CRESTED WOODPECKER.)
+
+Soon after crossing the muddy Artigua below Pavon, a beautifully
+clear and sparkling brook is reached, coming down to join its pure
+waters with the soiled river below. In the evening this was a
+favourite resort of many birds that came to drink at the pellucid
+stream, or catch insects playing above the water. Amongst the last
+was the beautiful blue, green, and white humming-bird (Florisuga
+mellivora, Linn.); the head and neck deep metallic-blue, bordered
+on the back by a pure white collar over the shoulders, followed by
+deep metallic-green; on the underside the blue neck is succeeded by
+green, the green from the centre of the breast to the end of the
+tail by pure white; the tail can be expanded to a half circle, and
+each feather widening towards the end makes the semicircle complete
+around the edge. When catching the ephemeridae that play above the
+water, the tail is not expanded: it is reserved for times of
+courtship. I have seen the female sitting quietly on a branch, and
+two males displaying their charms in front of her. One would shoot
+up like a rocket, then suddenly expanding the snow-white tail like
+an inverted parachute, slowly descend in front of her, turning
+round gradually to show off both back and front. The effect was
+heightened by the wings being invisible from a distance of a few
+yards, both from their great velocity of movement and from not
+having the metallic lustre of the rest of the body. The expanded
+white tail covered more space than all the rest of the bird, and
+was evidently the grand feature in the performance. Whilst one was
+descending, the other would shoot up and come slowly down,
+expanded. The entertainment ended in a fight between the two
+performers; but whether the more beautiful or the more pugnacious
+were the accepted suitor, I know not. Another fine humming-bird
+seen about this brook was the long-billed, fire-throated
+Heliomaster pallidiceps (Gould), generally engaged in probing long
+narrow-throated red flowers, forming, with their attractive nectar,
+complete traps for the small insects on which the humming-birds
+principally feed, the bird returning the favour by carrying the
+pollen of one flower to another. A third species, also seen at this
+brook, Petasophora delphinae, Less., is of a dull brown colour,
+with brilliant purple ear-feathers and metallic-green throat. Both
+it and Florisuga mellivora are short billed, generally catching
+flying insects, and do not frequent flowers so much as other
+humming-birds. I have seen the Petasophora fly into the centre of a
+dancing column of midges and rapidly darting first at one and then
+at another, secure half-a-dozen of the tiny flies before the column
+was broken up; then retire to a branch and wait until it was
+re-formed, when it made another sudden descent on them. A fourth
+species (Heliothrix barroti, Bourc.), brilliant green above, white
+below, with a shining purple crest, has also a short bill, and I
+never saw it about flowers, but always hovering underneath leaves
+and searching for the small soft-bodied spiders that are found
+there. Two of them that I examined had these spiders in their
+crops. I have no doubt many humming-birds suck the honey from
+flowers, as I have seen it exude from their bills when shot, but
+others do not frequent them. The principal food of all is small
+insects. I have examined scores of them, and never without finding
+insects in their crops. Their generally long bills have been spoken
+of by some naturalists as tubes into which they suck the honey by a
+piston-like movement of the tongue; but suction in the usual way
+would be just as effective; and I am satisfied that this is not the
+primary use of the tongue, nor of the mechanism which enables it to
+be exserted to a great length beyond the end of the bill. The
+tongue, for one-half of its length, is semi-horny and cleft in two,
+the two halves are laid flat against each other when at rest, but
+can be separated at the will of the bird and form a delicate
+pliable pair of forceps, most admirably adapted for picking out
+minute insects from amongst the stamens of the flowers. The
+woodpecker, which has a similar extensile mechanism for exserting
+its tongue to a great length, also uses it to procure its food--in
+its case soft grubs from holes in rotten trees--and to enable it to
+pull these out, the end of the tongue is sharp and horny, and
+barbed with short stiff recurved bristles.
+
+Continuing down the river, the road again crosses it, and enters on
+the primeval forest almost untouched by the hand of man, excepting
+in spots where the trees that furnish the best charcoal have been
+cut down by the charcoal-burners, or a gigantic isolated cedar
+(Cedrela odorata) has been felled for shingles, bringing down in
+its fall a number of the neighbouring trees entangled in the great
+bush ropes. Such open spots, letting in the sunshine into the thick
+forests, were favourite stopping-places; for numerous butterflies
+frequent them, all beautiful and most varied in their colours and
+marking. The fallen trees, too, are the breeding-places of
+multitudes of beetles, whose larvae riddle them with holes. Some
+beetles frequent different varieties of timber, others are peculiar
+to a single tree. The most noticeable of these beetles are the
+numerous longicorns, to the collection of which I paid a great deal
+of attention, and brought home more than three hundred species.
+More than one-half of these were new to science, and have been
+described by Mr. Bates. To show how prolific the locality was in
+insect life, I need only state that about two hundred and ninety of
+the species were taken within a radius of four miles, having on one
+side the savannahs near Pital, on the other the ranges around Santo
+Domingo. Some run and fly only in the daytime, others towards
+evening and in the short twilight; but the great majority issue
+from their hiding-places only in the night-time, and during the day
+lie concealed in withered leaves, beneath fallen logs, under bark,
+and in crevices amongst the moss growing on the trunks of trees, or
+even against the bare trunk, protected from observation by their
+mottled brown, grey, and greenish tints--assimilating in colour and
+appearance to the bark of the tree. Up and down the fallen timber
+would stalk gigantic black ants, one inch in length, provided with
+most formidable stings, and disdaining to run away from danger.
+They are slow and stately in their movements, seeming to prey
+solely on the slow-moving wood-borers, which they take at a great
+disadvantage when half buried in their burrows, and bear off in
+their great jaws. They appear to use their sting only as a
+defensive weapon; but other smaller species that hunt singly, and
+are very agile, use their stings to paralyse their prey. I once saw
+one of these on the banks of the Artigua chasing a wood-louse
+(Oniscus), very like our common English species, on a nearly
+perpendicular slope. The wood-louse, when the ant got near it, made
+convulsive springs, throwing itself down the slope, whilst the ant
+followed, coursing from side to side, and examining the ground with
+its vibrating antennae. The actions of the wood-louse resembled
+that of the hunted hare trying to throw the dog off its scent, and
+the ant was like the dog in its movements to recover the trail. At
+last the wood-louse reached the bottom of the slope, and concealed
+itself amongst some leaves; but the ant soon discovered it,
+paralysed it with a sting, and was running away with it, turned
+back downwards, beneath itself, when I secured the hunter for my
+collection. All these ants that hunt singly have the eyes well
+developed, and thus differ greatly from the Ecitons, or army ants.
+
+The road, continuing down the Artigua, crosses it again, winds away
+from it, then comes to it again, at a beautiful rocky spot overhung
+by trees; the banks covered with plants and shrubs, and the rocks
+with a great variety of ferns, whilst a babbling, clear brook comes
+down from the ranges to the right. Some damp spots near the river
+are covered with a carpet of a beautiful variegated, velvety-leaved
+plant (Cyrtodeira chontalensis) with a flower like an achimenes,
+whilst the dryer slopes bear melastomae and a great variety of
+dwarf palms, amongst which the Sweetie (Geonoma sp.), used for
+thatching houses, is the most abundant. About here grows a species
+of cacao (Herrania purpurea) differing from the cultivated species
+(Theobroma cacao). Amongst the larger trees is the "cortess,"
+having a wood as hard as ebony, and at the end of March entirely
+covered with brilliant yellow flowers, unrelieved by any green, the
+tree casting its leaves before flowering. The great yellow domes
+may be distinguished amongst the dark green forest at the distance
+of five or six miles. Near at hand they are absolutely dazzling
+when the sun is shining on them; and when they shed their flowers,
+the ground below is carpeted as with gold. Another valuable timber
+tree, the "nispera" (Achras sapota), is also common, growing on the
+dryer ridges. It attains to a great size, and its timber is almost
+indestructible, so that we used it in the construction of all our
+permanent works. White ants do not eat it, nor, excepting when
+first cut, and before it is barked, do any of the wood-boring
+beetles. It bears a round fruit about the size of an apple, hard
+and heavy when green, and at this time is much frequented by the
+large yellowish-brown spider-monkeys (Ateles), which roam over the
+tops of the trees in bands of from ten to twenty. Sometimes they
+lay quiet until I was passing underneath, and then shaking a branch
+of the nispera tree, they would send down a shower of the hard
+round fruit. Fortunately I was never struck by them. As soon as I
+looked up, they would commence yelping and barking, and putting on
+the most threatening gestures, breaking off pieces of branches and
+letting them fall, and shaking off more fruit, but never throwing
+anything, simply letting it fall. Often, when on lower trees, they
+would hang from the branches two or three together, holding on to
+each other and to the branch with their fore feet and long tail,
+whilst their hind feet hung down, all the time making threatening
+gestures and cries. Occasionally a female would be seen carrying a
+young one on its back, to which it clung with legs and tail, the
+mother making its way along the branches, and leaping from tree to
+tree, apparently but little encumbered with its baby. A large black
+and white eagle is said to prey upon them, but I never witnessed
+this, although I was constantly falling in with troops of the
+monkeys. Don Francisco Velasquez, one of our officers, told me that
+one day he heard a monkey crying out in the forest for more than
+two hours, and at last, going to see what was the matter, he saw
+one on a branch and an eagle beside it trying to frighten it to
+turn its back, when it would have seized it. The monkey, however,
+kept its face to its foe, and the eagle did not care to engage with
+it in this position, but probably would have tired it out.
+Velasquez fired at the eagle, and frightened it away. I think it
+likely from what I have seen of the habits of the spider-monkeys
+that they defend themselves from this peril by keeping two or three
+together, thus assisting each other, and that it is only when the
+eagle finds one separated from its companions that it dares to
+attack it.
+
+Sometimes, but more rarely, we would fall in with a troop of the
+white-faced cebus monkey, rapidly running away, throwing themselves
+from tree to tree. This monkey feeds also partly on fruit, but is
+incessantly on the look-out for insects, examining the crevices in
+trees and withered leaves, seizing the largest beetles and munching
+them up with great relish. It is also very fond of eggs and young
+birds, and must play havoc amongst the nestlings. Probably owing to
+its carnivorous habits, its flesh is not considered so good by
+monkey-eaters as that of the fruit-feeding spider-monkey, but I
+never myself tried either. It is a very intelligent and mischievous
+animal. I kept one for a long time as a pet, and was much amused
+with its antics. At first, I had it fastened with a light chain;
+but it managed to open the links and escape several times, and then
+made straight for the fowls' nest, breaking every egg it could get
+hold of. Generally, after being an hour or two loose, it would
+allow itself to be caught again. I tried tying it up with a cord,
+and afterwards with a raw-hide thong, but had to nail the end, as
+it could loosen any knot in a few minutes. It would sometimes
+entangle itself round a pole to which it was fastened, and then
+unwind the coils again with great discernment. Its chain allowed it
+to swing down below the verandah, but it could not reach to the
+ground. Sometimes, when there were broods of young ducks about, it
+would hold out a piece of bread in one hand, and, when it had
+tempted a duckling within reach, seize it by the other, and kill it
+with a bite in the breast. There was such an uproar amongst the
+fowls on these occasions, that we soon knew what was the matter,
+and would rush out and punish Mickey (as we called him) with a
+switch, which ultimately cured him of his poultry-killing
+propensities. Once, when whipping him, I held up the dead duckling
+in front of him, and at each blow of the light switch told him to
+take hold of it, and at last, much to my surprise, he did so,
+taking it and holding it tremblingly in one hand. He would draw
+things towards him with a stick, and even use a swing for the same
+purpose. It had been put up for the children, and could be reached
+by Mickey, who now and then indulged himself with a swing on it.
+One day, I had put down some bird-skins on a chair to dry, far
+beyond, as I thought, Mickey's reach; but, fertile in expedients,
+he took the swing and launched it towards the chair, and actually
+managed to knock the skins off in the return of the swing, so as to
+bring them within his reach. He also procured some jelly that was
+set out to cool in the same way. Mickey's actions were very
+human-like. When any one came near to fondle him, he never
+neglected the opportunity of pocket-picking. He would pull out
+letters, and quickly take them from their envelopes. Anything
+eatable disappeared into his mouth immediately. Once he abstracted
+a small bottle of turpentine from the pocket of our medical
+officer. He drew the cork, held it first to one nostril then to the
+other, made a wry face, recorked it, and returned it to the doctor.
+Another time, when he got loose, he was detected carrying off the
+cream-jug from the table, holding it upright with both hands, and
+trying to move off on his hind limbs. He gave the jug up without
+spilling a drop, all the time making an apologetic grunting chuckle
+he often used when found out in any mischief, and which meant, "I
+know I have done wrong, but don't punish me; in fact, I did not
+mean to do it--it was accidental." Whenever, however, he saw he was
+going to be punished, he would change his tone to a shrill,
+threatening note, showing his teeth, and trying to intimidate. He
+had quite an extensive vocabulary of sounds, varying from a gruff
+bark to a shrill whistle; and we could tell by them, without seeing
+him, when it was he was hungry, eating, frightened, or menacing;
+doubtless, one of his own species would have understood various
+minor shades of intonation and expression that we, not entering so
+fully into his feelings and wants, passed over as unintelligible.*
+There is a third species of monkey (Mycetes palliatus), called by
+the natives the congo, which occasionally is heard howling in the
+forest; but they are not often seen, as they generally remain quiet
+amongst the upper branches of particular trees.
+
+[* Mickey came into Belt's possession in rather an interesting way.
+He belonged to the well-known German botanist Dr. Seemann, who was
+the manager at that time of the neighbouring Javali mine. Seemann
+died at Javali; and when Belt went to read the Burial Service over
+him, as was his custom upon the death of any European, the monkey
+sprang upon him and, seizing him by the neck, clung to him with all
+his might. So determined was he to adopt Belt as his protector that
+the matter ended by his being taken back to Chontales where he
+lived in great contentment.
+
+This frantic clinging to some one for protection was always the
+conclusion of Mickey's short experiences of freedom. He probably
+did not find his captivity at all irksome, for on getting loose
+from his chain he made no attempt to escape into the adjoining
+forest, but contented himself with running round and round the
+house and garden thoroughly enjoying the hue and cry after him. But
+becoming either alarmed at or weary of his escapade, he always
+ended by making a rush for the eldest of the children whom he half
+throttled with his sinewy little arms while offering voluble
+excuses in his own language. On one occasion, however, it was
+feared that Mickey was really gone, for, contrary to all precedent,
+he had left the garden and betaken himself to the forest where of
+course all trace of him was at once lost. But after nightfall a
+pattering of small feet was heard in the passage, and there was
+Mickey with a very woe-begone and penitent expression on his white
+face, asking to be received and forgiven.]
+
+One day, when riding down this path, I came upon a pack of pisotes
+(Nasua fusca, Desm.), a raccoon-like animal, that ascends all the
+small trees, searching for birds' nests and fruits. There were not
+less than fifty in the pack I saw, and nothing seemed likely to
+escape their search in the track they were travelling. Sometimes
+solitary specimens of the pisoti are met with, hunting alone in the
+forest. I once saw one near Juigalpa, ascending tree after tree,
+and climbing every branch, apparently in search of birds' nests.
+They are very fond of eggs; and the tame ones, which are often kept
+as pets, play havoc amongst the poultry when they get loose. They
+are about the size of a hare, with a taper snout, strong tusks, a
+thick hairy coat, and bushy tail. When passing down this road, I at
+times saw the fine curl-crested curassow (Crax globicera), as large
+as a turkey, jet black, excepting underneath. This kind would
+always take to the trees, and was easy to shoot, and as good eating
+as it was noble in appearance. The female is a very
+different-looking bird from the male, being of a fine brown colour.
+Dr. Sclater, in a paper read before the Zoological Society of
+London, June 17th, 1873, stated that in the South and Central
+American species of Crax there is a complete gradation from a
+species in which the sexes scarcely differ, through others in which
+they differ more and more, until in Crax globicera they are quite
+distinctly coloured, and have been described as different species.
+The natives call them "pavones," and often keep them tame; but I
+never heard of them breeding in confinement. Another fine game bird
+is a species of Penelope, called by the natives "pavos." It feeds
+on the fruits of trees, and I never saw it on the ground. A
+similar, but much smaller, bird, called "chachalakes," is often met
+with in the low scrub.
+
+Mountain hens (species of Tinamus) were not uncommon, about the
+size of a plump fowl, and tasting like a pheasant. There were also
+two species of grouse and a ground pigeon, all good eating.
+
+Amongst the smaller birds were trogons, mot-mots, toucans, and
+woodpeckers. The trogons are general feeders. I have taken from
+their crops the remains of fruits, grasshoppers, beetles, termites,
+and even small crabs and land shells. Three species are not
+uncommon in the forest around Santo Domingo. In all of them the
+females are dull brown or slaty black on the back and neck, these
+parts being beautiful bronze green in the males. The largest
+species (Trogon massena, Gould) is one foot in length, dark bronze
+green above, with the smaller wing feathers speckled white and
+black, and the belly of a beautiful carmine. Sometimes it sits on a
+branch above where the army ants are foraging below; and when a
+grasshopper or other large insect flies up and alights on a leaf,
+it darts after it, picks it up, and returns to its perch. I found
+them breaking into the nests of the termites with their strong
+bills, and eating the large soft-bodied workers; and it was from
+the crop of this species that I took the remains of a small crab
+and a land shell (Helicina). Of the two smaller species, one
+(Trogon atricollis, Vieill.) is bronze green above, with speckled
+black and white wings, belly yellow, and under feathers of the tail
+white, barred with black. The other (Trogon caligatus, Gould) is
+rather smaller, of similar colours, excepting the head, which is
+black, and a dark blue collar round the neck. Both species take
+short, quick, jerky flights, and are often met with along with
+flocks of other birds--fly-catchers, tanagers, creepers,
+woodpeckers, etc., that hunt together, traversing the forests in
+flocks of hundreds together, belonging to more than a score
+different species; so that whilst they are passing over, the trees
+seem alive with them. Mr. Bates has mentioned similar gregarious
+flocks met with by him in Brazil; and I never went any distance
+into the woods around Santo Domingo without seeing them. The reason
+of their association together may be partly for protection, as no
+rapacious bird or mammal could approach the flock without being
+discovered by one or other of them, but the principal reason
+appears to be that they play into each other's hands in their
+search for food. The creepers and woodpeckers and others drive the
+insects out of their hiding-places under bark, amongst moss, and in
+withered leaves. The fly-catchers and trogons sit on branches and
+fly after the larger insects, the fly-catchers taking them on the
+wing, the trogons from off the leaves on which they have settled.
+In the breeding season, the trogons are continually calling out to
+each other, and are thus easily discovered. They are called "viduas,"
+that is, "widows," by the Spaniards.
+
+Woodpeckers are often seen along with the hunting flocks of birds,
+especially a small one (Centrurus pucherani, Mahl), with red and
+yellow head and speckled back. This species feeds on fruits, as
+well as on grubs taken out of dead trees. A large red-crested
+species is common near recently-made clearings, and I successively
+met with one of an elegant chocolate-brown colour, and another
+brown with black spots on the back and breast, with a
+lighter-coloured crested head (Celeus castaneus, Wagl.).
+
+Of the mot-mots, I met with four species in the forest, all more or
+less olive green in colour (Momotus martii and lessoni, and
+Prionyrhynchus carinatus and platyrhynchus), having two of the
+tail-feathers very long, with the shafts denuded about an inch from
+the end. The mot-mots have all hoarse croak-like cries, heard at a
+great distance in the forest, and feed on large beetles and other
+insects.
+
+The toucans are very curious-looking birds, with their enormous
+bills. They hop with great agility amongst the branches. The
+largest species at Santo Domingo was the Rhamphastus tocard,
+Vieill., twenty-three inches in length, of which one-fourth was
+taken up by the long bill and another fourth by the tail; above,
+all black, excepting the tail-coverts, which are white; below,
+throat and breast clear lemon yellow, bordered with red, the rest
+black, excepting the under tail-coverts, red. When alive, the bill
+is beautifully painted with red, brown, and yellow. I kept a young
+one for some time as a pet until it was killed by my monkey. It
+became very tame, and was expert in catching cockroaches,
+swallowing them with a jerk of its bill.
+
+After passing through some low scrubby forest, very thick with
+tangled second growth, the clearings of the mestizoes were reached,
+about five miles below Santo Domingo. Maize, plantains, and a few
+native vegetables were grown here, and the owners now and then came
+up to the village to sell their produce. Their houses were
+open-sided low huts, thatched with palm-leaves; their furniture,
+rude bedsteads made out of a few rough poles, tied together with
+bark, supported on crutches stuck in the ground, with raw-hides
+stretched across them; their cooking utensils a tortilla-stone and
+a few coarse earthenware jars and pans; their clothing dirty cotton
+rags. This was the limit of my journeys in this direction, although
+the path continued on to the savannahs towards San Tomas. The soil
+at this place is good, and I think that it has been long
+cultivated, as much of the forest appears of second growth, in
+which small palms and prickly shrubs abound.
+
+
+CHAPTER 8.
+
+Description of San Antonio valley.
+Great variety of animal life.
+Pitcher-flowered Marcgravias.
+Flowers fertilised by humming-birds.
+By insects.
+Provision in some flowers to prevent insects, not adapted for
+   carrying the pollen, from obtaining access to the nectaries.
+Stories about wasps.
+Humming-birds bathing.
+Singular myriapods.
+Ascent of Pena Blanca.
+Tapirs and jaguars.
+Summit of Pena Blanca.
+
+ON the northern side of the Santo Domingo valley, opposite to my
+house, a branch valley came down from the north, which we called
+the San Antonio Valley. It intersected all the lodes we were
+working, and I constructed a tramway up it as far as the most
+northern mine, called San Benito, by which we brought down the ore
+to the stamps and the firewood for the steam-engine, and in a short
+time we had cleared all the timber from the lower part of the
+valley; and a dense scrub or second growth sprang up, through which
+numerous paths were made by the woodcutters. I was almost daily up
+this valley, visiting the mines, or in the evening after the
+workmen had left, and on Saturday afternoons, when they
+discontinued work at two o'clock. On Sundays, too, it was our
+favourite walk, for the tramway was dry to walk on; there were
+tunnels, mines, and sheds at various parts to get into if one of
+the sudden heavy showers of rain came on; and there were always
+flowers or insects or birds to claim one's attention. I planned the
+whole of the tramway; the upper half I surveyed and levelled
+myself; and my almost daily walks up it familiarised me with every
+bush and fallen log by its side, and with every turn of the clear
+cool brook that came prattling down over the stones, soon at the
+machinery to lose its early purity, and be soiled in the ceaseless
+search for gold.
+
+(PLATE 11. PITCHER-FLOWER (Marcgravia nepenthoides).)
+
+(PLATE 12. FLOWER OF THE "PALOSABRE.")
+
+The sides of the valley rose steeply, and a fair view was obtained
+from the tramway in the centre over the shrubs and small trees on
+each side, so that the walk was not so hemmed in with foliage, as
+is usual in the forest roads. Insects were plentiful by this path.
+In some parts brown tiger beetles ran or flew with great swiftness;
+in others, leaf-cutting ants in endless trains carried aloft their
+burdens of foliage, looking as they marched along with the segments
+of leaves, held up vertically, like green butterflies, or a mimic
+representation of a moving Birnam wood. Sometimes the chirping of
+the ant-thrushes drew attention to where a great body of army-ants
+were foraging amongst the fallen branches, sending the spiders,
+cockroaches, and grasshoppers fleeing for their lives, only to fall
+victims to the surrounding birds. On the fallen branches and logs I
+obtained many longicorn beetles; the woodcutters brought me many
+more, and from this valley were obtained some of the rarest and
+finest species in my collection. On the myrtle-like flowers of some
+of the shrubs, large green cockchafers were to be found during the
+dry season, and a bright green rosechafer was also common. I was
+surprised to find on two occasions a green and brown bug (Pentatoma
+punicea) sucking the juices from dead specimens of this species.
+The bug has weak limbs, and the beetle is more than twice its size
+and weight, and is very active, quickly taking wing; so that the
+only way in which it could be overcome that I can think of is by
+the bug creeping up when it is sleeping, quietly introducing the
+point of its sharp proboscis between the rings of its body, and
+injecting some stupefying poison. In both instances that I
+witnessed, the bug was on a leaf up a shrub, with the bulky beetle
+hanging over suspended on its proboscis. Other species of bugs
+certainly inject poisonous fluids. One black and red species in the
+forest, if taken in the hand, would thrust its sharp proboscis into
+the skin, and produce a pain worse than the sting of a wasp.
+Amongst the bushes were always to be found the beautiful scarlet
+and black tanager (Rhamphocoelus passerinii, Bp.), and more rarely
+another species (R. sanguinolentus, Less.). Along with these, a
+brownish-coloured bird, reddish on the breast and top of the head
+(Phoenicothraupis fusicauda, Cab.), flew sociably; whilst generally
+somewhere in the vicinity, as evening drew on, a brown hawk might
+be seen up some of the low trees, watching the thoughtless chirping
+birds, and ready to pounce down when opportunity offered. Higher up
+the valley more trees were left standing, and amongst these small
+flocks of other birds might often be found, one green with red head
+(Calliste laviniae, Cass.); another, shining green, with black head
+(Chlorophones guatemalensis); and a third, beautiful black, blue,
+and yellow, with yellow head (Calliste larvata, Du Bus.). These and
+many others were certain to be found where the climbing Marcgravia
+nepenthoides expanded its curious flowers. The flowers of this
+lofty climber are disposed in a circle, hanging downwards, like an
+inverted candelabrum. From the centre of the circle of flowers is
+suspended a number of pitcher-like vessels, which, when the flowers
+expand, in February and March, are filled with a sweetish liquid.
+This liquid attracts insects, and the insects numerous
+insectivorous birds, including the species I have mentioned and
+many kinds of humming-birds. The flowers are so disposed, with the
+stamens hanging downwards, that the birds, to get at the pitchers,
+must brush against them, and thus convey the pollen from one plant
+to another. A second species of Marcgravia that I found in the
+woods around Santo Domingo has the pitchers placed close to the
+pedicels of the flowers, so that the birds must approach them from
+above; and in this species the flowers are turned upwards, and the
+pollen is brushed off by the breasts of the birds. In temperate
+latitudes we find many flowers fertilised by insects, attracted by
+honey-bearing nectaries; and in tropical America not only bees,
+moths, and other large insects carry the pollen from one flower to
+another, but many flowers, like the Marcgravia, are specially
+adapted to secure the aid of small birds, particularly
+humming-birds, for this purpose. Amongst these, the "palosabre," a
+species of Erythrina, a small tree, bearing red flowers, that grew
+in this valley, near the brook, often drew my attention. The tree
+blooms in February, and is at the time leafless, so that the large
+red flowers are seen from a great distance. Each flower consists of
+a single long, rather fleshy petal, doubled over, flattened, and
+closed, excepting a small opening on one edge, where the stamens
+protrude. Only minute insects can find access to the flower, which
+secretes at the base a honey-like fluid. Two long-billed
+humming-birds frequent it; one (Heliomaster pallidiceps, Gould),
+which I have already mentioned, is rather rare; the other
+(Phaethornis longirostris, De Latt.) might be seen at any time when
+the tree was in bloom, by watching near it for a few minutes. It is
+mottled brown above, pale below, and the two middle tail feathers
+are much longer than the others. The bill is very long and curved,
+enabling the bird easily to probe the long flower, and with its
+extensile cleft tongue pick up the minute insects from the bottom
+of the tube, where they are caught as if in a trap, their only way
+of exit being closed by the bill of the bird. Whilst the bird is
+probing the flower, the pollen of the stamens is rubbed in to the
+lower part of its head, and thus carried from one flower to
+fecundate another. The bottom of the flower is covered externally
+with a thick, fleshy calyx--an effectual guard against the attempts
+of bees or wasps to break through to get at the honey.
+Humming-birds feed on minute insects, and the honey would only be
+wasted if larger ones could gain access to it, but in the flower of
+the palosabre this contingency is simply and completely guarded
+against.
+
+Many flowers have contrivances for preventing useless insects from
+obtaining access to the nectaries. Amongst our English flowers
+there are scores of interesting examples, and I shall describe the
+fertilisation of one, the common foxglove, on account of the
+exceeding simplicity with which this object is effected, and to
+draw the attention of all lovers of nature to this branch of a
+subject on which the labours of Darwin and other naturalists have
+of late years thrown a flood of light. The pollen of the foxglove
+(Digitalis purpurea) is carried from one flower to another by the
+humble-bee, who, far more than the hive bee, that "improves each
+shining hour," deserves to be considered the type of steady,
+persevering industry. It improves not only the hours of sunshine,
+but those of cloud, and even rain; and, long before the honey-bee
+has ventured from its door, is at work bustling from flower to
+flower, its steady hum changing to an importunate squeak as it
+rifles the blossoms of their sweets. The racemes of purple bells
+held up by the foxglove are methodically visited by it, commencing
+at the bottom flower, and ascending step by step to the highest.
+The four stamens and the pistil of the foxglove are laid closely
+against the upper side of the flower. First a stamen on one side
+opens its anthers and exposes its pollen. The humble-bee, as it
+bustles in and out, brushes this off. Then another stamen exposes
+its pollen on the other side, then another and another; but not
+till all the pollen has been brushed off does the cleft end of the
+pistil open, and expose its viscid stigma. The humble-bee brushes
+off the pollen onto its hairy coat from the upper flowers of one
+raceme and carries it direct to the lowest flowers of another,
+where the viscid stigmas are open and ready to receive it. If the
+humble-bee went first to the upper flowers of the spike and
+proceeded downwards, the whole economy of this plant to procure
+cross fertilisation would be upset.* (* Darwin mentions having seen
+humble-bees visiting the flowering spikes of the Spiranthes
+autumnalis (ladies' tresses), and notices that they always
+commenced with the bottom flowers, and crawling spirally up, sucked
+one flower after the other, and shows how this proceeding ensures
+the cross fertilisation of different plants.--"Fertilisation of
+Orchids" page 127.) The open flower of the foxglove hangs
+downwards. The lower part, or dilated opening of the tube, is
+turned outwards, and has scattered stiff hairs distributed over its
+inner surface; above these the inside of the flower hangs almost
+perpendicularly, and is smooth and pearly. The large humble-bee
+bustles in with the greatest ease, and uses these hairs as
+footholds whilst he is sucking the honey; but the smaller
+honey-bees are impeded by them, and when, having at last struggled
+through them, they reach the pearly, slippery precipice above, they
+are completely baffled. I passed the autumn of 1857 in North Wales,
+where the foxglove was very abundant, and watched the flowers
+throughout the season, but only once saw a small bee reach the
+nectary, though many were seen trying in vain to do so.
+
+Great attention has of late years been paid by naturalists to the
+wonderful contrivances amongst flowers to secure cross
+fertilisation; but the structure of many cannot, I believe, be
+understood, unless we take into consideration not only the
+beautiful adaptations for securing the services of the proper
+insect or bird, but also the contrivances for preventing insects
+that would not be useful, from obtaining access to the nectar. Thus
+the immense length of the nectary of the Angraecum sesquipedale of
+Madagascar might, perhaps, have been completely explained by Mr.
+Wallace, if this important purpose had been taken into account.* (*
+"Natural Selection" by A.R. Wallace page 272.)
+
+The tramway in some parts was on raised ground, in others excavated
+in the bank side. In the cuttings the nearly perpendicular clay
+slopes were frequented by many kinds of wasps that excavated round
+holes of the diameter of their own bodies, and stored them with
+sting-paralysed spiders, grasshoppers, or horse-flies. Amongst
+these they lay their eggs, and the white grubs that issue therefrom
+feed on the poor prisoners. I one day saw a small black and yellow
+banded wasp (Pompilus polistoides) hunting for spiders; it
+approached a web where a spider was stationed in the centre, made a
+dart towards it--apparently a feint to frighten the spider clear of
+its web; at any rate it had that effect, for it fell to the ground,
+and was immediately seized by the wasp, who stung it, then ran
+quickly backwards, dragging the spider after it, up a branch
+reaching to the ground, until it got high enough, when it flew
+heavily off with it. It was so small, and the spider so heavy, that
+it probably could not have raised it from the ground by flight. All
+over the world there are wasps that store their nests with the
+bodies of spiders for their young to feed on. In Australia, I often
+witnessed a wasp combating with a large flat spider that is found
+on the bark of trees. It would fall to the ground, and lie on its
+back, so as to be able to grapple with its opponent; but the wasp
+was always the victor in the encounters I saw, although it was not
+always allowed to carry its prey off in peace. One day, sitting on
+the sand-banks on the coast of Hobson's Bay, I saw one dragging
+along a large spider. Three or four inches above it hovered two
+minute flies, keeping a little behind, and advancing with it. The
+wasp seemed much disturbed by the presence of the tiny flies, and
+twice left its prey to fly up towards them, but they darted away
+immediately. As soon as the wasp returned to the spider, there they
+were hovering over and following it again. At last, unable to drive
+away its small tormenters, the wasp reached its burrow and took
+down the spider, and the two flies stationed themselves one on each
+side the entrance, and would, doubtless, when the wasp went away to
+seek another victim, descend and lay their own eggs in the nest.
+
+The variety of wasps, as of all other insects, was very great
+around Santo Domingo. Many made papery nests, hanging from the
+undersides of large leaves. Others hung their open cells underneath
+verandahs and eaves of houses. One large black one was particularly
+abundant about houses, and many people got stung by them. They also
+build their pendent nests in the orange and lime trees, and it is
+not always safe to gather the fruit. Fortunately they are heavy
+flyers, and can often be struck down or evaded in their attacks.
+They do good where there are gardens, as they feed their young on
+caterpillars, and are continually hunting for them. Another
+species, banded brown and yellow (Polistes carnifex), has similar
+habits, but is not so common. Bates, in his account of the habits
+of the sand-wasps at Santarem, on the Amazon, gives an interesting
+account of the way in which they took a few turns in the air around
+the hole they had made in the sand, before leaving to seek for
+flies in the forest, apparently to mark well the position of the
+burrow, so that on their return they might find it without
+difficulty. He remarks that this precaution would be said to be
+instinctive, but that the instinct is no mysterious and
+unintelligible agent, but a mental process in each individual
+differing from the same in man only by its unerring certainty.* (*
+"Naturalist on the River Amazons" page 222.) I had an opportunity
+of confirming his account of the proceedings of wasps when quitting
+a locality to which they wished to return, in all but their
+unerring certainty. I could not help noting how similar they were
+to the way in which a man would act who wished to return to some
+spot not easily found out, and with which he was not previously
+acquainted. A specimen of the Polistes carnifex was hunting about
+for caterpillars in my garden. I found one about an inch long, and
+held it out towards the wasp on the point of a stick. The wasp
+seized the caterpillar immediately, and commenced biting it from
+head to tail, soon reducing the soft body to a mass of pulp. Then
+rolling up about one half of the pulp into a ball, it carried it
+off. Being at the time amidst a thick mass of a fine-leaved
+climbing plant, it proceeded, before flying away, to take note of
+the place where the other half was left. To do this, it hovered in
+front for a few seconds, then took small circles in front, then
+larger ones round the whole plant. I thought it had gone, but it
+returned again, and had another look at the opening in the dense
+foliage down which the other half of the caterpillar lay. It then
+flew away, but must have left its burden for distribution with its
+comrades at the nest, for it returned in less than two minutes, and
+making one circle around the bush, descended to the opening,
+alighted on a leaf, and ran inside. The green remnant of the
+caterpillar was lying on another leaf inside, but not connected
+with the one on which the wasp alighted, so that in running in it
+missed the object and soon got hopelessly lost in the thick
+foliage. Coming out, it took another circle, and pounced down on
+the same spot again, as soon as it came opposite to it. Three small
+seed-pods, which here grew close together, formed the marks that I
+had myself taken to note the place, and these the wasp seemed also
+to have taken as its guide, for it flew directly down to them, and
+ran inside; but the small leaf on which the fragment of caterpillar
+lay, not being directly connected with any on the outside, it again
+missed it, and again got far away from the object of its search. It
+then flew out again, and the same process was repeated again and
+again. Always, when in circling round it came in sight of the
+seed-pods, down it pounced, alighted near them, and recommenced its
+quest on foot. I was surprised at its perseverance, and thought it
+would have given up the search; not so, however, for it returned at
+least half-a-dozen times, and seemed to get angry, hurrying about
+with buzzing wings. At last it stumbled across its prey, seized it
+eagerly, and as there was nothing more to come back for, flew
+straight off to its nest, without taking any further note of the
+locality. Such an action is not the result of blind instinct, but
+of a thinking mind; and it is wonderful to see an insect so
+differently constructed using a mental process similar to that of
+man. It is suggestive of the probability of many of the actions of
+insects that we ascribe to instinct being the result of the
+possession of reasoning powers.
+
+Where the tramway terminated at San Benito mine, the valley had
+greatly contracted in width, and the stream, excepting in time of
+flood, had dwindled to a little rill. A small rough path, made by
+the miners to bring in their timber, continued up the brook,
+crossing and recrossing it. The sides of the valley were very
+steep, and covered with trees and undergrowth. The foliage arched
+over the water, forming beautiful little dells, with small, clear
+pools of water. One of these was a favourite resort of
+humming-birds, who came there to bathe, for these gem-like birds
+are very frequent in their ablutions, and I spent many a half-hour
+in the evenings leaning against a trunk of a tree that had fallen
+across the stream four or five yards below the pool, and watching
+them. At all times of the day they occasionally came down, but
+during the short twilight there was a crowd of bathers, and often
+there were two or three at one time hovering over the pool, which
+was only three feet across, and dipping into it. Some would delay
+their evening toilet until the shades of night were thickening, and
+it became almost too dark to distinguish them from my stand. Three
+species regularly frequented the pool, and three others
+occasionally visited it. The commonest was the Thalurania venusta
+(Gould), the male of which is a most beautiful bird--the front of
+the head and shoulders glistening purple, the throat brilliant
+light green, shining in particular lights like polished metal, the
+breast blue, and the back dark green. It was a beautiful sight to
+see this bird hovering over the pool, turning from side to side by
+quick jerks of its tail, now showing its throat a gleaming emerald,
+now its shoulders a glistening amethyst, then darting beneath the
+water, and rising instantly, throw off a shower of spray from its
+quivering wings, and fly up to an overhanging bough and commence to
+preen its feathers. All humming-birds bathe on the wing, and
+generally take three or four dips, hovering, between times, about
+three inches above the surface.
+
+Sometimes when the last-mentioned species was suspended over the
+water, its rapidly vibrating wings showing like a mere film, a
+speck shot down the valley, swift as an arrow, as white as a
+snowflake, and stopping suddenly over the pool, startled the
+emerald-throat, and frightened it up amongst the overhanging
+branches. The intruder was the white-cap (Microchera parvirostris,
+Lawr.), the smallest of thirteen different kinds of humming-birds
+that I noticed around Santo Domingo; being only a little more than
+two and a half inches in length, including the bill; but it was
+very pugnacious, and I have often seen it drive some of the larger
+birds away from a flowering tree. Its body is purplish-red, with
+green reflections, the front of its head flat and pearly white,
+and, when flying towards one, its white head is the only part seen.
+Sometimes the green-throat would hold its ground, and then it was
+comical to see them hovering over the water, jerking round from
+side to side, eyeing each other suspiciously, the one wishing to
+dip, but apparently afraid to do so, for fear the other would take
+a mean advantage, and do it some mischief whilst under water;
+though what harm was possible I could not see, as there were no
+clothes to steal. I have seen human bathers acting just like the
+birds, though from a different cause, bobbing down towards the
+water, but afraid to dip their heads, and the idea of comicality
+arose, as it does in most of the ludicrous actions of animals, from
+their resemblance to those of mankind. The dispute would generally
+end by the green-throat giving way, and leaving the pugnacious
+little white-cap in possession of the pool.
+
+Besides the humming-birds I have mentioned, there were four or five
+other small ones that we used to call squeakers, as it is their
+habit for a great part of the day to sit motionless on branches and
+every now and then to chirp out one or two shrill notes. At first I
+thought these sounds proceeded from insects, as they resemble those
+of crickets; but they are not so continuous. After a while I got to
+know them, and could distinguish the notes of the different
+species. It was not until then that I found out how full the woods
+are of humming-birds, for they are most difficult to see when
+perched amongst the branches, and when flying they frequent the
+tops of trees in flower, where they are indistinguishable. I have
+sometimes heard the different chirps of more than a dozen
+individuals, although unable to get a glimpse of one of them, as
+they are mere brown specks on the branches, their metallic colours
+not showing from below, and the sound of their chirpings--or rather
+squeakings--being most deceptive as to their direction and distance
+from the hearer. My conclusion, after I got to know their voices in
+the woods, was that the humming-birds around Santo Domingo equalled
+in number all the rest of the birds together, if they did not
+greatly exceed them. Yet one may sometimes ride for hours without
+seeing one. They build their nests on low shrubs--often on branches
+overhanging paths, or on the underside of the large leaves of the
+shrubby palm-trees. They are all bold birds, suffering you to
+approach nearer than any other kinds, and often flying up and
+hovering within two or three yards from you. This fearlessness is
+probably owing to the great security from foes that their swiftness
+of flight ensures to them. I have noticed amongst butterflies that
+the swiftest and strongest flyers, such as the Hesperidae, also
+allow you to approach near to them, feeling confident that they can
+dart away from any threatened danger--a misplaced confidence,
+however, so far as the net of the collector is concerned.
+
+At the head of the tramway, near the entrance to the San Benito
+mine, we planted about three acres of the banks of the valley with
+grass. In clearing away the fallen logs and brushwoods, many
+beetles, scorpions, and centipedes were brought to light. Amongst
+the last was a curious species belonging to the sucking division of
+the Myriapods (Sugantia, of Brandt), which had a singular method of
+securing its prey. It is about three inches long, and sluggish in
+its movements; but from its tubular mouth it is able to discharge a
+viscid fluid to the distance of about three inches, which stiffens
+on exposure to the air to the consistency of a spider's web, but
+stronger. With this it can envelop and capture its prey, just as a
+fowler throws his net over a bird. The order of Myriapoda is placed
+by systematists at the bottom of the class of insects; the sucking
+Myriapods are amongst the lowest forms of the order, and it is
+singular to find one of these lowly organised species furnished
+with an apparatus of such utility, and the numberless higher forms
+without any trace of it. Some of the other centipedes have two
+phosphorescent spots in the head, which shine brightly at night,
+casting a greenish light for a little distance in front of them. I
+do not know the use of these lights, but think that they may serve
+to dazzle or allure the insects on which they prey. We planted two
+kinds of grasses, both of which have been introduced into Nicaragua
+within the last twenty years. They are called Para and Guinea
+grasses, I believe, after the places from which they were first
+brought. The former is a strong succulent grass, rooting at the
+joints; the latter grows in tufts, rising to a height of four to
+five feet. Both are greatly liked by cattle and mules; large
+bundles were cut every day for the latter whilst they were at work
+on the tramway, and they kept in good condition on it without other
+food. The natural, indigenous grass that springs up in clearings in
+the neighbouring forest is a creeping species, and is rather
+abundant about Santo Domingo. It has a bitter taste, and cattle do
+not thrive on it, but rapidly fall away in condition if confined to
+it. They do better when allowed to roam about the outskirts of the
+forest amongst the brushwood, as they browse on the leaves of many
+of the bushes. This grass is not found far outside the forest, but
+is replaced on the savannahs by a great variety of tufted grasses,
+which seem gradually to overcome the creeper in the clearings on
+the edge of the forest; but at Santo Domingo the latter was
+predominant, and although I sowed the seeds of other grasses
+amongst it, they did not succeed, on account of the cattle picking
+them out and eating them in preference to the other.
+
+There were many other paths leading in different directions into
+the forest, and I shall describe one of them, as it differed from
+those already mentioned, leading to the top of a bare rock, rising
+fully 1000 feet above Santo Domingo.
+
+This rock, on the southern and most perpendicular side, weathers to
+a whitish colour, and is called Pena Blanca, meaning the white
+peak. It is visible from some points on the savannahs. During the
+summer months it is, on the northern side, covered with the flowers
+of a caulescent orchid (Ornithorhynchos) that has not been found
+anywhere else in the neighbourhood; and the natives, who are very
+fond of flowers, inheriting the taste from their Indian ancestors,
+at this time, often on Sundays ascend the peak and bring down large
+quantities of the blossoms. Its colour, when it first opens, is
+scarlet and yellow. With it grows a crimson Mackleania. Once when I
+made an ascent, in March, these flowers were in perfection, and in
+great abundance, and the northern face of the rock was completely
+covered with them. When I emerged from the gloomy forest, the sun
+was shining brightly on it, and the combination of scarlet,
+crimson, and yellow made a perfect blaze of colour, approaching
+more nearly to the appearance of flames of fire than anything I
+have elsewhere seen in the floral world.
+
+(PLATE 13. ADVENTURE WITH A JAGUAR.)
+
+The last ascent I made to the summit of Pena Blanca was in the
+middle of June 1872, after we had had about two weeks of
+continuously wet weather. On the 17th, the rain clouds cleared
+away, the sun shone out, and only a few fleecy cumuli sailed across
+the blue sky, driven by the north-east trade wind. I had on
+previous visits to the peak noticed the elytra of many beetles
+lying on the bare top. They were the remnants of insects caught by
+frogs; great bulky fellows that excited one's curiosity to know how
+ever they got there. Amongst the elytra were those of beetles that
+I had never taken, and as they were night-roaming species, I
+determined to go up some evening and wait until dark, with a
+lanthorn, to see if I could take any of them. We had one heavy
+shower of rain in the afternoon, so that the forest was very wet,
+and the hills slippery and difficult for the mule. The path ascends
+the valley of Santo Domingo, then crosses a range behind a mine
+called the "Consuelo," enters the forest, descending at first a
+steep slope to a clear brook; after crossing this, the ascent of
+the hill of Pena Blanca begins, and is continuous for about a mile
+to the top of the rock. The ground was damp, and the forest gloomy,
+but here and there glimpses of sunshine glanced through the trees,
+and enlivened the scene a little. I startled a mountain hen
+(Tinamus sp.) which whirred off amongst the bushes. The dry slopes
+of hills are their favourite feeding-places, and around Pena Blanca
+they are rather plentiful; and so, also, in their season, are the
+curassows and penelopes. In the lower ground, the footmarks of the
+tapir are very frequent, especially along the small paths, where I
+have sometimes traced them for more than a mile. They are harmless
+beasts. One of our men came across one near Pena Blanca, and
+attacked and killed it with his knife. He brought in the head to
+me. It was as large as that of a bullock. I often tried to track
+them, but never succeeded in seeing one. One day in my eagerness to
+get near what I believed to be one, I rushed into rather unpleasant
+proximity with a jaguar, the "tigre" of the natives. I had just
+received a fresh supply of cartridge cases for my breech-loader,
+and wishing to get some specimens of the small birds that attend
+the armies of the foraging ants, I made up three or four small
+charges of Number 8 shot, putting in only a quarter of an ounce of
+shot into each charge, so as not to destroy their plumage. I went
+back into the forest along a path where I had often seen the great
+footmarks of the tapir. After riding about a couple of miles, I
+heard the notes of some birds, and, dismounting, tied up my mule,
+and pushed through the bushes. The birds were shy, and in following
+them I had got about fifty yards from the path, to a part where the
+big trees were more clear of brushwood, when I heard a loud hough
+in a thicket towards the left. It was something between a cough and
+a growl, but very loud, and could only have been produced by a very
+large animal. Never having seen or heard a jaguar before in the
+woods, and having often seen the footprints of the tapir, I thought
+it was the latter, and thinking I would have to get very close up
+to it to do it any damage with my little charge of small shot, I
+ran along towards the sound, which was continued at intervals of a
+few seconds. Seeing a large animal moving amongst the thick bushes,
+only a few yards from me, I stopped, when, to my amazement, out
+stalked a great jaguar (like the housekeeper's rat, the largest I
+had ever seen), in whose jaws I should have been nearly as helpless
+as a mouse in those of a cat. He was lashing his tail, at every
+roar showing his great teeth, and was evidently in a bad humour.
+Notwithstanding I was so near to him, I scarcely think he saw me at
+first, as he was crossing the open glade about twenty yards in
+front of me. I had not even a knife with me to show fight with if
+he attacked me, and my small charge of shot would not have
+penetrated beyond his skin, unless I managed to hit him when he was
+very near to me. To steady my aim, if he approached me, I knelt
+down on one knee, supporting my left elbow on the other. He was
+just opposite to me at the time, the movement caught his eye, he
+turned half round, and put down his neck and head towards the
+ground as if he was going to spring, and I believe he could have
+cleared the ground between us at a single bound, but the next
+moment he turned away from me, and was lost sight of amongst the
+bushes. I half regretted I had not fired and taken my chance; and
+when he disappeared, I followed a few yards, greatly chagrined that
+in the only chance I had ever had of bagging a jaguar, I was not
+prepared for the encounter, and had to let "I dare not," wait upon
+"I would." I returned the next morning with a supply of ball
+cartridges, but in the night it had rained heavily, so that I could
+not even find the jaguar's tracks, and although afterwards I was
+always prepared, I never met with another. From the accounts of the
+natives, I believe that in Central America he never attacks man
+unless first interfered with, but when wounded is very savage and
+dangerous. Velasquez told me that his father had mortally wounded
+one, which, however, sprang after him, and had got hold of him by
+the leg, when it fortunately fell down dead.
+
+The path up Pena Blanca hill gets steeper and steeper, until about
+fifty yards from the rock it is too precipitous and rugged to ride
+with safety, so that the rest of the ascent must be made on foot.
+Tying my mule to a sapling, I scrambled up the path, and soon
+emerging from the dark forest, stood under the grey face of the
+rock towering up above me. It has two peaks, of which the highest
+is accessible, footholds having been cut into the face of it, and
+the most difficult part being surmounted by a rude ladder made by
+cutting notches in a pole. Above it the rock is shelving, and the
+top is easily reached. I found a strong north-east wind blowing,
+which made it rather uncomfortable on the top, but the view was
+very fine and varied. To the south-east and east the eye roams over
+range beyond range all covered with dark forest, that partly hides
+the inequalities of the ground, the trees in the hollows growing
+higher than those on the hills. On this side the rock is a sheer
+precipice, going down perpendicularly for more than three hundred
+feet; the face of the cliff all weathered white. The tops of the
+trees are far below, and as one looking down upon them hears the
+various cries and whistles of the birds come up, and marks the
+vultures wheeling round in aerial circles over the trees far below
+one's feet, then it is that you realise that at last the forest,
+with its world of foliage, has been surmounted. Looking down on the
+trees, every shade of green meets the eye, here light as grass,
+there dark as holly, whilst the fleecy clouds above cast lines of
+dark shadows over hill and dale.
+
+Directly south-east is a high rock, about three miles distant, and
+beyond it the Carca and the Artigua rivers must meet, judging from
+the fall of the country. The course of the Carca is marked by some
+patches of light green, that look like grass, and are probably
+clearings made by the Indians.
+
+To the south the eye first passes over about six miles of forest,
+then savannahs and grassy ranges stretching to the lake, which is
+only dimly seen, with the peaks of Madera and Ometepec more
+distinct, the latter bearing south-west by west. Alone on the
+summit of a high peak, with surging green billows of foliage all
+around, dim misty mountains in the distance, and above the blue
+heavens, checkered with fleecy clouds, that have travelled up
+hundreds of miles from the north-east, thoughts arise that can be
+only felt in their full intensity amid solitude and nature's
+grandest phases. Then man's intellect strives to grapple with the
+great mysteries of his existence, and like a fluttering bird that
+beats itself against the bars of its cage, falls back baffled and
+bruised.
+
+(PLATE 14. PENA BLANCA.)
+
+Another shower of rain came on, quickly followed by sunshine again.
+Great banks of vapour began to rise from the forest, and fill the
+valleys, and now looking down over the precipice, instead of
+foliage there was a glistening white cloud spread out below, up
+through which came the cries of birds. The hills stood up through
+the cloud of mist like islands. To the south-west, over the
+savannahs, the air was clear, and the peak of Ometepec was a fine
+object in the distance. A white cloud enveloping its top looked
+like a snow-cap, and this, as the night came on, descended lower
+and lower, mantling closely around it, and conforming to its
+outline. That the savannahs should not give off the same vapour as
+the forest has been ascribed, and, I believe, with reason, to the
+fact that their evaporating surfaces are much smaller than those of
+the latter, with their numberless leaves heated by the previous
+sunshine.
+
+As night came on, a wetting mist drove over the top of the peak,
+and the wind increased in strength, making it very cold and bleak,
+for there was no shelter of any kind on the summit. Such a night
+was not a favourable one for insects, but I got a few beetles that
+were new to me on the very top of the rock, where only rushes are
+growing. They appeared to be travelling with the north-east trade
+wind, and were sifted out by the rushes as they passed over. On a
+finer night I have no doubt many species might be obtained. I
+suppose that the wind was moving at the rate of not less than
+thirty miles an hour, so that the beetles, when they got up to it
+from the forest below, where it was comparatively calm, might
+easily be carried hundreds of miles without much labour to
+themselves. I added two fine new Carabidae to my collection; and
+about eleven o'clock started back again, having many a fall on the
+slippery steep before I reached the place where I had left my mule.
+It was a very dark night, and the oil of my small bull's-eye
+lanthorn was exhausted, but the mule knew every step of the way,
+and, though slipping often, never fell, and carried me safely home.
+
+
+CHAPTER 9.
+
+Journey to Juigalpa.
+Description of Libertad.
+The priest and the bell.
+Migratory butterflies and moths.
+Indian graves.
+Ancient names.
+Dry river-beds.
+Monkeys and wasps.
+Reach Juigalpa.
+Ride in neighbourhood.
+Abundance of small birds.
+A poor cripple.
+The "Toledo."
+Trogons.
+Waterfall.
+Sepulchral mounds.
+Broken statues.
+The sign of the cross.
+Contrast between the ancient and the present inhabitants.
+Night life.
+
+TOWARDS the end of June, in 1872, I had to go to Juigalpa, one of
+the principal towns of the province of Chontales, on business
+connected with a lawsuit brought against the mining company by a
+litigious native. I started early in the morning, taking with me my
+native boy, Rito, who carried on his mule behind him my blankets
+and a change of clothes. I carried in my hand a light
+fowling-piece. The roads through the forest were excessively muddy,
+and it took us four hours to get over the seven miles to Pital; the
+poor mules struggling all the way through mud nearly three feet
+deep. Shortly after leaving Pital, we passed the river Mico; and
+two miles further on, across some grassy hills, reached the small
+town of Libertad. It is the principal mining centre of Chontales.
+There are a great number of gold mines in its vicinity, several of
+which are worked by intelligent Frenchmen. The gold and silver
+mines of Libertad are richer than those of Santo Domingo, and many
+of the owners of them have extracted great quantities of the
+precious metals.
+
+The town is situated near to the edge of the forest, being
+separated by the Rio Mico, across which it is proposed to build a
+wooden bridge, as during floods the river is impassable. Whether
+the bridge will ever be built or not I cannot tell. Several times
+rates have been levied, and money collected to build it, but the
+funds have always melted away in the hands of the officials. There
+is an alcalde and a judge at Libertad. Every one worth two hundred
+dollars is liable to be elected to the latter office. Only
+unimportant cases are tried by him, and his decisions depend
+generally on the private influence that is brought to bear upon
+him. He is often a tool in the hands of some unprincipled lawyer.
+The church at Libertad is a great barn-like edifice, with tiled
+roof. At one side is a detached small bell-tower, in which hang two
+bells, one sound and whole, the other cracked and patched. The
+latter was a present from one of the mining companies, and had
+excited a great scandal. The mining company had a fine large bell,
+with which they called together their workmen. The priest of
+Libertad, thinking it might be much better employed in the service
+of the church, made an application for it. The superintendent of
+the mine could not part with it, but having an old broken bell, he
+had it patched up, and sent it out with a letter, explaining that
+he could not let them have the other, but that if this one was of
+any use, they were welcome to it. The priest heard that the bell
+was on the road, and thinking it was the one he had coveted, got up
+a procession to go and meet it, to take it to its place with
+befitting ceremony. But when he saw the old battered and broken
+article that had been sent, his satisfaction was changed to rage,
+instead of blessing he cursed it, threw it to the ground, and even
+kicked and spat upon it. His rage for a time knew no bounds, as he
+thought that he had been mocked by the heretical foreigners, and
+his indignation was at first shared by some of the principal
+inhabitants of the town, but when the explanatory letter had been
+interpreted to them, their feelings changed, and the poor bell was
+put up to do what duty it could. There are some good stores in
+Libertad, the best being branches of Granada houses that buy the
+produce of the country--hides, india-rubber, and gold--for export,
+and import European manufactured goods.
+
+Captain Velasquez joined me at Libertad, and, after getting
+breakfast, we started. The road passes over grassy hills, on which
+cattle and mules were feeding. The edge of the forest is not far
+distant to the right, and all the way along it there have been
+clearings made and maize planted. As we rode along, great numbers
+of a brown, tailed butterfly (Timetes chiron) were flying over to
+the south-east. They occurred, as it were, in columns. The air
+would be comparatively clear of them for a few hundred yards, then
+we would pass through a band perhaps fifty yards in width, where
+hundreds were always in sight, and all travelling one way. I took
+the direction several times with a pocket compass, and it was
+always south-east. Amongst them were a few yellow butterflies, but
+these were not so numerous as in former years. In some seasons
+these migratory swarms of butterflies continue passing over to the
+south-east for three to five weeks, and must consist of millions
+upon millions of individuals, comprising many different species and
+genera. The beautiful tailed green and gilded day-flying moth
+(Urania leilus) also joins in this annual movement. When in Brazil,
+I observed similar flights of butterflies at Pernambuco and
+Maranham, all travelling south-east. Mr. R. Spruce describes a
+migration which he witnessed on the Amazon, in November 1849, of
+the common white and yellow butterflies. They were all passing to
+the south-south-east.* (* "Journal of the Linnean Society" volume
+9.) Darwin mentions that several times when off the shores of
+Northern Patagonia, and at other times when some miles off the
+mouth of the Plata, the ship was surrounded by butterflies; so
+numerous were they on one occasion, that it was not possible to see
+a space free from them, and the seamen cried out that it was
+"snowing butterflies."* (* "Naturalist's Voyage" page 158.) These
+butterflies must also come from the westward. I know of no
+satisfactory explanation of these immense migrations. They occurred
+every year whilst I was in Chontales, and always in the same
+direction. I thought that some of the earlier flights in April
+might be caused by the vegetation of the Pacific side of the
+continent being still parched up, whilst on the Atlantic slope the
+forests were green and moist. But in June there had been abundant
+rains on the Pacific side, and vegetation was everywhere growing
+luxuriantly. Neither would their direction from the north-west
+bring them from the Pacific, but from the interior of Honduras and
+Guatemala. The difficulty is that there are no return swarms. If
+they travelled in one direction at one season of the year, and in
+an opposite at another, we might suppose that the vegetation on
+which the caterpillars feed was at one time more abundant in the
+north-west, at another in the south-east; but during the five years
+I was in Central America, I was always on the look-out for them,
+and never saw any return swarms of butterflies. Their migration
+every year in one definite direction is quite unintelligible to me.
+
+We gradually ascended the range that separates the watershed of the
+Lake of Nicaragua from that of the Blewfields river, passing over
+grassy savannahs. About two leagues from Libertad there are many
+old Indian graves, covered with mounds of earth and stones. A
+well-educated Englishman, Mr. Fairbairn, has taken up his abode at
+this place, and is growing maize and rearing cattle. There are many
+evidences of a large Indian population having lived at this spot,
+and their pottery and fragments of their stones for bruising maize
+have been found in some graves that have been opened. Mr. Fairbairn
+got me several of these curiosities, amongst them are imitations of
+the heads of armadillos, and other animals. Some of these had
+formed the feet of urns, others were rattles, containing small
+balls of baked clay. The old Indians used these rattles in their
+solemn religious dances, and the custom is probably not yet quite
+obsolete, for as late as 1823 Mr. W. Bullock saw, in Mexico, Indian
+women dancing in a masque representing the court of Montezuma, and
+holding rattles in their right hands, to the noise of which they
+accompanied their motions. Several stone axes have been found,
+which are called "thunderbolts" by the natives, who have no idea
+that they are artificial, although it is less than four hundred
+years ago since their forefathers used them. Like most of the sites
+of the ancient Indian towns, the place is a very picturesque one.
+At a short distance to the west rise the precipitous rocks of the
+Amerrique range, with great perpendicular cliffs, and huge isolated
+rocks and pinnacles. The name of this range gives us a clue to the
+race of the ancient inhabitants. In the highlands of Honduras, as
+has been noted by Squiers, the termination of tique or rique is of
+frequent occurrence in the names of places, as Chaparriistique,
+Lepaterique, Llotique, Ajuterique, and others. The race that
+inhabited this region were the Lenca Indians, often mentioned in
+the accounts given by the missionaries of their early expeditions
+into Honduras. I think that the Lenca Indians were the ancient
+inhabitants of Chontales, that they were the "Chontals" of the
+Nahuatls or Aztecs of the Pacific side of the country, and that
+they were partly conquered, and their territories encroached upon
+by the latter before the arrival of the Spaniards, as some of the
+Aztec names of places in Nicaragua do not appear to be such as
+could be given originally by the first inhabitants; thus Juigalpa,
+pronounced Hueygalpa, is southern Aztec for "Big Town." No town
+could be called the big town at first by those who saw it grow up
+gradually from small beginnings, but it is a likely enough name to
+be given by a conquering invader. Again Ometepec is nearly pure
+Aztec for Two Peaks, but the island itself only contains one, and
+the name was probably given by an invader who saw the two peaks of
+Ometepec and Madera from the shore of the lake, and thought they
+belonged to one island. The Lenca Indians nowhere appear to have
+built stone buildings, like the Quiches, and Lacandones of
+Guatemala, and the Mayas of Yucatan, who were probably much more
+nearly affiliated to the Nahuatls of Mexico than the Lencas.
+
+We reached the top of the dividing range, and now left the main
+road, taking a path to the left, that is very rocky and narrow. We
+began rapidly to descend, and found an entire change of climate on
+this side of the range. It had been raining for weeks at Libertad,
+and everywhere the ground was wet and swampy, but two miles on the
+other side of the range the ground was quite dry, and so it
+continued to Juigalpa. Dry gravelly hills, covered with low scrubby
+bushes and trees, succeeded the damp grassy slopes we had been for
+hours travelling over. Prickly acacias, nancitos, guayavas,
+jicaras, were the principal trees, with here and there the one
+whose thick coriaceous leaves are used by the natives instead of
+sandpaper. The beds of the rivers were dry, or at the most
+contained only stagnant pools of water, until we reached the
+Juigalpa river, which rises far to the eastward; the north-east
+trade wind in crossing the great forest that clothes the Atlantic
+slope of the continent, gives up most of its moisture; and this
+range, rising about three thousand feet above the sea, intercepts
+nearly all that remains, so that only occasional showers reach
+Juigalpa.
+
+On one of the low gravelly hills that we passed, not far from the
+path, we saw a troop of the white-faced monkey (Cebus albifrons) on
+the ground, amongst low scattered trees. Their attitudes, some
+standing up on their hind legs to get a better look at us, others
+with their backs arched like cats, were amusing. Though quite ready
+to run away, they stood all quite still, watching us, and looked as
+if they had been grouped for a photograph. A few steps towards them
+sent them scampering off, barking as they went.
+
+Soon after this, I got severely stung by a number of small wasps,
+whose nest I had disturbed in passing under some bushes. About
+thirty were upon me, but I got off with about half-a-dozen stings,
+as I managed to kill the rest as they made their way through the
+hair of my head and beard, for these wasps, having generally to do
+with animals covered with hair, do not fly at the open face, but at
+the hair of the head, and push down through it to the skin before
+they sting. On this and on another occasion on which I was attacked
+by them, I had not a single sting on the exposed portions of my
+face, although my hands were stung in killing them in my hair. It
+is curious to note that the large black wasp that makes its nest
+under the verandahs of houses and eaves of huts, and has had to
+deal with man as his principal foe, flies directly at the face when
+molested.
+
+Without further adventure we reached Juigalpa at dusk, and took up
+our quarters not far from the plaza, in a house where one large
+room was set apart for the accommodation of travellers. We found we
+should have to stay for a couple of days before our business was
+concluded; and whilst waiting for some law papers to be made out, I
+determined to try to see some of the Indian antiquities in the
+neighbourhood. We had hard leather stretchers to sleep on, the use
+of mattresses being almost unknown.
+
+Next morning I was up at daylight, and, after getting a cup of
+coffee and milk, started off on horseback on the lower road towards
+Acoyapo. This led over undulating savannahs, with grass and jicara
+trees, and small clumps of low trees and shrubs on stony hillocks.
+Wild pigeons were very numerous, and their cooings were incessant.
+On the rocky spots grew spiny cactuses, with flattened pear-shaped
+joints and scarlet fruit. I reached the Juigalpa river about two
+miles below the town. Near the crossing it ran between shelving
+rocky banks, with here and there still reaches and pebbly shores.
+Shady trees overhung the clear water; and behind were myrtle-leaved
+shrubs and grassy openings. The morning was yet young, and the
+banks were vocal with the noises of birds, that chattered,
+whistled, chirruped, croaked, cooed, warbled, or made discordant
+cries. I doubt if any other part of the earth's surface could show
+a greater variety of the feathered tribe. A large brown bittern
+stood motionless amongst the stones of a rapid portion of the
+stream, crouching down with his neck and head drawn back close to
+his body, so that he looked like a brown rock himself. Kingfishers
+flitted up and down, or dashed into the water with a splashing
+thud. At a sedgy spot were some jacanas stalking about. When
+disturbed, these birds rise chattering their displeasure, and
+showing the lemon yellow of the underside of their wings, which
+contrasts with the deep chocolate brown of the rest of their
+plumage. Parrots flew past in screaming flocks, or alighted on the
+trees and nestled together in loving couples, changing their
+screaming to tender chirrupings. Numerous brown and yellow
+fly-catchers sat on small dead branches, and darted off every now
+and then after passing insects. A couple of beautiful mot-mots
+(Eumomota superciliaris) made short flights after the larger
+insects, or sat on the low branches by the river-bank, jerking
+their curious tails from side to side. Swallows skimmed past in
+their circling flights, whilst in the bushes were warbling
+orange-and-black Sisitotis and many another bird of beautiful
+feather. One class of birds, and that the most characteristic of
+tropical America, was decidedly scarce. I did not see a single
+humming-bird by the river-side. On the savannahs they are much less
+frequent than in the forest region. Insects were not so numerous as
+they had been in preceding years. Over sandy spots two speckled
+species of tiger-beetles ran and flew with great swiftness. I saw
+one rise from the ground and take an insect on the wing that was
+flying slowly over. On one myrtle-like bush, with small white
+flowers, there were dozens of a small Longicorn new to me, which,
+when flying, looked like black wasps.
+
+It was very pleasant to sit in the cool shade, and listen to, and
+watch, the birds. There was here no fear of dangerous animals, the
+only annoyance being stinging ants or biting sand-flies, neither of
+which were at this place very numerous. Snakes also were scarce. I
+saw but one, a harmless green one, that glided away with wavy folds
+amongst the brushwood. The natives say that alligators are
+plentiful in the river, but that they are harmless. I saw one small
+one, about five feet long, floating with his eyes, nostrils, and
+the serratures of his back only above water. Every one bathes in
+the river without fear, which would not be the case if there had
+been any one seized by them during the last fifty years; for no
+traditions are more persistent than tales of the attacks of wild
+beasts. Anxious parents pass on from generation to generation the
+stories they themselves were told when children.
+
+As I sat upon the rocks in the cool shade, enjoying the scene,
+there came hobbling along, with painful steps, on the other side of
+the river, a poor cripple, afflicted with that horrible disease,
+elephantiasis. He crossed the river with great difficulty, as his
+feet were swollen to six times their natural size, with great horny
+callosities. One of his hands was also disabled; and altogether he
+was a most pitiable object. Such a sight seemed a blot upon the
+fair face of nature; but it is our sympathy for our kind that makes
+us think so. If the trees were sympathetic beings, not a poor
+crippled specimen of humanity would have their pity, but the
+gnarled and half-rotten giants of the forest, threatening to topple
+down with every breeze; whilst to our eyes the dying tree, covered
+with moss and ferns, and, maybe, clasped by climbing vines, is a
+picturesque and pleasing sight. So, the fishes would pity their
+comrades caught by the kingfisher, the birds those in the claws of
+the hawk--every creature considering the fate that overtook its
+fellows, and which might befall itself--the great blot in nature's
+plan.
+
+The poor cripple told me he was going into Juigalpa. He had,
+doubtless, heard that a stranger had arrived in the town; for every
+time I had been there he had turned up. His best friends are the
+foreigners, who look with greater pity on his misfortune than his
+neighbours, who have grown accustomed to it.
+
+The blind, the lame, and the sick are the only beggars I ever saw
+in Nicaragua. The necessaries of life are easily procured. Very
+little clothing is required. Any one may plant maize or bananas;
+and there is plenty of work for all who are willing or obliged to
+labour; so the healthy and strong amongst the poorer classes lead
+an easy and pleasant life, but the sick and incapacitated amongst
+them are really badly off. There is a great indifference amongst
+the natives to the wants of their comrades struck down by sickness
+or accident, and hospitals and asylums are unknown.
+
+I was told that the cripple, lame as he was, often took long
+journeys, and had even gone as far as Granada. He had been a
+soldier in one of the revolutions, when John Chamorro was
+President, and ascribed the commencement of the disease to getting
+a chill by bathing when he was heated.
+
+After he had hobbled off, I bathed in the cool river, and then
+rambled about on the other side, where I found some large mango
+trees full of delicious ripe fruit. It was getting on towards noon:
+the sun was high and hot, and the birds had mostly retired into the
+deepest shades for their mid-day sleep. I could have lingered all
+day, but it was time for me to return, as I had arranged with
+Velasquez to accompany him in search of some Indian graves he had
+heard of about three miles away.
+
+As I left the river, I heard the whistle of the beautiful "toledo,"
+so called because its note resembles these syllables, clearly and
+slowly whistled, with the emphasis on the last two. Following the
+sound, it led me to a deep, thickly-timbered gully, at the bottom
+of which was the bed of a brook, consisting now only of detached
+pools, over one of which, on the limb of a tree, sat a large
+dark-coloured hawk, with white-banded tail, watching for
+fresh-water and land crabs, on which it feeds. I had a long chase
+after the toledo. As soon as I got within sight of it, sometimes
+before, it would dart away through the brushwood, generally across
+the brook, and in a few minutes I would hear its deep-toned whistle
+again as if in mockery of my pursuit. I had to climb and reclimb
+the steep banks of the gully: but at last, creeping cautiously, and
+just getting my head above the bank, I got a shot. There were two
+of them sitting close together. I brought both down, and they
+proved to be in fine plumage. The toledo (Chirosciphia lineata) is
+about the size of a linnet, of a general velvety black colour. The
+crown of the head is covered with a flat scarlet crest, and the
+back with what looks like a shawl of sky-blue. From the tail spring
+two long ribbon-like feathers. Its curious note is often heard on
+the savannahs, in the thick timber that skirts the small brooks;
+but it is not often seen, as it is a shy bird and frequents the
+deepest shades.
+
+There were several of the yellow-breasted trogon (T.
+melanocephalus) sitting amongst the branches, and now and then
+darting off after insects. This species often breaks into the nest
+of the termites, and feeds on the soft-bodied workers. Another
+trogon about here, with red breast (T. elegans), has a peculiarly
+harsh, croaking voice, very different from the other species, and
+more resembling the cry of a mot-mot.
+
+As I rode back over the savannahs to Juigalpa, the nearly vertical
+rays of the sun were reflected from the dry, hot, sandy soil. Not a
+sound was now heard from the numerous birds. The shrill cicada
+still piped its never-ending treble. No wind was stirring, and the
+air over the parched soil quivered with heat.
+
+I was glad to get back to my "hotel," and have breakfast, with
+chocolate served up in jicaras. After an hour's rest, I started
+with Velasquez in search of the Indian antiquities. We rode up the
+right side of the river, high up above the stream, as the banks are
+rocky and precipitous; then down a shelving road to a lower level,
+and across undulating savannahs thinly timbered. After about three
+miles, we came out on a small flat plain, probably alluvial, about
+twenty acres in extent, mostly covered with grass, with a few
+scattered jicara trees. On the further end of this plain was a
+mud-walled, thatched hut, called "El Salto," from a fall of the
+river close by. A man was lounging about, and a woman bruising
+maize for tortillas. The man told us that the "worked stones," as
+he called them, were on the side of the plain we had crossed.
+Before going to look at them, we went down to the river to see the
+waterfall. Just opposite the house the Juigalpa river, which comes
+flowing down over a flat bed of trachyte, leaps down a deep narrow
+chasm that it has cut in the hard rock. This chasm is about fifty
+feet deep, and only twenty wide. The river was low, and poured all
+its water in at the end of the deep notch; but when flooded, it
+must rush in over the sides also, and make a magnificent turmoil of
+waters. Even when I saw it, the water, as it rushed along at the
+bottom of the narrow chasm, boiling and surging amongst great
+masses of fallen rock with a steady roar, looked as if it would
+carry all before it. Deep pot-holes, some of them ten feet deep,
+were worn into the trachyte rock, and sections of several were
+shown in the sides of the chasm, which could only have been formed
+when the falls were many yards lower down. The trachyte is very
+hard and tough. The sections of the pot-holes are as fresh as if
+they had been made but yesterday.
+
+In reply to my assertion that the falls had produced, and were now
+working back the chasm, our guide, the lounging man from the house,
+said the rocks had always been as they were: he had lived there ten
+years, and there had been no change in them. Perhaps, if the buried
+Indians could rise from their graves where they were laid to rest
+more than three hundred years ago, they, too, would testify that
+there had been no change, that the rocks and the leaping river were
+as they had been and would be for ever. The untrained mind cannot
+grasp the idea of the effect of slowly-acting influences extending
+over vast periods of time.
+
+(PLATE 15. INDIAN STATUES.)
+
+We asked the guide if there were any cairns near, and he said there
+was one on the top of a neighbouring hill. Up this we climbed. It
+was the rounded spur of a range behind, jutting out into the small
+plain before mentioned, and might be partly artificial. On the
+summit, which commanded a fine view of the country around, with the
+white cliffs and dark woods of the Amerrique range in front, was an
+Indian cairn, elliptical in shape, about thirty feet long and
+twenty broad. Several small trees had sprung up amongst the stones.
+Near the centre two holes had been dug down about four feet deep.
+Our guide told us that he and his brother had made them, to hide
+themselves in from the soldiers during the last revolutionary
+outbreak. Not a very likely story, that they should have chosen the
+top of a bare hill for a hiding-place, when all around in the
+valleys there were thickets of brushwood. He said they had found
+nothing in the holes. We, however, soon found fragments of two
+broken cinerary urns, one of fine clay, painted with red and black,
+the other much coarser and stronger, without ornament. The custom
+of the Chontales Indians appears to have been to burn their dead,
+and place the ashes in a thin painted urn, inclosed within a
+stronger one. This was buried, along with the stone for grinding
+maize, and a cairn of stones built over the grave, in the centre of
+which was sometimes set up the statue of the deceased.
+
+It was evident that the tomb had been ransacked in search of
+treasure; but our guide was very reticent about it. He admitted,
+however, on further questioning, that he had found a broken
+"metlate," or maize-grinder, in the grave. Velasquez got down into
+the deepest hole, and unearthed some more fragments of pottery, but
+nothing more.
+
+We then descended the steep face of the hill again, and crossed the
+plain to where the "worked stones" were lying. We found them to be
+broken fragments of statues, one larger, better worked, and in much
+fairer preservation than the others. They had all been much
+battered and broken. The greater size and solidity of this one had
+made it more difficult to deface. It was in two parts, the head
+being severed from the body. The total length of the two fragments
+was about five feet. The face had been much shattered. The nose was
+gone and the mouth defaced, but enough was left to show that the
+latter had been protruding. The eyes were in good preservation,
+prominent, and with the eyeballs projecting. Around the head was an
+ornamented circlet, like a crown. The arms were laid over the
+breast, and were continued upwards over the shoulder, and partly
+down the back, as if it had been intended to indicate the
+shoulder-blades. The legs were doubled up, and continued round to
+the back, in the same way as the arms.
+
+The back of the figure was elaborately carved, the most noticeable
+features being a wide ornamented belt around the waist, and two
+well-carved crosses, one on each shoulder.
+
+The other stones lying about were broken portions of other smaller
+figures and of pedestals. All were made out of very hard, tough
+trachyte; and the labour required to make the principal one out of
+such difficult material without tools of iron must have been
+immense.
+
+The fragments were all lying out on the bare plain. I thought they
+must have been brought from some burial-place of the ancient
+Indians. Our guide, on being asked, said he had seen other cairns
+of stones besides these on the hill-top, but could not recollect
+where. He was very uneasy when questioned; and at last said he had
+business to attend to, and left us abruptly. In his absence we
+examined all around for traces of graves. Between the plain and the
+river was a thicket of low trees and undergrowth. Peering into
+this, we saw some heaps of stones; and, pushing in amongst the
+bushes, found it was full of old Indian graves, marked by heaps of
+stones, in the centres of some of which still stood the pedestals
+on which the statues had been placed. Most of the heaps were about
+twenty feet in diameter, and composed of stones of the average size
+of a man's head; but one, from the centre of which grew an immense
+cotton-wood tree, was made of about a dozen very large stones, some
+about five feet long, three broad, and one thick. Here we got a
+clue to the behaviour of our guide. When he told us that he knew
+not where there were any more cairns, he was standing within thirty
+feet of one hidden by the thicket, which bore evident marks of
+having been recently disturbed. It was the cairn of big stones. One
+of these had been overturned, and some fresh-cut poles, that had
+been used as levers, were lying alongside, with the green bark
+broken and bruised. A hole had been dug underneath it, and filled
+up with stones again. Our lounging friend had been doing a little
+exploring on his own account. Many of the natives believe that
+treasure is buried under these heaps of stones; and the interest
+that foreigners take in them they ascribe to their wish to obtain
+these treasures. Our guide, wishing to get these himself, had taken
+us to the single grave on the top of the hill, which he had already
+ransacked, and professed ignorance of the others. I only hope that
+he did not compound with his conscience for the lies he had told us
+by coming back after we left, and trying to break off the nose of
+another idol, as the natives call the images. They think they show
+their zeal for Christianity by defacing them. This is why scarcely
+any of the noses of the images are left. They form the most salient
+points for attack. And that the images have not been utterly
+destroyed by the ill-usage they have had for three hundred years is
+due to the hard, tough rock of which they are made. It is probable
+that the statues at El Salto were brought out from the cairns into
+the plain, and publicly thrown down, defaced, and broken, when the
+Spaniards first took possession of the Juigalpa district, and
+forced Christianity upon the Indians; for the conquerors everywhere
+overthrew and mutilated the "idols" of the Indians, set up the
+cross and their own images, and forced the people to be baptised.
+The change was not a great one. Already the cross was an emblem
+amongst them and baptism a rite; and the images they were called
+upon to adore did not differ so greatly from those they had
+worshipped before. They easily conformed to the new faith. D'Avila
+is said to have overthrown the idols at Rivas, and to have baptised
+nine thousand Indians. Then the Spaniards, having Christianised the
+Indians, made slaves of them, and ground them to the dust with
+merciless cruelties and overwork, which quickly depopulated whole
+towns and districts.
+
+The presence of the cross in Central America greatly astonished the
+Spanish discoverers. In Yucatan and throughout the Aztec Empire it
+was the emblem of the "god of rain." There has been much
+speculation by various authors respecting its origin, as a
+religious emblem, in Mexico and Central America. It has even been
+supposed that some of the early Icelandic Christians of the ninth
+century may have reached the coast of Mexico, and introduced some
+knowledge of the Christian religion. But the cross was a religious
+emblem of the greatest antiquity, both in Syria and Egypt, and
+baptism was a pre-Christian rite. This and other observances, such
+as auricular confession and monastic institutions, were so mixed up
+with the worship of a great number of gods, at the head of which
+was the worship of the sun, and were associated with such horrid
+human sacrifices and pagan ceremonials, that it is more likely that
+they acquired the cross, with other pagan traditions handed down to
+them from a remote antiquity, from the common stock from whence
+both the inhabitants of the Eastern and Western hemispheres were
+descended. There is good evidence for supposing that young children
+were offered up in sacrifice to Thaloc, the god of rain, the very
+god whose emblem was the cross--a contrast too great to the "Suffer
+little children to come unto me" of the loving Saviour, not to make
+the mind revolt against the idea that the cross of the god of rain
+was derived from the cross of the Christian.
+
+I see no reason for supposing that the images of El Salto were
+idols, as supposed by the early Spaniards, and still by the
+degenerate half-breeds. They are more likely portrait-statues of
+famous chieftains who led the tribe to many a victory. When they
+died, a loving people, with wailings and lamentations, celebrated
+their obsequies. The funeral pyre was built, the body burnt, and
+the ashes carefully gathered together, and placed in the
+finely-wrought urn and painted cinerary, and this in one larger and
+coarser. These were buried with the stone maize-grinder, and
+sometimes weapons and earthen dishes and food. Over the grave a
+pile of stones was raised, and skilful artificers were set to work
+on the hardest and toughest stone they could find to make a statue
+of the chief whose memory they reverenced. It must have taken
+months, if not years, to have fashioned the statue I have figured
+out of the trachyte without tools of iron, and it strikes one with
+wonder to think of the patience and perseverance with which the
+details were worked out. No eye-servers were these Indians; before
+and behind they bestowed equal pains and labour on their work,
+undeterred by the hardness of the materials or the rudeness of
+their tools.
+
+When we turn from these works and remains of a great and united
+tribe to the miserable huts of the present natives, we feel how
+great a curse the Spanish invasion has in some respects been to
+Central America. The half-breed, wrapped up in himself, lives from
+year to year in his thatched hut, looking after a few cows, and
+making cheese from their milk. He perhaps plants a small patch of
+maize once a year, and grows a few plantains, content to live on
+the plainest fare, and in the rudest style, so that he may indulge
+in indolence and sloth. So he vegetates and drops into his grave,
+and in a year or two no mark or sign tells where he was laid. The
+graves of the old Indians are still to be found, but no mounds mark
+the spots where the inhabitants of the valley since the conquest
+have been laid to rest. They have passed away, as they lived,
+without a record or memorial.
+
+The builders of these cairns and the fashioners of these statues
+were a different and a better race. They stood by each other, and
+reverenced and obeyed their chiefs. They tilled the ground and
+lived on the fruits of it. From the accounts of all the historians
+of the Spanish conquest, the Pacific side of Nicaragua was so
+densely populated when the Spaniards first arrived that the greater
+part of it must have been cultivated like a garden; and it is
+probable that the population was ten times greater than it is now.
+Another point that strikes the observer is, that not only the
+descendants of the Spaniards and the Mestizos are sunk far below
+the level of the old Indians, but that the nearly pure Indians, of
+whom there are many large communities, have so degenerated that it
+is hard to believe that they are the very same people that, four
+hundred years ago, had advanced so far in their peculiar
+civilisation. They are not so sunk in sloth as the half-breeds.
+They still till the ground, grow maize, cacao, and many fruits;
+they still make the earthenware dishes of the country, though far
+inferior to those of their ancestors; but they have lost their
+tribal instincts, they do not support each other; they acknowledge
+no chiefs; each one is absorbed in his own affairs, and they are
+only a little less slothful than the half-breeds. Will these
+Indians ever again attain to that pitch of civilisation at which
+they had arrived before the conquest?--I fear not. The whip that
+kept them to the mark in the old days was the continual warfare
+between the different tribes, and this has ceased for ever. War is
+not always a curse. "There is some soul of goodness in things
+evil." Before the Spanish conquest no small isolated communities
+could exist. Those in which the tribal instinct was strongest, who
+stood shoulder to shoulder with their fellows, reverenced and
+obeyed their chiefs, and excelled in feats of strength and agility,
+would annihilate or subjugate the weaker and less warlike races. It
+was this constant struggle between the different tribes that weeded
+out the weak and indolent, and preserved the strong and
+enterprising; just as amongst many of the lower animals the
+stronger kill off the weaker, and the result is the improvement of
+the race, or at any rate the maintenance of the point of excellence
+at which it had arrived in former times.
+
+Since the Spanish conquest there has been no such process of
+selection in operation amongst the Indians. The most indolent can
+obtain enough food, whilst the climate makes clothing almost a
+superfluity. The idle and improvident live their natural terms of
+years, and increase their kind even faster than the provident and
+industrious. The tribal feeling is destroyed; the selfish and
+sensual instincts are developed, and year by year the Indian
+degenerates.
+
+Mr. Bates, at the end of his admirable work on the natural history
+of the Amazon, speculates on the future of the human race, and
+thinks that under the equator alone will it attain the highest form
+of perfection. I have had similar thoughts when riding over
+hundreds of miles of fertile savannahs in Central America, where an
+everlasting summer and fertile land yield a harvest of fruits and
+grain all the year round where it is not even necessary "to tickle
+the ground with a hoe to make it laugh with a harvest." But
+thinking over the cause of the degeneracy of the Spaniards and
+Indians, I am led to believe that in climes where man has to battle
+with nature for his food, not to receive it from her hands as a
+gift; where he is a worker, and not an idler; where hard winters
+kill off the weak and brace up the strong; there only is that
+selection at work that keeps the human race advancing, and prevents
+it retrograding, now that Mars has been dethroned and Vulcan set on
+high.
+
+In destroying the ancient monarchies of Mexico and Central America,
+the Spaniards inflicted an irreparable injury on the Indian race;
+for whether or not a republic is the highest ideal form of
+government (and doubtless it would be if man were perfect), it is
+not adapted for savage or half-civilised communities, and I
+cordially agree with the truth enunciated by Darwin when, writing
+of the natives of Tierra del Fuego, he says, "Perfect equality
+among the individuals composing the Fuegian tribes must for a long
+time retard their civilisation. As we see those animals whose
+instinct compels them to live in society, and obey a chief, are
+most capable of improvement, so is it with the races of mankind.
+Whether we look at it as a cause or a consequence, the most
+civilised always have the most artificial governments. For
+instance, the inhabitants of Otaheite, who, when first discovered,
+were governed by hereditary kings, had arrived at a far higher
+grade than another branch of the same people, the New Zealanders,
+who, although benefited by being compelled to turn their attention
+to agriculture, were republicans in the most absolute sense."* (*
+"Naturalist's Voyage" page 229.)
+
+Dusk was coming on before we left the small plain, with its broken
+statues, and the steep hill overlooking it, on which probably
+religious rites had been celebrated and human sacrifices offered
+up. This people have entirely passed away, and the sparse
+inhabitants of the once thickly-populated province have not even a
+tradition about them. In Europe and North America more is known
+about them, and more interest taken in gleaning what little
+vestiges of their history can be recovered from the dim past, than
+among their own degenerate descendants.
+
+Half way to Juigalpa was an Indian hut and a small clearing made
+for growing maize. The fallen trunks of trees were a likely place
+for beetles, and as I had brought a lantern with me, I stayed to
+examine them whilst Velasquez rode on to get some food ready. At
+night many species of beetles, especially longicorns, are to be
+found running over the trunks, that lie closely hidden in the
+day-time. The night-world is very different from that of the day.
+Things that blink and hide from the light are all awake and astir
+when the sun goes down. Great spiders and scorpions prowl about, or
+take up advantageous positions where they expect their prey to
+pass. Cockroaches of all sizes, from that of one's finger to that
+of one's finger-nail, stand with long quivering antennae, pictures
+of alert outlook, watching for their numerous foes, or scurry away
+as fast as their long legs can carry them; but if they come within
+reach of the great spider they are pounced upon in an instant, and
+with one convulsive kick give up the hopeless struggle. Centipedes,
+wood-lice, and all kinds of creeping things come out of cracks and
+crevices; even the pools are alive with water-beetles that have
+been hiding in the ooze all day, excepting when they come up with a
+dash to the surface for a bubble of fresh air. Owls and night-jars
+make strange unearthly cries. The timid deer comes out of its close
+covert to feed in the grassy clearings. Jaguars, ocelots, and
+opossums slink about in the gloom. The skunk goes leisurely along,
+holding up his white tail as a danger-flag for none to come within
+range of his nauseous artillery. Bats and large moths flitter
+around, whilst all the day-world is at rest and asleep. The night
+speeds on; the stars that rose in the east are sinking behind the
+western hills; a faint tinge of dawn lights the eastern sky; loud
+and shrill rings out the awakening shout of chanticleer; the grey
+dawn comes on apace; a hundred birds salute the cheerful morn, and
+the night-world hurries to its gloomy dens and hiding-places, like
+the sprites and fairy elves of our nursery days.
+
+It was very dark when I started to return, excepting that flashes
+of lightning now and then illumined the path, but I left my mule to
+herself, and she carried me safely into Juigalpa, where I found
+dinner awaiting me. It took me until midnight to skin the birds I
+had shot during the day; and as I had been up since six in the
+morning, I was quite ready for, and took kindly to, my hard
+leathern couch.
+
+
+CHAPTER 10.
+
+Juigalpa.
+A Nicaraguan family.
+Description of the road from Juigalpa to Santo Domingo.
+Comparative scarcity of insects in Nicaragua in 1872.
+Water-bearing plants.
+Insect-traps.
+The south-western edge of the forest region.
+Influence of cultivation upon it.
+Sagacity of the mule.
+
+THE site of Juigalpa is beautifully chosen, as is usual with the
+old Indian towns. It is on a level dry piece of land, about three
+hundred feet above the river. A rocky brook behind the town
+supplies the water for drinking and cooking purposes. The large
+square or plaza has the church at one end; on the other three sides
+are red-tiled adobe houses and stores, with floors of clay or red
+bricks. Streets branch off at right angles from the square, and are
+crossed by others. The best houses are those nearest the square.
+Those on the outskirts are mere thatched hovels, with open sides of
+bamboo poles. The house I stayed at was at the corner of one of the
+square blocks, and from the angle the view extended in four
+directions along the level roads. Each way the prospect was bounded
+by hills in the distance. North-east were the white cliffs of the
+Amerrique range, mantled with dark wood. The intervening country
+could not be seen, and only a small portion of the range itself;
+framed in, as it were, by the sides of the street. It looked close
+at hand, like a piece of artificial rockery, or the grey walls of a
+castle covered with ivy. The range to the south-west is several
+miles distant; and is called San Miguelito by the Spaniards, but I
+could not learn its Indian name.
+
+Our host was a musician, and his wife attended to the guests. As
+usual, a number of relations lived with them, including the mother
+of our hostess and two of her brothers. It was a very fair sample
+of a family amongst what may be called the middle class in
+Nicaragua. The master of the house plays occasionally in a band at
+dances and festas, and holds a respectable position at Juigalpa,
+where the highest families keep stores and shops.
+
+The only work is done by the females--the men keep up their dignity
+by lounging about all day, or lolling in a hammock, all wearied
+with their slothfulness, and looking discontented and unhappy. One
+brother told me he was a carpenter, the other a shoemaker, but that
+there was nothing to do in Juigalpa. I suggested that they should
+go to Libertad, where there was plenty of work. They said there was
+too much rain there. As long as their brother-in-law will allow
+them, they will remain lounging about his house; and that will
+probably be as long as he has one, for I noticed that the wealthier
+Nicaraguans are rather proud of having a lot of relations hanging
+about and dependent on them. Now and then they do little spells of
+work--get in the cows or doctor one that is sick--but I doubt if
+any of them average more than half an hour's work per day. Even
+this may be an equivalent for their board, which does not cost
+much, being only a few tortillas and beans.
+
+To this have the descendants of the Spanish conquerors come
+throughout the length and breadth of the land. With perennial
+summer and a fertile soil they might drink the waters of abundance,
+but the bands of indolence have wound round them generation after
+generation, and now they are so bound up in the drowsy folds of
+slothfulness that they cannot break their silken fetters. Not a
+green vegetable, not a fruit, can you buy at Juigalpa. Beef, or a
+fowl--brown beans, rice, and tortillas--form the only fare. When
+Mexico becomes one of the United States, all Central America will
+soon follow. Railways will be pushed from the north into the
+tropics, and a constant stream of immigration will change the face
+of the country, and fill it with farms and gardens, orange groves,
+and coffee, sugar, cacao, and indigo plantations. No progress need
+be expected from the present inhabitants.
+
+Having finished our business in Juigalpa, we arranged to start on
+our return early the next morning, Velasquez going round by Acoyapo
+whilst Rito accompanied me to the mines. I had a fowl cooked
+overnight to take with us, and set off at six o'clock. I shall make
+some remarks on the road on points not touched on in my account of
+the journey out. After leaving Juigalpa, we descended to the river
+by a rocky and steep path, crossed it, and then passed over
+alluvial-like plains intersected by a few nearly dry river beds, to
+the foot of the south-western side of the Amerrique hills, then
+gradually ascended the range that separates the Juigalpa district
+from that of Libertad. The ground was gravelly and dry, with stony
+hillocks covered with low trees and bushes. After ascending about a
+thousand feet, the ground became much moister, and we reached an
+Indian hut on the side of the range, where a few bananas and a
+little maize was grown. Indian women, naked to the waist, were, as
+usual, bruising maize, this being their employment from morning to
+night, whilst the men were sitting about idle. Some mangy-looking
+dogs set up a loud barking as we approached. To one of them clung a
+young spider-monkey. A number of parrots also gave evidence of the
+great fondness the Indians have for animal pets. There is scarcely
+a house where some bird or beast is not kept; and the Indian women
+are very clever in taming birds, probably by their constant
+kindness and gentleness to them, and by feeding them out of their
+mouths and fondling them. From near here we had a fine view, and
+saw that we had come up the side of a wide valley, bounded on the
+right by the Amerrique range, on the left by high rounded grassy
+hills, on one of which we could make out the cattle hacienda of La
+Puerta. Lines of trees and bamboo thickets marked the course of
+numerous brooks that joined lower down and formed the small rivers
+we had crossed. Looking down the valley it opened out into a wide
+plain, with here and there sharp-topped conical hills, such as
+abound in Central America, where they appear to have been taken as
+landmarks by the Indians, as many of the old roads lead past them.
+Beyond the plain in the grey distance were the waters of the lake
+and the peaks of Ometepec and Madera.
+
+We had now to ascend the side of a ravine, the road, or rather
+path, being through a bamboo thicket for about a mile, the bamboos
+touching our knees on either side and arching close overhead, so
+that we had to lie on the mules' necks a great part of the way.
+Some portions of the road were dangerously steep and rocky; but as
+fully a league in distance is saved by taking this by-path, instead
+of the main road by way of La Puerta, I generally preferred
+travelling by it, especially as I often took rare and new beetles
+on the bushes. I usually, when travelling, carried a net fixed to a
+short stick, and caught the insects as I passed along, off the
+leaves, without stopping; so abundant were they, that it was very
+rare for me to take the shortest journey without finding some new
+species to add to my collection. On this journey I did not,
+however, take many insects, as the latter half of the year 1872,
+for some reason or other, was a very unfavourable season for them.*
+[* It is curious that Mr. W.H. Hudson should have selected this
+same summer of 1872-73 as affording on the pampas of South America
+an exceptionally good example of one of those "waves of life" in
+which there is a sudden and inordinate increase in many forms of
+animal life. See "The Naturalist in La Plata" chapter 3.] The
+scarcity of beetles was very remarkable. The wet season set in a
+little earlier than usual, but I do not think that this caused the
+dearth of insects as at Juigalpa, where there had been scarcely any
+rain, there were very few compared with the two former years. The
+year before, when the season was nearly as wet, beetles, especially
+longicorns, had been very abundant; and the first half of 1872 had
+not been characterised by any scarcity of them. Some of the fine
+longicorns that appear in April were numerous. No less than five
+specimens of a large and beautiful one (Deliathis nivea, Bates),
+white, with black spots, that we considered one of our greatest
+rarities, were taken in that month. It was not until the end of May
+that the great scarcity of beetles, compared with their abundance
+in former years, became apparent. I think all classes of beetles
+had suffered. Many fine lamellicorns, that were generally numerous,
+were not seen at all; neither were many species of longicorns,
+usually common. A fig-tree that I had growing in my garden had been
+much injured by a longicorn (Taeniotes scalaris) in 1870 and 1871,
+but was not touched in 1872.
+
+Butterflies were also scarce, but it was the second season that
+they had been so. Some ants were affected; in others, such as the
+leaf-cutter, I noted no perceptible diminution in number. A little
+ant (Pheidole sp.) that used to swarm on a passion flower which
+grew over the house, attending on the honey glands, and scale
+insects, disappeared altogether; and another species (Hypoclinea
+sp.) that it used to drive away took its place. A small stinging
+black ant (Solenopsis sp.), that was a great plague in the houses,
+was also fortunately scarce. In the beginning of June nearly all
+the white ants or termites ("Comiens" of the Nicaraguans) died. In
+some parts of my house they lay in little heaps, just as they
+dropped from the nests above in the roof, and most of the nests
+were entirely depopulated. I examined some of the dead termites
+with a magnifier, but could detect no difference in them, excepting
+that they seemed a little swollen.
+
+That some epidemic prevailed amongst the insects there can be no
+doubt; and it is curious that it should have attacked so many
+different species and classes. I am not sure that it was confined
+to the insects, for there was also a great mortality amongst the
+fowls, many dying from inflammation of the crop, and two large
+parrots fell victims to the same disease. This disease amongst the
+birds may not, however, have been connected in any way with that
+amongst the insects. I recollect that in 1865 there was a somewhat
+similar mortality amongst the wasps in North Wales. In the autumn
+of the preceding year they had been exceedingly abundant, and very
+destructive to the fruit. In the next spring, numerous females that
+had hibernated commenced making their paper nests, and I
+anticipated a still greater plague of wasps in the autumn than we
+had had the year before; but some epidemic carried off nearly all
+the females before they finished building their nests, and in the
+autumn scarcely a wasp was to be seen. I saw also in the Natural
+History magazines notices of their scarcity in all parts of
+England.
+
+The great mortality amongst the insects of Chontales in 1872 has
+some bearing on the origin of species, for in times of such great
+epidemics we may suspect that the gradations that connect extreme
+forms of the same species may become extinct. Darwin has shown how
+very slight differences in the colour of the skin and hair are
+sometimes correlated with great immunity from certain diseases, and
+from the action of some vegetable poisons, and the attacks of
+certain parasites.* (* "Descent of Man" volume 1 page 242; and
+"Animals and Plants under Domestication" volume 2 pages 227-230. I
+have taken the examples given from the same author.) Any varieties
+of species of insects that could withstand better than others these
+great and probably periodical epidemics, would certainly obtain a
+great advantage over those not so protected; and thus the survival
+of one form, and the extinction of another, might be brought about.
+We see two species of the same genus, as in many insects, differing
+but little from each other, yet quite distinct, and we ask why, if
+these have descended from one parent form, do not the innumerable
+gradations that must have connected them exist also? There is but
+one answer; we are ignorant what characters are of essential value
+to each species; we do not know why white terriers are more subject
+than darker-coloured ones to the attacks of the fatal distemper;
+why yellow-fleshed peaches in America suffer more from diseases
+than the white-fleshed varieties; why white chickens are most
+liable to the gapes; or why the caterpillars of silkworms, which
+produce white cocoons, are not attacked by fungus so much as those
+that produce yellow cocoons? Yet in all these cases, and many
+others, it has been shown that immunity from disease is correlated
+with some slight difference in colour or structure, but as to the
+cause of that immunity we are entirely ignorant.
+
+At last we reached the summit of the range, which is probably not
+less than three thousand feet above the sea, and entered on the
+district of Libertad. Rounded boggy hills covered with grass, sedgy
+plants, and stunted trees replaced the dry gravelly soil of the
+Juigalpa district. The low trees bore innumerable epiphytal plants
+on their trunks and boughs. Many of these are species of
+Tillandsia, which sit perched up on the small branches like birds.
+They have sheathing leaves that hold at their base a supply of
+water that must be very useful to them in the dry season. Insects
+get drowned in this water, and the plants may derive some
+nourishment from their decomposing bodies, but I believe the
+principal object is to obtain a supply of moisture, as the roots of
+the plants do not hang down to the ground, like those of many other
+epiphytes in the tropics, nor are they provided with bulbs like the
+orchids. Some plants that hold liquids in cup-shaped leaves are
+simply insect traps, many of them growing in bogs, where the supply
+of moisture is perennial and constant. Such is the Indian-cup
+(Sarracenia) that grows in the bogs of Canada, and the Californian
+pitcher-plant (Darlingtonia californica), which also grows in bogs,
+and is such an excellent fly-trap, that there is generally a layer
+of from two to five inches of decomposing insects lying at the
+bottom of the cup.* (* See "Nature" volume 3 pages 159 and 167.)
+The different species of Drosera, or sun-dews, possess quite a
+different apparatus for catching insects, and they also live in
+bogs, which supports the inference that plants growing in such
+situations have some especial need to obtain nutriment, which they
+cannot draw from the decaying vegetation on which they live.
+Possibly they obtain the salts of potash in this way. I did not
+notice any provision in the leaves of the Bromeliaceous epiphytes
+of Chontales to ensure the capture of insects, but often saw their
+dead bodies in the water held at the base of the leaves, and any
+that came to drink would be very liable to slip into the water from
+off the nearly perpendicular side of the leaf and be drowned. It is
+not impossible that the small supply of mineral salts required for
+the organisation of these plants that do not draw any nutriment
+from the earth may be obtained from dead insects, but, as I have
+already stated, I believe that the principal object is to lay up a
+store of water to carry them safely through the dry season.
+Incidentally, the further advantage has been gained that insects
+fall into the receptacles of water and are drowned, affording in
+their decomposition nourishment to the plants.
+
+Our road now lay over the damp grassy hills of the Libertad
+district. It edged away from the Amerrique range on our right. To
+our left, about three miles distant, rose the dark sinuous line of
+the great forest of the Atlantic slope. Only a fringe of
+dark-foliaged trees in the foreground was visible, the higher
+ground behind was shrouded in a sombre pall of thick clouds that
+never lifted, but seemed to cover a gloomy and mysterious country
+beyond. Though I had dived into the recesses of these mountains
+again and again, and knew that they were covered with beautiful
+vegetation and full of animal life, yet the sight of that
+leaden-coloured barrier of cloud resting on the forest tops, whilst
+the savannahs were bathed in sunshine, ever raised in my mind vague
+sensations of the unknown and the unfathomable. Our course was
+nearly parallel to this gloomy forest, but we gradually approached
+it. The line that separates it from the grassy savannahs is sinuous
+and irregular. In some places a dark promontory of trees juts out
+into the savannahs, in others a green grassy hill is seen almost
+surrounded by forest. When I first came to the country, I was much
+puzzled to understand why the forest should end just where it did.
+It is not because of any change in the nature of the soil or
+bedrock. It cannot be for lack of moisture, for around Libertad it
+rains for at least six months out of the twelve. The surface of the
+ground is not level on the savannahs, but consists of hill and
+dale, just as in the forest. Altogether the conditions seemed to be
+exactly the same, and it appeared a difficult matter to account for
+the fact that the forest should end at an irregular but definite
+line, and that at that boundary grassy savannahs should commence.
+After seeing the changes that were wrought during the four and a
+half years that I was in the country, I have been led to the
+conclusion that the forest formerly extended much further towards
+the Pacific, and has been beaten back principally by the agency of
+man. The ancient Indians of Nicaragua were an agricultural race,
+their principal food then, as now, being maize; and in all the
+ancient graves, the stone for grinding corn is found placed there,
+as the one thing that was considered indispensable. They cut down
+patches of the forest and burnt it to plant their corn, as all
+along the edge of it they do still. The first time the forest is
+cut down, and the ground planted, the soil contains seeds of the
+forest trees, which, after the corn is gathered, spring up and
+regain possession of the ground, so that in twenty years, if such a
+spot is left alone, it will scarcely differ from the surrounding
+untouched forest. But it does not remain unmolested. After two or
+three years it is cut down again and a great change takes place.
+The soil does not now contain seeds of forest trees, and in their
+stead a great variety of weedy-looking shrubs, only found where the
+land has been cultivated, spring up. Grass, too, begins to get a
+hold on the ground; if it prevails, the Indian, or Mestizo, does
+not attempt to grow corn there again, as he knows the grass will
+spoil it, and he is too indolent to weed it out. Often, however,
+the brushwood has been cut down and burnt, and fresh crops of corn
+grown several times before the grass has gained such an advantage
+that the cultivator gives up the attempt to plant maize. There is
+then a struggle between the weedy shrubs and the grass. The
+leaf-cutting ants come to the aid of the latter. Grass they will
+not touch, excepting to clear it away from their paths. The thick
+forest they do not like, possibly because beneath its shade the
+ground is kept too damp for their fungus beds. But along the edge
+of the forest, by the sides of roads through it, that let in the
+air and sunshine, and in clearings, they abound. They are
+especially fond of the leaves of young trees, many of which are
+destroyed by them. Should the brushwood ultimately prevail, and
+cover the ground, the Indian or Mestizo comes again after a few
+years, cuts it down, and replants it with maize. But as most of his
+old clearings get covered with grass, he is continually encroaching
+on the edge of the forest, beating it back gradually, but surely,
+towards the north-east. As this process has probably been going on
+for thousands of years, I believe that the edge of the forest is
+several miles nearer the Atlantic than it was originally.
+
+In this way many acres in the neighbourhood of Pital were taken
+from the forest, and added to the grass-lands, whilst I was in the
+country. The brushwood-land does not yield such good crops as the
+virgin forest, but it is nearer to the huts of the cultivators, who
+live out on the savannahs, so that whenever the weedy shrubs gain
+possession of a spot sufficiently large for a clearing, and choke
+off the grass, these places are again cut down and burnt, and thus
+the forest is never allowed to establish outposts, or advanced
+stations, in the disputed ground. What would be the result if man
+were withdrawn from the scene, I do not know, but I believe that
+the forest would slowly, but surely, regain the ground that it has
+lost through long centuries. The thickets and dense brushwood that
+always spring up along the edge of the forest, and consist of many
+shrubs that the leaf-cutting ants do not touch, would gradually
+spread, and beat back the grass. In their shade and shelter, seeds
+from the forest would vegetate and grow, and thus, I think, very
+slowly, inch by inch, the forest would regain its long-lost
+territory, and gradually extend its limits towards the south-west,
+until it reached its old boundaries, where a change in the physical
+character of the land, or in the amount of moisture precipitated,
+would stay its further progress. It is far more likely, however,
+that man will drive back the forest to the very Atlantic than that
+he will quit the scene.
+
+After passing the Indian graves, about a league from Libertad, we
+turned off to the right, by a path that led directly to the Mico,
+without going through the town. After crossing several rounded
+grassy hills, we reached the river, and found it swollen with
+recent rains, but fordable. Sometimes travellers are detained
+several days, unable to cross, and I was always glad when,
+returning to the mines, I had put it behind me. Now and then a
+traveller is drowned when attempting to cross the swollen river,
+but these accidents are rare, as it is well known, by certain rocks
+being covered, when it is unfordable. If carried away, a traveller
+has little chance to save his life, as just below the crossing the
+river is rapid and the banks precipitous. I heard of one man who
+had had a very narrow escape. He was trying to cross on mule-back,
+but his beast lost its footing, rolled over, and was rapidly washed
+away. The poor man was carried into the roaring rapids, and would
+soon have been drowned, but a herdsman on the bank, who was looking
+for cattle, threw his lasso cleverly over the drowning traveller,
+and dragged him on shore. Some of the "vacqueros," as the herdsmen
+are called, are wonderfully adroit in throwing the lasso; when
+riding at full speed, they throw it over the horns of the cattle,
+or the heads of the horses, and can hold the strongest if sideways
+on. But I have seen some old bulls that knew how to get loose; they
+would run straight away from the vacquero in places where he could
+not ride round them, and getting a straight pull on the lasso,
+would break it, or draw it out of his hands. There are no horses or
+mules, and very few cattle, however, that know how to do this, I
+was told by the herdsmen.
+
+After crossing the river, we soon reached Pital, where I had a cup
+of tea and got a fresh mule. We now turned nearly at right angles
+to our former course, and struck into the dark forest, the road
+through which I have already described. It was very wet and muddy.
+In some places, although it was only the commencement of the wet
+season, the mules sank above their knees. On this occasion, as on
+many others, I had often to notice how well the mule remembered
+places where in some former year it had avoided a particularly bad
+part by making a detour. I was riding a mule that had tender feet,
+having just recovered from the bite of a spider, that had
+occasioned the loss of one of its hoofs, and when it came near to a
+place where it could escape the deep mud by going over a stony part
+it would slacken its pace and look first at the mud, then at the
+stones, evidently balancing in its mind which was the lesser evil.
+Sometimes, too, when it came to a very bad place, which was better
+at the sides, I left it to itself, and it would be so undecided
+which side was the best, that making towards one it would look
+towards the other, and end by getting into the worst of the mud. It
+was just like many men who cannot decide which of two courses to
+take, and end by a middle one, which is worse than either. And just
+as in men, so in mules, there is every variety of disposition and
+ability. Some are easily led, others most obstinate and headstrong;
+some wise and prudent, others foolish and rash. The memory of
+localities is much stronger in horses and mules than in man. When
+travelling along a road that they have been over only once, and
+that some years before, where there are numerous branch roads and
+turnings, they will never make a mistake, even in the dark; and I
+have often, at night, when I could not make out the road myself,
+left them to their own guidance, and they have taken me safely to
+my destination. Only once was I misled, and that through the too
+good memory of my mule. Many years before it had been taken to a
+pasture of good grass, and recollecting this, it took me several
+miles out of my road towards its old feeding-ground, causing me to
+be benighted in consequence.
+
+I reached the mines at nine o'clock, and found that during my
+absence it had been raining almost continuously, although at
+Juigalpa there had been only a few slight showers.
+
+
+CHAPTER 11.
+
+Start on journey to Segovia.
+Rocky mountain road.
+A poor lodging.
+The rock of Cuapo.
+The use of large beaks in some birds.
+Comoapa.
+A native doctor.
+Vultures.
+Flight of birds that soar.
+Natives live from generation to generation on the same spot.
+Do not give distinctive names to the rivers.
+Caribs barter guns and iron pots for dogs.
+The hairless dogs of tropical America.
+Difference between artificial and natural selection.
+The cause of sterility between allied species considered.
+The disadvantages of a covering of hair to a domesticated animal
+   in a tropical country.
+
+IN July of the same year, 1872, I made the longest journey of any I
+undertook in Nicaragua. It had been for some time difficult to
+obtain sufficient native labourers for our mines, and, as we
+contemplated extending our operations, it was very important that
+it should be ascertained whether or not we could depend upon
+obtaining the additional workmen that would be required. Nearly all
+our native miners came from the highlands of the province of
+Segovia, near to the boundary of Honduras. The inhabitants of the
+lower country are mostly vacqueros, used to riding on horseback
+after cattle, and not to be tempted, even by the much higher wages
+they can obtain, to engage in the toilsome labour of underground
+mining. The inhabitants of Segovia, on the contrary, have been
+miners from time immemorial, and it is work they readily take to. I
+had often desired to see for myself what supply of labour could be
+obtained, but the journey was a long and toilsome one, and it was
+not until the labour question became urgent that I resolved to
+undertake it.
+
+(PLATE 16. PATH UP STEEP HILL. THE ROAD AND ROCKY LEDGE.)
+
+Having determined on the journey, I soon completed my preparations.
+I took my Mestizo boy, Rito, with me; Velasquez was to join me on
+the road; a pack-mule carried our equipment, consisting of some
+bread, rugs, a large waterproof sheet, a change of clothes, and a
+hammock. We started at seven o'clock on the morning of the 11th
+July, and, as usual, made very slow progress through the forest as
+far as Pital, in consequence of the badness of the road, which was
+now worse than when I had passed over it a month before. After
+reaching the savannahs, we proceeded more rapidly. We followed the
+Juigalpa road until we got two leagues beyond Libertad, when we
+turned more to the north, taking a path that led over mountain
+ranges. This road was very rocky and steep; we were continually
+ascending or descending, and as it rained all the afternoon, the
+footing for our beasts was very bad. I was riding on a horse, and
+he not being so sure-footed or so cautious as a mule, often
+stumbled on the steep and slippery slopes. In some places the path
+led along the top of the narrow ridge of a long hog-backed hill; in
+others, by a series of zigzags, we surmounted or came down the
+precipitous slopes. I nearly came to grief at one place. We had
+climbed up one of the steep hills, and at the top a rocky shelf or
+cap had to be leaped, at right angles to the narrow path that
+slanted up the face of the hill. I put my horse to it, but he
+slipped on the smooth rock and fell. If he had gone back over the
+narrow path, he must have rolled down the abrupt slope; but he made
+another spring, fell again, but this time with his fore-feet over
+the rock, and on the third attempt scrambled over and landed me
+safely on the top, but, I confess, much shaken in my seat. My
+straw-hat came off in the struggle, and was rolling merrily down
+the hill, when it was caught in a low bush, much to Rito's
+satisfaction, who was anticipating a long tramp after it. We had a
+fine view from the top of this range over a deep valley, bounded
+with precipitous cliffs and dark patches of forest. Over our heads
+floated drifting rain-clouds from the north-east that sometimes
+concealed the mountain tops, sometimes lifted and showed their
+craggy summits.
+
+Our beasts were tired out with the rough travelling, and we moved
+along slowly. About five o'clock we came in sight of the rock of
+Cuapo, an isolated perpendicular cliff rising about 300 feet above
+the top of a hill that it crowns. After descending a long, steep
+range, we reached, near dusk, a small hut, called Tablason, and
+here we determined to pass the night, although the accommodation
+was about the scantiest possible. A man and his wife, six children,
+and a woman to grind the maize for tortillas, lived in the hut. The
+greatest portion of it was quite open at the sides, without even a
+fence to keep out the pigs. At one end a place about ten feet
+square was partitioned off from the rest, and surrounded with
+mud-walls, and in this the whole family slept. Both the people and
+the house were very dirty. The remains of a broken chair was the
+only furniture, excepting the rough bedsteads made by inserting
+four sticks into the ground, on which were laid two long poles,
+kept apart by two shorter ones at the end, over which rude frame a
+dry hide was stretched. I was offered one of these couches for the
+night, and accepted it; though if it had not been for the rain I
+would rather have slept outside, but all around was sloppy and wet;
+night had set in; our mules and horse were tired; we ourselves were
+fatigued, and there was no other shelter within several miles. They
+had no food to sell us, and appeared to have nothing for
+themselves, excepting a few tortillas and a little home-made
+cheese. We opened out some of our preserved meats. Whilst I was
+eating, the whole family crowded around me, apparently never having
+seen any one eat with a fork before. Fortunately we had brought
+candles with us, or we should have been in darkness, for they had
+none; nor did they appear to use them, as they had no candlesticks,
+and the children and our host himself took it by turns to hold our
+lights. All wore ragged, dirty cotton clothes, that only
+half-covered them. They had four cows, and pigs, dogs, and poultry.
+The land around was fertile; they might take as much of it as they
+liked to cultivate, and, with a little trouble, might have grown
+almost anything; but the blight of Central America--the curse of
+idleness, was upon them, and they were content to live on in
+squalid poverty rather than work.
+
+We were so tired that, notwithstanding our miserable and crowded
+quarters, we slept soundly, but were up at daylight, and soon ready
+for our journey again, after Rito had made a little coffee, and I
+had compensated our host for our lodging. The scenery around was
+very fine, and the place might have been made an earthly paradise.
+To the north-east a spur of the forest came down to within a mile
+of the house; in front were grassy hills and clumps of brushwood
+and trees, with a clear gurgling stream in the bottom; and beyond,
+in the distance, forest-clad mountains. As usual, the family had a
+pet animal. Before we left, a pretty fawn came in from the forest
+to be fed, and eyed us suspiciously, laying its head back over its
+shoulders, and gazing at us with its large, dreamy-looking eyes.
+The woman told us it had a wild mate in the woods, but came in
+daily to visit them, the dogs recognising and not molesting it. Our
+road still lay within a few miles of the dark Atlantic forest, the
+clouds lying all along the first range, concealing more than they
+exposed. There was a sort of gloomy grandeur about the view; so
+much was hidden, that the mind was left at liberty to imagine that
+behind these clouds lay towering mountains and awful cliffs. The
+road passed within a short distance of the rock of Cuapo, and,
+leaving my horse with Rito, I climbed up towards it. A ridge on the
+eastern side runs up to within about 200 feet of the summit, and so
+far it is accessible. Up this I climbed to the base of the brown
+rock, the perpendicular cliff towering up above me; here and there
+were patches of grey, where lichens clung to the rock, and orchids,
+ferns, and small shrubs grew in the clefts and on ledges. There
+were two fine orchids in flower, which grew not only on the rock,
+but on some stunted trees at its base; and beneath some fallen
+rocks nestled a pretty club-moss, and two curious little ferns
+(Aneimea oblongifolia and hirsuta), with the masses of spores on
+stalks rising from the pinnules. The rock was the same as that of
+Pena Blanca, but the vegetation was entirely distinct. To the
+south-west there was a fine view down the Juigalpa valley to the
+lake, with Ometepec in the distance, and some sugar-loaf hills
+nearer at hand. The weather had cleared up, white cumuli only
+sailed across the blue aerial ocean. The scene had no feature in it
+of a purely tropical character, excepting that three gaudy macaws
+were wheeling round and round in playful flight, now showing all
+red on the under surface, then turning all together, as if they
+were one body, and exhibiting the gorgeous blue, yellow, and red of
+the upper side gleaming in the sunshine; screaming meanwhile as
+they flew with harsh, discordant cries. This gaudy-coloured and
+noisy bird seems to proclaim aloud that it fears no foe. Its
+formidable beak protects it from every danger, for no hawk or
+predatory mammal dares attack a bird so strongly armed. Here the
+necessity for concealment does not exist, and sexual selection has
+had no check in developing the brightest and most conspicuous
+colours. If such a bird was not able to defend itself from all
+foes, its loud cries would attract them, its bright colours direct
+them, to its own destruction. The white cockatoo of Australia is a
+similar instance. It is equally conspicuous amongst the dark-green
+foliage by its pure white colour, and equally its loud screams
+proclaim from afar its resting-place, whilst its powerful beak
+protects it from all enemies excepting man. In the smaller species
+of parrots the beak is not sufficiently strong to protect them from
+their enemies, and most of them are coloured green, which makes
+them very difficult to distinguish amongst the leaves. I have been
+looking for several minutes at a tree, in which were scores of
+small green parrots, making an incessant noise, without being able
+to distinguish one; and I recollect once in Australia firing at
+what I thought was a solitary "green leek" parrot amongst a bunch
+of leaves, and to my astonishment five "green leeks" fell to the
+ground, the whole bunch of apparent leaves having been composed of
+them. The bills of even the smallest parrots must, however, be very
+useful to them to guard the entrances to their nests in the holes
+of trees, in which they breed.
+
+I believe that the principal use of the long sharp bill of the
+toucan is also that of a weapon with which to defend itself against
+its enemies, especially when nesting in the hole of a tree. Any
+predatory animal must face this formidable beak if seeking to force
+an entrance to the nest; and I know by experience that the toucan
+can use it with great quickness and effect. I kept a young one of
+the largest Nicaraguan species (Ramphastus tocard) for some time,
+until it one day came within reach of and was killed by my monkey.
+It was a most comical looking bird when hopping about, and though
+evidently partial to fruit, was eager after cockroaches and other
+insects; its long bill being useful in picking them out of crevices
+and corners. It used its bill so dexterously that it was impossible
+to put one's hand near it without being struck, and the blow would
+always draw blood. That in the tropics birds should have some
+special development for the protection of their breeding-places is
+not to be wondered at when we reflect upon the great number of
+predatory mammals, monkeys, raccoons, opossums, etc., that are
+constantly searching about for nests and devouring the eggs and
+young ones. I have already mentioned the great danger they run from
+the attacks of the immense armies of foraging ants, and the
+importance of having some means of picking off the scouts, that
+they may not return and scent the trail for the advance of the main
+body, whose numbers would overcome all resistance.
+
+After examining round the rock without finding any place by which
+it could be ascended, I rejoined Rito in the valley below, and we
+continued our journey. We passed over some ranges and wide valleys,
+where there was much grass and a few scattered huts, but very
+little cattle; the country being thinly populated. On the top of a
+rocky range we stayed at a small house for breakfast, and they made
+us ready some tortillas. As usual, there seemed to be three or four
+families all living together, and there were a great number of
+children. The men were two miles away at a clearing on the edge of
+the forest, looking after their "milpas," or maize patches. The
+house, though small, was cleaner and tidier than the others we had
+seen, and in furniture could boast of a table and a few chairs,
+which showed we had chanced to fall on the habitation of one of the
+well-to-do class. The ceiling of the room we were in was made of
+bamboo-rods, above which maize was stored. The women were
+good-looking, and appeared to be of nearly pure Spanish descent;
+which perhaps accounted for the chairs and table, and also for the
+absence of any attempt at gardening around the house--for the
+Indian eschews furniture, but is nearly always a gardener.
+
+We finished our homely breakfast and set off again, crossing some
+more rocky ranges, and passing several Indian huts with orange
+trees growing around them, and at two o'clock in the afternoon
+reached the small town of Comoapa, where I determined to wait for
+Velasquez. Looking about for a house to stay at, we found one kept
+by a woman who formerly lived at Santo Domingo, and who was glad to
+receive us; though we found afterwards she had already more
+travellers staying with her than she could well accommodate.
+
+I had shot a pretty mot-mot on the road, and proceeded to skin it,
+to the amusement and delight of about a dozen spectators, who
+wondered what I could want with the "hide" of a bird, the only
+skinning that they had ever seen being that of deer and cattle. A
+native doctor, who was staying at the house, insisted on helping
+me, and as the mot-mot's skin is very tough, he did not do much
+harm. The bird had been shot in the morning, and some one remarking
+that no blood flowed when it was cut, the doctor said, with a wise
+air, that that class of birds had no blood, and that he knew of
+another class that also had none, to which his auditors gave a
+satisfied "Como no" ("Why not?"). He also gave us to understand
+that he had himself at one time skinned birds, for being evidently
+looked up to as an authority on all subjects by the simple country
+people, he was unwilling that his reputation should suffer by it
+being supposed that a stranger had come to Comoapa who knew
+something that he did not. Having skinned my bird and put the skin
+out in the sun to dry, I took a stroll through the small town, and
+found it composed mostly of huts inhabited by Mestizos, with a
+tumble-down church and a weed-covered plaza. Around some of the
+houses were planted mango and orange trees, but there was a general
+air of dilapidation and decay, and not a single sign of industry or
+progress visible.
+
+Velasquez arrived at dusk, having ridden from Libertad that day.
+About a dozen of us slung our hammocks in the small travellers'
+room, where, when we had all gone to rest, we looked like a cluster
+of great bats hanging from the rafters. No one could get along the
+room without disturbing every one else, and the next morning all
+were early astir. We got our animals saddled as soon as possible,
+and set off on our journey. It was a clear and beautiful morning,
+and a cool breeze from the north-east fanned us as we rode blithely
+over grassy savannahs and hills. High up in the air soared a couple
+of large black vultures, floating on the wind, and describing large
+circles without apparent movement or exertion, scanning from their
+airy height the country for miles around, on the look-out for their
+carrion food. Like all birds that soar, both over sea and land,
+when it is calm the vultures are obliged to flap their wings to
+fly; but when a breeze is blowing they are able to use their
+specific gravity as a fulcrum, by means of which they present their
+bodies and outstretched wings and tails at various angles to the
+wind, and literally sail. How often, when becalmed on southern
+seas, when not a breath of air was stirring and the sails idly
+flapped against the mast, have I seen the albatross, the petrel,
+and the Cape-pigeon resting on the water, or rising with
+difficulty, and only by the constant motion of their long wings
+able to fly at all. But when a breeze sprang up they were all life
+and motion, wheeling in graceful circles, now presenting one side,
+now the other to view, descending rapidly with the wind, and so
+gaining velocity to turn and rise up again against it. Then, as the
+breeze freshened to a gale, the petrels darted about, playing round
+and round the scudding ship, at home on the wings of the storm,
+poising themselves upon the wind as instinctively and with as
+little effort as a man balances himself on his feet. The old times
+recurred as I rode over the savannah, and the soaring vultures
+brought back to my mind the wheeling stormy petrels that darted
+about whilst under close-reefed topsails we struggled against the
+gale, rounding the stormy southern cape; when great blue seas,
+"green glimmering towards the summit," towered on every side, or
+struck our gallant ship like a sledge, making it shiver with the
+blow, and sending a driving cloud of spray from stem to stern. Then
+the petrels were in their element; then they darted about--above,
+below, now here, now there--all life and motion; as if their chief
+pleasure was, like Ariel, "to ride on the curled cloud" and "point
+the tempest."* (* The Duke of Argyll, in his "Reign of Law", has
+some excellent remarks on the flight of birds that soar, or hover.
+My remarks, of which the above account is a paraphrase, were
+written out in my journal in 1852, but were not published.)
+
+We were travelling nearly parallel with the edge of the great
+forest which was two or three miles away on our right; in all other
+directions the view was bounded by ranges, some grassed to their
+tops, others with forests climbing up their steep sides, excepting
+where white cliffs gave no foothold for the trees. We passed
+several grass-thatched huts inhabited by half-clad Indians or
+Mestizos, who generally possess a few cows, and, away on the edge
+of the forest, small clearings of maize. These people, with
+unlimited fertile land at their disposal, were all sunk in what
+looked like squalid poverty; but they had a roof over their heads,
+and sufficient, though coarse, food, and they cared for nothing
+more. Our road lay a couple of miles to the north of the village of
+Huaco, where much of the maize of the province is grown; the road
+then led over many swampy valleys, and our beasts had hard work
+plunging through the mud. We passed through La Puerta, a scattered
+collection of Indian huts; then over a river called the Aguasco,
+running to the east, and probably emptying into the Rio Grande.
+There were a few orange trees about some of the huts, but most of
+the people were Mestizes, or half-breeds, and nothing but weeds
+grew around their habitations. Their plantations of maize were
+always some miles distant, and they never seem to think of moving
+their houses nearer to their clearings on the edge of the forest.
+Nearly always when I asked the question, I found that the grown-up
+people had been born on the spot where they lived, and they are
+evidently greatly attached to the localities where they have been
+brought up. Probably when the settlements were first made, forest
+land lay near, in which they made their clearings and raised their
+crops of corn. Since then the edge of the forest has been beaten
+back some miles to the north-east; but the people cling to the old
+spots, where, generation after generation, their ancestors have
+lived and died. A new house could be built in a few days, closer to
+the forest; but they prefer travelling several miles every day to
+and from their clearings, rather than desert their old homes.
+
+Beyond the Aguasco, we had to travel over a swampy plain for about
+a mile, our animals plunging all the time through about three feet
+of mud. This plain was covered with thousands of guayava trees,
+laden with sufficient fruit to make guava jelly for all the world.
+After floundering through the swamp, we reached more savannahs, and
+then entered a beautiful valley, well grassed, and with herds of
+fine cattle, horses, and mules grazing on it. The grass was well
+cropped, and looked like pasture-land at home. The ground was now
+firmer, and we got more rapidly across it. A flock of wild Muscovy
+ducks flew heavily across the plain, looking very like the tame
+variety. I do not wonder at sportsmen sometimes being unwilling to
+fire at them, mistaking them for domestic ducks. The tame variety
+is very prolific, and sits better on its eggs than the common duck.
+I have seen twenty ducklings brought out at a single hatching. They
+are good eating, and a large one has nearly as much flesh upon it
+as an average-sized goose.
+
+About dusk on these plains, which extended around for several
+miles, we reached the cattle hacienda of Olama, where was a large
+tile-roofed house, near a river of the same name. The natives of
+Nicaragua seldom give distinctive names to their rivers, but call
+them after the towns or villages on their banks. Thus, at Olama,
+the river was called the Olama river; higher up, at Matagalpa, the
+same stream is called the Matagalpa river; and at Jinotego the
+Jinotego river. The Caribs, however, who live on the rivers, and
+use them as highways, have names for them all; but to the
+agricultural Indians and Mestizos of the interior, they are but
+reservoirs of water, crossed at distant points by their roads, and
+everywhere amongst them I found the greatest ignorance prevailing
+as to the connection of the different streams, and their outflow to
+the ocean. All the streams about Olama flow eastward, and join
+together to form the Rio Grande, that reaches the Atlantic about
+midway between Blewfields and the river Wanks. It is very
+incorrectly marked on all the maps of Nicaragua that I have seen.
+
+The Caribs from the lower parts of the river occasionally come up
+in their canoes to Olama, and bring with them common guns and iron
+pots that they have obtained from the mahogany cutters at the mouth
+of the river. These they barter for dogs. I could not ascertain
+what they wanted with the dogs, but both at this place and at
+Matagalpa I was told of the great value the Caribs put on them.
+Although the people of Olama expressed great surprise that the
+"Caritos," as they call the river Indians, should take so much
+trouble to obtain dogs, they had not had the curiosity to ask them
+what they wanted them for. Some people near the river have even
+commenced to rear dogs to supply the demand. The Caribs had a
+special liking for black ones, and did not value those of any other
+colour so much. They would barter a gun or a large iron pot for a
+single dog, if it was of the right colour.
+
+The common dogs of Central America are a mongrel breed--not
+differing, I believe, from those of Europe. There are usually a
+number of curs about the Indian houses that run out barking at a
+stranger, but seldom bite.
+
+The hairless dogs, mentioned by Humboldt, as being abundant in
+Peru,* (* "Aspects of Nature" volume 1 page 109.) are not common in
+Central America, but there are a few to be met with. At Colon I saw
+several. They are of a shining dark colour, and are quite without
+hair, excepting a little on the face and on the tip of the tail.
+Both in Peru and Mexico this variety was found by the Spanish
+conquerors. It would be interesting to have these dogs compared
+with the hairless dogs of China, which Humboldt says have certainly
+been extremely common since very early times. Perhaps another link
+might be added to the broken chain of evidence that connects the
+peoples of the two countries.
+
+A large naked dog-like animal is figured by Clavigero as one of the
+indigenous animals of Mexico. It was called Xoloitzcuintli by the
+Mexicans; and Humboldt considers it was distinct from the hairless
+dog, and was a large dog-like wolf. Its name does not support this
+view; Xoloitzcuintli literally means "a servant dog," from "Xolotl,"
+a slave or servant, and itzcuintli, a dog; and we find the word
+Xolotl in Huexlotl, the Aztec name of the common turkey, which was
+domesticated by them, and largely used as food. I am led to believe
+from this that Xolotl was applied to any animal that lived in the
+house or was domesticated, and that the Xoloitzcuintli was merely a
+large variety of the hairless dog. Clavigero's description of it
+would fit the hairless dog of the present day very well, excepting
+the size; he says it was four feet long, totally naked, excepting a
+few stiff hairs on its snout, and ash coloured, spotted with black
+and tawny.
+
+Tschudi makes two races of indigenous dogs in tropical America.
+
+1. The Canis caraibicus (Lesson), without hair, and which does not
+   bark.
+2. The Canis ingae (Tschudi), the common hairy dog, which has
+   pointed nose and ears, and barks.* (* J.J. von Tschudi quoted by
+   Humboldt "Aspects of Nature" English edition volume 1 page 111.)
+
+The small eatable dog of the Mexicans was called by them Techichi;
+and Humboldt derives the name from Tetl, a stone, and says that it
+means "a dumb dog," but this appears rather a forced derivation.
+Chichi is Aztec for "to suck;" and it seems to me more probable
+that the little dogs they eat, and which are spoken of by the
+Spaniards as making very tender and delicate food, were the puppies
+of the Xoloitzcuintli, and that Techichi meant "a sucker."
+
+Whether the hairless dog was or was not the Techichi of which the
+Mexicans made such savoury dishes is an open question, but there
+can be no doubt that the former was found in tropical America by
+the Spanish conquerors, and that it has survived to the present
+time, with little or no change. That it should not have intermixed
+with the common haired variety, and lost its distinctive
+characters, is very remarkable. It has not been artificially
+preserved, for instead of being looked on with favour by the
+Indians, Humboldt states that in Peru, where it is abundant, it is
+despised and ill-treated. Under such circumstances, the variety can
+only have been preserved through not interbreeding with the common
+form, either from a dislike to such unions, or by some amount of
+sterility when they are formed. This is, I think, in favour of the
+inference that the variety has been produced by natural and not by
+artificial selection, for diminished fertility is seldom or never
+acquired between artificial varieties.
+
+Man isolates varieties, and breeds from them, and continuing to
+separate those that vary in the direction he wishes to follow, a
+very great difference is, in a comparatively short time, produced.
+But these artificial varieties, though often more different from
+each other than some natural species, readily interbreed, and if
+left to themselves rapidly revert to a common type. In natural
+selection there is a great and fundamental difference. The
+varieties that arise can seldom be separated from the parent form
+and from other varieties until they vary also in the elements of
+reproduction. Thousands of varieties probably revert to the parent
+type, but if at last one is produced that breeds only with its own
+form, we can easily see how a new species might be segregated. As
+long as varieties interbreed together and with the parent form, it
+does not seem possible that a new species could be formed by
+natural selection, excepting in cases of geographical isolation.
+All the individuals might vary in some one direction, but they
+could not split up into distinct species whilst they occupied the
+same area and interbred without difficulty. Before a variety can
+become permanent, it must be either separated from the others or
+have acquired some disinclination or inability to interbreed with
+them. So long as they interbreed together, the possible divergence
+is kept within narrow limits, but whenever a variety is produced,
+the individuals of which have a partiality for interbreeding, and
+some amount of sterility when crossed with the parent form, the tie
+that bound it to the central stock is loosened, and the foundation
+is laid for the formation of a new species. Further divergence
+would be unchecked, or only slightly checked, and the elements of
+reproduction having begun to vary, would probably continue to
+diverge from the parent form, for Darwin has shown that any organ
+in which a species has begun to vary is liable to further change in
+the same direction.* (* "See Animals and Plants under
+Domestication" volume 2 page 241.) Thus one of the best tests of
+the specific difference of two allied forms living together is
+their sterility when crossed, and nearly allied species separated
+by geographical barriers are more likely to interbreed than those
+inhabiting the same area. Artificial selection is more rapid in its
+results, but less stable than that of nature, because the barriers
+that man raises to prevent intermingling of varieties are temporary
+and partial, whilst that which nature fixes when sterility arises
+is permanent and complete.
+
+For these reasons I think that the fact that the hairless dog of
+tropical America has not interbred with the common form, and
+regained its hairy coat, is in favour of the inference that the
+variety has been produced by natural and not by artificial
+selection. By this I do not mean that it has arisen as a wild
+variety, for it is probable that its domestication was an important
+element amongst the causes that led to its formation, but that it
+has not been produced by man selecting the individuals to breed
+from that had the least covering of hairs. I cannot agree with some
+eminent naturalists that the loss of a hairy covering would always
+be disadvantageous. My experience in tropical countries has led me
+to the conclusion that in such parts at least there is one serious
+drawback to the advantages of having the skin covered with hair. It
+affords cover for parasitical insects, which, if the skin were
+naked, might more easily be got rid of.
+
+No one who has not lived and moved about amongst the bush of the
+tropics can appreciate what a torment the different parasitical
+species of acarus or ticks are. On my first journey in Northern
+Brazil, I had my legs inflamed and ulcerated from the ankles to the
+knees from the irritation produced by a minute red tick that is
+brushed off the low shrubs, and attaches itself to the passer-by.
+This little insect is called the "Mocoim" by the Brazilians, and is
+a great torment. It is so minute that except by careful searching
+it cannot be perceived, and it causes an intolerable itching. If
+the skin were thickly covered with hair, it would be next to
+impossible to get rid of it. Through all tropical America, during
+the dry season, a brown tick (Ixodes bovis), varying in size from a
+pin's head to a pea, abounds. In Nicaragua, in April, they are very
+small, and swarm upon the plains, so that the traveller often gets
+covered with them. They get upon the tips of the leaves and shoots
+of low shrubs, and stand with their hind-legs stretched out. Each
+foot has two hooks or claws, and with these it lays hold of any
+animal brushing past. All large land animals seem subject to their
+attacks. I have seen them on snakes and iguanas, on many of the
+large birds, especially on the curassows. They abound on all the
+large mammals, and on many of the small ones. Sick and weak animals
+are particularly infested with them, probably because they have not
+the strength to rub and pick them off, and they must often hasten,
+if they do not cause their death. The herdsmen, or "vacqueros,"
+keep a ball of soft wax at their houses, which they rub over their
+skin when they come in from the plains, the small "garrapatos"
+sticking to it, whilst the larger ones are picked off. How the
+small ones would be got rid of if the skin had a hairy coat I know
+not, but the torment of the ticks would certainly be greatly
+increased.
+
+There are other insect parasites, for the increase and protection
+of which a hairy coating is even more favourable than it is for the
+ticks. The Pediculi are specially adapted to live amongst hair,
+their limbs being constructed for clinging to it. They deposit
+their nits or eggs amongst it, fastening them securely to the bases
+of the hairs. Although the pediculi are almost unknown to the
+middle and upper classes of civilised communities, in consequence
+of the cleanliness of their persons, clothing, and houses, they
+abound amongst savage and half-civilised people. A slight immunity
+from the attacks of acari and pediculi might in a tropical country
+more than compensate an animal for the loss of its hairy coat,
+especially in the case of the domesticated dog, which finds shelter
+with its master, has not to seek for its food at night, and is
+protected from the attacks of stronger animals. In the huts of
+savages dogs are greatly exposed to the attacks of parasitical
+insects, for vermin generally abound in such localities. Man is the
+only species amongst the higher primates that lives for months and
+years--often indeed from generation to generation--on the same
+spot. Monkeys change their sleeping places almost daily. The
+ourang-outang, that makes a nest of the boughs of trees, is said to
+construct a fresh one every night. The dwelling places of savages,
+often made of, or lined with, the skins of animals, with the dusty
+earth for a floor, harbour all kinds of insect vermin, and produce
+and perpetuate skin disease, due to the attacks of minute sarcopti.
+If the dog by losing its hair should obtain any protection from
+these and other insect pests, instead of wondering that a hairless
+breed of dogs has been produced in a tropical country, I am more
+surprised that haired ones should abound. That they do so must, I
+think, be owing to man having preferred the haired breeds for their
+superior beauty and greater variety, and encouraged their
+multiplication.
+
+
+CHAPTER 12.
+
+Olama.
+The "Sanate."
+Muy-muy.
+Idleness of the people.
+Mountain road.
+The "Bull Rock."
+The bull's-horn thorn.
+Ants kept as standing armies by some plants.
+Use of honey-secreting glands.
+Plant-lice, scale-insects, and leaf-hoppers furnish ants
+   with honey, and in return are protected by the latter.
+Contest between wasps and ants.
+Waxy secretions of the homopterous hemiptera.
+
+WE rode up to the large hacienda at Olama, and were asked to alight
+by a man whom I at first took to be the proprietor, but afterwards
+discovered to be a traveller like ourselves, buying cattle for the
+Leon market. The owner of the house and his sister were away at a
+little town three or four miles distant; and I was a little nervous
+about the reception we should have when they returned and found us
+making ourselves at home at their house. Velasquez had, however, no
+apprehensions on that score, as he knew that throughout the central
+departments of Nicaragua it is the custom for travellers to expect
+and to receive a welcome at any house they may arrive at by
+nightfall. Excepting in the towns, and on some of the main roads,
+there are no houses where travellers can stop and pay for a night's
+lodging. Every one expects to be called on at any time to give a
+night's shelter. This is all that is afforded, as travellers carry
+with them their hammocks and food. About an hour after dark, the
+owner and his sister returned on mules, and the gentleman seemed
+pleased at finding us at his house. I was about to offer a chair to
+the sister; but Velasquez told me it was not the custom to show any
+civilities to the ladies, as they would probably be misconstrued.
+After a while, the master had some chocolate brought to him by his
+sister, who waited upon him. The wife, the sister, and the daughter
+in the departments seldom sit down to their meals with the master
+of the house, but attend upon him like servants.
+
+Whilst coffee was preparing next morning, I strolled about the
+outbuildings, and was much amused at the antics of the jet black
+Quiscalus, called "sanate" by the natives. They are about the size
+of a magpie, with much of the active movements of that bird. They
+are generally seen about cattle, sometimes picking the garrapatos
+off them, but more often one on each side, watching for the
+grasshoppers and other insects that are frightened up as the cattle
+feed. On this morning there were several of them on the top of a
+shed. Every now and then one would ruffle out its feathers, open
+its wings a little, give a step or two forward towards another,
+stretch out its neck, open its bill, and then give rather a long
+squeak-like whistle. As soon as it had done this, it would
+hurriedly close its feathers and wings, and hold its head straight
+up, with its bill pointing to the sky. All its movements were
+grotesque; and its sudden change in appearance after delivering its
+cry was ludicrous. It appeared as if it was ashamed of what it had
+done, and was trying to look as if it had not done it--just as I
+have seen a schoolboy throw a snowball, and then stand rigidly
+looking another way. After a few moments, the "sanate" would lower
+its head, and, in a short time, go through the same performance
+again, repeating every movement automatically.
+
+Bidding adieu to our host, we rode over grassy savannahs, with much
+cattle feeding on them, and in about five miles reached a small
+village called Muy-muy, which means "very-very." I think it is a
+corruption of an old Indian word "Muyo," met with in other Indian
+names of towns, as, for instance, in Muyogalpa. After riding all
+round the plaza, which formed three-fourths of the town, we at last
+found a house where they consented to make us some tortillas, on
+condition that we would buy some native cheese also. The land
+around was fertile, but the people too lazy to cultivate it. Many
+of the houses were dilapidated huts. The place altogether had a
+most depressing aspect of poverty and idleness. I asked one man
+what the people worked at. He said, "Nada, nada, senor," that is,
+"Nothing, nothing, sir." Some of them possess cattle; and those
+that have none sometimes help those that have, and get enough to
+keep them alive. The principal subject of interest seemed to be the
+"caritos," who had come up the river and given them guns and iron
+pots for their black dogs; but no one had had the curiosity to ask
+what they wanted the dogs for. It was Sunday, and many of the
+country people from around had come into the village. All that had
+any money were at the estanco, drinking aguardiente. The men were
+dressed alike, with palm-tree hats, white calico jackets and
+trousers, the latter often rolled up to the thigh on one leg, as is
+the fashion in this part of the world. Nearly all were barefooted.
+
+(PLATE 17. THE "SANATE," OR QUISCALUS)
+
+Having breakfasted off tortillas and cheese, we continued our
+journey, and crossed two rivers running to the eastward; then
+ascended a high and rocky range, along the top of which the path
+lay. We took this mountain-path to avoid some very bad swamps that
+we were told we should encounter if we went by the main road. The
+mountain range was bare and bleak, but we had a fine view over the
+surrounding country. Opposite to us, on the other side of a wide
+valley, was a similar range to that along which we were travelling,
+the sides partly wooded and partly cleared for planting maize. We
+passed several Indian huts with grass-thatched roofs, and met a
+party of Indians travelling down the mountain in single file, each
+man carrying his bow and arrows. They were going down to Huaco to
+buy corn, the maize crop having failed around Matagalpa the last
+season. The mountain road, though dry, was rocky, with steep
+ascents, and our mules got very tired. About five o'clock we
+descended from the hills into the valley of Ocalca, near to which
+there had been some gold workings, now abandoned. Here we came in
+sight, for the first time, of the pine forests, a high range a few
+miles to the north being covered with them.
+
+About dusk, we reached an Indian hut, and proposed staying there
+for the night. The owners were pure Indians; the women, engaged as
+usual in grinding maize, were naked to the waist. There was an old
+man and his son, and some children. The old Indian looked
+distressed at our proposal to take up our quarters there for the
+night, but he made no objection. The accommodation was very poor,
+there being no hammocks or bedsteads; and I think all the inmates
+must have slept above on some bamboos that were laid across the
+beams. Learning from the old man that there was a large and better
+house a little further on, we relieved him of our company, and
+crossing a river, reached a cattle hacienda owned by a very stout
+native named Blandon, who made us welcome. The house was a large
+one; and there were a number of mozos and women-servants about. We
+asked if we could buy anything to eat, and Senor Blandon said he
+would get supper prepared, at which we were much pleased, as we had
+had nothing all day excepting a drink of coffee at daylight, and
+some tortillas and cheese at Muy-muy. After waiting a long time, we
+were invited to our supper; and on going into an inner room, found
+it consisted only of coffee and two small cakes called "roskears"
+for each of us; and we were told they had nothing else to offer us.
+So, munching our dry roskears, we mumbled over them as long as we
+could, and did not waste a crumb, wondering how our host got so fat
+on such fare. We were as hungry when we finished as when we began,
+and soon laid down on our hard couches to forget our hunger in
+sleep.
+
+We started off early the next morning, as we were within a few
+leagues of the town of Matagalpa, and knew when we got there we
+should obtain plenty of provisions. About a league before arriving
+at Matagalpa there is a high range, with perpendicular cliffs near
+the summit. Rito told us that near the base of these cliffs there
+was a carving of a bull, and that the place was enchanted. I had
+heard in other parts stories of bulls being engraved or painted on
+rocks, but was very doubtful about their being true, as, up to the
+advent of the Spaniards, the Indians of Central America had never
+seen any cattle; and since the conquest they appear to have
+entirely given up their ancient practice of carving on stone,
+whilst the Spaniards and half-breeds have not learnt the art; so
+that I have never seen a single carving in the central departments
+that could be ascribed to a later period than the Spanish conquest.
+
+Tired and hungry though we were, I was determined to put this story
+to the test; so Velasquez and I climbed up to the cliffs, and
+searched all round them, but could find no carving. At one place
+there was a large black stain on the cliff, produced by the
+trickling down of water from above, and I afterwards learnt that
+this stain at a distance somewhat resembled a bull, and a little
+imagination completed the likeness. The lady of the house where we
+stayed at Matagalpa assured us she had seen it, and that everything
+appertaining to a bull was there. This she insisted on with a
+minuteness of detail rather embarrassing to a fastidious auditor.
+
+Clambering down the rocks, we reached our horse and mule, and
+started off again, passing over dry weedy hills. One low tree, very
+characteristic of the dry savannahs, I have only incidentally
+mentioned before. It is a species of acacia, belonging to the
+section Gummiferae, with bi-pinnate leaves, growing to a height of
+fifteen or twenty feet. The branches and trunk are covered with
+strong curved spines, set in pairs, from which it receives the name
+of the bull's-horn thorn, they having a very strong resemblance to
+the horns of that quadruped. These thorns are hollow, and are
+tenanted by ants, that make a small hole for their entrance and
+exit near one end of the thorn, and also burrow through the
+partition that separates the two horns; so that the one entrance
+serves for both. Here they rear their young, and in the wet season
+every one of the thorns is tenanted; and hundreds of ants are to be
+seen running about, especially over the young leaves. If one of
+these be touched, or a branch shaken, the little ants (Pseudomyrma
+bicolor, Guer.) swarm out from the hollow thorns, and attack the
+aggressor with jaws and sting. They sting severely, raising a
+little white lump that does not disappear in less than twenty-four
+hours.
+
+These ants form a most efficient standing army for the plant, which
+prevents not only the mammalia from browsing on the leaves, but
+delivers it from the attacks of a much more dangerous enemy--the
+leaf-cutting ants. For these services the ants are not only
+securely housed by the plant, but are provided with a bountiful
+supply of food, and to secure their attendance at the right time
+and place, the food is so arranged and distributed as to effect
+that object with wonderful perfection. The leaves are bi-pinnate.
+At the base of each pair of leaflets, on the mid-rib, is a
+crater-formed gland, which, when the leaves are young, secretes a
+honey-like liquid. Of this the ants are very fond; and they are
+constantly running about from one gland to another to sip up the
+honey as it is secreted. But this is not all; there is a still more
+wonderful provision of more solid food. At the end of each of the
+small divisions of the compound leaflet there is, when the leaf
+first unfolds, a little yellow fruit-like body united by a point at
+its base to the end of the pinnule. Examined through a microscope,
+this little appendage looks like a golden pear. When the leaf first
+unfolds, the little pears are not quite ripe, and the ants are
+continually employed going from one to another, examining them.
+When an ant finds one sufficiently advanced, it bites the small
+point of attachment; then, bending down the fruit-like body, it
+breaks it off and bears it away in triumph to the nest. All the
+fruit-like bodies do not ripen at once, but successively, so that
+the ants are kept about the young leaf for some time after it
+unfolds. Thus the young leaf is always guarded by the ants; and no
+caterpillar or larger animal could attempt to injure them without
+being attacked by the little warriors. The fruit-like bodies are
+about one-twelfth of an inch long, and are about one-third of the
+size of the ants; so that an ant carrying one away is as heavily
+laden as a man bearing a large bunch of plantains. I think these
+facts show that the ants are really kept by the acacia as a
+standing army, to protect its leaves from the attacks of
+herbivorous mammals and insects.
+
+(PLATE 18. BULL'S-HORN THORN.)
+
+The bull's-horn thorn does not grow at the mines in the forest, nor
+are the small ants attending on them found there. They seem
+specially adapted for the tree, and I have seen them nowhere else.
+Besides the Pseudomyrma, I found another ant that lives on these
+acacias; it is a small black species of Crematogaster, whose habits
+appear to be rather different from those of Pseudomyrma. It makes
+the holes of entrance to the thorns near the centre of one of each
+pair, and not near the end, like the Pseudomyrma; and it is not so
+active as that species. It is also rather scarce; but when it does
+occur, it occupies the whole tree, to the exclusion of the other.
+The glands on the acacia are also frequented by a small species of
+wasp (Polybia occidentalis). I sowed the seeds of the acacia in my
+garden, and reared some young plants. Ants of many kinds were
+numerous; but none of them took to the thorns for shelter, nor the
+glands and fruit-like bodies for food; for, as I have already
+mentioned, the species that attend on the thorns are not found in
+the forest. The leaf-cutting ants attacked the young plants, and
+defoliated them, but I have never seen any of the trees out on the
+savannahs that are guarded by the Pseudomyrma touched by them, and
+have no doubt the acacia is protected from them by its little
+warriors. The thorns, when they are first developed, are soft, and
+filled with a sweetish, pulpy substance; so that the ant, when it
+makes an entrance into them, finds its new house full of food. It
+hollows this out, leaving only the hardened shell of the thorn.
+Strange to say, this treatment seems to favour the development of
+the thorn, as it increases in size, bulging out towards the base;
+whilst in my plants that were not touched by the ants, the thorns
+turned yellow and dried up into dead but persistent prickles. I am
+not sure, however, that this may not have been due to the habitat
+of the plant not suiting it.
+
+These ants seem at first sight to lead the happiest of existences.
+Protected by their stings, they fear no foe. Habitations full of
+food are provided for them to commence housekeeping with, and cups
+of nectar and luscious fruits await them every day. But there is a
+reverse to the picture. In the dry season on the plains, the
+acacias cease to grow. No young leaves are produced, and the old
+glands do not secrete honey. Then want and hunger overtake the ants
+that have revelled in luxury all the wet season; many of the thorns
+are depopulated, and only a few ants live through the season of
+scarcity. As soon, however, as the first rains set in, the trees
+throw out numerous vigorous shoots, and the ants multiply again
+with astonishing rapidity.
+
+(PLATE 19. LEAF OF MELASTOMA.)
+
+Both in Brazil and Nicaragua I paid much attention to the relation
+between the presence of honey-secreting glands on plants, and the
+protection the latter secured by the attendance of ants attracted
+by the honey. I found many plants so protected; the glands being
+specially developed on the young leaves, and on the sepals of the
+flowers. Besides the bull's-horn acacias, I, however, only met with
+two other genera of plants that furnished the ants with houses,
+namely the Cecropiae and some of the Melastomae. I have no doubt
+that there are many others. The stem of the Cecropia, or trumpet
+tree, is hollow, and divided into cells by partitions that extend
+across the interior of the hollow trunk. The ants gain access by
+making a hole from the outside, and then burrow through the
+partitions, thus getting the run of the whole stem. They do not
+obtain their food directly from the tree, but keep brown
+scale-insects (Coccidae) in the cells, which suck the juices from
+the tree, and secrete a honey-like fluid that exudes from a pore on
+the back, and is lapped up by the ants. In one cell eggs will be
+found, in another grubs, and in a third pupae, all lying loosely.
+In another cell, by itself, a queen ant will be found, surrounded
+by walls made of a brown waxy-looking substance, along with about a
+dozen Coccidae to supply her with food. I suppose the eggs are
+removed as soon as laid, for I never found any along with the
+queen-ant. If the tree be shaken, the ants rush out in myriads, and
+search about for the molester. This case is not like the last one,
+where the tree has provided food and shelter for the ants, but
+rather one where the ant has taken possession of the tree, and
+brought with it the Coccidae; but I believe that its presence must
+be beneficial. I have cut into some dozens of the Cecropia trees,
+and never could find one that was not tenanted by ants. I noticed
+three different species, all, as far as I know, confined to the
+Cecropiae, and all farming scale-insects. As in the bull's-horn
+thorn, there is never more than one species of ant on the same
+tree.
+
+In some species of Melastomae there is a direct provision of houses
+for the ants. In each leaf, at the base of the laminae, the
+petiole, or stalk, is furnished with a couple of pouches, divided
+from each other by the mid-rib, as shown in the figure. Into each
+of these pouches there is an entrance from the lower side of the
+leaf. I noticed them first in Northern Brazil, in the province of
+Maranham; and afterwards at Para. Every pouch was occupied by a
+nest of small black ants, and if the leaf was shaken ever so
+little, they would rush out and scour all over it in search of the
+aggressor. I must have tested some hundreds of leaves, and never
+shook one without the ants coming out, excepting on one
+sickly-looking plant at Para. In many of the pouches I noticed the
+eggs and young ants, and in some I saw a few dark-coloured Coccidae
+or aphides; but my attention had not been at that time directed to
+the latter as supplying the ants with food, and I did not examine a
+sufficient number of pouches to determine whether they were
+constant occupants of the nests or not. My subsequent experience
+with the Cecropia trees would lead me to expect that they were. If
+so, we have an instance of two insects and a plant living together,
+and all benefiting by the companionship. The leaves of the plant
+are guarded by the ants, the ants are provided with houses by the
+plant, and food by the Coccidae or aphides, and the latter are
+effectually protected by the ants in their common habitation.
+
+Amongst the numerous plants that do not provide houses, but attract
+ants to their leaves and flower-buds by means of glands secreting a
+honey-like liquid, are many epiphytal orchids, and I think all the
+species of Passiflora. I had the common red passion-flower growing
+over the front of my verandah, where it was continually under my
+notice. It had honey-secreting glands on its young leaves and on
+the sepals of the flower-buds. For two years I noticed that the
+glands were constantly attended by a small ant (Pheidole), and,
+night and day, every young leaf and every flower-bud had a few on
+them. They did not sting, but attacked and bit my finger when I
+touched the plant. I have no doubt that the primary object of these
+honey-glands is to attract the ants, and keep them about the most
+tender and vulnerable parts of the plant, to prevent them being
+injured; and I further believe that one of the principal enemies
+that they serve to guard against in tropical America is the
+leaf-cutting ant, as I have observed that the latter are very much
+afraid of the small black ants.
+
+On the third year after I had noticed the attendance of the ants on
+my passion-flower, I found that the glands were not so well looked
+after as before, and soon discovered that a number of scale-insects
+had established themselves on the stems, and that the ants had in a
+great measure transferred their attentions to them. An ant would
+stand over a scale-insect and stroke it alternately on each side
+with its antennae, whereupon every now and then a clear drop of
+honey would exude from a pore on the back of the latter and be
+imbibed by the ant. Here it was clear that the scale-insect was
+competing successfully with the leaves and sepals for the
+attendance and protection of the ants, and was successful either
+through the fluid it furnished being more attractive or more
+abundant.* (* I have since observed ants attending scale-insects on
+a large plant of Passiflora macrocarpa in the palm-house at Kew.) I
+have, from these facts, been led to the conclusion that the use of
+honey-secreting glands in plants is to attract insects that will
+protect the flower-buds and leaves from being injured by
+herbivorous insects and mammals, but I do not mean to infer that
+this is the use of all glands, for many of the small appendicular
+bodies, called "glands" by botanists, do not secrete honey. The
+common dog-rose of England is furnished with glands on the
+stipules, and in other species they are more numerous, until in the
+wild Rosa villosa of the northern counties the leaves are thickly
+edged, and the fruit and sepals covered with stalked glands. I have
+only observed the wild roses in the north of England, and there I
+have never seen insects attending the glands. These glands,
+however, do not secrete honey, but a dark, resinous, sticky liquid,
+that probably is useful by being distasteful to both insects and
+mammals.
+
+If the facts I have described are sufficient to show that some
+plants are benefited by supplying ants with honey from glands on
+their leaves and flower-buds, I shall not have much difficulty in
+proving that many plant-lice, scale-insects, and leaf-hoppers, that
+also attract ants by furnishing them with honey-like food, are,
+similarly benefited. The aphides are the principal ant-cows of
+Europe. In the tropics their place is taken in a great measure by
+species of Coccidae and genera of Homoptera, such as Membracis and
+its allies. My pineapples were greatly subject to the attacks of a
+small, soft-bodied, brown coccus, that was always guarded by a
+little, black, stinging ant (Solenopsis). This ant took great care
+of the scale-insects, and attacked savagely any one interfering
+with them, as I often found to my cost, when trying to clear my
+pines, by being stung severely by them. Not content with watching
+over their cattle, the ants brought up grains of damp earth, and
+built domed galleries over them, in which, under the vigilant guard
+of their savage little attendants, the scale-insects must, I think,
+have been secure from the attacks of all enemies.
+
+Many of the leaf-hoppers--species, I think, of Membracis--were
+attended by ants. These leaf-hoppers live in little clusters on
+shoots of plants and beneath leaves, in which are hoppers in every
+stage of development--eggs, larvae, and adults. I believe it is
+only the soft-bodied larvae that exude honey. It would take a
+volume to describe the various species, and I shall confine my
+remarks to one whose habits I was able to observe with some
+minuteness. The papaw trees growing in my garden were infested by a
+small brown species of Membracis--one of the leaf-hoppers--that
+laid its eggs in a cottony-like nest by the side of the ribs on the
+under part of the leaves. The hopper would stand covering the nest
+until the young were hatched. These were little soft-bodied
+dark-coloured insects, looking like aphides, but more robust, and
+with the hind segments turned up. From the end of these the little
+larvae exuded drops of honey, and were assiduously attended by
+small ants belonging to two species of the genus Pheidole, one of
+them being the same as I have already described as attending the
+glands on the passion-flower. One tree would be attended by one
+species, another by the other; and I never saw the two species on
+the same tree. A third ant, however--a species of Hypoclinea--which
+I have mentioned before as a cowardly species, whose nests were
+despoiled by the Ecitons, frequented all the trees, and whenever it
+found any young hoppers unattended, it would relieve them of their
+honey, but would scamper away on the approach of any of the
+Pheidole. The latter do not sting, but they attack and bite the
+hand if the young hoppers are interfered with. These leaf-hoppers
+are, when young, so soft-bodied and sluggish in their movements,
+and there are so many enemies ready to prey upon them, that I
+imagine that in the tropics many species would be exterminated if
+it were not for the protection of the ants.
+
+Similarly as, on the savannahs, I had observed a wasp attending the
+honey-glands of the bull's-horn acacia along with the ants, so at
+Santo Domingo another wasp, belonging to quite a different genus
+(Nectarina), attended some of the clusters of frog-hoppers, and for
+the possession of others a constant skirmishing was going on. The
+wasp stroked the young hoppers, and sipped up the honey when it was
+exuded, just like the ants. When an ant came up to a cluster of
+leaf-hoppers attended by a wasp, the latter would not attempt to
+grapple with its rival on the leaf, but would fly off and hover
+over the ant; then when its little foe was well exposed, it would
+dart at it and strike it to the ground. The action was so quick
+that I could not determine whether it struck with its fore-feet or
+its jaws, but I think it was with the feet. I often saw a wasp
+trying to clear a leaf from ants that were already in full
+possession of a cluster of leaf-hoppers. It would sometimes have to
+strike three or four times at an ant before it made it quit its
+hold and fall. At other times one ant after the other would be
+struck off with great celerity and ease, and I fancied that some
+wasps were much cleverer than others. In those cases where it
+succeeded in clearing the leaf, it was never left long in peace.
+Fresh relays of ants were continually arriving, and generally tired
+the wasp out. It would never wait for an ant to get near it,
+doubtless knowing well that if its little rival once fastened on
+its leg, it would be a difficult matter to get rid of it again. If
+a wasp first obtained possession, it was able to keep it; for the
+first ants that came up were only pioneers, and by knocking these
+off it prevented them from returning and scenting the trail to
+communicate the intelligence to others.
+
+Before leaving this subject, I may remark that just as in plants
+some glands secrete honey that attracts insects, others a resinous
+liquid that repels them, so the secretions of different genera of
+the homopterous division of the Hemiptera are curiously modified
+for strikingly different useful purposes. We have seen that by many
+species of plant-lice, scale-insects, and leaf-hoppers, a
+honey-like fluid is secreted that attracts ants to attend upon
+them. Other species of aphides (Eriosoma) that have no honey-tubes,
+and many of the Coccidae, secrete a white, flocculent, waxy cotton,
+under which they lie concealed. In many of the Homoptera, this
+secretion only amounts to a white powder covering the body, as in
+some of the Fulgoridae. In others it is more abundant, and it
+reaches its extreme limit in a species of Phenax that I found at
+Santo Domingo. The insect is about an inch in length, but the waxy
+secretion forms a long thick tail of cotton-like fibres, two inches
+in length, that gives the insect a most curious appearance when
+flying. This flocculent mass is so loosely connected with the body
+that it is difficult to catch the insect without breaking the
+greater part of it off. Mr. Bates has suggested that the large
+brittle wings of the metallic Morphos may often save them from
+being caught by birds, who are likely to seize some portion of the
+wide expanse of wing, and this, breaking off, frees the butterfly.
+Probably the long cumbersome tail of the Phenax has a similar use.
+When flying, it is the only portion of the insect seen; and birds
+trying to capture it on the wing are likely to get only a mouthful
+of the flocculent wax. The large Homoptera are much preyed upon by
+birds. In April, when the Cicadae are piping their shrill cry from
+morning until night, individuals are often seen whose bulky bodies
+have been bitten off from the thorax by some bird. The large and
+graceful swallow-tailed kite at that time feeds on nothing else. I
+have seen these kites sweeping round in circles over the tree-tops,
+and every now and then catching insects off the leaves, and on
+shooting them I have found their crops filled with Cicadae.
+
+The frog-hoppers, besides exuding honey in some genera and wax in
+others, in a third division emit, when in the larval state, a great
+quantity of froth, in which they lie concealed, as in the common
+"cuckoo-spit" of our meadows.
+
+
+CHAPTER 13.
+
+Matagalpa.
+Aguardiente.
+Fermented liquors of the Indians.
+The wine-palm.
+Idleness of the Nicaraguans.
+Pine and oak forests.
+Mountain gorge.
+Jinotega.
+Native plough.
+Descendants of the buccaneers.
+San Rafael.
+A mountain hut.
+
+AT noon we arrived at Matagalpa, the capital of the province of the
+same name. The town contains about three thousand inhabitants; the
+province, or department, about thirty thousand. Matagalpa is built
+close to the river, on a rocky surface, with stony knolls rising up
+in some parts amongst the houses. It contains three churches, and
+the usual large square or plaza. Around, the country appeared very
+dry and barren, and there is scarcely any cultivation in the
+immediate neighbourhood. We put up at one of the best houses in the
+town. The family consisted of a stout lady about fifty and her
+husband, their daughter and her husband, and an unmarried son. The
+two younger men appeared to do nothing; the elder one had a
+contract with the government to manufacture aguardiente for three
+towns, and spent nearly all his time at a small hacienda, a league
+distant, where he grew sugar-cane and maize, and distilled the
+spirit.
+
+There is a great deal of aguardiente, an inferior kind of rum, sold
+throughout Nicaragua, and most of the Indians make it a point to
+get drunk on their feast-days, but at other times are a sober race.
+They do not owe the introduction of intemperance to the Spaniards,
+though they can now obtain stronger liquor than in the old times,
+as the ancient Indians do not appear to have known how to distil,
+but they made several kinds of fermented liquors. In Mexico the
+chief drink was "pulque," the fermented juice of the agave or
+maguey plant. In Nicaragua "chicha," a kind of light beer, made
+from maize, is still the favourite Indian beverage. On the warmer
+plains, the wine-palm (Cocos butyracea) is grown. I saw many of
+them near San Ubaldo. The wine is very simply prepared. The tree is
+felled, and an oblong hole cut into it, just below the crown of
+leaves. This hole is eight inches deep, passing nearly through the
+trunk. It is about a foot long and four inches broad; and in this
+hollow the juice of the tree immediately begins to collect,
+scarcely any running out at the butt where it has been cut off.
+This tendency of the sap to ascend is well shown in another plant,
+the water liana. To get the water from this it must be cut first as
+high as one can reach; then about a foot from the ground, and out
+of a length of about seven feet, a pint of fine cool water will
+run; but if cut at the bottom first, the sap will ascend so rapidly
+that very little will be obtained. In three days after cutting the
+wine-palm the hollow will be filled with a clear yellowish wine,
+the fermented juice of the tree, and this will continue to secrete
+daily for twenty days, during which the tree will have yielded some
+gallons of wine. I was told that a very large grove of these trees
+was cut down by the government near Granada, on account of the
+excesses of the Indians, who used to assemble there on their
+festivals, and get drunk on the palm-wine. The Indians of
+Nicaragua, when the Spaniards first came amongst them, objected to
+the preaching of the padres against intemperance. They said
+"getting drunk did no man any harm."
+
+The manufacture of aguardiente is a government monopoly, which is
+farmed out to contractors. The contracts are always given to the
+political supporters of the party in power.
+
+There are many private illegal stills in the mountains. They are
+generally amongst thick forest, near a small brook, with some dense
+brushwood close at hand for the distiller to slip into if any
+government officers should come up. One day, when rambling in the
+woods near Santo Domingo, I came across one of these "sly grog"
+manufactories. The apparatus was very simple. It consisted of two
+of the common earthenware pots of the country, one on the top of
+the other, the top one having had the bottom taken out and luted to
+the lower one with clay. This was put on a fire with the fermented
+liquor. The spirit condensed against the flat bottom of a tin dish
+that covered the top vessel, and into which cold water was poured,
+and fell in drops on to a board, that conducted it into a long
+wooden tube, from which it dropped directly into bottles.
+
+(PLATE 20. NATIVE STILL.)
+
+Matagalpa does not rise above the dulness of other Nicaraguan
+towns; and there is a stagnation about it, and utter absence of aim
+or effort in the people, that are most distressing to a foreigner
+used to the bustle, business, and diversions of European cities. A
+few women washing in the river, or making tortillas or cigars in
+the houses, was all I saw going on in the way of work. The men, as
+usual, lolled about in hammocks, smoking incessantly. A few houses
+were in process of building, or, rather, were standing half
+finished. Now and then, a little is done to them; and so they take
+months and years to finish; and men will show you, with the
+greatest complacency, a half-built house on which nothing has been
+done for two years, telling you they are so busy with it that they
+cannot undertake anything else. There are no libraries, theatres,
+nor concert-rooms: no public meetings nor lectures. Newspapers do
+not circulate amongst the people, nor books of any kind. I never
+saw a native reading, in the central provinces, excepting the
+lawyers turning over their law books, or some of the functionaries
+in the towns looking up the government gazette, or children at
+their lessons. Night sets in at six o'clock. A single dim dip
+candle is then lighted, in the better houses, set up high, so as to
+shed a weak, flickering light over the whole room, not sufficient
+to read by. The natives sit about and gossip till between eight and
+nine, then lie down to sleep.
+
+A single billiard-table, in a dimly-lighted room, at which three or
+four play all the evening, until the closing hour, at nine, and a
+dozen others sit round the walls on benches; a gambling room,
+licensed by the government, where only the smallest sums are
+staked; cock-fighting on Sundays; a feast day; and perhaps a
+bull-fight once or twice a year; private gambling carried on to a
+considerable extent by the higher classes, and aguardiente-drinking
+by the lower, complete the list of Nicaraguan diversions.
+
+On entering the Matagalpa district, we had found the roads dry and
+dusty; and we now learnt that whilst at Santo Domingo the season
+had been unusually wet, near Matagalpa it had been so dry that the
+maize crops were suffering greatly from the drought. We had been
+travelling nearly north-west, and were getting gradually further
+and further away from the Atlantic, into a region where the
+north-east trade wind, having to travel over a greater stretch of
+land, gets drained of its moisture.
+
+Our mules and horses were completely tired out; and we expected to
+have been able, without difficulty, to hire fresh animals to take
+us on to Ocotal in Segovia; but we were disappointed. We lost the
+afternoon by depending upon a man who undertook to get us some. He
+went away, saying he was going after them. Hour after hour passed,
+and he did not return. We went to his house; and his wife told us
+that he was getting the mules for us. Night set in, and still he
+came not. At last, about nine o'clock, we found him at the
+billiard-room. He said he thought, when he did not return, we would
+take it for granted that he had not been able to find the mules. I
+believe he had never been further than the billiard-saloon looking
+for them. These people get through the days with such ennui and
+difficulty, that they have no idea of people economising time. A
+story is told about them which, whether true or not, illustrates
+this. When the steamboats were first put on the Lake of Nicaragua,
+the natives complained that they were charged as much as they were
+in the bungos, although they got sometimes a week's sailing in the
+latter, and only one day in the steamboat. We were in a dilemma
+about mules. I wished to push on, as I found the journey was a
+longer one than I expected when I set out; and it was important
+that I should get back to the mines by the end of the month. At
+last, our host offered us mules to take us as far as Jinotega,
+charging us three times as much as was usual; and we determined to
+go on there, and seek animals to continue our journey. We got our
+own mules put into a good portrero of Para grass just below the
+town, resisting our host's invitation to leave them with him,
+fearing he might use them instead of feeding them. He had to send
+out to his hacienda for the fresh ones; and although he promised
+them at seven, it was ten o'clock the next day before they arrived;
+and the delay in waiting for them quickened my appreciation of the
+laziness and want of punctuality of the people of Matagalpa.
+
+On leaving the town, we crossed the river, and ascended a range on
+the other side. Here, for the first time, I got amongst pine trees
+in the tropics; and they gave a very different aspect to the
+country from what I had before seen. No brushwood grows under them,
+and they stand apart at regular intervals, not shouldering each
+other, as in the Atlantic forest, where the trees crowd together,
+each trying to overtop its neighbour. No lianas hang from the
+trees, and, excepting a few narrow-leaved Tillandsias, no epiphytes
+nestle on the branches and trunks. Below, instead of shrubby palms,
+large-leaved heliconias, and curious melastomae, the ground was
+bare and brown from the fallen leaves of the pines, excepting that
+in some places light grass had sprung up; in others the common
+bracken-fern of Europe. All that I thought characteristic of a
+tropical forest had disappeared; and the whistling of the wind
+through the pine-tops, which I had not heard for years, carried me
+back in imagination amongst the Canadian forests. The road was
+rocky, and to the left rose mountains of nearly bare cliffs, up
+which clung straggling pines, reaching to the summits, relieving,
+but not concealing, their nakedness. Clumps of evergreen oaks were
+the only other trees; and these, like the pines, grew in social
+groups on the hills. In the valleys, the oaks and pines gave place
+to a variety of trees and brushwood, different species of acacia
+being the most abundant. Occasionally a tree-cactus appeared, its
+curious flattened, kite-shaped joints, covered with prickles,
+looking like great leaves, and its stem, formed of the same,
+thickened at the bottom into a round filiform trunk, not differing
+much from the trees around, but in the branches showing all the
+gradations by which the flat constricted joints thicken out into
+stems. In some parts, as we travelled on, we found the oak trees
+and many of the pines completely draped with hanging festoons of
+the grey moss-like Tillandsia usneoides, or "old man's beard." Not
+a bough but had a great fringe hanging down, sometimes as much as
+six feet long, like a grey veil swaying in the breeze, and giving
+the trees a strange and venerable look. The ride was delightful
+after the stagnation at Matagalpa: everything was fresh and new to
+me. The aspect of the country, the trees, shrubs, and flowers, the
+birds and insects, the aromatic perfume from the pines, claimed my
+attention every minute.
+
+After four hours' riding across the pine-clad ranges, we reached a
+gorge leading up to the heights overlooking the valley of Jinotega.
+The path was along the steep side of this gorge, often along the
+side of a precipice, where a few logs were laid to prevent the
+mules going over, but really increasing the danger, for they were
+old and rotten. Large boulders, imbedded in dark-coloured earth,
+lay on the steep slopes, and about these grew small herbaceous
+ferns in the greatest variety and profusion--a very paradise for a
+fern-collector. In some parts a light green maiden-hair fern
+covered the ground with its beautifully tender foliage, reminding
+me of shady banks in the north of England, covered with the equally
+lovely oak-fern. Every few yards discovered some new species,
+filling the mind with delight at their beauty and variety. In dryer
+and more stony places, a pinnatifid club-moss stood up amongst the
+stones in crisp tufts, like the parsley fern on mountain-sides at
+home. A black and blue bird (Cyanocitta melanocyanea), about the
+size of a jackdaw, flew in small noisy flocks; and I noticed a
+beautiful trogon, with burnished green back, and rose-coloured
+breast. The highest points of the ranges enclosing this ravine were
+covered with pine trees (Pinus tenuifolia); lower down grew
+evergreen oaks, and lower still a variety of small trees, shrubs,
+and herbaceous plants, reaching to the dry bed of the brook.
+
+(PLATE 21. NATIVE PLOUGH.)
+
+After a steep and rocky ascent, we reached the top of the range,
+and before us lay the upper end of the valley of Jinotega. Here it
+was very narrow, hemmed in by rocky ranges capped with pine
+forests. Descending the steep and rocky slope, we soon left the
+pines and oaks above us, and came down on a narrow alluvial flat,
+gradually widening out as we proceeded down the valley. On each
+side of the road were fields of maize, suffering greatly from the
+drought. The soil was a fine deep, dark loam, and for the first
+time in Nicaragua I found they ploughed their land, and made
+permanent fences. The plough was a primitive implement, not unlike
+some of those still in use in parts of Spain. It was entirely of
+wood, excepting that the point was shod with an iron plate. Many of
+the fences were hedges, amongst which grew the lovely creeper
+Antigonon leptopus, with festoons of pink and rose-coloured
+flowers. The Indian and Mestizo girls bind it in their hair, and
+call it "la vegessima," "the beautiful." It does not wither for
+some time after being cut, and so is very suitable for garlands and
+bouquets. It has been carried to Greytown and the West Indies; and
+whenever it flourishes, it is a great favourite.
+
+About a mile down the valley we reached the small town of Jinotega,
+and put up at the estanco kept by a very polite and dignified
+elderly gentleman, who, in the customary phrase of the country,
+placed himself, his house, and all he possessed, at our service.
+His wife, a bustling young woman, not more than half the age of her
+husband, set to work at once to get our dinner ready. There were
+several women-servants and many children about the house. It was
+kept cleaner than is usual in Nicaragua, and I noticed in the yard
+behind that some attempt at drainage had been made. Our host
+appeared to be in comfortable circumstances. Outside the town he
+had a small farm where he grew maize and wheat. He complained
+greatly of the drought, and said it had never occurred before in
+his recollection that the maize had failed in Jinotega for want of
+rain. He found us a man who promised to supply us with mules or
+horses to take us to Ocotal, but as they had to be brought up from
+the "Campos" or plains he could not let us have them early, and it
+was ten o'clock the next day before we started again.
+
+Whilst waiting for the mules we strolled around the town. In the
+centre most of the houses are substantially built and tiled; on the
+outskirts there are small grass-thatched huts with high-pitched
+roofs. Wheat, maize, potatoes, and beans are the principal things
+grown. Many of the people have light sandy-coloured hair and blue
+eyes, and I thought at first they might be the offspring of a
+number of Americans that settled in Jinotega during the civil war
+in the States, but afterwards abandoned the place. I found,
+however, some elderly people with the same distinctive marks of
+ancestry other than the Spaniards, Indians, or Negroes, and I am
+inclined to believe that on the breaking up of the bands of
+buccaneers by Morgan, at the end of the seventeenth century, many
+of them found a refuge up the Rio Grande and Rio Wanks. They were
+well acquainted with these rivers, and made many forays up them to
+harry the Spanish settlements on the Pacific slope. In 1688 a body
+of about three hundred French and English pirates abandoned their
+ships in the Gulf of Fonseca, forced their way across the country,
+and descended the Rio Wanks to the Atlantic. The fair-haired and
+blue-eyed natives of Matagalpa and Segovia are probably the
+descendants of the outlaws who made these provinces their highway
+from one ocean to another.
+
+Jinotega is pleasantly situated, and has many advantages over other
+Nicaraguan towns. The climate is temperate and moderately dry, the
+land very fertile. Pine trees on the surrounding ranges furnish
+fuel and light. Pasture is abundant; for two miles below the town
+the valley opens out into wide "campos" covered with grass, on
+which a large number of horses, cattle, and mules are reared.
+
+Our road lay down the valley. On the sides of the enclosing ranges
+there were many cultivated patches, and we saw whole families, men,
+women, and children, weeding amongst the maize. A few showers had
+fallen during the night and given them some hopes of saving their
+crops. We passed a village called Apanas and then struck across the
+plains, and on the other side reached low flat-topped ranges
+covered with small trees and brushwood, amongst which were many
+clearings well fenced and planted with maize. Passing over an
+undulating country, the hills covered with oak forests, the
+lowlands well grassed, we reached about two o'clock San Rafael, a
+small town that has used up all its houses in forming the plaza in
+front of a barn-like church. As usual, the half-breed population
+were sunk in idleness and poverty.
+
+We stopped at one of the houses to get a drink of "tiste," and were
+visited by a fussy little man who told us that he was secretary to
+the judge and keeper of the "estanco," and in fact the ruling power
+in the town, which he placed at our disposal. We, however, wanted
+nothing but our "tiste" and to get some information about a cave we
+had heard was in the neighbourhood. Our friend knew all about it,
+and got a boy to show us the way for a couple of dimes. Under his
+guidance we crossed a brook, and passing through a pine forest soon
+reached the cave, which was on the side of the precipitous bank of
+a small stream. It was only a small one, extending for about twenty
+feet back, hollowed out of a sandy conglomerate, probably by the
+action of the brook when it ran at a higher level. I dug a little
+into the floor, but had not time to do much, and found nothing.
+There were signs of its having been recently occupied, the walls
+and roof were blackened with smoke, and numerous shells of the
+common fresh-water melania were lying about. We were told that the
+Indians when travelling used it, and that during the last
+revolution the inhabitants of San Rafael hid their valuables in it,
+though what they consisted of I am at a loss to say.
+
+On leaving the cave our guide put us on the wrong road, and we did
+not discover the mistake until we had travelled a couple of miles.
+We then arrived at some huts in the pine forest, where we were told
+that the road to Ocotal was half a mile distant, across a stream
+and a high steep range opposite. We had either to return to San
+Rafael to take the right road or to cross the range. The latter
+looked rather formidable, but we determined to try it. It was very
+steep and rocky, but amongst the pines there was no underwood, so,
+after some stumbling and slipping, our beasts managed to scramble
+to the top, and we soon after regained the road.
+
+We now travelled over steep ranges, composed of great moraine-like
+heaps of clay, with large angular boulders. Pine and oak trees
+covered the heights, shrouded with long fringes and festoons of the
+moss-like Tillandsia. Many epiphytes grew on the oaks, amongst
+which the mottled yellow flower of an orchid hung down in spikes
+six feet long.
+
+Five miles after regaining the road we reached the top of a high
+range of hills, and found a single hut on the summit. Night was
+coming on, it was raining, and we were told that there was a very
+bad road before us over mountains, and no other house for three
+leagues. We determined to stay at the hut, although the prospect of
+our night's entertainment was a most cheerless one. The hut was
+about twenty feet square, with a small attached shed for a kitchen.
+The floor was the natural earth, littered with corn husks and other
+refuse. There was not a bit of furniture, excepting some rough
+sleeping-places made of hides stretched over poles. There was not a
+stool nor even a log of wood to sit down upon. In this miserable
+hut dwelt three families, consisting of nine individuals; men,
+women, and children.
+
+The land around appeared to be poor. A patch of the forest in front
+of the house, sloping down the side of a steep valley, had been
+cleared, and planted with maize and wheat. We were told that there
+were a few other houses down this valley. The people in the hut
+seemed miserably poor. I said to Velasquez that they must have been
+born on the settlement, as I could not imagine any one coming from
+outside the mountains to live at such a spot, and on inquiry we
+found that every one was a native, born within a mile of the hut.
+It was perhaps bleaker than usual that evening, a continuous rain
+was falling, and a high wind whistling through the pine-tops. Pigs,
+dogs, and fowls were constantly in one's way, and the only cheering
+sign was the bright blaze and fragrant smell of the burning pine
+splinters. I asked one of the men if he preferred this place to
+Jinotega, where the fertile slopes and grassy plains had so pleased
+our eyes. He answered he did, the air was fresher and there was
+less fever.
+
+They made for us some tortillas, and we had tea with us. The only
+ingenious thing about the place was a sort of stove, dome-shaped,
+made of clay, with two holes through the top like a cooking-stove,
+on which they put their earthenware cooking vessels. I turned into
+my hammock early, with all my clothes and my boots on, and my coat
+buttoned tightly round me, as the bleak wind found many a crevice
+to whistle through, and the open network of the hammock, agreeable
+enough in the warm lowlands, was too slight a protection against
+the cold of the mountains. A few poles placed across the doorway
+partially closed it, but some of the smallest pigs got through, and
+were rooting and grunting amongst our baggage all night.
+
+As soon as daylight broke next morning we were up, stiff, chilled,
+and cramped, and got some hot coffee made, which warmed us a
+little. We then had a better look round than we had had the night
+before. It was a most desolate spot, with scarcely any grass; and a
+poor half-starved horse came up to get a small feed of maize.
+
+The people of the mountain regions of Europe cannot, if they would,
+take up land in the fertile lowlands, as they are already occupied,
+but in the central provinces of Nicaragua the greater part of the
+land is unappropriated, and these people might, if they liked, make
+their homesteads where, with one-half the labour they spend on
+their barren mountain ridge, they might live in abundance. But they
+have been born and bred where they live, and knowing how strong is
+the force of custom and how attached the Indians are to their
+homes, I do not wonder that they stay from generation to generation
+on this bleak range. I can imagine that if removed to the lowlands
+they would sigh for their mountain home, to smell the fragrance of
+the pine trees, and to hear once more the wind whistling through
+their branches. I have already noticed how the Indians cling
+generation after generation to the same spot, even when a short
+removal would be manifestly to their advantage. I fear there is a
+more ignoble reason that has as much to do with this as their love
+of home, their confirmed and innate laziness. They shrink from any
+labour that they are not forced to undertake. As an instance, no
+one during at least two generations that the house had been
+occupied had brought in even a log of wood for a seat, and a table
+would, I fancy, be beyond their wildest dreams of comfort. An
+Avocado tree grew before their door, the only fruit tree to be
+seen, and it was nearly destroyed by being deeply cut into. I asked
+why they had injured it, and they said they fired at it as a
+target, and, lead being scarce, they dug out the bullets with their
+knives; yet within thirty paces of their hut there were plenty of
+pine trees that would have done equally well as a target, but then
+they would have had to walk a few yards from their door.
+
+How was such a spot first chosen for settlement? All the names of
+the places around are Indian, and probably in the old times when
+there was continual warfare amongst the tribes, the remnants of
+one, conquered and nearly extirpated, fled to the mountains, and
+occupied a locality from necessity and for safety that they would
+not otherwise have chosen. Afterwards when a new generation arose
+they looked on the pine-clad hills as their home and birthright.
+
+
+CHAPTER 14.
+
+Great range composed of boulder clay.
+Daraily.
+Lost on the savannahs.
+Jamaily.
+A deer-hunter's family.
+Totagalpa.
+Walls covered with cement, and whitewashed.
+Ocotal.
+The valley of Depilto.
+Hawks and small birds.
+Depilto.
+Silver mine.
+Geology of the valley.
+Glacial drift.
+The glacial period in Central America.
+Evidence that the ice extended to the tropics.
+Scarcity of gold in the valley gravels.
+Difference of the Mollusca on the east and west coast
+   of the Isthmus of Darien.
+The refuge of the tropical American animals and plants
+   during the glacial period.
+The lowering of the sea-level.
+The land shells of the West Indian Islands.
+The Malay Archipelago.
+Easter Island.
+Atlantis.
+Traditions of the deluge.
+
+BIDDING adieu to our hosts, we mounted our mules and descended the
+ridge on which their hut is built. The range was very steep, and
+fully 1200 feet high, composed entirely of boulder clay. This clay
+was of a brown colour, and full of angular and subangular blocks of
+stone of all sizes up to nine feet in diameter. The hill on the
+slope that we descended was covered with a forest resembling that
+around Santo Domingo, though the trees were not so large; but
+tree-ferns, palms, lianas, and broad-leaved Heliconiae and
+Melastomae were again abundant. In these forests, I was told, the
+"Quesal," the royal bird of the Aztecs (Trogon resplendens), is
+sometimes found.
+
+After descending about 1000 feet, we issued from the forest and
+passed over well-grassed savannahs surrounded by high ranges, on
+the eastern slopes of which were forests of pine-trees. The ground
+was entirely composed of boulder clay, and not until we had
+travelled about five miles did we see any rock in situ. This
+boulder clay had extended all the way from San Rafael, and ranges
+of hills appeared to be composed entirely of it. The angular and
+subangular stones that it contained were an irregular mixture of
+different varieties of trap, conglomerate, and schistose rocks. In
+the northern states of America such appearances would be
+unhesitatingly ascribed to the action of ice, but I was at the time
+unprepared to believe that the glacial period could have left such
+a memorial of its existence within the tropics, at no greater
+elevation above the sea than 3000 feet.
+
+Riding on without stopping, we passed through Yales, a small
+village of scattered huts, and reached a river flowing north
+through a fine alluvial plain almost uninhabited. After crossing
+the river three times, we turned off to the north-west, and passed
+over low grassy ranges with scattered pine-trees, and in the
+hollows a few clearings for growing maize, wheat, and beans. At
+noon we halted for an hour to let our mules feed on a small
+alluvial flat, for they had had nothing to eat the night before on
+the bleak mountain summit.
+
+Continuing our journey, we arrived at Daraily, where was a fine
+large clearing, with stone walls and a sugar-mill. The house was
+about half a mile from the road, at the foot of a hill covered with
+scattered pine-trees, forming a fine background to the scene. The
+farm was well cultivated, and kept clean from weeds. Altogether the
+scene was a most unusual one for the central provinces of
+Nicaragua, and reflected great credit on the proprietor, Don
+Estevan Espinosa. Had Nicaragua many such sons they would soon
+change the face of the country, and turn many a wilderness into a
+fruitful garden.
+
+Passing over a stony range, we descended by a steep pass into the
+valley of the Estely, and followed it down to the westward across
+low dry hills with prickly bushes and scrub. About five o'clock we
+reached an extensive plain, covered with prickly trees and shrubs,
+and pressed on to get to the village of Palacaguina, where we
+proposed to pass the night. There were many paths leading across
+the plain, and there was no person to be seen to direct us which to
+take; whilst the scrubby trees interrupted our view in every
+direction. Rito had once before been in the neighbourhood, and
+thought he knew the way, so we submitted ourselves to his guidance;
+but, as it proved, he took a path which led us past, instead of to,
+the town. Night set in as we were pushing across dry weed-covered
+hills, destitute of grass or water, every minute expecting to meet
+some one who could tell us about the road. Rito was still confident
+that he was right, although both Velasquez and myself had concluded
+we must have got on the wrong road. The only animal we met with was
+a black and white skunk, with a young one following it. The mother
+ran too fast up a rocky slope for the young one, which was left
+behind, and came towards us. It was very pretty, with its
+snow-white bushy tail laid over its black back. We were, however,
+afraid to touch it, fearing that, young as it was, it might have a
+supply of that foetid fluid that its kind discharge with too sure
+an aim at any assailant. The skunks move slowly about, and their
+large white tails render them very conspicuous. Their formidable
+means of defence makes for them the obscure colouration of other
+dusk-roaming mammals unnecessary, as they do not need concealment.
+
+Hour after hour passed, and we reached no house, nor met any one on
+the road; and at last, about nine o'clock, we determined to stop at
+a spot where there was a little grass, but no water, as the poor
+jaded mules had been ridden since daylight, excepting for an hour
+at midday. We spread our waterproof sheet from the branch of a
+tree, and lay down dinnerless and supperless, having had nothing
+but a little sweet bread and native cheese all day; we were now too
+thirsty to eat even that. Hearing some frogs croaking in the
+distance, Velasquez went away in the direction from whence the
+sound came, hoping to find some water: but there was none, the
+frogs being in damp cracks in the ground. About eleven we heard the
+noise of men talking; and holloaing to them, our shouts were
+returned. We ran across the plain, through the bushes, and found
+two Indians, who were returning from some plantations of maize to
+their home, several miles distant. Both were nearly naked, the
+youngest having only a loin-cloth on. When talking to us, they
+shouted as if we were many yards distant; and as soon as one began
+to answer a question, the other went on repeating, in a higher key,
+what the first said.
+
+They told us that we had come two leagues past Palacaguina, and
+were on the road to a small town called Pueblo Nuevo, and directed
+us how we should find the right track in the morning for continuing
+our journey to Ocotal. They were highly amused at our misadventure,
+and laughed and talked to each other about it. Rito also laughed
+much at the mistake he had made, and though disposed to be angry at
+his obstinacy in bringing us several miles out of our course, we
+knew that he had done his best. All the native servants, when they
+make a mistake, or do any damage accidentally, treat it as a joke;
+and it is best, under such circumstances, to be good-humoured with
+them, as, if reproved, they are very likely to turn sulky, and do
+some more damage. They are independent, and care nothing about
+being discharged, as any one can live in Nicaragua without working
+much. Rito was an active, merry fellow, and might every now and
+then be observed laughing to himself; if asked what it was about,
+he was sure to answer that he was thinking about some little
+accident that had occurred. I once, when trying to loop up the side
+of my hammock, fell out of it, and next day Rito could not control
+himself, but was continually exploding in a burst of laughter; and
+for days afterwards any allusion to it would set him into
+convulsions. When we returned to Santo Domingo, it was one of his
+stock stories. He used to say he wanted very much to come to my
+assistance, but could not for laughing.
+
+Next morning we started at daylight, and soon found the path the
+Indians had told us about, which took us to a place called Jamaily
+(pronounced Hamerlee), where was an extensive indigo plantation.
+About 100 men were employed weeding and clearing the ground. No
+fences are required for indigo growing, as neither horses nor
+cattle will eat the plant. A mile beyond Jamaily we saw, amongst
+some bushes, a poor-looking, grass-thatched hut, with the sides
+made of an open work of branches and leaves. We went up to it to
+try to buy something to eat, but found only three children in it;
+the oldest, a very dirty little girl of about five years of age,
+with a piece of cloth worn like a shawl, her only clothing, and the
+two younger quite naked. A little boy, about three years old, was
+very talkative, and prattled away all the time we were there. He
+said that some people living near had four cows, but that they had
+none; that his father shot deer and sold their skins, and that two
+days before he fired at a rock, thinking it was a deer.
+
+We heated some water and made tea, and with some sweet bread and
+native cheese managed to allay our hunger, the little boy amusing
+us all the time with his prattle. Pointing to a mangy dog lying on
+the floor covered with some old rags, he said it had fever, and
+that at night it threw off the rags, and the fleas got at it, but
+that during the day he kept it well covered up. I was amused with
+the little fellow, who in that squalid hut, without a scrap of
+clothing, and fed with the coarsest food, was as happy as, if not
+happier than, any child I had seen. By and by an elder girl came
+along from some other hut, and told us that the man was away
+hunting for deer, and that his wife had gone to her mother's, about
+a mile distant. She also informed us that the hunter had not a gun
+of his own, but gave half the meat of the deer he killed for the
+loan of one. He had a trained ox, which, as soon as it saw a deer,
+commenced eating, and walking gradually towards it; whilst the man
+followed, concealed, and thus got within distance to shoot it. He
+generally got two when he went out, and sold the hides for twenty
+cents per pound, the skins averaging five pounds' weight each. It
+is astonishing that deer should be so little afraid of man as they
+are, after having been objects of chase for probably thousands of
+years. Sometimes when one is encountered in the forest it will
+stand within twenty yards stupidly gazing at a man, or perhaps
+striking the ground impatiently with its forefoot, and often
+waiting long enough for an unloaded gun to be charged. The woman of
+the house came in before we left and we paid her for the use of her
+fire. She did not know how old her children were, and Velasquez
+told me that very few of the lower classes in Nicaragua knew either
+their own age or that of their children.
+
+The soil about here, for many leagues, was full of small angular
+fragments of white quartz. They had attracted my attention the day
+before, and I now found they were derived from thick beds of
+conglomerate, the decomposition of which released the fragments of
+quartz, of which it was mainly composed. Many of these beds of
+conglomerate were inclined at high angles. I noticed also some
+contorted, highly inclined talcose schists, full of small quartz
+veins, generally running between the laminae of the schists.
+Probably the conglomerates had been produced by the wearing down of
+these schists.
+
+We passed through two Indian towns--the first Yalaguina, the second
+Totagalpa. At the last the church looked very clean and pretty, and
+was ornamented with a single square tower, built of rough stones,
+and covered with white cement that glistened like marble at a short
+distance. The peculiar shining appearance of the cement is due to
+the admixture of a fine black sand in the whitewash used. The
+cement itself is strong and durable, and its manufacture was known
+to the Indians long before the advent of the Spaniards. Bernal Diaz
+de Castillo, one of the followers of Cortez, often speaks, in his
+history, of the houses built of stone and lime, and covered with
+cement. On their march to Mexico, when they arrived at Cempoal, he
+says, "Our advanced guard having gone to the great square, the
+buildings of which had been recently plastered and whitewashed, in
+which art the people are very expert, one of our horsemen was so
+struck with the splendour of their appearance in the sun that he
+came back in full speed to Cortez to tell him that the walls of the
+houses were of silver." We also learn from the same historian that
+the city of Cholula "had at that time above 100 lofty white towers,
+which were the temples of their idols."
+
+Between Yalaguina and Totagalpa there was much of the conglomerate
+rock that I have already mentioned. Over this the soil was dry and
+stony, and filled with small quartz pebbles. The vegetation was
+scanty, principally thorny shrubs and trees. Amongst the former the
+Pinuela, a plant closely allied to the pine-apple, and used to make
+fences, was the most abundant. In the alluvial flats were many fine
+patches of maize looking extremely well, for in Segovia the crops
+had not been injured by drought. The low hills were very sandy and
+dry, and the beds of the brooks waterless, but a little beyond
+Totagalpa we found a small running stream, and stopped an hour to
+refresh our mules and to eat some provisions we had bought at
+Yalaguina.
+
+All through Segovia the country is divided into townships,
+embracing an area of from twenty to twenty-five square leagues.
+Over each of these there is an alcalde, living in the small central
+town, and elected by the inhabitants of the townships. The
+boundaries are marked by heaps of stones surmounted by wooden
+crosses, set up on the roads leading from one town to another.
+
+After riding a few more leagues over rocky hills with scanty
+vegetation, we came in sight, from the top of one of the ranges, of
+the town of Ocotal, the capital of Segovia, with its white walls
+and red-tiled roofs. Descending a long rocky slope we forded one of
+the affluents of the Rio Wanks, and half a mile further on arrived
+at the town, situated on a dry plain. A heavy thunderstorm broke
+over us as we entered the town, and the rain came down in torrents
+whilst we were searching for a house to put up at. In answer to our
+inquiries we were directed to the best house in the town. It was
+situated at the corner of the plaza, had lofty well-built walls,
+large doors and gateway, clean tiled floors, and in the courtyard
+behind a pretty flower garden, with a tank to hold rain water. We
+were received by two elderly ladies, the sisters of the owner Don
+Pedro, who made us welcome in a stately sort of way, and got some
+dinner prepared, consisting of beans, tortillas, avocados, and
+coffee.
+
+We learnt that the present town was about seventy years old and not
+very flourishing, as the land around was dry and sterile. The old
+capital of Segovia was situated five leagues further down the
+river, where the land around was fertile. But the buccaneers came
+up the river in their boats and sacked the town, and the site was
+deserted for one more difficult of access, the river being much
+shallower and obstructed by rapids higher up. At the site of the
+old town the church still stands, but only a few poor Negroes live
+there now. Two branches of the river unite a little below the
+present town, and following it down for about four days' journey a
+place named Cocos is reached, which is the furthest settlement of
+the Spaniards towards the Atlantic. To this point large bungos come
+up the river, and Don Pedro had been very wishful to get it opened
+out above for navigation, but had not succeeded.
+
+There were very few men to be hired at Ocotal, and we determined to
+go on to Depilto, a small mining town near the Honduras boundary,
+where we were assured there were plenty to be obtained. We had only
+engaged the mules to come as far as Ocotal, and had great
+difficulty in getting others to go on with. I think the people at
+first were afraid that we might cross the boundary and never
+return. We afterwards learnt that robberies of mules often took
+place; some rogues making a business of stealing mules out of
+Honduras, bringing them into Nicaragua, selling them, and stealing
+others to return with. There were, however, some people in Ocotal
+who had worked at the mines and knew us, and when this information
+spread we had the offer of several animals. If we had known the
+cause of the reluctance of the people to let us have mules at
+first, we should easily have got over the difficulty by leaving the
+value of the animals in the hands of some responsible person, but
+the owners had made all sorts of excuses for not lending them, and
+we had not suspected the true cause. We had been travelling
+continually for nine days, and looked more like brigands than
+honest travellers, and the good easy-going people of Ocotal had
+their suspicions about us.
+
+As I have said, when satisfied of our good faith, the mule owners
+soon offered us the use of their beasts, and next morning Velasquez
+and I started at seven o'clock on two fine fresh mules and rode
+merrily up the valley of the Depilto. The river rises in the high
+ranges that form the boundary between Honduras and Nicaragua, and
+running down past Depilto joins the Ocotal river a little below the
+capital. Our road lay up the valley close to the river, which we
+crossed and recrossed several times. The vegetation was scanty, but
+the morning was a lovely one after the thunderstorm of the night
+before, and we greatly enjoyed our ride. We did not see many birds,
+a pretty hawk that I shot being the most noticeable. Hawks of
+various kinds are very abundant in the tropics, and if the small
+birds had to personify death, they would certainly represent him as
+one, for this is the form in which he must generally appear to
+them. Towards evening the hawk glides noiselessly along and alights
+on a bough, near where he hears the small birds twittering amongst
+the bushes. Perhaps they see him and are quiet for a little, but he
+sits motionless as the sphinx, and they soon get over their fear
+and resume their play or feeding. Then suddenly a dark mass swoops
+down and rises again. It is the hawk, with a small bird grasped in
+his strong talons, gasping out its last breath. Its comrades are
+terror-struck for a moment and dash madly into the thickets, but
+soon forget their fear. They chirp to each other, the scattered
+birds reunite; there is a fluttering and twittering, a rearranging
+of mates, then again songs, feeding, love, jealousy, and
+bickerings.
+
+The banks of the river were sandy and sterile, and the soil
+contained much small quartz. The bed rock was a talcose schist near
+to Ocotal, but higher up the river it changed to gneissoid and
+quartz rocks, the latter in hard and massive beds. As we ascended
+the valley, the ranges bounding it got higher and steeper, the soil
+more sandy and barren, with scattered pine trees growing amongst
+the rocks. Great, bare, rounded masses of hard quartzite protruded
+through the scanty soil, and in the river were enormous boulders of
+granite-like gneiss.
+
+Depilto is only nine miles from Ocotal, but we took three hours to
+reach it, as I made many stoppages to examine the rocks and to
+catch fleet-limbed speckled tiger-beetles on the sandy roads. The
+little town was not half populated, the silver-mines had been
+closed for some time, most of the houses were empty, and the people
+still clinging about the place seemed to have nothing to do, for
+the land is too barren for cultivation. We made known our
+requirements for labourers, and were assured that plenty would be
+glad to go to Santo Domingo. They would not, however, bind
+themselves there, but preferred to go down untrammelled with any
+conditions about pay or work, and I may anticipate here by saying
+that the result of our visit was very satisfactory, numbers of
+workmen having been obtained for the mines.
+
+After getting some breakfast at a house that seemed to be the hotel
+of Depilto, we set out to visit a silver-mine named "El Coquimba."
+We had to ascend a high range opposite the town, and found riding
+over the steep bare exposures of quartz rock so difficult and
+dangerous that about half way up we tied our mules to some young
+pine trees and proceeded on foot. The mine was abandoned, and the
+shafts and levels were closed by falls of rock. Some of the ore,
+sulphide of silver, was lying at the mouth of one of the old
+shafts. Our guide told us that the lode was two feet wide. Both it
+and the containing rock was very hard, and the miners had also
+water to contend against. I do not think from what I saw that the
+mine could be made to pay on a large scale, though next the surface
+small remunerative deposits of ore had been found. In depth the
+hardness of the rocks would make the sinking of shafts and driving
+of levels, the "dead work" of the miners, very costly.
+
+We started on our return down the valley at three o'clock, and took
+particular note of the succession of the rocks, as I had become
+much interested in finding these quartz and gneissoid beds, which I
+had no doubt were the same Laurentian rocks that I had seen in
+Canada and Brazil--the very backbone of the continent, ribbing
+America from Patagonia to the Canadas--the fundamental gneiss which
+is covered, in other parts of Central America that I had visited,
+by strata of much more recent origin. Going down the valley of the
+Depilto the massive beds of quartz and gneiss are soon succeeded by
+overlying, highly inclined, and contorted schists, and as far as
+where the road from Ocotal to Totagalpa crosses the river, the
+exposures of bed rock were invariably these contorted schists, with
+many small veins of quartz running between the laminae of the rock.
+On the banks of the river, from about a mile below Depilto,
+unstratified beds of gravel are exposed in numerous natural
+sections. These beds deepen as the river is descended, until at
+Ocotal they reach a thickness of between two and three hundred
+feet, and the undulating plain on which Ocotal is built is seen in
+sections near the river to be composed entirely of them. These
+unstratified deposits consist mostly of quartz sand with numerous
+angular and subangular blocks of quartz and talcose schist. Many of
+the boulders are very large, and in some parts great numbers have
+been accumulated in the bed of the river by the washing away of the
+smaller stones and sand. Some of these huge boulders were fifteen
+feet across, the largest of them lying in the bed of the river two
+miles below Depilto. Most of them were of the Depilto quartz rock
+and gneiss, and I saw many in the unstratified gravel near Ocotal
+fully eight miles from their parent rock. Near Ocotal this
+unstratified formation is nearly level, excepting where worn into
+deep gulches by the existing streams. The river has cut through it
+to a depth of over two hundred feet, and there are high precipices
+of it on both sides, similar to those near streams in the North of
+England that cut through thick beds of boulder clay.
+
+(PLATE 22. GEOLOGICAL SECTION NEAR OCOTAL.
+  Section of Strata between Depilto and the hill three miles
+      south-west of Ocotal.
+  Gravel with boulders of trap and conglomerate.
+  Gravel with boulders of gneiss and quartz rock.
+  Contorted schists.
+  Quartz rock and gneiss.)
+
+The evidences of glacial action between Depilto and Ocotal were,
+with one exception, as clear as in any Welsh or Highland valley.
+There were the same rounded and smoothed rock surfaces, the same
+moraine-like accumulations of unstratified sand and gravel, the
+same transported boulders that could be traced to their parent
+rocks several miles distant. The single exception was, I am
+convinced, one of observation and not one of fact, namely, I saw no
+glacial scratches on the rocks; but geologists know how rare these
+are on natural exposures in some districts that have certainly been
+glaciated, and will not be surprised that in a hurried visit of
+only a few hours I should not have discovered any. Glacial
+scratches are seldom preserved on rock surfaces exposed to the
+action of the elements. Even in Nova Scotia, where scratches and
+grooves are met with wherever the rock surface has been recently
+laid bare, I do not remember having ever seen any on natural
+exposures. It is only where protected by a covering of clay or
+gravel from the action of the elements, that they have been
+preserved through the ages that have passed since the glacial
+epoch, and as I did not see any rock surfaces near Depilto that had
+been recently bared, it is not surprising that, notwithstanding the
+other proofs of glacial action, I should not have seen any ice
+scratches or grooves.
+
+I could no longer withstand the evidence that had been gradually
+accumulating of the presence of large glaciers in Central America
+during the glacial period, and these, once admitted, afforded me a
+solution of many phenomena that had before been inexplicable. The
+immense ridges of boulder clay between San Rafael and Yales, the
+long hog-backed hills near Tablason, the great transported boulders
+two leagues beyond Libertad on the Juigalpa road, and the scarcity
+of alluvial gold in the valleys of Santo Domingo, could all be
+easily explained on the supposition that the ice of the glacial
+period was not confined to extra-tropical lands, but in Central
+America covered all the higher ranges, and descended in great
+glaciers to at least as low as the line of country now standing at
+two thousand feet above the sea.
+
+In my description of the mines of Santo Domingo I have only briefly
+alluded to the scarcity of alluvial gold in the valleys. It may be
+correlated with a similar scarcity in the glaciated valleys of Nova
+Scotia and North Wales, in the neighbourhood of auriferous quartz
+veins, and is probably due to the same cause. Glacier ice scoops
+out all the contents of the valleys, and in deepening them does not
+sort the materials like running water or the action of the waves
+upon the sea coast. I have in another place* (* "The Glacial Period
+in North America" by Thomas Belt. Published in "Transactions of the
+Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science" 1866 page 91.) shown
+that in Nova Scotia, in the neighbourhood of rich auriferous quartz
+veins that have been greatly denuded, grain gold is only sparingly
+disseminated throughout the drifts of the valleys, whilst in
+Australia every auriferous quartz vein has been the source of an
+alluvial deposit of grain gold, produced by the denudation and
+sorting action of running water. When the denuding agent was water,
+the rocks were worn away, and the heavier gold left behind at the
+bottom of the alluvial deposits; but when the denuding agent was
+glacier ice the stony masses and their metallic contents were
+carried away, or mingled together in the unassorted moraines.
+
+That the transportation of boulders in Nicaragua was due to
+glaciers, and not to floating icebergs, may be argued on zoological
+grounds. The transported boulders, near Ocotal, are about three
+thousand feet above the sea, those near Libertad about two thousand
+feet. The low pass between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans,
+through the valley of the San Juan and the Lake of Nicaragua, is
+less than two hundred feet above the sea,* (* See ante, Chapter 4.)
+and to allow for the flotation of icebergs at the lower of the two
+places named, a channel of more than eighteen hundred feet in depth
+would have connected the two oceans. This supposition is negatived
+by the fact that the mollusca on the two coasts, separated by the
+narrow Isthmus of Darien, are almost entirely distinct, whilst we
+know that since the glacial period there has been little change in
+the molluscan fauna, nearly, if not all, the shells found in
+glacial deposits still existing in neighbouring seas. In the
+Caribbean province, which includes the Gulf of Mexico, the West
+Indian Islands, and the eastern coast of South America as far as
+Rio de Janeiro, the number of marine shells is estimated by
+Professor C.B. Adams at not less than 1500 species. From the
+Panamic province, which, on the western coast of America, extends
+from the Gulf of California to Payta in Peru, there has been
+catalogued 1341 distinct species of marine molluscs. Out of this
+immense number of species, less than fifty occur on both sides of
+the narrow Isthmus of Darien. So remarkably distinct are the two
+marine faunas, that most zoologists consider that there has been no
+communication in the tropics between the two seas since the close
+of the miocene period, whilst the connection that is supposed to
+have existed at that remote epoch, and to account for the
+distribution of corals, whilst advocated by Professor Duncan and
+other eminent men, is disputed by others equally eminent. No
+zoologist of note believes that there has been a submergence of the
+land lying between the Pacific and the Atlantic since the pliocene
+period, and icebergs could not have floated without such
+submergence, so that, in the cases I have mentioned, the boulders,
+if ice-borne, have been carried by glaciers and not by floating
+ice.
+
+Whilst I thus found evidence of the ice of the glacial period
+reaching, in the northern hemisphere, to within the tropics; in the
+southern hemisphere Professor Hartt has found glacial drift
+extending from Patagonia, all through Brazil to Pernambuco, and
+Agassiz has even announced the discovery of glacial moraines up to
+the equator. I have myself seen, near Pernambuco, and in the
+province of Maranham, in Brazil, a great drift deposit that I
+believe to be of glacial origin; and I think it highly probable
+that the evidence that is accumulating will force geologists to the
+conclusion that the ice of the glacial period was not only more
+extensive than has been generally supposed, but that it existed at
+the same time in the northern and southern hemispheres, leaving, at
+least, on the American continent, only the lower lands of the
+tropics free from the icy covering.
+
+I shall not enter upon the question of the cause of the cold of the
+glacial period. It is probably closely connected with the cause of
+an exactly opposite state of things, the heat of the miocene
+period, when the beech, the hazel, and the plane lived and
+flourished in Spitzbergen, as far north as latitude 78 degrees,
+and, according to Heer, firs and poplars reached to the North Pole,
+if there was then land there for them to grow upon. I consider that
+the great extension of the ice in the glacial period supports the
+conclusion of Professor Heer, founded on the northern extension of
+the miocene flora, that these enormous changes of climate cannot be
+explained by any rearrangement of the relative positions of land
+and water, and that "we are face to face with a problem whose
+solution must be attempted and doubtless completed by the
+astronomer."* (* I have since discussed this question in the
+"Quarterly Journal of Science" for October 1874.)
+
+There is another branch of the subject that I cannot so easily
+leave. It is the answer to the question, What became of the many
+peculiar tropical American genera of animals and plants, when a
+great part of the tropics was covered with ice, and the climate of
+the lower lands much colder than now? For instance, the Heliconii
+and Morphos are a group of butterflies peculiar to tropical
+America, containing many distinct genera which, on any theory of
+descent from a common progenitor, must have originated ages before
+the glacial period. How is it that such peculiarly tropical groups
+were not exterminated by the cold of the glacial period, or if able
+to stand the cold, that they did not spread into temperate regions
+on the retreat of the ice? I believe the answer is, that there was
+much extermination during the glacial period, that many species and
+some genera, as, for instance, the American horse, did not survive
+it, and that some of the great gaps that now exist in natural
+history were then made; but that a refuge was found for many
+species, on lands now below the ocean, that were uncovered by the
+lowering of the sea caused by the immense quantity of water that
+was locked up in frozen masses on the land.
+
+Mr. Alfred Tylor considers that the ice cap of the glacial period
+was the cause of a great reduction of the level of the sea,
+amounting to at least 600 feet.* (* "Geological Magazine" volume 9
+page 392.) But if we admit that the ice existed in both hemispheres
+at the same time, we shall have to speculate on a lowering of the
+level of the sea to at least 1000 feet. We have many facts tending
+to prove that during the extreme extent of the glacial period the
+land stood much higher relatively to the sea than it now does.
+Professor Hartt believes that during the time of the drift, Brazil
+stood at a much higher level than at present,* (* "Geology and
+Physical Geography of Brazil" by Ch. Fred. Hartt page 573.) and we
+can, on the supposition of a general lowering of the sea all over
+the world, account for the distribution of animal life over islands
+now separated by shallow seas. Thus Mr. Bland, in a paper read
+before the American Philosophical Society, on "The Geology and
+Physical Geography of the West Indies, with reference to the
+distribution of Mollusca," states his opinion that Porto Rico, the
+Virgins, the Anguilla group, Cuba, the Bahamas, and Hayti, once
+formed continuous dry land that obtained its land molluscs from
+Central America and Mexico. The land molluscs of the islands to the
+south, on the contrary, from Barbuda and St. Kitt's down to
+Trinidad, are of two types, one Venezuelan, the other Guianian; the
+western side of the supposed continuous land, namely, Trinidad,
+Tobago, Grenada, the Grenadines, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia,
+belonging to the first type; the eastern side, from Barbados to
+Antigua, to the second.* (* Quoted in "At Last" by Charles Kingsley
+page 305.)
+
+Commenting on Mr. Bland's valuable communication, Mr. Kingsley
+justly says: "If this be so, a glance at the map will show the vast
+destruction of tropic land during almost the very latest geological
+epoch; and show, too, how little, in the present imperfect state of
+our knowledge, we ought to dare any speculations as to the absence
+of man, as well as of other creatures, on those great lands
+destroyed. For, to supply the dry land which Mr. Bland's theory
+needs, we shall have to conceive a junction, reaching over at least
+five degrees of latitude, between the north of British Guiana and
+Barbados; and may freely indulge in the dream that the waters of
+the Orinoco, when they ran over the lowlands of Trinidad, passed
+east of Tobago, then northward between Barbados and St. Lucia,
+afterwards turning westward between the latter island and
+Martinique, and that the mighty estuary--for a great part at least
+of that line--formed the original barrier which kept the land
+shells of Venezuela apart from those of Guiana."* (* Loc cit page
+306.)
+
+A very similar theory has been propounded by Mr. Wallace to account
+for the distribution of the faunas of the Malay Archipelago, in his
+admirable work on the natural history of that region.* (* "The
+Malay Archipelago" volume 1 page 11.) Java, Sumatra, and Borneo are
+separated from each other, and from the continent of Asia, by a
+shallow sea less than six hundred feet in depth, and must at one
+time have been connected by continuous land to allow of the
+elephant and tapir of Sumatra and Borneo, the rhinoceros of Sumatra
+and Java, and the wild cattle of Borneo and Java, to spread from
+the continent to these now sea-surrounded lands, as none of these
+large animals could have passed over the arms of the sea that now
+separate them. The smaller mammals, the birds, and insects, all
+illustrate this view, almost all the genera found in any of the
+islands occurring also on the Asiatic continent, and the species
+being often identical. On the other hand, the fauna of islands to
+the eastward are more closely connected with Australia, and must at
+one time have been joined to it by nearly continuous land.
+Honeysuckers and lories take the place of the woodpeckers, barbets,
+trogons, and fruit thrushes of the western islands, and the many
+mammals belonging to Asiatic genera are no more seen.
+
+Mr. Wallace ascribes the present isolation of the islands, and
+their separation from the adjoining continents, to the submergence
+of the channels between them caused by the abstraction of matter
+thrown out by the numerous volcanoes. Looking, however, at the fact
+that at the time when these islands were probably connected with
+the continents of Asia on the one side and Australasia on the
+other, namely, at the close of the pliocene period, England was
+connected with the continent; Malta, as shown by its fossil
+elephants, with Africa; the West Indies with Yucatan and Venezuela;
+it seems to me more probable that the cause was not a local one,
+but a general lowering of the waters of the ocean all over the
+world to at least one thousand feet, produced by the prodigious
+quantity of water locked up in the frozen masses that covered a
+great part of both hemispheres.
+
+The wide diffusion of the Malayan dialects over the Pacific,
+reaching as far as the Sandwich Islands, shows the great extension
+of that race in former times. On numerous islands in Polynesia
+there are cyclopean ruins utterly out of keeping with their present
+size and population. Who can look at the pictures of little Easter
+Island, with its gigantic images standing up in unworshipped
+solitude, without feeling that that insignificant islet could never
+have supported the race that reared the monuments. But if that and
+other islands were once hills overlooking peopled lowlands, the
+sense of incongruity vanishes. We see the images, not gazing
+gloomily over the ocean that narrowly circles them in, but proudly
+looking across wide plains peopled by their worshippers, who from
+their villages and fields behold the gods they adore, and implore
+their protection and support.
+
+Was the fabled Atlantis really a myth, or was it that great
+continent in the Atlantic laid bare by the lowering of the ocean,
+on which the present West Indian Islands were mountains, rising
+high above the level and fertile plains that are now covered by the
+sea? Obscurely the accounts of it have come down to us from the dim
+past, but there is a remarkable coincidence between the traditions
+that have been handed down on the two sides of the Atlantic.
+
+In a fragment of the works of Theopompus, who lived in the fourth
+century before the Christian era, is an account of a conversation
+between Silenus and Midas, the king of Phrygia, in which the former
+tells the king that Europe, Asia, and Africa were surrounded by the
+sea, but that beyond them was an island of immense size, in which
+were many great cities, and nations with laws and customs very
+different from theirs. Plato, in his "Timaeus and Critias," relates
+that Solon was told by a priest of Sais, from the sacred
+inscriptions in the temple, how Solon's country "once opposed a
+power which with great arrogance pushed its way into Europe and
+Asia from the Atlantic Ocean. Beyond the entrance which you call
+the Pillars of Hercules there was an island larger than Libya and
+Asia together. From it navigation passed to the other islands, and
+from them to the opposite continent which surrounded that ocean. On
+this great Atlantic island there was a powerful and singular
+kingdom, whose dominion extended not only over the whole island,
+but over many others, and parts of the continent. It ruled also
+over Libya as far as Egypt, and over Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.
+This kingdom with the whole of its forces united tried to subjugate
+in one campaign your country and ours, and all the country within
+the strait. At that time, O Solon, your nation shone out from all
+others by bravery and power. It was placed in great danger, but it
+defeated the attacking army, and erected triumphal monuments. But
+when at a later period earthquakes and great floods took place, the
+whole of your united army was swallowed up during one evil day and
+one evil night, and at the same time the island of Atlantis sank
+into the sea." Crantor, quoted by Proclus, corroborates the account
+by Plato, and says that he found this same story retained by the
+priests of Sais, three hundred years after the period of Solon, and
+that he was shown the inscriptions on which it was recorded.
+
+Turning to the western side of the Atlantic, we find in the "Teo
+Amoxtli," as translated by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourburg, an
+account of the overwhelming of a country by the sea, when thunder
+and flames came out of it, and "the mountains were sinking and
+rising." Everywhere throughout America there are traditions of a
+great catastrophe, in which a whole country was submerged, and only
+a few people escaped to the mountains; and the Spanish conquerors
+relate with wonder the accounts they found amongst the Indians of a
+universal deluge. Amongst the modern Indians the traveller, Catlin,
+relates that in one hundred and twenty different tribes that he had
+visited in North, and South, and Central America, "every tribe
+related, more or less distinctly, their tradition of the deluge, in
+which one, or three, or eight persons were saved above the waters
+on the top of a high mountain."* (* "Lifted and Subsided Rocks in
+America" by G. Catlin page 182.)
+
+If Atlantis were lowlands connecting the West Indian Islands with
+America, the other islands mentioned by Plato may have been the
+Azores, also greatly increased in extent by the lowering of the
+ocean; and the overwhelming of this lowland, on the melting of the
+ice at the close of the glacial period, may be that great
+catastrophe that is recorded on both sides of the Atlantic, but is
+more clearly remembered in the traditions of America, because all
+the highlands there had been covered with ice, and the inhabitants
+were restricted to those that were overwhelmed by the deluge.
+
+I approached this subject from the side of Natural History. I was
+driven to look for a refuge for the animals and plants of tropical
+America during the glacial period, when I found proofs that the
+land they now occupy was at that time either covered with ice or
+too cold for genera that can now only live where frost is unknown.
+I had arrived at the conclusion that they must have inhabited
+lowlands now submerged, and following up the question, I soon saw
+that the very accumulation of ice that made their abode impossible
+provided another for them by the lowering of the sea. Then pursuing
+the subject still further, I saw that all over the world curious
+questions concerning the distribution of races of mankind, of
+animals, and of plants, were rendered more easy of solution on the
+theory that land was more continuous once than now; that islands
+now separated were then joined together, and to adjacent
+continents; and that what are now banks and shoals beneath the sea
+were then peopled lowlands.
+
+I have said that during the glacial period, if, as I believe, it
+was contemporaneous in the two hemispheres, the sea must have stood
+at least 1000 feet lower than it now does. It may have been much
+lower than this, but I prefer to err on the safe side. When
+geologists have mapped out the limits of ancient glacier and
+continental ice all over the world, it will be possible to
+calculate the minimum amount of water that was abstracted from the
+sea; and if by that time hydrographers have shown on their charts
+the shoals and submerged banks that would be laid dry, fabled
+Atlantis will rise before our eyes between Europe and America, and
+in the Pacific the Malay Archipelago will give place to the Malay
+Continent. Here is a noble inquiry, an unexplored region of
+research, at the entrance of which I can only stand and point the
+way for abler and stronger minds; an inquiry that will lead to the
+knowledge of the lands where dwelt the peoples of the glacial
+period who lived before the flood.
+
+Vague and visionary as these speculations must seem to many, to
+others who are acquainted with the enormous glaciation to which
+America has been subjected they will appear to be based on
+substantial truths. The immense accumulation of ice over both
+poles, reaching far down into the temperate zones, in some
+meridians encroaching on the tropics, and in Equatorial America
+certainly all the land, lying 2000 feet above the level of the sea,
+supporting great glaciers, involve conditions which must have
+greatly drained the sea. Lands now submerged must have been
+uncovered, and on the return of the waters at the close of the
+glacial period many a peopled lowland must have been overwhelmed in
+the nearly universal deluge.
+
+
+CHAPTER 15.
+
+A Nicaraguan criminal.
+Geology between Ocotal and Totagalpa.
+Preparations at Totagalpa for their annual festival.
+Chicha-drinking.
+Piety of the Indians.
+Ancient civilisation of tropical America.
+Palacaguina.
+Hospitality of the Mestizos.
+Curious custom at the festival at Condego.
+Cross range between Segovia and Matagalpa.
+Sontuli.
+Birds' nests.
+
+WE got back to Ocotal, from Depilto, before dark, and made
+arrangements for setting out on our return to the mines the next
+morning. Whilst sitting under the corridor, looking across the
+pretty flower-garden at the glowing western sky, illumined by the
+last rays of the setting sun, a poor fettered criminal, holding up
+by means of a string the thick chain that bound together his
+ankles, came limping along, with a soldier behind him armed with
+gun and bayonet. He had been brought out of prison to beg. In most
+of the towns of Nicaragua no food is given to the prisoners,
+whether convicted or merely charged with crime. Those that have no
+money to buy food are sent out every day with an armed escort to
+beg. The prisoner that hobbled up to me was under twenty years of
+age, and had been convicted of murder and condemned to death. He
+had appealed against the sentence to a higher court, but I was told
+that there was scarcely any chance of a decision in his favour, and
+that he would probably be shot in a day or two. Notwithstanding his
+critical position, he was lively and cheerful, and when I gave him
+a small piece of silver was as overjoyed as if he had got news of
+his reprieve. Jumping away, his clanking fetters making ghastly
+music, he gleefully showed to his guard the coin that would
+probably procure him food the few days he had to live. His wretched
+appearance, impending fate, and shocking levity had chased away the
+peaceful feelings with which I had watched the quiet sunset; but as
+he hobbled off, night, like a pall, fell over the scene; the
+trembling stars peeped out from the vault of heaven, and soon a
+million distant orbs proclaimed that the world was but a grain of
+dust in the vast universe, that the things of earth were but for a
+moment, and, as a shadow, would pass away.
+
+Next morning, when we wished to settle up with our kind
+entertainers, they absolutely refused to accept any payment. We had
+been recommended to the house, and told that we could pay for what
+we got; but we now learnt that no one was ever refused
+entertainment, and that no charge was made. We were total
+strangers, nor should I have any opportunity of returning their
+hospitality, as I had determined shortly to return to Europe; but
+all I could prevail upon them to accept was a present to a little
+girl that lived with the ladies, and of whom they were very fond,
+calling her "the daughter of the house." Leaving the hospitable
+Senoras Rimirez with many thanks, we started on our return journey
+about seven o'clock.
+
+After crossing the river, I noticed boulders of conglomerate in the
+drift, none of which had occurred in the valley of Depilto. The bed
+rock was still contorted schists, with many quartz veins. At the
+top of a steep rise, beyond the river, is a small plateau, or level
+terrace, fringing the range, formed of a gravelly boulder deposit;
+then another steep ascent led us to a second higher plateau, like
+the first, covered with boulders, lying on the level surface. The
+first beds of the quartz-conglomerate occurred about half-way
+between Ocotal and Totagalpa. Between it and the contorted schists
+we passed over some soft, decomposing trap-rocks, which, both here
+and elsewhere, appeared to intervene between these two formations.
+Over the whole country between Ocotal and Totagalpa were spread
+many large boulders, great blocks of conglomerate, and of a hard
+blue trap-rock that I did not see in situ, lying on the upturned
+edges of the schistose rocks. I should have liked to have worked
+out the exact relative positions of the quartz-conglomerate and the
+contorted schists, for I have no doubt that a day or two's search
+amongst the ravines would have shown many natural sections that
+would have thrown great light upon the subject; but I had no time
+to devote to it. We were hurrying on every day as far as our mules
+could carry us, as it was important that I should get back to the
+mines before the end of the month, and I was only able to note down
+the exposures that occurred within sight of the road. These,
+however, were sufficient to show me that the gneiss of Depilto was
+overlain conformably by the contorted schists; that the latter were
+followed by soft trappean beds, and these by thick beds of
+quartz-conglomerate, apparently derived from the degradation of the
+schistose rocks, with their numerous quartz veins.
+
+We reached Totagalpa about eleven o'clock, and remained there some
+time engaging labourers. We stayed at the house of a man who made
+the common palm-leaf hats, worn throughout the central provinces by
+both men and women. The palm-leaves are first boiled, then bleached
+in the sun, split into small strips, and platted together like
+straw. It was Sunday, and most of the people were in town, sitting
+at the doors of their huts, or under their verandahs. Nearly all
+the inhabitants of Totagalpa are pure Indians, and are simple and
+inoffensive people. They sat listening to three men, one with a
+whistle, the others with drums, each striving to make as much noise
+as possible, without any attempt at harmony or tune, whilst an
+enthusiast in discord kept clanging away at the bells of the
+church.
+
+They had no padre of their own, but one occasionally came over from
+Somoti, four leagues distant, to celebrate services or visit the
+sick. The next day was the great feast of Totagalpa, and they were
+preparing for it. As we sat under a verandah opposite the church, a
+procession of the town authorities issued from it, bearing a table
+and all the silver and brass ornaments. The principal officials
+each carried his stick of office, but none, excepting the Alcalde,
+could boast a pair of shoes. Their looks of importance and gravity
+showed, however, that they considered themselves the chief actors
+in an important ceremony. The procession slowly traversed half the
+round of the plaza, whilst the bells clanged, the whistle squeaked,
+and the drummers thumped their loudest. Stopping at a house at the
+corner of the plaza, the officials seated themselves on a bench
+outside. Then was brought out to them in bowls, nearly as large as
+wash-hand basins, the old Indian drink, "chicha," made from
+fermented corn and sugar. Each man had one of the great bowls and a
+napkin; the latter they spread over their knees, and rested the
+bowl on it, taking long sips every now and then with evident signs
+of satisfaction. Little have these people changed from the times of
+the Conquest. Pascual de Andagoya, writing of the people of
+Nicaragua when they were first subjugated by Hernandez de Cordova,
+in 1520, says, "The whole happiness of the people consists in
+drinking the wine they make from maize, which is like beer, and on
+this they get as drunk as if it was the wine of Spain; and all the
+festivals they hold are for the purpose of drinking."* (* Hakluyt
+Society. "Narrative of Pascual de Andagoya" Translated by C.R.
+Markham page 34.)
+
+The cross, candlesticks, and other ornaments were arranged on a
+table, and were each carefully and solemnly washed with hot water.
+This they do every year the day before their feast, and it makes
+the occasion for the procession and chicha-drinking. Most of the
+men of the township were gathered around, and in all the straight
+coarse black hair and Indian features were unmistakable. The
+chicha-drinking was too long a business for our patience, and we
+went over to the church, where we found a number of the Indian
+women with great baskets full of most beautiful and sweet-smelling
+flowers, making garlands and bouquets to decorate the holy images
+and church. The beautiful flowers were twined in wreaths, or stuck
+on prepared stands and shapes, and their fragrance filled the
+church. The love of flowers is another beautiful trait of the old
+Indians that their descendants have not lost. The ancient Mexicans
+decorated their altars and temples with flowers, and in their
+festivals crowned themselves with garlands.
+
+I mentioned the glistening white tower of the church in the account
+of our journey out. I now learnt that it was only finished the year
+before our visit, and had cost these poor people over 700 dollars
+in money, besides gifts of stone, wood, and labour amounting to
+more than as much again. At other Mestizo towns, where the churches
+were like dilapidated barns, we heard much of the religious fervour
+of the Indians of Totagalpa. At one time, when building the tower,
+both their funds and the lime were exhausted. In this strait the
+Alcalde called the people of the town together, and told them that
+the tower, on the building of which they had already spent so much,
+could not be finished without lime. Then and there they determined
+themselves to carry the limestone from the quarries, near Ocotal,
+ten miles distant. Next morning, before daylight, the whole village
+set out, and at night a long line of men, women, and children came
+staggering back into Totagalpa, every one with a block of
+limestone; and so zealous were they to bring as large stones as
+they could carry, that some of them had great sores worn between
+their shoulders where they carried their loads, slung, Indian
+fashion, from their foreheads. Here survives the same old Indian
+spirit, only turned in another direction, that impelled their
+forefathers, with great labour and patience, to bring from a
+distance and pile up great cairns of stones over the graves of
+their chieftains.
+
+This care of their church is quite spontaneous on their part, as
+they have no padre; indeed, from my experience of the priests in
+other towns, I think it likely that if they had one, he would
+intercept most of the offerings expended on the church and images.
+There are exceptions, but generally the padres of Central America
+are rapacious and immoral. They are much now as they were in Thomas
+Gage's time, more than two hundred years ago, and the poor Indians
+are just as humble and respectful to them. In his quaint book, "A
+New Survey of the West Indies", he says: "Above all, to their
+priest they are very respectful; and when they come to speak to him
+put on their best clothes and study their words and compliments to
+please him. They yielded to the popish religion, especially to the
+worshipping of saints' images, because they look upon them as much
+like their forefathers' idols. Out of the smallest of their means
+they will be sure to buy some of these saints, and bring them to
+the church that they may stand and be worshipped by them and
+others. The churches are full of them, and they are placed upon
+stands, gilded and painted, to be carried in procession on their
+proper day. And hence comes no small profit to the priests; for on
+such saints' days the owner of the saint makes a great feast in the
+town, and presents the priest sometimes two or three, sometimes
+four or five crowns for his mass and sermon, besides a turkey and
+three or four fowls, with as much cacao as will make him chocolate
+for all the octave or eight days following. The priest, therefore,
+is very watchful over these saints' days, and sends warning
+beforehand to the Indians of the day of their saint. If they
+contribute not bountifully, then the priest will chide and threaten
+that he will not preach."* (* Loc cit pages 332-334.)
+
+When we left Totagalpa, they were still drinking "chicha;" and I
+shall not forget the solemn satisfied look of the shoeless
+corporation, as they sipped their drink in sight of their
+townspeople, now and then singling out some friend, to whom they
+signed to come and quaff at the big bowl. The warm drink had
+loosened the tongue of the solemn alcalde. He came, and with many
+compliments, wished us a good journey. He, good man, had reached
+the summit of his ambition--he was the chief of his native town; he
+wore shoes; and what more could he hope for or desire?
+
+The central government interferes but little with the local
+officials; and the small towns in the interior are almost
+self-governed. Neither do they pay any direct taxes, the only
+contributions to the national exchequer being fees for killing
+cattle, selling land or houses, and making agreements, and a
+government monopoly in the sale of tobacco and spirits. So the
+country folks lead an easy life, excepting in times of revolution,
+when they are pressed into the army. The Indian townships are
+better managed than those of the Spaniards and Mestizos; the plazas
+are kept freer from weeds, and the roads in good order. Probably
+nowhere but in tropical America can it be said that the
+introduction of European civilisation has caused a retrogression;
+and that those communities are the happiest and the best-governed
+who retain most of their old customs and habits. Yet there it is
+so. The civilisation that Cortez overthrew was more suitable for
+the Indians than that which has supplanted it. Who can read the
+accounts of the populous towns of Mexico and Central America in the
+time of Montezuma, with their magnificent buildings and squares;
+their gardens both zoological and botanical; their markets,
+attended by merchants from the surrounding countries; their
+beautiful cloth and feather work, the latter now a lost art; their
+picture writing; their cunning artificers in gold and silver; their
+astronomical knowledge; their schools; their love of order, of
+cleanliness, of decency; their morality and wonderful patriotism,
+without feeling that the conquest of Mexico was a deplorable
+calamity; that if that ancient civilisation had been saved it might
+have been Christianised and purified without being destroyed, and
+to-day have stood one of the wonders and delights of the world. Its
+civilisation was self-grown, it was indigenous, it was unique: a
+few poor remnants of its piety, love of order, and self-government
+still remain in remote Indian townships; but its learning,
+magnificence, and glory have gone for ever.
+
+On leaving Totagalpa, we took the road for Yalaguina. About a mile
+from the first-named town, the contorted schists cropped up again,
+and were followed, as before, by beds of soft decomposing trap, and
+these again by thick beds of quartz-conglomerate. This succession
+was repeated two or three times during the day's journey. The trap
+beds formed, by decomposition, a dark fertile soil. Wherever maize
+was planted on it, it was thriving greatly. We reached Yalaguina
+about two o'clock, and pushed on for Palacaguina, four leagues
+further on, passing for a considerable part of the road along the
+banks of a small stream, by the side of which were some large and
+fine fields of maize and beans.
+
+We reached Palacaguina an hour before dark, and on asking for
+lodging for the night, were directed to a small poor-looking house.
+The front door of this was closed when we rode up, but was opened
+with haste, and about a dozen young men rushed out, who, it turned
+out afterwards, had been gambling, and hence the closed doors. We
+were asked to alight; one man took the gun; others offered to take
+our hats, to unload the pack-mule, etc. Two or three of them were
+Zambeses, and not very good-looking; they made themselves so
+officious, that Velasquez confessed to me afterwards that he was
+rather afraid of them, and thought they were too pressing in their
+attentions, and meant to rob us. Our fears were groundless; they
+had been suddenly startled in the midst of an illegal game, and
+were glad to find that we were not government officers pouncing
+upon them. The house itself was dirty and small, with one hammock
+and one chair for its furniture; we should have fared badly if one
+of the men, Don Trinidad Soso, had not recollected having once seen
+Velasquez before, and on the strength of that considered himself
+bound to take our entertainment into his own hands. He was the
+nephew of the padre, who was absent, and he invited us to his
+uncle's house, where we were soon installed, and found much more
+comfortable quarters. The padre had a good-looking housekeeper, who
+was also an excellent cook; and she got us ready a supper of
+venison, tortillas, eggs, and chocolate, to which we did not fail
+to do justice. Then the padre's bedstead was placed at my disposal,
+so that altogether we had been most fortunate in meeting with our
+good friend Don Trinidad.
+
+Most of the people living at Palacaguina were half-breeds with a
+large infusion of Negro blood; and the weed-covered streets and
+plaza and dilapidated church compared unfavourably with the not far
+distant Indian town of Totagalpa. The Mestizos are a thriftless,
+careless people, but I care not here to dilate on their
+shortcomings. Let only the hospitality and kindness I experienced
+in Palacaguina live in my mind, and let regret draw a veil over
+their failings, and censure forget to chide.
+
+Next morning Don Trinidad went himself to get us milk for our
+chocolate, three or four others assisted us as kindly on our
+departure as they had welcomed us on our arrival, and we rode away
+with more pleasant recollections of the weedy-looking town than if
+we had been entertained by grandees; for these people were poor,
+and had assisted us out of pure good-nature. The country at first
+was level, and the roads smooth and dry. The morning was
+delightfully cool; and as we trotted along our spirits were high
+and gay, and snatches of song sprang unbidden to our lips. How
+delightful these rides in the early morning were! how all nature
+seemed to be in accord with our feelings! Every bush and tree was
+noted, every bird-call heard. We would shout to one another, "Do
+you see this or that?" or set Rito off into convulsions with some
+thin joke. Every sense was gratified; it was like the youth of
+life. But as the day wore on, the sun would shine hotter and
+hotter, what had been a pleasure became a toil, and we would push
+on determinedly but silently. The day would age, and our shadows
+come again and begin to lengthen; the heat of the day was past, but
+our spirits would not mount to their morning's height. The
+beautiful flowers, the curious thorny bushes, the gorgeous
+butterflies, and many-coloured birds were all there; but our
+attention could only be called unwillingly to them. Our jaded
+animals trudged on with mechanical steps, and, tired ourselves, we
+thought of nothing but getting to the end of our day's journey, and
+resting our weary frames.
+
+We did not return from Palacaguina by the road we had come, but
+took one much more to the westward. This we did, not only to see a
+fresh line of country, but to gratify Rito with a visit to his
+relations, whom he had not seen for two years. Two miles beyond
+Palacaguina, we crossed a river, beyond which I saw no more of the
+quartz-conglomerate that I have so often mentioned whilst passing
+through Segovia. From this place to the mines the rocks were soft
+decomposing dolerites, with many harder bands of felsite, and,
+occasionally, plains composed of more recent trachytic lavas.
+
+We passed through another weedy, dilapidated town, called Condego,
+where they have a singular custom at their annual festival held on
+the 15th of May. For some weeks before this date, they catch all
+the wild beasts and birds they can, and keep them alive. During the
+night preceding the feast-day they plant the plaza in front of the
+church with full-grown plants of maize, rice, beans, and all the
+other vegetables that they cultivate; and amongst them they fasten
+the wild beasts and birds that have been collected; so that the sun
+that set on a bare, weedy plaza rises on one full of vegetable and
+animal life. The year before, a young jaguar that had been caught
+was the great attraction. It has now grown so large, that they are
+afraid of it, and do not know what to do with it. It is kept in an
+empty house at Pueblo Nuevo, along with a dog, to which it is
+greatly attached, although it is the one that caught it when young.
+The custom of planting the square with vegetables, and bringing
+together all the wild animals that can be collected, is doubtless
+an Indian one. The ancient Nicaraguans are said to have worshipped
+maize and beans, but the service may not have had more significance
+than our own harvest feasts.
+
+We reached the edge of the savannahs of the plain of Segovia and
+began to ascend the high ranges that divide it from the province of
+Matagalpa, and soon entered a mountainous country. Our course at
+first lay up the banks of a torrent that had cut deeply into beds
+of boulder clay filled with great stones. The lower part of the
+range was covered with trees of various kinds, but none of them
+growing to a great height; higher up we reached the sighing pine
+trees, and higher still, the hills were covered with grass, and
+supported herds of cattle. About noon, we arrived at a poor-looking
+hacienda near the top of the range. The proprietor owned about two
+hundred cattle, and lived in a house, mud-walled and
+grass-thatched, consisting of one room and a kitchen. Round the
+sides of the room were crowded eight rude bedsteads, and hammocks
+were slung across the centre. A mob of twenty-one men, women, and
+children lived at the house, and must have herded together like
+cattle at night. There were a great number of half-clothed and
+naked children running about. The women, of whom there were six,
+made us some chocolate and tortillas ready, and we rested awhile.
+Before we left, the men came in with the milking cows and calves.
+There were two men on horseback, but as the country was too rough
+for riding fast, they were accompanied by three boys on foot, who
+were sweating profusely with running after the cattle. The calves
+were separated from the cows and fastened up. The cows would keep
+near the corral until the next morning, when they would be milked,
+and the calves turned out with them again.
+
+We continued to ascend for a mile further, and then reached the top
+of the range, which was bare of trees and covered with sedgy grass.
+Heavy rain came on, with tremendous gusts of wind, and as the path
+lay along the very crest of the mountain range, we were exposed to
+all the fury of the storm. In some places the cargo mule was nearly
+blown down the steep slope, and the one I was riding had to stop
+sometimes to keep its feet. The wind was bleak, and we were
+drenched with rain, and very cold. Fortunately the storm of rain
+did not last for more than half-an-hour, but the high cold wind
+continued all the time we were on the ridge, which was several
+miles long, with steep slopes on either side. We were glad when we
+got to a more sheltered spot, where some mountain oak trees
+protected us from the wind, and at four o'clock, reaching a small
+scattered settlement called Sontuli, we determined, although early
+in the day, to stay there, as it was Rito's birthplace, and his
+only sister, whom he had not seen for two years, lived there. All
+the hamlet were Rito's friends, and he had soon a crowd about him
+talking and laughing.
+
+None of the lands around were enclosed--all seemed to be common
+property; and every family had a few cows and two or three brood
+mares. A little maize was grown, but the climate was rather too
+bleak and wet for it. We were now close to the boundary of the
+province of Matagalpa, and began again to hear of the drought that
+had destroyed most of the maize crop in that province, although in
+Chontales, on one side of it, we had had rather more rain than
+usual, and in Segovia, on the other, we had seen that the crops
+were excellent. Probably the high ranges that bound Matagalpa on
+every side had intercepted the rains and drained the winds of their
+moisture.
+
+Having made such an early halt, we intended to have made up for it
+by an equally early start the next morning, but were detained by
+our mules having strayed during the night, and it was seven o'clock
+before they could be found. We had a long day's journey before us,
+during which we should not be able to buy any provisions, so, over
+night, Rito's sister had cooked a fowl for us to take with us. She
+had married one of the settlers of Sontuli, and, although still
+young and fresh-looking, had already three lusty children. The
+great number of children at all the houses had surprised me
+greatly, as I had been told that the country was decreasing in
+population. This, I have no doubt, is a mistake, and the
+inhabitants, if the country should remain at peace, would multiply
+rapidly.
+
+On leaving Sontuli, the road led over mountain pastures and through
+woods of the evergreen oak draped from top to bottom with the grey
+moss-like Tillandsia, which hung in long festoons from every
+branch, and was wound around the trunks, like garlands, by the
+wind: the larger masses, waving in the breeze, hung down for four
+or five feet below the branches. The small birds build in them, and
+they form excellent hiding-places for their nests, where they are
+tolerably secure from the attacks of their numerous enemies. I had
+often, when in the tropics, to notice the great sagacity or
+instinct of the small birds in choosing places for their nests. So
+many animals--monkeys, wild-cats, raccoons, opossums, and
+tree-rats--are constantly prowling about, looking out for eggs and
+young birds, that, unless placed with great care, their progeny
+would almost certainly be destroyed. The different species of
+Oropendula or Orioles (Icteridae) of tropical America choose high,
+smooth-barked trees, standing apart from others, from which to hang
+their pendulous nests. Monkeys cannot get at them from the tops of
+other trees, and any predatory mammal attempting to ascend the
+smooth trunks would be greatly exposed to the attacks of the birds,
+armed, as they are, with strong sharp-pointed beaks. Several other
+birds in the forest suspend their nests from the small but tough
+air roots that hang down from the epiphytes growing on the
+branches, where they often look like a natural bunch of moss
+growing on them. The various prickly bushes are much chosen,
+especially the bull's-horn thorn, which I have already described.
+Many birds hang their nests from the extremities of the branches,
+and a safer place could hardly be chosen, as with the sharp thorns
+and the stinging ants that inhabit them no mammal would, I think,
+dare to attempt the ascent of the tree. Stinging ants are not the
+only insects whose assistance birds secure by building near their
+nests. A small parrot builds constantly on the plains in a hole
+made in the nests of the termites, and a species of fly-catcher
+makes its nest alongside of that of one of the wasps. On the
+savannahs, between Acoyapo and Nancital, there is a shrub with
+sharp curved prickles, called Viena paraca (come here) by the
+Spaniards, because it is difficult to extricate oneself from its
+hold when the dress is caught, for as one part is cleared another
+will be entangled. A yellow and brown flycatcher builds its nest in
+these bushes, and generally places it alongside that of a banded
+wasp, so that with the prickles and the wasps it is well guarded. I
+witnessed, however, the death of one of the birds from the very
+means it had chosen for the protection of its young. Darting
+hurriedly out of its domed nest as we were passing, it was caught
+just under its bill by one of the curved hook-like thorns, and in
+trying to extricate itself got further entangled. Its fluttering
+disturbed the wasps, who flew down upon it, and in less than a
+minute stung it to death. We tried in vain to rescue it, for the
+wasps attacked us also, and one of our party was severely stung by
+them. We had to leave it hanging up dead in front of its nest,
+whilst its mate flew round and round screaming out its terror and
+distress. I find that other travellers have noted the fact of birds
+building their nests near colonies of wasps for protection. Thus,
+according to Gosse, the grassquit of Jamaica (Spermophila olivacea)
+often selects a shrub on which wasps have built, and fixes the
+entrance to its domed nest close to their cells. Prince Maximilian
+Neuwied states in his "Travels in Brazil", that he found the
+curious purse-shaped nest of one of the Todies constantly placed
+near the nests of wasps, and that the natives informed him that it
+did so to secure itself from the attacks of its enemies. I should
+have thought that when building their nests they would be very
+liable to be attacked by the wasps. The nests placed in these
+positions appear always to be domed, probably for security against
+their unstable friends.
+
+
+CHAPTER 16.
+
+Concordia.
+Jinotega.
+Indian habits retained by the people.
+Indian names of towns.
+Security of travellers in Nicaragua.
+Native flour-mill.
+Uncomfortable lodgings.
+Tierrabona.
+Dust whirlwind.
+Initial form of a cyclone.
+The origin of cyclones.
+
+SOME of the ranges were very craggy, and one was so steep and rocky
+that we had to dismount and lead our mules, and even then one of
+them fell several times. These craggy ranges were covered with the
+evergreen oaks, and we saw but few pine trees. Now and then we
+passed over the tracks of the leaf-cutting ants, who were hurrying
+along as usual, laden with pieces of foliage about the size of a
+sixpence. There were but few birds, and insects also were scarce,
+the bleak wet weather doubtless being unsuitable for them.
+
+We now began to descend on the Matagalpa side of the elevated
+ranges we had been travelling over, and crossed many small valleys
+and streams, the latter everywhere cutting through boulder clay,
+with very few exposures of the bed-rock. In the lower lands were
+many patches cultivated with maize and beans, but the country was
+very sparsely inhabited. At noon, we reached a small town called
+Concordia, where the houses were larger and better built than those
+in the small towns of Segovia. The church, on the other hand, was
+an ugly barn-like building, apparently much neglected. The rocks
+were trachytes, and the soil seemed fertile, but there was very
+little of it cultivated. Many of the men we met wore long swords
+instead of the usual machetes. There is a school for learning
+fencing at Concordia, and the people of the district are celebrated
+for being expert swordsmen. They have often fencing matches. The
+best man is called the champion, and he is bound to try conclusions
+with every one that challenges him.
+
+After leaving Concordia we had only one more range to cross, then
+began to descend towards the plains below Jinotega, and about dusk
+reached that town and were kindly received by our former
+entertainers. Doubtless much European blood runs in the veins of
+the inhabitants of Jinotega, but in their whole manner of living
+they follow the Indian ways, and it is the same throughout
+Nicaragua, excepting amongst the higher classes in the large towns.
+All their cooking vessels are Indian. Just as in the Indian huts,
+every pot or pan is of coarse pottery, and each dish is cooked on a
+separate little fire. The drinks in common use are Indian, and have
+Indian names; tiste, pinul, pinullo, and chicha, all made from
+maize, sugar, and chocolate. As before observed, whatever was new
+to the Spaniards when they invaded the country retained its Indian
+name. It is so with every stage of growth of the maize plant,
+chilote, elote, and maizorca. The stone for grinding the maize is
+exactly the same as those found in the old Indian graves, and it is
+still called the metlate. All the towns we passed through in
+Segovia retained their Indian names, though their present
+inhabitants know nothing of their meaning. The old names of many of
+the towns are probably remnants of a language earlier than that of
+the inhabitants at the time of the conquest, and their study might
+throw some light on the distribution of the ancient peoples.
+Unfortunately the names of places are very incorrectly given in the
+best maps of Central America, every traveller having spelt them
+phonetically according to the orthography of his own language.
+Throughout this book I have spelt proper names in accordance with
+the pronunciation of the Spanish letters.
+
+Many of the names of towns in Nicaragua and Honduras end in "galpa,"
+as Muyogalpa, Juigalpa, Totagalpa, and Matagalpa. Places
+apparently of less consequence in Segovia often end in the
+termination "lee" strongly accented, as Jamaily, Esterly, Daraily,
+etc., and in "guina," pronounced "weena," as in Palacaguina and
+Yalaguina. In Chontales many end in "apa," or "apo," as Cuapo,
+Comoapa, Comelapa, Acoyapo, and others.
+
+The Spaniards, whenever they gave a name to a town, either named it
+after some city in Spain or after their Saints. There are dozens of
+Santa Rosas, San Juans, and San Tomases. Even some of the towns,
+which have well-known Indian names, are called officially after
+some Spanish saint, but the common people stick to the old names,
+and they are not to be thrust aside.
+
+We had a long talk with our courteous host of the estanco at
+Jinotega. He had a small library of books, nearly all being missals
+and prayer-books. He had a little knowledge of geography and was
+wishful to learn about Europe, and at the same time most desirous
+that we should not think that he, one of the chief men of the town,
+did not know all about it. That England was a small island he
+admitted was new to him, as he thought it was part of the United
+States or at least joined to them. He asked if it was true that
+Rome was one of the four quarters of the globe. We explained that
+it was only a large city, to which he replied gravely that he knew
+it was so, but wished to have our opinion to confirm his own.
+
+No newspapers come to Jinotega, excepting occasionally a government
+gazette, and only a few of the grown-up people are able to read.
+News travel quickly from one town to another, but every incident is
+greatly exaggerated; and many extravagant stories are set afloat
+with no other foundation than the inventive faculties of some idle
+brain. To appreciate what an immense aid a newspaper press is to
+the dissemination of truth one must travel in some such country as
+Nicaragua where newspapers do not circulate. It is impossible to
+get trustworthy intelligence about any event that has happened a
+hundred miles away, and stories of murders and robberies that were
+never committed are widely circulated amongst the credulous people.
+As far as my experience goes highway robbery is unknown in
+Nicaragua. Foreigners entrusted with money have stated they have
+been robbed, but there has always been suspicions that they
+themselves embezzled the money that they said they lost. Personally
+I never carried arms for defence in the country, and was never
+molested nor even insulted, though I often travelled alone. The
+only dangerous characters in the country are the lower class of
+foreigners, and these are not numerous. Petty thefts are common
+enough, and at the mines we found that none of the labouring class
+were to be trusted; but robberies of a daring character or
+accompanied by violence were never committed by the natives to my
+knowledge.
+
+In their drinking bouts they often quarrel among themselves, and
+slash about with their long heavy knives, inflicting ugly gashes
+and often maiming each other for life. One-armed men are not
+uncommon; and I knew of two cases where an arm was chopped off in
+these encounters. Nearly every pay-week our medical officer was
+sent for to sew up the wounds that had been received. Fortunately
+even at these times they do not interfere with foreigners, their
+quarrels being amongst themselves, and either faction fights or
+about their women, or gambling losses. Many of the worst cases of
+cutting with knives were by the Honduraneans employed at the mines,
+who generally got off through the mountains to their own country.
+One who was taken managed to escape by inducing the soldiers who
+had him in charge to take him up to the mines to bring out his
+tools. He went in at the level whilst they guarded the entrance.
+Hour after hour passed without his returning, and at last they
+learnt that he had got through some old workings to another opening
+into the mine and had started for Honduras. Once in the bush
+pursuit is hopeless, as the undergrowth is so dense that it is
+impossible to follow by sight.
+
+We left Jinotega at seven in the morning, passed over the pine-clad
+ranges again, and at one o'clock came in sight of the town of
+Matagalpa. At the river a mill was at work grinding wheat. I went
+into the shed that covered it and found it to be simple and
+ingenious. Below the floor was a small horizontal water-wheel
+driven by the stream striking against the inclined floats. The
+shaft of the wheel passed up through the floor and the lower stone,
+and was fixed to the upper one, which turned round with it without
+any gearing. The flour made is dark and full of impurities, as no
+care is taken to keep it clean.
+
+We found the mules and horses we had left at Matagalpa in good
+condition, and after getting some dinner started again, taking the
+road towards Teustepe instead of that by which we had come, as we
+were told we should avoid the swamps by so doing, for more to the
+westward they had had no rain. We rode down the valley below the
+town and found it very dry and barren, the only industry worth
+naming being a small indigo plantation. Indigo seems to have been
+more cultivated formerly than now. In many parts I saw the deserted
+vats in which the plants were steeped to extract the dye. We
+ascended a high range to the left of the valley, on the top of
+which were a few pine trees. These we were told were the last we
+should see on the road to Chontales. On the other side of the range
+the descent was very steep, and the road was carried down the
+precipitous and rocky slope in a series of zigzags, so that we saw
+the mules a few score yards in advance directly under our feet.
+
+From the hill we had seen a house in the valley, and as night was
+setting in we sought for it, but the whole district was so covered
+with low scrubby trees with many paths running in various
+directions that it was long before we found it. When at last we
+discovered it, the prospect before us of a night's lodging was so
+discouraging that had it not then been getting quite dark, and
+being told that we should have to travel several miles before
+coming to another house, we should have sought for other shelter.
+The small hut was as usual filled with men, women, and children.
+Two of the women were lying ill, and one seemed to be dying. There
+was no room for us in the hut if we had been willing to enter it.
+We slung our hammocks under a small open-sided shed near by and
+passed a miserable night. A strong cold wind was blowing, and the
+swinging of the hammocks caused by it kept a number of dogs
+continually barking and snapping at our hammocks and boots. We rose
+cold and cramped at daylight, and without waiting to make ready any
+coffee, saddled our beasts and rode away.
+
+A little maize was grown about this place, and the people told us
+that sugar thrived, but the plantations of it were small and
+ill-kept, and everything had a look of poverty and decadence. They
+said that twenty years ago there was no bush growing around their
+house. The country was then open grassed savannahs, and there was
+less fever. Now the bush grows up to their very doors, and they
+will not take the trouble to cut it down even to save themselves
+from the attacks of fever. Here as everywhere throughout the
+central provinces, deep ingrained indolence paralyses all industry
+or enterprise, and with the means of plenty and comfort on every
+side, the people live in squalid poverty.
+
+For four leagues we rode over high ranges with very fine valleys
+separating them, containing many thatched houses and fields of
+maize, sugar, and beans. Where not now cultivated the sides of the
+ranges were covered with weedy-looking shrubs and low trees,
+proving that all the land had at one time been cropped, and this
+was further shown by the old lines of pinuela fences and ditches
+that were seen here and there amongst the brushwood. As we got
+further south the alluvial flats in the valleys increased in size
+and fertility, and the cultivated fields were enclosed with
+permanent fences. On some of the ranges we crossed, the rocks were
+amygdaloidal, containing nests of a white zeolite, the fractured
+planes of which glittered like gems on the pathway.
+
+Eight leagues from Matagalpa we reached the small town of
+Tierrabona, where, as the name implies, the land is very good.
+Every house had an enclosure around it, planted with maize and
+beans: and though it was evident that the land was cropped year
+after year, it still seemed to bear well. We stopped at a small
+brook just outside the town, and ate some provisions we had brought
+from Matagalpa. Some speckled tiger-beetles ran about the dusty
+road, and on wet muddy places near the stream groups of butterflies
+collected to suck the moisture. Amongst them were some fine
+swallow-tails (Papilio), quivering their wings as they drank, and
+lovely blue hair-streaks (Theclae). The latter, when they alight,
+rub their wings together, moving their curious tail-like appendages
+up and down. Great dragon-flies hawked after flies; while on the
+surface of still pools "whirligigs" (Gyrinidae) wheeled about in
+mazy gyrations, just as they are seen to do at home.
+
+Savannahs, sparingly timbered, were next crossed; then we reached
+one of those level plains, with black soil and blocks of porous
+trachyte lying on the surface, which are swamps in the rainy
+season, and have for vegetation sedgy grasses and scattered jicara
+trees, cactuses and thorny acacias. Up to the time we passed, there
+had been no rain in these parts, and the plain was dry and bare,
+with great cracks in the black soil. The grass had not sprung up,
+not a breath of air was stirring, and the heated air quivered over
+the parched ground, forming in the distance an imperfect mirage.
+
+Directly overhead the noonday sun hung hot in the hazy sky. As we
+moodily toiled over the plain, my attention was arrested by a dust
+whirlwind that suddenly sprang up about fifty yards to our left.
+The few dry leaves on the ground began to whirl round and round,
+and to ascend. In a minute a spiral column was formed, reaching,
+perhaps, to the height of fifty feet, consisting of dust and dry
+dead leaves, all whirling round with the greatest rapidity. The
+column was only a few yards in diameter. It moved slowly along,
+nearly parallel with our course, but only lasting a few minutes.
+Before I could point it out to Velasquez, who had ridden on ahead,
+it had dissolved away. I had been very familiar with these air
+eddies in Australia, and had hoped to carry on some investigations
+concerning them, begun there, in Central America; but, though
+common on the plains of Mexico and of South America, this was the
+only one I witnessed in Central America.
+
+The interest with which I regarded these miniature storms was due
+to the assistance that their study was likely to give in the
+discussion of the cause of all circular movements of the
+atmosphere, including the dreaded typhoon and cyclone. The chief
+meteorologists who have discussed this difficult question have
+approached it from the side of the larger hurricanes. There is a
+complete gradation from the little dust eddies up through larger
+whirlwinds and tornadoes to the awful typhoons and cyclones of
+China and the West Indies; and it has long been my opinion that if
+meteorologists devoted their attention to the smaller eddies that
+can be looked at from the outside, and their commencement,
+continuance, and completion watched and chronicled, they could not
+fail to obtain a large amount of information to guide them in the
+study of cyclonic movements of the atmosphere.
+
+Unless the smaller whirlwinds are quite distinct from the larger
+ones in their origin, the theories advanced by meteorologists to
+account for the latter are certainly untenable. According to the
+celebrated M. Dove, cyclones owe their origin to the intrusion of
+the upper counter trade-wind into the lower trade-wind current.* (*
+"Law of Storms" page 246.) More lately, Professor T.B. Maury has
+stated that "the origin of cyclones is found in the tendency of the
+south-east trade-winds to invade the territory of the north-east
+trades by sweeping over the equator into our hemisphere, the
+lateral conflict of the currents giving an initial impulse to
+bodies of air by which they begin to rotate." Cyclones having thus
+originated, Professor Maury considers that they are continued and
+intensified by the vapour condensed in their vortex forming a
+vacuum.* (* "Quarterly Journal of Science" 1872 page 418.)
+
+Humboldt had long ago ascribed whirlwinds to the meeting of
+opposing currents of air.* (* "Aspects of Nature" volume 1 page 17.
+) There is this dynamical objection to the theory. The movements of
+the air in whirlwinds are much more rapid than in any known
+straight current, such as the trade winds; and it is impossible
+that two opposing currents should generate between them one of much
+greater force and rapidity than either. If force A joins with force
+B, surely force C, the product, must have the power of both A and
+B. But even if this fundamental objection to the theory could be
+set aside, the small whirlwinds could not thus arise, as they are
+most frequent when the air is nearly or quite motionless.
+
+Then, again, when we turn to Professor Maury's theory that the
+cyclones, having been initiated by the conflict of contrary
+currents, are continued and intensified by the condensation of
+vapour in their vortex forming a vacuum, we find it negatived by
+the fact that in the smaller whirlwinds the air is dry, and there
+is consequently no condensation of vapour; yet, in comparison with
+their size, they are of as great violence as the fiercest typhoon.
+Tylor describes the numerous dust whirlwinds he saw on the plains
+of Mexico,* (* "Anahuac" by E.B. Tylor page 21.) Clarke those on
+the steppes of Russia, and Bruce those on the deserts of Africa,
+and nowhere is there mention made of any condensation of vapour. I
+have seen scores of whirlwinds in Australia, many rising to a
+height of over one hundred feet; yet there was never any
+perceptible condensation of vapour, though some of them were of
+sufficient force to tear off limbs of trees, and carry up the tents
+of gold-diggers into the air. Franklin describes a whirlwind of
+greater violence than any of these. It commenced in Maryland by
+taking up the dust over a road in the form of an inverted
+sugar-loaf, and soon increased greatly in size and violence.
+Franklin followed it on horseback, and saw it enter a wood, where
+it twisted and turned round large trees: leaves and boughs were
+carried up so high that they appeared to the eye like flies. Again
+there was no condensation of vapour.
+
+We thus see that whirlwinds of great violence occur when the air is
+dry, and there can be no condensation. When, however, they are
+formed at sea, and occasionally on land, the air next the surface
+is saturated with moisture; and this moisture is condensed when it
+is carried to a great height, forming clouds, or falling in showers
+of rain and hail. This condensation of vapour is an effect, and not
+a cause, and takes place, not in the centre, but at the top or at
+the sides of the ascending column. This is well shown in an
+account, by an eye-witness, of a whirlwind that did great damage
+near the shore of Lough Neagh, in Ireland, in August 1872.* (*
+"Nature" volume 6 page 541.) It was about thirty yards in diameter.
+It destroyed several haystacks, and carried the hay up into the air
+out of sight. It partially unroofed houses, and tore off the
+branches of trees. The railway station at Randalstown was much
+injured; great numbers of slates, and two and a half hundredweight
+of lead were torn from the roof. When passing over a portion of the
+lake, it presented the appearance of a waterspout. On land
+everything that it lapped up was whirled round and round, and
+carried upwards in the centre, whilst dense clouds surrounded the
+outside and came down near to the earth.
+
+As above mentioned, I had in Australia many opportunities of
+studying the dust whirlwinds; and as I looked upon them as the
+initial form of a cyclone, I paid much attention to them. On a
+small plain, near to Maryborough, in the province of Victoria, they
+were of frequent occurrence in the hot season. This plain was about
+two miles across, and was nearly surrounded by trees. In calm,
+sultry weather, during the heat of the day, there were often two at
+once in action in different parts of it. They were only a few yards
+in diameter, but reached to a height of over one hundred feet, and
+were often, in their higher part, bent out of their perpendicular
+by upper aerial currents. The dust and leaves they carried up
+rendered their upward spiral movement very conspicuous. No one who
+studied these whirlwinds could for a moment believe that they were
+caused by conflicting currents of air. They occurred most
+frequently when there was least wind; and this particular plain
+seemed to be peculiarly suitable for their formation, because it
+was nearly surrounded by trees, and currents of air were prevented.
+They lasted several minutes, slowly moving across the plain, like
+great pillars of smoke.* (* A friend of mine tells me that he saw a
+similar whirlwind rise at noon one still summer day, and traverse
+the dusty road on the Chesil Bank between Portland and Weymouth. It
+travelled fully half a mile, about as fast as he could walk; and
+the point where it met the ground was not thicker than his walking
+stick. By and by it swept out to sea, where the dust gradually
+fell.)
+
+When attentively watched from a short distance, it was seen that as
+soon as one was formed, the air immediately next the heated soil,
+which was before motionless, or quivering as over a furnace, was
+moving in all directions towards the apex of the dust-column. As
+these currents approached the whirlwind, they quickened and carried
+with them loose dust and leaves into the spiral whirl. The movement
+was similar to that which occurs when a small opening is made at
+the bottom of a wide shallow vessel of water: all the liquid moves
+towards it, and assumes a spiral movement as it is drawn off.
+
+The conclusion I arrived at, and which has since been confirmed by
+further study of the question, was, that the particles of air next
+the surface did not always rise immediately they were heated, but
+that they often remained and formed a stratum of rarefied air next
+the surface, which was in a state of unstable equilibrium. This
+continued until the heated stratum was able, at some point where
+the ground favoured a comparatively greater accumulation of heat,
+to break through the overlying strata of air, and force its way
+upwards. An opening once made, the whole of the heated air moved
+towards it and was drained off, the heavier layers sinking down and
+pressing it out. Sir George Airey has suggested to me that the
+reason of the particles of air not rising as they are heated, when
+there is no wind blowing, may be due to their viscosity: and this
+suggestion is correct. That air does not always rise when heated,
+appears from the hot winds of Australia, which blow from the heated
+interior towards the cooler south, instead of rising directly
+upwards. Sultry, close weather, that sometimes lasts for several
+days, would also be impossible on the assumption that air rises as
+soon as it is heated.
+
+This explanation supplies us with the force that is necessary to
+drive the air with the great velocity with which it moves in
+whirlstorms. The upper, colder, and heavier air is pressing upon
+the heated stratum, and the greater the area over which the latter
+extends, the greater will be the weight pressing upon it, and the
+greater the violence of the whirlwind when an opening is formed for
+the ascent of the heated air. There is a gradual passage, from the
+small dust eddies, through larger whirlstorms such as that at Lough
+Neagh, to tornadoes and the largest cyclone; every step of the
+gradation might be verified by numerous examples; and if this book
+were a treatise on meteorology, it might be admissible to give
+them; but to do this would take up too much of my space, and I
+shall only now make some observations on the largest form of
+whirlstorm--the dreaded cyclone.
+
+Just as over the little plain at Maryborough, protected by the
+surrounding forest from the action of the wind, the heated air
+accumulates over the surface until carried off in eddies, so,
+though on a vastly larger scale, in that great bight formed by the
+coasts of North and South America, having for its apex the Gulf of
+Mexico, there is an immense area in the northern tropics, nearly
+surrounded by land, forming a vast oceanic plain, shut off from the
+regular action of the trade-winds by the great islands of Cuba and
+Hayti, where the elements of the hurricane accumulate, and at last
+break forth. In this and such like areas, the lower atmosphere is
+gradually heated from week to week, and, as in Australia the
+quivering of the air over the hot ground foreshadows the whirlwind,
+and in Africa the mirage threatens the simoom, so in the West
+Indies a continuance of close, sultry weather, an oppressive calm,
+precedes the hurricane. When at last the huge vortex is formed, the
+heated atmosphere rushes towards it from all sides, and is drained
+upwards in a spiral column, just as in the dust-eddy, on a gigantic
+scale. Unlike the air of the dust-eddy, that of the hurricane
+coming from the warm surface of the ocean is nearly saturated with
+vapour, and this, as it is carried up and brought into contact with
+the colder air on the outside of the ascending column, is condensed
+and falls in torrents of rain, accompanied by thunder and
+lightning.
+
+I advanced this theory to account for the origin of whirlwinds in a
+paper read before the Philosophical Institute of Victoria in 1857.
+It was afterwards communicated by the Astronomer-Royal to the
+"London Philosophical Magazine", where it appeared in January 1859.
+A suggestion that I at the same time offered, that the opposite
+rotation of cyclones in the two hemispheres was due to the same
+causes as the westerly deflection of the trade-winds from a direct
+meridional course, has been generally adopted by physicists, and I
+am not without hopes that the main theory may also yet be accepted;
+but whether or not, I am confident that a study of the smaller
+eddies of air is the proper way to approach the difficult question
+of the origin of cyclones.
+
+
+CHAPTER 17.
+
+Cattle-raising.
+Don Filiberto Trano's new house.
+Horse-flies and wasps.
+Teustepe.
+Spider imitating ants.
+Mimetic species.
+Animals with special means of defence are conspicuously marked,
+   or in other ways attract attention.
+Accident to horse.
+The "Mygale."
+Illness.
+Conclusion of journey.
+
+AFTER crossing the trachytic plain, we reached a large cattle
+hacienda, and beyond, the river Chocoyo, on the banks of which was
+some good, though stony, pasture land. We saw here some fine
+cattle, and learnt that a little more care was taken in breeding
+them than is usual in Nicaragua. The country, with its rolling
+savannahs, covered with grass, is admirably suited for
+cattle-raising, and great numbers are exported to the neighbouring
+country of Costa Rica. Scarcely any attention is, however, paid to
+the improvement of the breeds. Few stations have reserve potreros
+of grass. In consequence, whenever an unusually dry season occurs,
+the cattle die by hundreds, and their bones may be seen lying all
+over the plains. Both Para and Guinea grass grow, when planted and
+protected, with the greatest luxuriance; and the latter especially
+forms an excellent reserve, as it grows in dense tufts that cannot
+be destroyed by the cattle. When not protected by fencing, however,
+the cattle and mules prefer these grasses so much to the native
+ones, that they are always close-cropped, and when the natural
+pasturage fails there is no reserve of the other to fall back on. I
+planted both the Para and Guinea grasses largely at the mines and
+at Pital, and we were able to keep our mules always in good
+condition with them.
+
+About four o'clock in the afternoon our animals were getting tired,
+and we ourselves were rather fatigued, having been in the saddle
+since daylight, with the exception of a few minutes' rest at
+Tierrabona. We halted at a thatched cottage on some high stony
+savannah land, and were hospitably received by the peasant
+proprietor, Don Filiberto Trano. He informed us that we had entered
+the township of Teustepe, and that the town itself was eight
+leagues distant. The family consisted of Don Filiberto, his wife,
+and four or five children. They had just prepared for their own
+dinner a young fowl, stewed with green beans and other vegetables,
+and this they placed before us, saying that they would soon cook
+something else for themselves. We were too hungry to make any
+scruples, and after the poor, coarse fare we had been used to, the
+savoury repast seemed the most delicious I ever tasted. I think we
+only got two meals on the whole journey that we really enjoyed.
+This was one, the other the supper that the padre's housekeeper at
+Palacaguina cooked for us, and I have recorded at length the names
+of the parties to whom we were indebted for them.
+
+Don Filiberto had about twenty cows, all of which that could be
+found were driven in at dusk, and the calves tied up. As they came
+in, the fowls were on the look-out for the garrapatos, or ticks;
+and the cows, accustomed to the process, stood quietly, while they
+flew up and picked them off their necks and flanks. The calves are
+always turned out with the cows in the morning, after the latter
+are milked, so that if not found again for some days, as is often
+the case in this bushy and unenclosed country, the cows are milked
+by them and do not go dry. They give very little milk, probably due
+to the entire want of care in breeding them. It is at once made
+into cheese, which forms a staple article of food amongst the
+poorer natives.
+
+The small house was divided into three compartments, one being used
+as a kitchen. It was in rather a dilapidated condition, and Don
+Filiberto told me that he was busy building a new residence. I was
+curious to see what progress he was making with it, and he took me
+outside and showed me four old posts used for tying the cows to,
+which had evidently been in the ground for many years. "There," he
+said, "are the corner-posts, and I shall roof it with tiles." He
+was quite grave, but I could not help smiling at his faith. I have
+no doubt that, as long as he lives, he will lounge about all day,
+and in the evening, when his wife and children are milking the
+cows, will come out, smoke his cigarette, leaning against the
+door-post of his patched and propped-up dwelling, and contemplate
+the four old posts with a proud feeling of satisfaction that he is
+building a new house. Such a picture is typical of Nicaragua.
+
+Don Filiberto told us that there was a limestone quarry not far
+from his house; and as I wished to learn whether it occurred in
+beds or veins, I proposed next morning to walk over to it, but he
+said we should need the mules to cross the river. Thinking, from
+his description, that it was only about a mile distant, I started
+on mule-back with him; but after riding fully a league, discovered
+that he actually did not know himself where it was, but was seeking
+for another man to show him. We at last arrived at the house of
+this man. He was absent. A boy showed us a small piece of the
+limestone. It was concretionary, and I learnt from him that it
+occurred in veins. I was vexed about the time we had lost, and the
+extra work we had given the poor mules; my only consolation was
+that as we rode back I picked a fine new longicorn beetle off the
+leaves of an overhanging tree.
+
+When we came to settle up with our host he proposed to charge us
+twenty-five cents, just one shilling, or fourpence each. They had
+given us a good dinner and put themselves to much inconvenience to
+provide me with a bedstead, and this was their modest charge. Nor
+did they make it with any expectation that we would give more. It
+is the universal custom amongst the Mestizo peasantry to entertain
+travellers; to give them the best they have and to charge for the
+bare value of the provisions, and nothing for the lodging. We could
+so depend upon the hospitality of the lower classes that every day
+we travelled on without any settled place to pass the night,
+convinced that we should be received with welcome at any hut that
+we might arrive at when our mules got tired or night came on. The
+only place in the whole journey where we had been received with
+hesitation was at the Indian house a day's journey beyond Olama.
+There the people were pure Indians, and other circumstances made me
+conclude that the Indians were not so hospitable as the Mestizos.
+
+We finally started about nine o'clock and rode over dry savannahs,
+where, although there was little grass, I was told that cattle did
+well browsing on the small brushwood with which the hills were
+covered. All the forenoon we travelled over stony ranges and dry
+plains and savannahs. At noon we reached the dry bed of a river and
+crossed it several times, but could find no water to quench our
+thirst, whilst the sun shone down on us with pitiless heat. About
+one o'clock we came to some pools where the bed of the river was
+bare rock with rounded hollows containing water, warm but clean, as
+the cattle could not walk over the smooth slopes to get at it. Here
+we halted for an hour and had some tiste and maize cakes, and cut
+some Guinea grass that grew amongst the rocks for our mules. Over
+the heated rocks scampered brown lizards, chasing each other and
+revelling in the sunshine. Butterflies on lazy wings came and
+settled on damp spots, and the cicada kept up his shrill continuous
+monotone, but not so loudly as he would later on when it got
+cooler. The cicada is supposed by some to pipe only during midday,
+but both in Central America and Brazil I found them loudest towards
+sunset, keeping up their shrill music until it was taken up by
+night-vocal crickets and locusts.
+
+We were returning parallel to our course in going to Segovia, but
+several leagues to the westward, and this made a wonderful
+difference in the climate. There we were wading through muddy
+swamps and drenched with continual rains. Here the plains were
+parched with heat, vegetation was dried up, and there was scarcely
+any water in the river beds. The north-east trade-wind, before it
+reaches thus far, gives up its moisture to the forests of the
+Atlantic slope, and now passed over without even a cloud to relieve
+the deep blue of the sky or temper the rays of the sun.
+
+The vegetation on the plains was almost entirely composed of thorny
+plants and shrubs; acacias, cacti, and bromeliae were the most
+abundant. Animal life was scarce; there were a few flycatchers
+amongst the birds, and armadillos were the only mammals.
+Horse-flies (Tabanus) were too numerous, and drops of blood
+trickled down our mules' faces where they had feasted. In some
+parts large, banded black and yellow wasps (Monedula surinamensis,
+Fabr.) came flying round us and had a threatening look as they
+hovered before our faces, but they were old acquaintances of mine
+in Brazil, and I knew that they were only searching about for the
+horse-flies with which they store their nests, just as other wasps
+do with spiders, first benumbing them with their sting. I noted
+here another instance of the instinctive dread that insects have of
+their natural enemies. The horse-flies were so bloodthirsty that we
+could kill them with the greatest ease with our hands on the mules'
+necks, or if we drove them away they would return immediately. As
+soon, however, as a wasp came hawking round, the flies lost their
+sluggish apathy and disappeared amongst the bushes, and I do not
+think that excepting when gorged with blood they would easily fall
+a prey to their pursuers.
+
+We were joined on the road by a storekeeper on his way to Teustepe.
+He was armed with pistols, which it is the fashion to carry in
+Nicaragua, though many travellers have nothing more formidable in
+their holsters than a spirit flask and some biscuits. He talked as
+usual of threatened revolutionary risings, but these form the
+staple conversation throughout Central America amongst the middle
+classes, and until they really do break out it is best not to
+believe in them. He told us also that the drought had been very
+great around Teustepe, and that the crops were destroyed by it.
+
+About three we reached the town, and after buying some provisions
+to take with us, pushed on again. Below Teustepe we crossed the
+river Malacatoyo which empties into the Lake of Nicaragua, and
+beyond it the road passed over a wild alluvial flat with high
+trees, amongst which we saw a troop of white-faced monkeys.
+
+On the leaves of the bushes there were many curious species of
+Buprestidae, and I struck these and other beetles off with my net
+as I rode along.* [* Naturally the example of their chief inspired
+all the mining officials with an ardour for collecting insects;
+but, when riding with any of them through the forest or over the
+plains, Belt's trained eyes always saw so many more than the others
+that a saying arose that his mule assisted him by stopping before
+any specimen he had failed to notice!] After one such capture I
+observed what appeared to be one of the black stinging ants on the
+net. It was a small spider that closely resembled an ant, and so
+perfect was the imitation that it was not until I killed it that I
+determined that it was a spider and that I had needlessly feared
+its sting. What added greatly to the resemblance was that, unlike
+other spiders, it held up its two fore-legs like antennae, and
+moved them about just like an ant. Other species of spiders closely
+resemble stinging ants; in all of them the body is drawn out long
+like an ant, and in some the maxillary palpi are lengthened and
+thickened so as to resemble the head of one.
+
+Ant-like spiders have been noticed throughout tropical America and
+also in Africa.* (* See "Nature" volume 3 page 508.) The use that
+the deceptive resemblance is to them has been explained to be the
+facility it affords them for approaching ants on which they prey. I
+am convinced that this explanation is incorrect so far as the
+Central American species are concerned. Ants, and especially the
+stinging species, are, so far as my experience goes, not preyed
+upon by any other insects. No disguise need be adopted to approach
+them, as they are so bold that they are more likely to attack a
+spider than a spider them. Neither have they wings to escape by
+flying, and generally go in large bodies easily found and
+approached. The real use is, I doubt not, the protection the
+disguise affords against small insectivorous birds. I have found
+the crops of some humming-birds full of small soft-bodied spiders,
+and many other birds feed on them. Stinging ants, like bees and
+wasps, are closely resembled by a host of other insects; indeed,
+whenever I found any insect provided with special means of defence
+I looked for imitative forms, and was never disappointed in finding
+them.
+
+Stinging ants are not only closely copied in form and movements by
+spiders but by species of Hemiptera and Coleoptera, and the
+resemblance is often wonderfully close.* (* Amongst the longicorn
+beetles of Chontales, Mallocera spinicollis, Neoclytus Oesopus, and
+Diphyrama singularis, Bates, all closely resemble stinging ants
+when moving about on fallen logs.) All over the world wasps are
+imitated in form and movements by other insects, and in the tropics
+these mimetic forms are endless. In many cases the insect imitating
+is so widely removed, in the normal form of the order to which it
+belongs, from that of the insect imitated, that it is difficult to
+imagine how the first steps in the process of imitation took place.
+Looking however at the immense variety of insect life in the
+tropics, and remembering that in early tertiary times nearly the
+whole world was in the same favourable condition as regards
+temperature (vegetation, according to Heer, extending to the
+poles), and must have supported a vast number of species and genera
+that were destroyed during the glacial period, we must suppose
+that, in that great variety of forms, it sometimes occurred that
+two species belonging to distinct orders somewhat resembled each
+other in form or colouration, and that the resemblance was
+gradually increased, when one species had special means of
+protection, by the other being benefited the more nearly it
+approached it in appearance.
+
+It is to be remarked that the forms imitated have always some kind
+of defence against insectivorous birds or mammals; they are
+provided with stings or unpleasant odours or flavours, or are
+exceedingly swift in flight; excepting where inanimate nature is
+imitated for concealment. Thus I had an opportunity of proving in
+Brazil that some birds, if not all, reject the Heliconii
+butterflies, which are closely resembled by butterflies of other
+families and by moths. I observed a pair of birds that were
+bringing butterflies and dragon-flies to their young, and although
+the Heliconii swarmed in the neighbourhood and are of weak flight
+so as to be easily caught, the birds never brought one to their
+nest. I had a still better means of testing both these and other
+insects that are mimicked in Nicaragua. The tame white-faced monkey
+I have already mentioned was extremely fond of insects, and would
+greedily munch up beetle or butterfly given to him, and I used to
+bring to him any insects that I found imitated by others to see
+whether they were distasteful or not. I found he would never eat
+the Heliconii. He was too polite not to take them when they were
+offered to him, and would sometimes smell them, but invariably
+rolled them up in his hand and dropped them quietly again after a
+few moments. There could be no doubt, however, from the monkey's
+actions, that they were distasteful to him. A large species of
+spider (Nephila) also used to drop them out of its web when I put
+them into it. Another spider that frequented flowers seemed to be
+fond of them, and I have already mentioned a wasp that caught them
+to store its nest with.
+
+Amongst the beetles there is a family that is just as much mimicked
+as the Heliconii are amongst the butterflies. These are the
+Lampyridae, to which the fireflies belong. Many of the genera are
+not phosphorescent, but all appear to be distasteful to
+insectivorous mammals and birds. I found they were invariably
+rejected by the monkey, and my fowls would not touch them.
+
+The genus Calopteron belonging to this family is not
+phosphorescent. In some of the species, as in C. basalis (Klug),
+the wing-covers are widened out behind in a peculiar manner. This
+and other species of Calopteron are not only imitated in their
+colour and markings by other families of beetles, but also in this
+peculiar widening of the elytra. Besides this, the Calopteron when
+walking on a leaf raises and depresses its wing cases, and I
+observed exactly the same movement in a longicorn beetle (Evander
+nobilis, Bates), which is evidently a mimetic form of this genus.
+In addition to being mimicked by other families of beetles,
+Calopteron is closely resembled by a species of moth (Pionia
+lycoides, Walker). This moth varies itself in colour; in one of the
+varieties it has a central black band across the wings, when it
+resembles Calopteron vicinum (Deyrolle), in another this black band
+is wanting, when it resembles C. basalis. Professor Westwood has
+also pointed out to me that the resemblance to the beetle is still
+further increased in the moth by raised lines of scales running
+lengthwise down the thorax.
+
+The phosphorescent species of Lampyridae, the fireflies, so
+numerous in tropical America, are equally distasteful, and are also
+much mimicked by other insects. I found different species of
+cockroaches so much like them in shape and colour that they could
+not be distinguished without examination. These cockroaches,
+instead of hiding in crevices and under logs like their brethren,
+rest during the day exposed on the surface of leaves, in the same
+manner as the fireflies they mimic.
+
+Protective resemblances amongst insects are so numerous and
+widespread, and they have been so ably described by Bates and
+Wallace, that I shall only mention a few of the most noticeable
+examples that came under my attention, and which have not been
+described by other authors. Amongst these were the striking
+modifications of some beetles belonging to the Mordellidae. These,
+in their normal form, are curious wedge-shaped beetles, which are
+common on flowers, and leap like fleas. In some of the Nicaraguan
+species the body is lengthened, and the thorax and elytra coloured,
+so as to resemble wasps and flies. In the Mordellidae the head is
+small, and nearly concealed beneath the large thorax; and in the
+mimetic forms the latter is coloured so as to resemble the large
+head and eyes of the wasp or fly imitated. The species that
+resembles a wasp moves its antennae restlessly, like the latter
+insect.
+
+The movements, as well as the shape and colour of the insect
+imitated, are mimicked. I one day observed what appeared to be a
+hornet, with brown semi-transparent wings and yellow antennae. It
+ran along the ground vibrating its wings and antennae exactly like
+a hornet, and I caught it in my net, believing it to be one. On
+examining it, however, I found it to belong to a widely different
+order. It was one of the Hemiptera, Spiniger luteicornis (Walk.),
+and had every part coloured like the hornet (Priocnemis) that it
+resembled. In its vibrating coloured wing-cases it departed greatly
+from the normal character of the Hemiptera, and assumed that of the
+hornets.
+
+All the insects that have special means of protection, by which
+they are guarded from the attacks of insectivorous mammals and
+birds, have peculiar forms, or strongly contrasted, conspicuous
+colours, and often make odd movements that attract attention to
+them. There is no attempt at concealment, but, on the contrary,
+they appear to endeavour to make their presence known. The long
+narrow wings of the Heliconii butterflies, banded with black,
+yellow, and red, distinguish them from all others, excepting the
+mimetic species. The banded bodies of many wasps, or the rich
+metallic colours of others, and their constant jerky motions, make
+them very conspicuous. Bees announce their presence by a noisy
+humming. The beetles of the genus Calopteron have their wing-cases
+curiously distended, and move them up and down, so as to attract
+attention; and other species of Lampyridae are phosphorescent,
+holding out danger signals that they are not eatable. The reason in
+all these cases appears to be the same as Mr. Wallace has shown to
+hold good with banded, hairy, and brightly coloured caterpillars.
+These are distasteful to birds, and, in consequence of their
+conspicuous colours, are easily known and avoided. If they were
+like other caterpillars, they might be seized and injured before it
+was known they were not fit for food.* (* In a paper on "Mimicry,
+and other Protective Resemblances amongst Animals" first published
+in the "Westminster Review" July 1867, afterwards in "Natural
+Selection", Wallace has elaborately discussed this question. My
+observations are supplemental to his and to the original ones of
+Bates.)
+
+(PLATE 23. HORNET AND MIMETIC BUG)
+
+Amongst the mammals, I think the skunk is an example of the same
+kind. Its white tail, laid back on its black body, makes it very
+conspicuous in the dusk when it roams about, so that it is not
+likely to be pounced upon by any of the carnivora mistaking it for
+other night-roaming animals. In reptiles, the beautifully banded
+coral snake (Elaps), whose bite is deadly, is marked as
+conspicuously as any noxious caterpillar with bright bands of
+black, yellow, and red. I only met with one other example amongst
+the vertebrata, and it was also a reptile. In the woods around
+Santo Domingo there are many frogs. Some are green or brown, and
+imitate green or dead leaves, and live amongst foliage. Others are
+dull earth-coloured, and hide in holes and under logs. All these
+come out only at night to feed, and they are all preyed upon by
+snakes and birds. In contrast with these obscurely coloured
+species, another little frog hops about in the daytime dressed in a
+bright livery of red and blue. He cannot be mistaken for any other,
+and his flaming vest and blue stockings show that he does not court
+concealment. He is very abundant in the damp woods, and I was
+convinced he was uneatable so soon as I made his acquaintance and
+saw the happy sense of security with which he hopped about. I took
+a few specimens home with me, and tried my fowls and ducks with
+them, but none would touch them. At last, by throwing down pieces
+of meat, for which there was a great competition amongst them, I
+managed to entice a young duck into snatching up one of the little
+frogs. Instead of swallowing it, however, it instantly threw it out
+of its mouth, and went about jerking its head as if trying to throw
+off some unpleasant taste.* (* Probably the strongly contrasted
+colours of the spotted salamander of Southern Europe and the
+warning noise made by the rattlesnake may be useful in a similar
+manner, as has been suggested by Darwin.)
+
+After travelling three leagues beyond Teustepe, we reached, near
+dusk, a small house by the roadside, at which had put up for the
+night a party of muleteers, with their mules and cargoes. Our
+beasts were too tired to go further, so we determined to take our
+chance of finding room for our hammocks. Soon after we alighted, as
+I sat on a stone near the door of the house, a gun went off close
+to us, and my horse sprang forward, nearly upon me. We soon found
+it was our own gun, which had been given to Rito to carry. He had
+strapped it behind his saddle, and one of the other mules had come
+up, rubbed against it, and let it off. The poor horse was only four
+feet from the muzzle, and the contents were lodged in its loin. A
+large wound was made from which the blood flowed in a great stream,
+until Velasquez got some burnt cloth and stanched it. Fortunately
+the charge in the gun was a very light one, and no vital part was
+touched. We arranged with the muleteers to take our cargo to
+Juigalpa for us, and determined to leave Rito behind to lead the
+horse gently to Pital. The horse, which was a very good one,
+ultimately recovered.
+
+At this house the woman had eight children, the eldest, I think,
+not more than twelve years of age. The man who passed as her
+husband was the father of the youngest only. Amongst the lower
+classes of Nicaragua men and women often change their mates. In
+such cases the children remain with the mother, and take their
+surname from her. Baptism is considered an indispensable rite, but
+the marriage ceremony is often dispensed with; and I did not notice
+that those who lived together without it suffered in the estimation
+of their neighbours. The European ladies at Santo Domingo were
+sometimes visited by the unmarried matrons of the village, who were
+very indignant when they found that there were scruples about
+receiving them. They were so used to their own social observances,
+that they thought those of the Europeans unwarrantable prudery.
+
+Before turning out the mules, Rito got some limes and squeezed the
+juice out upon their feet, just above the hoof. He did this to
+prevent them from being bitten by the tarantula spider, a species
+of Mygale that makes its nest in the ground, and is said to abound
+in this locality. Many of the mules are bitten in the feet on the
+savannahs by some venomous animal. The animal bitten immediately
+goes lame, and cannot be cured in less than six months, as the hoof
+comes off, and has to be renewed. The natives say that the Mygale
+is the aggressor; that it gets on the mule's foot to bite off the
+hairs to line its nest with, and that if not disturbed it does not
+injure the mule, but that if the latter tries to dislodge it, it
+bites immediately. I do not know whether this story be true or not,
+and I had no opportunity of examining a Mygale's nest to see if it
+was lined with hairs, but Professor Westwood informs me that all
+that he knows are lined with fine silk. Possibly the mules, when
+rambling about, step on the spider, and are then bitten by it.
+Velasquez told me that when he was a boy he and other children used
+to amuse themselves by pulling the Mygale out of its hole, which is
+about a foot deep in the ground. To get it out they fastened a
+small ball of soft wax to a piece of string, and lowered it down
+the hole, jerking it up and down until the spider got exasperated
+so far as to bury its formidable jaws in the wax, when it could be
+drawn to the surface.
+
+We had part of the kitchen to sleep in, and were so tired, and
+getting so accustomed to sleep anywhere, that we had a good night's
+rest, rose early next morning, and were soon on the road again,
+leaving Rito to bring on the lamed horse. We had a good view of the
+rock of San Lorenzo, a high cliff capping a hill, and resembling
+the rocks of Cuapo and Pena Blanca, but with less perpendicular
+sides. About this part, which lay high, as well as where we stayed
+the night before, there had been rains; but on the lowlands lying
+between the two places there had been none. Our road again lay over
+grassy plains and low, lightly-timbered hills, with very few
+houses--probably not more than one in a league. The country was now
+greener; they had had showers of rain, and fine grass had sprung
+up. Passing as we did from a dried-up district into one covered
+with verdure, feelings were awakened akin to those with which in
+the temperate zone we welcome the spring after a long winter.
+
+As we rode on, the grass increased; there were swampy places in the
+hollows, and now and then very muddy spots on the road. On every
+side the prospect was bounded by long ranges of hills--some of them
+precipitous, others covered to the summits with dark foliaged
+trees, looking nearly black in the distance. About noon we came in
+sight of the Amerrique range, which I recognised at once, and knew
+that we had reached the Juigalpa district, though still several
+leagues distant from the town. Travelling on without halting we
+arrived at the hacienda of San Diego at four o'clock. Velasquez
+expected to find in the owner an old acquaintance of his, and we
+had intended staying with him for the night, as our mules were
+tired out; but on riding up to the house we found it untenanted,
+the doors thrown down, and cattle stabling in it. We pushed on
+again. I thought I could make La Puerta, a hacienda three leagues
+nearer Libertad than Juigalpa, and as the road to it branched off
+from that to Juigalpa soon after passing San Diego, and Velasquez
+had to go to the latter place to make arrangements for getting our
+luggage sent on, I parted with him, and pushed on alone. Soon
+after, I crossed rather a deep river, and in a short time my mule,
+which had shown symptoms of distress, became almost unable to
+proceed, so that it was only with the greatest difficulty I could
+get along at all. After leading--almost dragging--it slowly for
+about a mile I reached a small hut, where they told me that it was
+three leagues to La Puerta, and only one to Juigalpa. The road to
+Puerta was all up hill, and it was clearly impossible for me to
+reach it that night, so I turned off across the savannahs, in the
+direction of Juigalpa, wishing that I had not separated from
+Velasquez. My poor beast was dragged along with much labour, and I
+was getting thoroughly knocked up myself. Several small temporary
+huts were passed, in which lived families that had come down from
+the mountains, bringing with them their cows to feed on the plains
+during the wet season. I was tempted to put up at one of these, but
+all were full of people, and I persevered on until it got quite
+dark. Just then I arrived at a hacienda near the river, and engaged
+a young fellow to get his horse and ride with me to the town. When
+my mule had a companion it went better, and being very tired I got
+on its back again. It was extremely dark, and I should not have
+found the road without a guide. We passed over the small plain,
+where the broken statues lie, but my guide, who had lived all his
+life within a mile of them, had never heard of them. My mule fell
+heavily with me in a rocky pass, but I escaped with a slight
+bruise. We had great trouble to get it on its legs again, and
+ultimately reached Juigalpa about nine o'clock.
+
+Next morning I awoke with a dreadful headache and pain in my back,
+brought on either by the fatigue of the day before, or by having
+been tempted to eat some half-ripe guayavas when coming across the
+plains tired and hungry. I lay in the hammock until ten o'clock,
+and then feeling a little better, got on my mule and started. I was
+so ill as to be obliged to hold on to the pommel of my saddle and
+several times to get off and lie down. We had brought some "tiste"
+with us made from chocolate and maize, and drinks of this relieved
+me. I at last reached Libertad at four o'clock, and went to bed
+immediately. Having fasted all day in place of taking medicine, I
+rose pretty well next morning, and we rode through the forest to
+the mines, reaching them at noon on the 29th July, after an absence
+of nineteen days.
+
+
+CHAPTER 18.
+
+Division of Nicaragua into three zones.
+Journey from Juigalpa to lake of Nicaragua.
+Voyage on lake.
+Fresh-water shells and insects.
+Similarity of fresh-water productions all over the world.
+Distribution of European land and fresh-water shells.
+Discussion of the reasons why fresh-water productions
+   have varied less than those of the land and of the sea.
+
+I SHALL ask my readers to accompany me on one more journey. I have
+described the great Atlantic forest that clothes the whole of the
+eastern side of Nicaragua. I have gone through the central
+provinces, Chontales, Matagalpa, and Segovia; from the San Juan
+river, the south-eastern boundary of Nicaragua, away to the
+confines of Honduras on the north-west. I now propose to leave the
+central provinces, amongst which we have so long lingered, and to
+describe one of my journeys to those lying between the great lakes
+and the Pacific.
+
+Whilst the country to the north-east of the lakes is mostly
+composed of rocks, of great age, geologically, such as schists,
+quartzites, and old dolerytic rocks, with newer but still ancient
+trachytes, that to the south-west of them is formed principally of
+recent volcanic tufas and lavas, the irruption of which has not yet
+ceased. Most of the land, resulting from the decomposition of the
+tufas, is of extreme fertility; and, therefore, we find on the
+Pacific side of Nicaragua, indigo, coffee, sugar, cacao, and
+tobacco growing with the greatest luxuriance.
+
+Nicaragua is thus divided into three longitudinal zones. The most
+easterly is covered by a great unbroken forest; the principal
+products being india-rubber and mahogany. The central zone is
+composed of grassed savannahs, on which are bred cattle, mules, and
+horses. It is essentially a pasturage country, though much maize
+and a little sugar and indigo are grown in some parts. The western
+zone skirts the Pacific, and is a country of fertile soil, where
+all the cultivated plants and fruits of the tropics thrive
+abundantly; the rich, fat land might, indeed, with a little labour,
+be turned into a Garden of Eden.
+
+In the autumn of 1871, it became necessary for me to proceed to
+Granada to empower a lawyer there to act for us in a lawsuit in
+which we were engaged. Taking Velasquez and a servant with me, I
+rode over to Juigalpa on the 1st of November. We had intended to go
+by land to Granada, but we learnt that, through continued wet
+weather, much of the low land of the delta of the Malacatoya was
+impassable, so we determined to make for the lake, and try to get a
+boat to take us to Los Cocos, from which place there was a good
+road to Granada. We found at Juigalpa a Libertad storekeeper, named
+Senor Trinidad Ocon. He had already engaged a boat, and courteously
+offered, if we could not find one when we got to the lake, to give
+us a passage in his.
+
+We started from Juigalpa the next morning; and for the first few
+miles our road lay down by the river, a deep branch of which we
+crossed. The alluvial plains bordering the river were covered with
+fine, though short, grass, amongst which were some beautiful
+flowers. The orange and black "sisitote" (Icterus pectoralis, Wagl.
+) flew in small flocks amongst the bushes; and the "sanate"
+(Quiscalus) was busy amongst the cattle. Their usual plan of
+operations is for a pair of them to accompany one of the cattle,
+one on each side, watching for grasshoppers and other insects that
+are frightened up by the browsing animal. They keep near the head,
+and fly after the insects that break cover, but neither encroaches
+on the hunting ground of the other.
+
+We stopped at a little hacienda perched at the top of a small hill.
+It was called "El Candelera," and was a small cattle station,
+surrounded by plains. We then crossed the valley, and made for a
+range of hills between us and the lake. The ascent was steep and
+rocky; and it took us two hours to get to the top. We then saw the
+great lake, like a sea, lying spread out before us, but still at a
+considerable distance. The descent was very steep, and we had to
+make long detours to avoid precipitous ravines. At last we reached
+level ground; but it was even worse than the mountain roads to
+travel, being in many parts wet and swampy. After missing our way,
+and having to retrace our steps for more than a mile, we reached
+Santa Claro, a cattle hacienda, at dusk. Here we found Senor Ocon's
+boat, but there was no other. The boatmen said we must embark at
+once. We made an arrangement with a man who had accompanied Ocon to
+take our mules to San Ubaldo, as we proposed to return that way.
+The boat was small, and there were seven of us; so that with our
+saddles and luggage we were much cramped for room.
+
+They poled the boat for two miles down a small river that emptied
+into the lake, but just before we reached it, the boatmen stopped
+and said it was too rough to proceed that night, and
+notwithstanding our remonstrances they tied the boat to some
+bushes. Our cramped position was very irksome; the river was
+bordered by swamps, so that we could not land, and thousands of
+mosquitoes came about and rendered sleep impossible. About
+midnight, the moon rose, and two hours later we prevailed on the
+boatmen to set sail, but, notwithstanding their excuse about it
+being too rough, there was so little wind that we made slow
+progress. At eight we went on shore, where there was a hut built
+close by the lake below Masaya. The lake was flooded, and the water
+had been over the floor of the hut during the night. All around
+were swamps, and the mosquitoes were intolerable. We could buy no
+food at the miserable shanty, and soon set sail again. A little
+more wind afterwards springing up, we reached Los Cocos at eleven
+o'clock. There is a small village at this place, where we got
+breakfast cooked, and did justice to it. We hired horses to take us
+to Granada; but as the road for a league further on was overflown
+by the lake, we went on in the boat, and a boy took the horses
+round to meet us, swimming them across the worst places.
+
+Glad we were to get on horseback again, and to canter along a hard
+sandy road, instead of sitting cramped up in a little boat, with
+the sun's rays pouring down on us. The path led amongst the bushes,
+and was sometimes overflowed, but the soil was sandy, and there was
+no mud. All the beach was submerged, or we should have ridden along
+it. The last time I had passed by this part of the lake was in July
+1868. Then the waters of the lake were low, and we rode along the
+sandy beach, black in some parts with titanic iron sand. The beach
+resembled that of a sea-coast, with the waves rolling in upon it,
+and to the south-east the water extended to the horizon. Along the
+shore were strewn shells thrown up by the surf; and on examining
+them, I found them all to belong to well-known old-world
+genera--Unio, Planorbis, Ancylus, and Ampullari.
+
+On this journey, all the beach was, as I have said, covered with
+water, and I saw no shells; but in the pools on the road were
+water-beetles swimming about, and these showed a surprising
+resemblance to the water-beetles of Europe. Gyrinidae swam round
+and round in mazy circles; Dytiscidae came up to the surface for a
+moment, and dived down again to the depths below with a globule of
+air glistening like a diamond. Amongst the vegetation at the bottom
+and sides of the pools Hydrophilidae crawled about, just as in
+ponds in England. Not only were those familiars there, but they
+were represented by species belonging to the typical
+genera--Gyrinus, Colymbetes, and Hydrophilus. Over these pools flew
+dragon-flies, whose larval stages are passed in the water, closely
+resembling others all over the world. All the land fauna was
+strikingly different from that of other regions; but the water
+fauna was as strikingly similar.
+
+The sameness of fresh-water productions all over the globe is not
+confined to animal life, but extends to plants also. Alphonse de
+Candolle has remarked that in large groups of plants which have
+many terrestrial and only a few aquatic species the latter have a
+far wider distribution than the former. It is well known to
+botanists that many fresh-water and marsh plants have an immense
+range over continents, extending even to the most remote islands.*
+(* Darwin "Origin of Species" page 417.) The close affinities of
+fresh-water animals and plants have been noticed by many
+naturalists. Darwin saw with surprise, in Brazil, the similarity of
+the fresh-water insects, shells, etc., and the dissimilarity of the
+surrounding terrestrial beings compared with those of Britain.* (*
+Darwin "Origin of Species" page 414.) Dr. D. Sharp informs me that
+water-beetles undoubtedly present the same types all over the
+world. He believes there is no family of Coleoptera in which
+tropical or extra-tropical species so closely resemble one another
+as in the Dytiscidae. Cybister is found in Europe, Asia, Africa,
+Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and North America; and the species
+have a very wide range. Dr. Sharp remarks that this wide
+distribution and great similarity of the Dytiscidae is of special
+interest when we recollect that they are nothing but Carabidae
+fitted for swimming, and yet that the Carabidae are one of the
+groups in which the tropical members differ widely from the
+temperate ones.
+
+For following up this branch of inquiry the study of the
+distribution of the mollusca offers special advantages. There are
+numerous marine, fresh-water, and terrestrial species and genera.
+They are slow moving; they have not the means of transporting
+themselves great distances, like insects, for example, that may
+easily and often pass over arms of the sea, or fly from one country
+to another. Their shells are the commonest of fossils; and in
+islands such as Madeira and St. Helena, where we have abundant
+remains of extinct land shells, there are few, if any, of extinct
+animals of other classes or of plants.
+
+Taking the shells of Europe, we find a remarkable difference in the
+distribution of the land and fresh-water species. According to Mr.
+Lovell Reeve, who has specially studied this question, out of many
+hundreds of land mollusks inhabiting the Caucasian province at its
+centre in Hungary and Austria, only ninety extend to the British
+Isles, and of these thirty-five do not reach Scotland. Upwards of
+two hundred species of Clausilia are to be found in the centre of
+the province, and of these only four reach England, and only one
+Scotland. Out of five hundred and sixty species of Helix inhabiting
+the Caucasian province, there are but twenty-four in Britain.
+
+Whilst the distribution of the terrestrial mollusks of Europe is
+thus restricted in range, though the species are numerous, the
+fresh-water shells are few in species, but of wide distribution.
+Quoting again from Mr. Reeve:--Of the Lymnaeacea "there are not six
+species, it maybe safely stated, in all Europe, more than there are
+in Britain. They have no particular centre of creation. There is no
+evidence to show whether the alleged progenitors of our British
+species were created in Siberia, Hungary, or Tibet. There is
+scarcely any variation either in the form or number of the species
+in those remote localities. Of Planorbis scarcely more than fifteen
+species inhabit the whole Caucasian province, and we have eleven of
+them in Britain." "Of Physa and Lymnaea, it is extremely doubtful
+whether there are any species throughout the province more than we
+have in Britain. Neither of Ancylus, which lives attached,
+limpet-like, to sticks and stones, and has very limited facilities
+of migration, are there any species throughout the province more
+than we have in Britain."* (* Lovell Reeve "British Land and
+Fresh-Water Mollusks" page 225.)
+
+The wide distribution of species inhabiting fresh water compared
+with those living on land has not, as we have seen, escaped the
+comprehensive mind of Darwin, and in explanation of the fact, he
+has shown how fresh-water shells may be carried from pool to pool,
+or from one river or lake to others many miles distant, sticking to
+the feet of water-fowl, or to the elytra of water-beetles. Whilst
+the distribution of water-mollusks may be thus accounted for, the
+greater variety and more restricted range of the land species is
+not explained. They have at least equal means of dispersion,
+compared with the sluggish, mud-loving water-shells of our ponds
+and ditches. Why should the one have varied so much and the other
+so little? We might at first sight have expected the very reverse,
+on the theory of natural selection. In large lakes and in river
+systems isolated from others, we might look for the conditions most
+favourable for the variation of species, and for the preservation
+of the improved varieties.
+
+It is evident that there must have been less variation, or that the
+varieties that arose have not been preserved. I think it probable
+that the variation of fresh-water species of animals and plants has
+been constantly checked by the want of continuity of lakes and
+rivers in time and space. In the great oscillations of the surface
+of the earth, of which geologists find so many proofs, every
+fresh-water area has again and again been destroyed. It is not so
+with the ocean--it is continuous--and as one part was elevated and
+laid dry, the species could retreat to another. On the great
+continents the land has probably never been totally submerged at
+any one time; it also is continuous over great areas, and as one
+part became uninhabitable, the land species could in most cases
+retreat to another. But for the inhabitants of lakes and rivers
+there was no retreat, and whenever the sea overflowed the land,
+vast numbers of fresh-water species must have been destroyed. A
+fresh-water fauna gave place to a marine one, and the former was
+annihilated so far as that area was concerned. When the land again
+rose from below the sea, the marine fauna was not destroyed--it
+simply retired farther back.
+
+There is every reason to believe that the production of species is
+a slow process, and if fresh-water areas have not continued as a
+rule through long geological periods, we can see how variation has
+been constantly checked by the destruction, first in one part, then
+in another, of all the fresh-water species; and on these places
+being again occupied by fresh water they would be colonised by
+forms from other parts of the world. Thus species of restricted
+range were always exposed to destruction because their habitat was
+temporary and their retreat impossible, and only families of wide
+distribution could be preserved. Hence I believe it is that the
+types of fresh-water productions are few and world-wide, whilst the
+sea has mollusks innumerable, and the land great variety and wealth
+of species. This variety is in the ratio of the continuity of their
+habitats in time and space.
+
+It follows also, from the same reasoning, that old and widespread
+types are more likely to be preserved in fresh-water areas than on
+land or in the sea, for the destruction of wide-ranging species is
+effected more by the competition of improved varieties than by
+physical causes; so that when variation is most checked old forms
+will longest survive. Therefore I think it is that amongst fishes
+we find some old geological types still preserved in a few of the
+large rivers of the world.
+
+To illustrate more clearly the theory I have advanced, I will take
+a supposititious case. In the southern states of America there is
+reason to suppose that since the glacial period there has been a
+great variation in the species of the fresh-water mollusk genus
+Melania, and in different rivers there are distinct groups of
+species. Now let us suppose that the glacial period were to return,
+and that the icy covering, gradually thickening in the north,
+should push down southward as it did once before. The great lakes
+of North America would be again filled with ice, and their
+inhabitants destroyed. As the ice advanced southward, the
+inhabitants of one river-system after another would be annihilated,
+and many groups of Melania entirely destroyed. On the retreat of
+the ice again the rivers and lakes would reappear, but the
+varieties of animals that had been developed in them would not, and
+their places would be taken by aquatic forms from other areas, so
+that the number of species would be thereby greatly reduced, and
+wide-spreading forms would be freed from the competition of many
+improved varieties.
+
+Viewed in this light, the similarity of fresh-water productions all
+over the world, instead of being a difficulty in the way of the
+acceptance of the theory of natural selection, becomes a strong
+argument in favour of its truth; for we perceive that the number of
+marine, terrestrial, and freshwater animals is in proportion to the
+more or less continuous development that was possible under the
+different conditions under which they lived.
+
+The same line of argument might be used to explain the much greater
+variety in some classes of terrestrial animals than in others. The
+land has often been submerged in geological history, and the
+classes that were best fitted to escape the impending catastrophes
+would be most likely to preserve the varieties that had been
+developed. The atmosphere has always been continuous, and the
+animals that could use it as a highway had great advantages over
+those that could not, and so we find the slow-moving terrestrial
+mollusks few in number compared with the multitudinous hosts of
+strong-flying insects; similarly, the mammals are far outnumbered
+by the birds of the air, that can pass from island to island, and
+from country to country, unstopped by mighty rivers or wide arms of
+the sea.
+
+
+CHAPTER 19.
+
+Iguanas and lizards.
+Granada.
+Politics.
+Revolutions.
+Cacao cultivation.
+Masaya.
+The lake of Masaya.
+The volcano of Masaya.
+Origin of the lake basin.
+
+THE road passed along a sandy ridge only a little elevated above
+the waters of the lake, and the ground on both sides was submerged.
+As we travelled on we were often startled by hearing sudden plunges
+into the water not far from us, but our view was so obstructed by
+bushes that it was some time before we discovered the cause. At
+last we found that the noise was made by large iguana lizards, some
+of them three feet long, and very bulky, dropping from the branches
+of trees, on which they lay stretched, into the water. These
+iguanas are extremely ugly, but are said to be delicious eating,
+the Indians being very fond of them. The Carca Indians, who live in
+the forest seven miles from Santo Domingo, travel every year to the
+great lake to catch iguanas, which abound on the dry hills near it.
+They seize them as they lie on the branches of the trees, with a
+loop at the end of a long stick. They then break the middle toe of
+each foot, and tie the feet together, in pairs, by the broken toes,
+afterwards sewing up the mouth of the poor reptiles, and carrying
+them in this state back to their houses in the forest, where they
+are kept alive until required for food. The raccoon-like "pisoti"
+is also fond of them, but cannot so easily catch them. He has to
+climb every tree, and then, unless he can surprise them asleep,
+they drop from the branch to the ground and scuttle off to another
+tree. I once saw a solitary "pisoti" hunting for iguanas amongst
+some bushes near the lake where they were very numerous, but during
+the quarter of an hour that I watched him, he never caught one. It
+was like the game of "puss in the corner." He would ascend a small
+tree on which there were several; but down they would drop when he
+had nearly reached them, and rush off to another tree. Master
+"pisoti," however, seemed to take all his disappointments with the
+greatest coolness, and continued the pursuit unflaggingly.
+Doubtless experience had taught him that his perseverance would
+ultimately be rewarded: that sooner or later he would surprise a
+corpulent iguana fast asleep on some branch, and too late to drop
+from his resting-place. In the forest I always saw the "pisoti"
+hunting in large bands, from which an iguana would have small
+chance of escape, for some were searching along the ground whilst
+others ranged over the branches of the trees.
+
+Other tree-lizards also try to escape their enemies by dropping
+from great heights to the ground. I was once standing near a large
+tree, the trunk of which rose fully fifty feet before it threw off
+a branch, when a green Anolis dropped past my face to the ground,
+followed by a long green snake that had been pursuing it amongst
+the foliage above, and had not hesitated to precipitate itself
+after its prey. The lizard alighted on its feet and hurried away,
+the snake fell like a coiled-up watch-spring, and opened out
+directly to continue the pursuit; but, on the spur of the moment, I
+struck at it with a switch and prevented it. I regretted afterwards
+not having allowed the chase to continue and watched the issue, but
+I doubt not that the lizard, active as it was, would have been
+caught by the swift-gliding snake, as several specimens of the
+latter that I opened contained lizards.
+
+Lizards are also preyed upon by many birds, and I have taken a
+large one from the stomach of a great white hawk with its wings and
+tail barred with black (Leucopternis ghiesbreghti) that sits up on
+the trees in the forest quietly watching for them. Their means of
+defence are small, nor are they rapid enough in their movements to
+escape from their enemies by flight, and so they depend principally
+for their protection on their means of concealment. The different
+species of Anolis can change their colour from a bright green to a
+dark brown, and so assimilate themselves in appearance to the
+foliage or bark of trees on which they lie. Another tree-lizard,
+not uncommon on the banks of the rivers, is not only of a beautiful
+green colour, but has foliaceous expansions on its limbs and body,
+so that even when amongst the long grass it looks like a leafy
+shoot that has fallen from the trees above. I do not know of any
+lizard that enjoys impunity from attack by the secretion of any
+acrid or poisonous fluid from its skin, like the little red and
+blue frog that I have already described, but I was told of one that
+was said to be extremely venomous. As, however, besides the repute
+of giving off from the pores of its skin poisonous secretion, it
+was described to be of an inconspicuous brown colour, and to hide
+under logs, I should require some confirmation of the story by an
+experienced naturalist before believing it, for all my experience
+has led me to the opinion that any animal endowed with special
+means of protection from its enemies is always either conspicuously
+coloured, or in other ways attracts attention, and does not seek
+concealment.
+
+About four o'clock we reached the city of Granada, and, passing
+along some wide streets and across a large square, found the hotel
+of Monsieur Mestayer, where we engaged rooms for the night. The
+hotel, like most of the houses in the city, was built, in the
+Spanish style, around a large courtyard, in the centre of which was
+a flower-garden. Madame Mestayer was very fond of pets, and had
+macaws and parrots, a tame squirrel, a young white-faced monkey
+(Cebus albifrons), and several small long-haired Mexican dogs. I
+was interested in watching the monkey examining all the loose bark
+and curled-up leaves on a large fig-tree in search of insects. In
+this and other individuals of this species, a great variety of
+countenances could be distinguished, and I could easily have picked
+my own monkey out of all the others I have seen by the expression
+of its face. I was told that the one in the garden at Monsieur
+Mestayer's did not touch the figs on the tree, and I believe it;
+the Cebus is much more of an animal than a vegetable feeder, whilst
+the spider-monkeys (Ateles) live principally on fruits.
+
+Granada was entirely burnt down by Walker and his filibusters in
+1856, and the present city is built on the ruins of that founded by
+Hernandez de Cordova in 1522. The streets are well laid out at
+right angles to each other, and there are many large churches, some
+of them in ruins. In one of the latter a company of mountebanks
+performed every evening, and the circumstance did not seem to
+excite surprise or comment.
+
+The streets are built in terraces, quite level for about fifty
+yards, then with a steep-paved declivity leading to another level
+portion. One has to be careful in riding down from one level to
+another, as horses and mules are very liable to slip on the smooth
+pavement. The houses are built of "adobe" or sun-dried brick. The
+walls are plastered and whitewashed, and the roofs and floors
+tiled. They are mostly of one storey, and the rooms surrounding the
+courtyards have doors opening both to the inside and to the street.
+
+There are no factories in Granada, but many wholesale stores, kept
+by merchants, who import goods from England and the United States,
+and export the produce of the country--indigo, hides, coffee,
+cacao, sugar, india-rubber, etc. Many of these merchants are very
+wealthy; but all deal retail as well as wholesale; and the reputed
+wealthiest man of the town asked me if I did not want to buy a few
+boxes of candles. The highest ambition of every one seems to be to
+keep a shop, excepting when the revolutionary fever breaks out
+about every seven or eight years, when, for a few months, business
+is at a stand-still, and the population is divided into two
+parties, alternately pursuing and being pursued, but seldom
+engaging in a real battle.
+
+There was one of these outbreaks whilst I was in Nicaragua, and the
+whole country was in a state of civil war for more than four
+months, nearly all the able-bodied men being drafted into the
+armies that were raised, but I believe there were not a score of
+men killed on the field of battle during the whole time; the town
+of Juigalpa was taken and retaken without any one receiving a
+scratch. The usual course pursued was for the two armies to
+manoeuvre about until one thought it was weaker than the other,
+when it immediately took to flight. Battles were decided without a
+shot being fired, excepting after one side had run away.
+
+Of patriotism I never saw a symptom in Central America, nothing but
+selfish partisanship, willing at any moment to set the country in a
+state of war if there was only a prospect of a little spoil. The
+states of Central America are republics in name only; in reality,
+they are tyrannical oligarchies. They have excellent constitutions
+and laws on paper, but both their statesmen and their judges are
+corrupt; with some honourable exceptions, I must admit, but not
+enough to stem the current of abuse. Of real liberty there is none.
+The party in power is able to control the elections, and to put
+their partisans into all the municipal and other offices. Some of
+the Presidents have not hesitated to throw their political
+opponents into prison at the time of an election, and I heard of
+one well-authenticated instance where an elector was placed,
+uncovered, in the middle of one of the plazas, with his arms
+stretched out to their full extent and each thumb thrust down into
+the barrel of an upright musket, and kept a few hours in the
+blazing sun until he agreed to vote according to the wish of the
+party in power. A change of rulers can only be effected by a
+so-called revolution; with all the machinery of a republic, the
+will of the people can only be known by the issue of a civil war.
+
+With high-sounding phrases of the equality of man, the lower orders
+are kept in a state almost approaching to serfdom. The poor Indians
+toil and spin, and cultivate the ground, being almost the only
+producers. Yet in the revolutionary outbreaks they are driven about
+like cattle, and forced into the armies that are raised. Central
+America declared its independence of Spain in 1823, and constituted
+itself a republic, under the name of the United States of Central
+America. The confederacy, which consisted of Guatemala, San
+Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, was broken up in
+1840, when each of the States became an independent republic. Ever
+since, revolutionary outbreaks have been periodical, and the
+States, with the exception of Costa Rica, have steadily decreased
+in wealth and produce.
+
+It would be ungenerous of me, in this condemnation of the political
+parties of Central America, not to state that there are many
+individuals who view with alarm and shame the decadence of their
+country. Such, however, is the state of public opinion, that their
+voices are unheard, or listened to with indifference. There seems
+to be some radical incapacity in the Latin races to comprehend what
+we consider true political economy. The will of the majority is not
+the law of the land, but the will of the strongest in arms. They
+cannot understand that a republic has no more divine right than a
+monarchy; that a country having an hereditary sovereign at its
+head, if it is governed in consonance with the wishes of the
+greatest number of its inhabitants, is freer than a republic where
+a minority rules by force of arms. They make a principle out of
+what is a mere detail of government--whether the chief of the state
+be elective or hereditary--but the fundamental principle of good
+government, namely, that the will of the majority shall be the law
+of the land, is trampled under foot and treated as the dream of an
+enthusiast.
+
+The environs of Granada are very pretty; it is situated only a mile
+from the lake, and a few miles lower down the sleeping volcano of
+Mombacho juts boldly out, rising to a height of nearly 5000 feet,
+and clothed to the very summit with dark perennial verdure. The
+cacao of Granada and Rivas is said to be amongst the finest grown,
+and there are many large plantations of it. The wild cacao grows in
+the forests of the Atlantic slope, and when cultivated it still
+requires shade to thrive luxuriantly. This is provided at first by
+plantain trees, afterwards by the coral tree, a species of
+Erythrina, called by the natives Cacao madre, or the Cacao's
+mother, on account of the fostering shade it affords the cacao
+tree. The coral tree rises to a height of about forty feet, and
+when in flower, at the beginning of April, is one mass of bright
+crimson flowers, fairly dazzling the eyes of the beholder when the
+sun is shining on it.
+
+One of the principal courts of law is held at Granada, and whilst
+we were there a priest was being tried for having seduced his own
+niece. He was afterwards convicted, and, to show the moral
+torpidity of the people, I may mention that his only punishment was
+banishment to Greytown, where he appeared to mix in Nicaraguan
+society as if he had not a spot on his character.
+
+Having finished our business in Granada, we started for Masaya,
+where I wished to consult a lawyer, Senor Rafael Blandino, who most
+deservedly bears a very high character in Nicaragua for probity and
+ability. We had a difficulty in obtaining horses, and did not get
+away until noon. The road was a good one, having been made by the
+late President, Senor Fernando Guzman, who seems to have done what
+little lay in his power to develop the resources of the country.
+The soil was entirely composed of volcanic tufas, and was covered
+with fine grass; but there were no springs or brooks, all the
+moisture sinking into the porous ground. Lizards were numerous, and
+on damp spots on the road there were many fine butterflies, most of
+them of different species from those of Chontales.
+
+At four o'clock we entered Masaya, and passed down a long road
+bordered with Indian huts and gardens. The town is said to contain
+about 15,000 inhabitants, nine-tenths of whom are Indians. It
+covers a great space of ground, as the Indian houses are each
+surrounded by a garden or orchard; they stand back from the road,
+and are almost hidden amongst the trees. There was no water when I
+visited Masaya, excepting what was brought up from the lake which
+lies more than 300 feet below the town, surrounded, excepting on
+the western side, by precipitous cliffs, down which three or four
+rocky paths have been cut. Up these, all day long, and most of the
+night, women and girls are carrying water in Indian earthenware
+gourd-shaped jars, which they balance on cushions on their heads,
+or sling in nets on their backs. No men, or boys above ten years of
+age, carry water, and the women seemed to have all the labour to
+do. I believe it would have been impossible to find ten men at work
+in Masaya at any one time.
+
+I spent the next day exploring around Masaya, as I was greatly
+interested with the geological structure of the country. One of the
+paths down to the lake has been made passable for animals taken
+down to drink. I rode my horse down, but in the steepest part he
+slipped on to his side, and I was content to lead him the rest of
+the way. The scene was one which is only possible in a
+half-civilised tropical land. Women, with the scantiest of
+clothing, or less, were washing linen, standing up to their waists
+in the water amongst the rocks, on which they thumped the clothes
+to be cleansed; laughing and chatting to each other incessantly.
+Men with mules and horses were bathing themselves and their animals
+at a small sandy beach, and girls were carrying off great jars of
+water, which they obtained further down, where the water was less
+tainted with the ablutions. Great rocks, that had fallen from the
+cliffs above, lined the shore; and amongst these grew many shrubs
+and plants new to me. The cliffs themselves were, in some parts,
+green with lovely maidenhair ferns, belonging to three different
+species.
+
+(PLATE 24. GEOLOGICAL SECTION AT MASAYA. STRATA AT MASAYA.)
+
+On the opposite shore rises the cone of the volcano of Masaya, and
+the streams of lava that have flowed down to the lake and covered
+the old precipitous cliffs on that side are plainly visible. The
+cliff encircles the whole lake, excepting where concealed by the
+recent lava overflow. At the time of the conquest of Nicaragua, in
+1522, the volcano of Masaya was in a state of activity. The
+credulous Spaniards believed the fiery molten mass at the bottom of
+the crater to be liquid gold, and through great danger, amongst the
+smoke and fumes, were lowered down it until, with an iron chain and
+bucket, they could reach the fiery mass, when the bucket was melted
+from the chain, and the intrepid explorers were drawn up half dead
+from amongst the fumes. Since then there have been several
+eruptions; and so late as 1857 it threw out volumes of smoke, and
+probably ashes. The whole country is volcanic. For scores of miles
+every rock is trachytic, and the earth decomposing tufas.
+
+The lake itself is like an immense crater with its perpendicular
+cliffs. I spent some time in making an accurate section of the
+strata as exposed in the rocky paths leading down to the water. The
+whole section exposed is 348 feet in height from the surface of the
+lake to the top of the undulating plain on which Masaya is built.
+This measurement was kindly given to me by Mr. Simpson, an
+enterprising American engineer engaged in erecting a steam-pump to
+raise the water for the supply of the town. At the bottom are seen
+great cliffs of massive trachyte (Number 1 in section). Above this
+is an ash bed, then a bed of breccia containing fragments of
+trachyte, then another bed of cinders, which looks like a rough
+sandstone, but is pisolitic, and contains pebbles of the size of a
+bean. This bed is surmounted by one that possesses great interest
+(Number 5 in section). It is composed of fine tufa, in which is
+imbedded a great number of large angular fragments of trachyte,
+some of which are more than three feet in diameter. It is the last
+bed but one, the surface being composed of lightly coherent strata
+of tufaceous ash, worn into an undulating surface by the action of
+the elements.
+
+I believe there is but one explanation possible of the origin of
+these strata, namely, that the great bed of trachyte at the base is
+an ancient lava bed; that this, perhaps long after it was
+consolidated, was covered by beds of ashes and scoriae thrown out
+by a not far distant volcano, and that at last a great convulsion
+broke through the trachyte bed and hurled the fragments over the
+country along with dense volumes of dust and ashes. The angular
+blocks of trachyte imbedded in the stratum Number 5 in section are
+exactly the same in composition as the great bed below, and in them
+I think we see the fragments of the rocks that once filled the
+perpendicular-sided hollow now occupied by the lake. Looking at the
+vast force required to hollow out the basin of the lake, by
+blasting out the whole contents into the air--distributing them
+over the country so that they have not been piled up in a volcanic
+cone round the vent, but lie in comparatively level beds--I cannot
+expect that this explanation will be readily received, nor should I
+myself have advanced it if I could in any other way account for the
+phenomena. Still, within historical times, there have been volcanic
+outbursts, not of such magnitude, certainly, as was required to
+excavate the basin of the lake of Masaya, but still of sufficient
+extent to show that such an origin is not beyond the limits of
+possibility.
+
+Thus, in the same line of volcanic energy, not far from the
+boundary line of the States of Nicaragua and San Salvador, there
+was an eruption of the volcano of Cosaguina, on the 20th of January
+1835, when dense volumes of dust and ashes, and fragments of rocks,
+were hurled up in the air and deposited over the country around.
+The vast quantity of material thrown out by this explosion may be
+gathered from the fact that, one hundred and twenty miles away,
+near the volcano of San Miguel, the dust was so thick that it was
+quite dark from four o'clock in the evening until nearly noon of
+the next day; and even at that distance there was deposited a layer
+of fine ashes four inches deep. The noise of the explosion was
+heard at the city of Guatemala, four hundred miles to the westward,
+and at Jamaica, eight hundred miles to the north-east.
+
+In St. Vincent, in the West Indies, there was a great eruption on
+April 27th, 1812, which continued for three days, and was heard six
+hundred and thirty miles away on the llanos of Caracas. It has been
+so graphically narrated by Canon Kingsley that I shall once more
+quote from his eloquent pages. "That single explosion relieved an
+interior pressure upon the crust of the earth which had agitated
+sea and land from the Azores to the West Indian Islands, the coasts
+of Venezuela, the Cordillera of New Granada, and the valleys of the
+Mississippi and Ohio. For nearly two years the earthquakes had
+continued, when they culminated in one great tragedy, which should
+be read at length in the pages of Humboldt. On March 26th, 1812,
+when the people of Caracas were assembled in the churches, beneath
+a still and blazing sky, one minute of earthquake sufficed to bury,
+amid the ruins of the churches and houses, nearly ten thousand
+souls. The same earthquake wrought terrible destruction along the
+whole line of the northern Cordilleras, and was felt even at Santa
+Fe de Bogota and Honda, one hundred and eighty leagues from
+Caracas. But the end was not yet. While the wretched survivors of
+Caracas were dying of fever and starvation, and wandering inland to
+escape from ever-renewed earthquake shocks, among villages and
+farms which, ruined like their own city, could give them no
+shelter, the almost forgotten volcano of St. Vincent was muttering
+in suppressed wrath. It had thrown out no lava since 1718, if, at
+least, the eruption spoken of by Moreau de Jonnes took place in the
+Souffriere. According to him, with a terrific earthquake, clouds of
+ashes were driven into the air, with violent detonations from a
+mountain situated at the eastern end of the island. When the
+eruption had ceased, it was found that the whole mountain had
+disappeared. Now there is no eastern end to St. Vincent nor any
+mountain on the east coast, and the Souffriere is at the northern
+end. It is impossible, meanwhile, that the wreck of such a mountain
+should not have left traces visible and notorious to this day. May
+not the truth be, that the Souffriere had once a lofty cone, which
+was blasted away in 1718, leaving the present crater-ring of cliffs
+and peaks; and that thus may be explained the discrepancies in the
+accounts of its height, which Mr. Scrope gives as 4940 feet, and
+Humboldt and Dr. Davy at 3000, a measurement which seems to me to
+be more probably correct? The mountain is said to have been
+slightly active in 1785. In 1812, its old crater had been for some
+years (and is now) a deep blue lake, with walls of rock around, 800
+feet in height, reminding one traveller (Dr. Davy) of the lake of
+Albano. But for twelve months it had given warning, by frequent
+earthquake shocks, that it had its part to play in the great
+subterranean battle between rock and steam; and on the 27th April
+1812 the battle began."
+
+"A Negro boy--he is said to be still alive in St. Vincent--was
+herding cattle on the mountain-side. A stone fell near him, and
+then another. He fancied that other boys were pelting him from the
+cliffs above, and began throwing stones in return. But the stones
+fell thicker, and among them one and then another too large to have
+been thrown by human hand. And the poor fellow woke up to the fact
+that not a boy but the mountain was throwing stones at him; and
+that the column of black cloud which was rising from the crater
+above was not harmless vapours, but dust, and ash, and stone. He
+turned and ran for his life, leaving the cattle to their fate,
+while the steam mitrailleuse of the Titans--to which all man's
+engines of destruction are but pop-guns--roared on for three days
+and nights, covering the greater part of the island with ashes,
+burying crops, breaking branches off the trees, and spreading ruin
+from which several estates never recovered; and so the 30th of
+April dawned in darkness which might be felt.
+
+"Meanwhile, on the same day, to change the scene of the campaign
+two hundred and ten leagues, 'a distance,' as Humboldt says, 'equal
+to that between Vesuvius and Paris,' the inhabitants, not only of
+Caracas, but of Calabozo, situate in the midst of the llanos, over
+a space of four thousand square leagues, were terrified by a
+subterranean noise, which resembled frequent discharges of the
+loudest cannon. It was accompanied by no shock, and, what is very
+remarkable, was as loud on the coast as at eighty leagues inland;
+and at Caracas, as well as at Calabozo, preparations were made to
+put the place in defence against an enemy who seemed to be
+advancing with heavy artillery. They might as well have copied the
+St. Vincent herd-boy, and thrown their stones, too, at the Titans;
+for the noise was, there can be no doubt, nothing else than the
+final explosion in St. Vincent far away. The same explosion was
+heard in Venezuela, the same at Martinique and Guadeloupe; but
+there, too, there were no earthquake shocks. The volcanoes of the
+two French islands lay quiet, and left their English brother to do
+the work. On the same day, a stream of lava rushed down from the
+mountain, reached the sea in four hours, and then all was over. The
+earthquakes which had shaken for two years a sheet of the earth's
+surface larger than half Europe was stilled by the eruption of this
+single vent.
+
+"The strangest fact about this eruption was, that the mountain did
+not make use of its old crater. The original vent must have become
+so jammed and consolidated, in the few years between 1785 and 1812,
+that it could not be reopened even by a steam-force the vastness of
+which may be guessed at from the vastness of the area which it had
+shaken for two years. So when the eruption was over it was found
+that the old crater-lake, incredible as it may seem, remained
+undisturbed, as far as has been ascertained. But close to it, and
+separated only by a knife-edge of rock some 700 feet in height, and
+so narrow that, as I was assured by one who had seen it, it is
+dangerous to crawl along it, a second crater, nearly as large as
+the first, had been blasted out, the bottom of which, in like
+manner, is now filled with water.
+
+"The day after the explosion, 'Black Sunday,' gave a proof, but no
+measure, of the enormous force which had been exerted. Eighty miles
+to windward lies Barbados. All Saturday a heavy cannonading had
+been heard to the eastward. The English and French fleets were
+surely engaged. The soldiers were called out, the batteries manned,
+but the cannonade died away, and all went to bed in wonder. On the
+1st of May the clocks struck six; but the sun did not, as usual in
+the tropics, answer to the call. The darkness was still intense,
+and grew more intense as the morning wore on. A slow and silent
+rain of impalpable dust was falling over the whole island.
+
+"The trade-wind had fallen dead; the everlasting roar of the surf
+was gone; and the only noise was the crashing of the branches
+snapped by the weight of the clammy dust. About one o'clock the
+veil began to lift, a lurid sunlight stared in from the horizon,
+but all was black overhead. Gradually the dust-cloud drifted away;
+the island saw the sun once more, and saw itself inches deep in
+black, and in this case fertilising, dust.
+
+"Those who will recollect that Barbados is eighty miles to windward
+of St. Vincent, and that a strong breeze from east-north-east is
+usually blowing from the former island to the latter, will be able
+to imagine, not to measure, the force of an explosion which must
+have blown the dust several miles into the air above the region of
+the trade-wind. Whether into a totally calm stratum or into that
+still higher one in which the heated south-west wind is hurrying
+continually from the tropics toward the pole."* (* "At Last" by
+Charles Kingsley volume 1 page 90.)
+
+I have quoted this graphic account of the great volcanic eruption
+of St. Vincent in 1812 from Canon Kingsley's delightful work to
+impress on my readers, in more eloquent language than I can
+command, the fact of great explosions having taken place in recent
+times similar in character, though much inferior in extent and
+force, to that by which I believe the great basin of the Lake of
+Masaya and similar basins in the same and adjoining Pacific
+provinces have been blasted out. I do not shut my eyes to the fact
+that great as was the force in operation in 1812 at St. Vincent,
+that necessary to excavate the great chasm at Masaya was
+incomparably greater. No one is more disinclined than I am to
+invoke the aid of greater natural forces in former times than are
+now in existence. But I believe there is good reason to infer that
+at the close of the glacial period volcanic energy was much more
+intense than now. So strained is the earth's crust at some parts
+that it is surmised that even a great difference in the pressure of
+the atmosphere such as occurs during a cyclone, may be sufficient
+to bring on an earthquake or a volcanic eruption already imminent.
+Whether this be so or not, there can be no doubt that at the
+melting away of the ice of the glacial period there was an enormous
+change in the strains on the earth's crust. Ice that had been piled
+up mountains high at the poles and along the chain of the Andes all
+through tropical America melted away and ran down to the ocean
+beds. This great transference of weight could not have been
+accomplished without many rendings of the earth's crust and many
+outpourings of lava and volcanic outbursts. Let us reflect, too,
+that not only was an enormous mass of matter, before lying over the
+poles, removed nearer to the equator, and many mountain-chains
+relieved of the ice of thousands and tens of thousands of years,
+but that there must have been an actual change in the earth's
+centre of gravity. All our experience shows that the ice was more
+developed on some meridians than others; probably nowhere in the
+whole world did it lie so thick as along the American continents;
+and everywhere it must have been greater over the land than over
+the sea. When it assumed its liquid form, and arranged itself
+freely according to its specific gravity, the centre of gravity of
+the earth must have been effectively changed. All who have studied
+the present statical condition of the earth's crust will readily
+admit that such a change might produce greater volcanic outbursts
+than any known to history.
+
+Then when we turn to the most ancient traditions of the human race
+in both the old and the new worlds, and find everywhere fire and
+water linked together in the accounts of the great catastrophes
+that are said nearly to have annihilated the human race, I for one
+am inclined to accept them, and to believe that when, in the "Leo
+Amontli," as translated by Brasseur de Bourbourg, we read of "the
+volcanic convulsions that lasted four days and four nights," of
+"the thunder and lightning that came out of the sea," of "the
+mountains that were rising and sinking when the great deluge
+happened," and that when Plato on the other side of the Atlantic
+speaks of the earthquakes that accompanied the engulfment of
+Atlantis, we hear the dim echoes that have been sounding down
+through all time from that remote past, of the fearful volcanoes
+and earthquakes that terrified mankind at the time of the great
+cataclysm.
+
+In these remarks on the origin of some of the lakes of Nicaragua I
+except the largest ones, namely, the lake of Managua and the great
+lake of Nicaragua, which probably occupy areas of depression
+produced by the large amount of material abstracted from below and
+thrown out by ancient volcanoes.
+
+
+CHAPTER 20.
+
+Indian population of the country lying between the great lakes
+   of Nicaragua and the Pacific.
+Discovery and conquest of Nicaragua by the Spaniards.
+Cruelties of the Spaniards.
+The Indians of Western Central America all belonged to one stock.
+Decadence of Mexican civilisation before the arrival of the Spaniards.
+The designation "Nahuatls" proposed to include all the Mexican,
+   Western Central American, and Peruvian races that had descended
+   from the same ancient stock.
+The Nahuatls distinct from the Caribs on one side and the Red Indians
+   on the other.
+Discussion of the question of the peopling of America.
+
+I RODE for some distance around the Lake of Masaya, and reached an
+Indian village named Nandasme, about two leagues from the city. As
+usual the streets were laid out at right angles, and the houses of
+the Indians embowered in trees, many of which are grown entirely
+for the beautiful odoriferous flowers they produce. There are
+several other Indian villages around the lake, from each of which
+paths have been cut through the forest down to the water, along
+which the women are constantly ascending and descending to fill
+their vessels for the supply of their houses.
+
+All the fertile country lying between the great lakes and the
+Pacific was densely populated at the time of the conquest, and it
+was not far from Masaya that the great chief, Diriangan, lived, who
+tried, but tried in vain, to stem the onward course of the
+Spaniards. Gil Gonzales de Avila was in command of the first
+expedition sent to explore the country of Nicaragua. He sailed from
+Panama with one hundred followers and four horses, the latter,
+auxiliaries whose aid was never dispensed with in these expeditions
+on account of the superstitious terror with which the unaccustomed
+sight of a man and a horse, apparently joined together, inspired
+the Indians. He landed somewhere on the Gulf of Nicoya, near which
+he entered the country of a powerful chief, after whom the gulf was
+named. Nicoya entertained the Spaniards courteously, supplied them
+with food, and embraced the Christian religion, being baptised
+himself along with all his people, six thousand in number.
+
+Pushing on to the northward for fifty leagues, Gonzales entered the
+territories of a great chief named Nicaragua, whose country
+comprised the present province of Rivas. Nicaragua had been
+informed of "the sharpness of the Spanish swords" and received
+Gonzales with hospitality, presenting him with much gold, equal to
+"25,000 pieces of eight," and garments and plumes of feathers. He
+asked the Spaniards many shrewd questions: about the flood, and
+about the sun, moon, and stars; their motion, quality, and
+distance; what was the cause of night and day and the blowing of
+the winds? how the Spaniards got all their information about
+heaven; who brought it to them, and if the messenger came down on a
+rainbow? We are told that "Gonzales answered to the best of his
+ability, commending the rest to God." Probably his interrogator
+knew more of the visible heavenly bodies than he did, for Nicaragua
+was of the Aztec race, a people who knew the true theory of
+eclipses, and possessed an astronomical calendar of great accuracy.
+
+Pedrarias, who was then in command at Panama, stimulated by the
+accounts of the rich country that Gonzales had discovered, sent
+Hernando de Cordova in 1522 to subdue and settle the country of
+Nicaragua. Pascual de Andagoya tells the story of the rich land,
+"populous and fertile, yielding supplies of maize, and many fowls
+of the country, and certain small dogs which they also eat, and
+many deer and fish. This is a land of abundance of good fruits and
+of honey and wax, wherewith all the neighbouring countries are
+supplied. The bees are numerous, some of them yellow, and these do
+not sting." The poor Indians, too, could not sting, they were
+powerless with their coats of feathers and swords of stone against
+the arms of the Spaniards, who treated them like a hive of
+stingless bees, turning them out and eating up their riches. "They
+had a great quantity of cotton cloths, and they held their markets
+in the open squares, where they traded. They had a manufactory
+where they made cordage of a sort of nequen, which is like carded
+flax; the cord was beautiful and stronger than that of Spain, and
+their cotton canvas was excellent. The Indians were very civilised
+in their way of life, like those of Mexico, for they were a people
+who had come from that country, and they had nearly the same
+language."
+
+They had even in one direction reached a pitch of civilisation that
+some of our philanthropists are only now hoping for. Women's rights
+were acknowledged, and, if anything, they appear to have had too
+much of them. Pascual says: "They had many beautiful women. The
+husbands were so much under subjection that if they made their
+wives angry they were turned out of doors, and the wives even
+raised their hands against them."* (* This and the other quotation
+are from the "Narrative of Pascual de Andagoya" translated by C.R.
+Markham for the Hakluyt Society.) Much have the Indians changed
+since then under the dominion of the Spaniard, and now all the toil
+and labour fall to the lot of the weaker sex. One custom still
+remaining amongst the Masaya Indians may be a relic of the old days
+of woman's superiority. When they marry, the goods that the wife
+had before her marriage still belong to her, and if she had a mule
+or horse, and her husband had none, he cannot use hers without her
+permission.
+
+The poor Indians were ground down to the dust by the Spaniards with
+pitiless barbarities. All their possessions were seized, and they
+themselves exported to Panama and Peru, and sold as slaves to work
+at the mines. Even in Pascual's time the country had been greatly
+depopulated by these means. The people were harmless and patient,
+but there was a noble independence about them that could not be
+eradicated, and the Spaniards found it was cheaper to bring the
+negro from Africa, with his light and careless nature, than to try
+to enslave a people who did not resist, but who sought a refuge
+from their persecutors in the grave rather than continue in
+slavery. I shall not harrow the feelings of my readers with the
+mass of treachery, avarice, blasphemy, and horrible cruelties with
+which the conquerors rewarded the noble people who entertained them
+so courteously. To me the conquest of Mexico, Central America, and
+Peru appears one of the darkest pages in modern history. One virtue
+indeed shone out--undaunted courage; and the human mind is so
+constituted that this single redeeming point irresistibly enlists
+our sympathies. But for this, Pizarro would be execrated as a
+monster of cruelty, and even the fame of Cortez, immeasurably
+superior as he was to the rest of the conquerors, would be
+tarnished with innumerable deeds of violence, cruelty, and
+treachery.
+
+As has been already mentioned, the Pacific provinces of Nicaragua
+were inhabited by a people closely related to the Mexicans, and
+their language was nearly the same. According to Squier, who has
+more than any other traveller studied the different races, the
+Indians living at the island of Omotepec at the present time are of
+pure Mexican or Aztec stock. So many of the names of towns in the
+central provinces are also of Aztec origin, that they must have had
+a considerable footing there also. They called the older
+inhabitants, whom they had probably dispossessed and driven back to
+the interior, "Chontalli," "barbarians," and hence the name of the
+province of Chontales, where these tribes still existed in
+considerable numbers at the time of the conquest.
+
+All these races, differing as they did in language and in the
+degree of civilisation at which they had arrived, were closely
+affiliated.* (* According to Prescott the Aztecs and cognate races
+believed their ancestors came from the north-west, and were
+preceded by the real civilisers--the Toltecs.) The American
+archaeologist, Mr. John D. Baldwin, is of opinion that they were
+the descendants of indigenes. That at some very remote period,
+before they had attained a high degree of civilisation, they
+separated into two branches, one of which occupied Peru, the other
+Central America and Mexico. Both branches advanced greatly in
+civilisation, and both afterwards deteriorated by being conquered
+by ruder but more warlike people belonging to the same stock. From
+Mexico the ancient people spread northward and southward. The
+northern emigrants peopled the banks of the Mississippi, and were
+the mound-builders. The southern emigrants peopled Central America.
+Then came an immigration from the far north-west, of nomadic tribes
+from north-eastern Asia, who drove out the mound-builders. The
+latter retreated back to Mexico, that their fathers had left ages
+before, and were the ancient Toltecs. Later on, the Aztecs, who
+were the southern branch of the ancient Mexicans, invaded Mexico
+from the south, and supplanted the Toltecs. Another branch of the
+same ancient stock were the Mayas of Yucatan.* (* "Ancient America"
+by J.D. Baldwin, A.M.)
+
+Looking then far back we have, according to the old traditions, a
+few people who had escaped a great cataclysm, when fire and water
+both fought against mankind; remnants perhaps of many tribes, who,
+when the lowlands were overwhelmed, escaped to the mountains,
+speaking a variety of languages, and bringing with them some
+remembrances of the civilisation of their ancient homes. They
+increased and multiplied in their new abodes. Some in Mexico, some
+in Yucatan, and others in Peru arrived at a great pitch of
+civilisation. Ages passed away, they had developed into several
+distinct peoples, all showing traces of their common descent, but
+having branched off in different directions in their lines of
+progress; all underlaid by a few great principles: in their
+religion, by the worship of the heavenly bodies; in their
+government, by complete and absolute obedience to their kings and
+leaders; in their mode of life all agriculturists and dwellers in
+regular towns and villages. They spread northward and occupied the
+valley of the Mississippi, and in summer time sent off large bodies
+of workmen to extract the copper of Lake Superior. Then came the
+nomadic tribes from the north-west, the Red Indians of the present
+day, and drove out the mound-builders, who were turned back on
+their ancient home, of which they had lost all recollection, and
+where they appeared as immigrants and invaders. In the subjugation
+of the ancient Choluans by the Toltecs, and afterwards the Toltecs
+by the Aztecs, we see what has often occurred in the world's
+history--a highly civilised race conquered by a ruder people, who
+had advanced farther in the arts of war, and so overcame the people
+who had advanced farther in the arts of peace. Therefore the
+Choluans were replaced by the more warlike Toltecs, the Toltecs by
+the ruder Aztecs, and those who look at the miserable towns and
+villages of the present inhabitants alongside of the ruins of the
+grand edifices, the roads and aqueducts of ancient Mexico and Peru,
+may say, the Aztecs by the less civilised Spaniards.
+
+The term Brown Indians has been proposed to distinguish the races
+of Mexico, Central and South America, from the Red Indians of the
+north; but it is a too general term, as it includes not only the
+highly-civilised Aztecs, Mayas, and Peruvians, but the much ruder
+Caribs of the eastern coasts of South America and the Antilles, who
+were widely removed from them in race and language. Squier has
+proposed the term Nahuatls for the people of Mexico and Central
+America, and if it might be strained to include the Peruvians also,
+and all the peoples descended from that ancient civilised race that
+had spread northward and southward, it would supply a want that I
+have greatly felt in studying these peoples. The Nahuatls--I use
+the term in this extended sense--are one of three great Indian
+races that occupy the greater part of North and South America. They
+had the Red Indians to the north of them, the savage Caribs to the
+south-east. From both these races they were profoundly different,
+though not in equal degrees. To the Red Indian they have scarcely
+any affinity, excepting such as had been brought about by the
+nomads, who came down from the north-west, taking the women of the
+Nahuatls, whom they conquered, for their wives, and thus bringing
+about some points of structural resemblance, such as are to be seen
+in a lesser degree in the citizens of the United States, through
+whose veins the blood of the half-breeds of the earlier settlements
+still courses. In Florida, and around the northern side of the Gulf
+of Mexico, there had probably been a greater fusion of the two
+races. But in origin the two peoples are distinct; the one came
+from north-eastern Asia, the other, I believe, from a tropical
+country joined on to the present continent, that was submerged at
+the breaking up of the glacial period.
+
+Was that country to the east or the west of the present continent?
+Was it Atlantis, or was it a submerged country in the Pacific? I am
+inclined to the latter opinion, and to believe that the inhabitants
+of ancient Atlantis were the ancestors of the warlike and
+adventurous Caribs. The Nahuatls, in their peaceful dispositions
+and agricultural pursuits, are much more nearly allied to the
+Polynesians, and their present preponderance on the western coast
+favours the idea that they had a western origin.* (* I have already
+at page 46 alluded to the fundamental difference in the food of the
+Nahuatls and the Caribs.)
+
+The Caribs, who were found in possession of most of the West Indian
+Islands, and of the eastern coast of South America, were a warlike,
+fierce, and enterprising race. Even in Columbus's time they were
+found making long voyages to ravage the villages of the
+peace-loving Nahuatls. If there be any truth in the story told to
+Solon by the priests of Sais, they are a much more likely people to
+have invaded the countries around the Mediterranean than the
+Nahuatls. What seems foreign in the customs and beliefs of the
+latter appears to have come from the west--from China and
+Japan--whilst there are some few points of affinity between the
+Caribs and the peoples of Europe and Africa. Thus, Mr. Hyde Clarke
+states that the greater part of Brazil is covered by the Guarani or
+Tupi languages, which are allied to the Agaw of the Nile region,
+the Abkass of Caucasia, etc.
+
+There is one singular custom amongst the Carib races of America,
+and amongst some ancient peoples in Asia, Europe, and Africa, the
+existence of which on both sides of the Atlantic cannot, I think,
+be explained excepting on the theory that there was a remote
+intercourse or affinity amongst the peoples who practised it. I
+allude to the singular custom of the "couvade," in which the father
+is put to bed on the birth of a child. I take the following account
+of this curious practice from Mr. Tylor's philosophical "Early
+History of Mankind".
+
+The couvade is developed to the highest degree in South America and
+the West Indies. The following account is given by Du Tertre of the
+Carib couvade in the West Indies. When a child is born, the mother
+goes presently to work, but the father begins to complain, and
+takes to his hammock, and there he is visited as though he were
+sick, and undergoes a course of dieting "which would cure of the
+gout the most replete of Frenchmen." The imaginary invalid must
+repose and take careful nursing and nourishing food. In Brazil, on
+the birth of a child, the father was put to bed and fed with light
+food, whilst the mother was unattended to, and went about her work.
+The practice of the couvade was universal, in some form or other,
+amongst the Carib races, but was unknown amongst the peoples whom I
+have called the Nahuatls.
+
+On the other side of the Atlantic the couvade has been noticed in
+West Africa, and "amongst the mountain tribes known as the
+Miau-tsze, who are supposed to be, like the Sontals and Gonds of
+India, remnants of a race driven into the mountains by the present
+dwellers of the plains." "Another Asiatic people, recorded to have
+practised the couvade, are the Tibareni of Pontus, at the south of
+the Black Sea, among whom, when the child was born, the father lay
+groaning in bed with his head tied up, while the mother tended him
+with food and prepared his baths." In Europe the couvade may be
+traced up from ancient into modern times in the neighbourhood of
+the Pyrenees. Above 1800 years ago Strabo mentions the story that,
+among the Iberians of the north of Spain, the women, after the
+birth of a child, tend their husbands, putting them to bed instead
+of going themselves; and this account is confirmed by the evidence
+of the practice amongst the modern Basques. In Biscay, says Michel,
+"in valleys whose population recalls in its usages the infancy of
+society, the women rise immediately after childbirth and attend to
+the duties of the household, while the husband goes to bed, taking
+the baby with him, and thus receives the neighbours' compliments."
+"It has been found also in Navarre, and on the French side of the
+Pyrenees. Legrand d'Aussy mentions that in an old French fable the
+king of Torelose is 'au lit et en couche' when Aucassin arrives and
+takes a stick to him and makes him promise to abolish the custom in
+his realm. The same author goes on to state that the practice is
+said still to exist in some cantons of Bearn, where it is called
+'faire la couvade.' Lastly, Diodorus Siculus notices the same habit
+of the wife being neglected, and the husband put to bed and treated
+as the patient among the natives of Corsica about the beginning of
+the Christian era."
+
+For a fuller account of the couvade I must refer my readers to
+Tylor's "Early History of Mankind", from which I have so largely
+quoted; his summing up of this curious custom is profound and
+philosophical. He says: "The isolated occurrences of a custom among
+particular races, surrounded by other races that ignore it, may be
+sometimes to the ethnologist like those outlying patches of strata
+from which the geologist infers that the formation they belong to
+once spread over intervening districts, from which it has been
+removed by denudation; or like the geographical distribution of
+plants, from which the botanist argues that they have travelled
+from a distant home. The way in which the couvade appears in the
+new and old worlds is especially interesting from this point of
+view. Among the savage tribes of South America it is, as it were,
+at home, in a mental atmosphere, at least, not so different from
+that in which it came into being as to make it a mere meaningless,
+absurd superstition. If the culture of the Caribs and Brazilians,
+even before they came under our knowledge, had advanced too far to
+allow the couvade to grow up fresh among them, they at least
+practised it with some consciousness of its meaning; it had not
+fallen out of unison with their mental state. Here we find,
+covering a vast compact area of country, the mental stratum, so to
+speak, to which the couvade most nearly belongs. But if we look at
+its appearances across from China to Corsica the state of things is
+widely different; no theory of its origin can be drawn from the
+Asiatic and European accounts to compete for a moment with that
+which flows naturally from the observations of the missionaries,
+who found it not a mere dead custom, but a live growth of savage
+psychology. The peoples, too, who have kept it up in Asia and
+Europe seem to have been, not the great progressive, spreading,
+conquering, civilising nations of the Aryan, Semitic, and Chinese
+stocks. It cannot be ascribed even to the Tartars, for the Lapps,
+Finns, and Hungarians appear to know nothing of it. It would seem
+rather to have belonged to that ruder population, or series of
+populations, whose fate it has been to be driven by the great races
+out of the fruitful lands to take refuge in mountains and deserts.
+The retainers of the couvade in Asia are the Miau-tsze of China and
+the savage Tibareni of Pontus. In Europe they are the Basque race
+of the Pyrenees, whose peculiar manners, appearance, and language,
+coupled with their geographical position, favour the view that they
+are the remains of a people driven westward and westward, by the
+pressure of more powerful tribes, till they came to these last
+mountains, with nothing but the Atlantic beyond. Of what stock were
+the original barbarian inhabitants of Corsica we do not know; but
+their position, and the fact that they, too, had the couvade, would
+suggest their having been a branch of the same family who escaped
+their persecutors by putting out to sea and settling in their
+mountainous island."* (* E.B. Tylor "Early History of Mankind"
+pages 288-297.)
+
+Let us now return to the Nahuatls, and see if they present any
+affinities to the nations of the old world. Humboldt's well-known
+argument, in which he sought to prove the Asiatic origin of the
+Mexicans, was based upon the remarkable resemblance of their system
+of reckoning cycles of years to that found in use in different
+parts of Asia. Both the Asiatic and Mexican systems of cycles are
+most artificial in their construction, and troublesome in practice,
+and they are very unlikely to have arisen independently on two
+continents. Humboldt says: "I inferred the probability of the
+western nations of the new continent having had communication with
+the east of Asia long before the arrival of the Spaniards from a
+comparison of the Mexican and Tibeto-Japanese calendars, from the
+correct orientation of the steps of the pyramidal elevations
+towards the different quarters of the heavens, and from the ancient
+myths and traditions of the four ages or four epochs of destruction
+of the world, and the dispersion of mankind after a great flood of
+waters."* (* Humboldt "Aspects of Nature" volume 2 174.)
+
+Whilst there are undoubtedly many curious coincidences in the
+customs of the ancient Mexicans and the peoples of eastern Asia,
+there are, on the other hand, so many differences that I believe it
+is safer to infer that they were essentially distinct in origin,
+and that there had been communication between the two peoples in
+very early times, but that the foreign influence in Mexico was
+extremely feeble, and too weak to check the growth of an
+essentially indigenous civilisation. Possibly sun and serpent
+worship, baptism, and the use of the cross as a sacred emblem, were
+the survival of religious beliefs that had obtained in the very
+cradle of the human race. We cannot, however, believe that mankind
+had, before the separation and dispersion of the eastern and
+western nations, attained to any great astronomical knowledge, and
+it is quite possible that the extraordinary coincidences between
+the chronological and astronomical systems of the Nahuatls and the
+eastern Asiatics might have been brought about by some of the
+latter having been stranded on the American shore.
+
+Humboldt argued that, "as the western coasts of the American
+continent trend from north-west to south-east, and the eastern
+coasts of Asia in the opposite direction, the distance between the
+two continents in 45 degrees of latitude, or in the temperate zone,
+which is most favourable to mental development, is too considerable
+to admit of the probability of such an accidental settlement taking
+place in that latitude. We must then assume the first landing to
+have been made in the inhospitable climate of from 55 to 65
+degrees, and that the civilisation thus introduced, like the
+general movement of population in America, has proceeded by
+successive stations from north to south."* (* Humboldt "Aspects of
+Nature" volume 2 176.) If we are obliged to assume that the people
+themselves came from the old world, such an origin might be sought
+for them as well as any other; but all research since Humboldt's
+time has favoured the idea that there are no signs of the Nahuatls
+being a newer people than the nations of Asia. And if it is not the
+derivation of the people, but of some coincidences in their
+observances and knowledge, we may seek for it some simpler solution
+than the migration of a whole people down through North to Central
+America. That solution is, I believe, to be found in the fact, not
+taken into consideration by Humboldt, that the great Japanese
+current, after traversing the eastern coast of Japan, sends one
+large branch nearly directly east across the Pacific to the coast
+of California, and an offshoot from it passes southward along the
+Mexican coast and as far as the western coast of Central America.
+In Kotzebue's narrative of his voyage round the world, he says:
+"Looking over Adams' diary, I found the following notice--'Brig
+Forester, March 24, 1815, at sea, upon the coast of California,
+latitude 32 degrees 45 seconds north, longitude 133 degrees 3
+minutes west. We saw this morning, at a short distance, a ship, the
+confused state of whose sails showed that they wanted assistance.
+We bent our course towards her, and made out the distressed vessel
+to be Japanese, which had lost both mast and helm. Only three dying
+Japanese, the captain and two sailors, were found in the vessel. We
+took these unfortunate people on board our brig, and, after four
+months' nursing, they entirely recovered. We learned from these
+people that they had sailed from the harbour of Osaka, in Japan,
+bound for another seaport, but were overtaken by a storm, in which
+they lost the helm and mast. Till that day their ship had been
+drifting about, a mere butt for the winds and waves, during
+seventeen months; and of thirty-five men only three remained, all
+the others having died of hunger.'" Is it not likely that in
+ancient times such accidents may have occurred again and again, and
+that information of the astronomical and chronological systems of
+eastern Asia may thus have been brought to the Nahuatls, who, from
+the ease with which they embraced the religion of the Spaniards,
+are shown to have been open to receive foreign ideas?
+
+The three arguments on which Humboldt principally relied to prove
+that a communication had existed between the east of Asia and the
+Mexicans may be explained without adopting his theory that the
+Nahuatls had travelled round from the old world. The remarkable
+resemblance of the Mexican and Tibeto-Japanese calendars might
+result from the accidental stranding of a Japanese or Chinese
+vessel on their shores, bringing to them some man learned in the
+astronomy of the old world. The correct orientation of the sides of
+their pyramidal temples was but the result of their great
+astronomical knowledge and of the worship of the sun. And the
+resemblance of their traditions of four epochs of destruction and
+of the dispersion of mankind after a great flood of waters, arose
+from the fact that the great catastrophes that befell the human
+race at the melting of the ice of the glacial period were universal
+over the world.
+
+
+CHAPTER 21.
+
+Return to Santo Domingo.
+The birds of Chontales.
+The insects of Chontales.
+Mimetic forms.
+Departure from the mines.
+Nicaragua as a field for emigration.
+Journey to Greytown.
+Return to England.
+
+HAVING finished our business at Masaya, we rode back to Granada on
+the evening of the second day, and the next morning took a passage
+in a fine steamboat that Mr. Hollenbeck, of Greytown, had placed on
+the lake to convey passengers and goods between Granada and San
+Carlos, at the head of the river San Juan. We arrived at San Ubaldo
+at two o'clock, and found our mules safe but foot-sore, through
+travelling over the rocky hills from Santo Claro. The San Jose
+plains were in a dreadfully muddy state, and for five miles we went
+plunging through the swamps. Most of the mules fell several times,
+and we had great difficulty in getting them up again. We passed two
+travellers with their mules up to their girths in mud, and
+incapable of extricating themselves, but could not help them, as we
+dared not allow ours to stand, or they would stick fast also. We
+had met, at San Ubaldo, the son of Dr. Seemann, on his way home to
+England. His pack-mule had stuck fast in the plains the night
+before, and he had passed the night sitting on his boxes, half sunk
+in the mud, and attacked by myriads of mosquitoes that had covered
+his hands, face, and neck with blisters.
+
+It was two hours after dark before we got across the weary plains.
+We found shelter for the night at a small hut on their border,
+where, for a consideration, the occupants gave up to us their
+mosquito curtains and stretchers, and sat up themselves. I suppose
+in such situations people get used to the mosquitoes, but to us
+they were intolerable. They buzzed around us and settled on our
+hands and face, if the former were not incessantly employed driving
+them off. Those of our party who had no curtains had a lively time
+of it. A gentleman of colour, from Jamaica, who was returning to
+the mines after escorting young Mr. Seemann to the port, and who
+could find no place to rest in, excepting an old hammock, kept his
+long arms going round like a windmill, every now and then wakening
+every one up with a loud crack, as he tried to bring his flat hand
+down on one of his tormentors. A mosquito, however, is not to be
+caught, even in the dark, in such a way. It holds up its two hinder
+legs as feelers; the current of air driven before a descending blow
+warns it of the impending danger, and it darts off to one side, to
+renew its attack somewhere else. The most certain way to catch them
+in the dark is to move the outstretched finger cautiously towards
+where one is felt, until a safe striking distance is reached. But
+what is the use of killing one when they are in myriads? None
+whatever, excepting that it is some occupation for the sleepless
+victim. The black gentleman was a thinker and a scholar, and used
+to amuse himself at the mines by writing letters addressed to Mr.
+Jacob Elam, Esquire (himself), in which he informed himself that he
+had been left legacies of ten, twenty, or thirty thousand pounds, a
+few thousand more or less costing nothing. Pondering during that
+weary night over the purpose of creation, he startled me about one
+in the morning with the question, "Mr. Belt, sir, can you tell me
+what is the use of mosquitoes?"
+
+"To enjoy themselves and be happy, Jacob."
+
+"Ah, sir! if I was only a mosquito!" said Jacob, as he came down
+with another fruitless whack.
+
+At the first cock-crow we were up, and as the cheerful dawn lighted
+up the east, we were in our saddles, and the miseries of the night
+Were but the jests of the morning. The mules even seemed to be
+eager to leave that dismal swamp, where malaria hung in the air,
+and mosquitoes did their best to drive mankind away. The dry
+savannahs were before us, our hearts were young as the morning, the
+tormenting spirits of the night had flown away with the darkness,
+and jest and banter enlivened the road. We reached Acoyapo at nine
+o'clock; my good friend Don Dolores Bermudez lent me a fresh mule,
+and, riding all day, I reached Santo Domingo in the evening.
+
+I have little more of interest to relate. Years had sped on at
+Santo Domingo; and the time approached when I should be set free
+from the worries and responsibilities attending the supervision of
+gold-mines, the products of which were just at that tantalising
+point, on the verge between profit and loss, that made their
+superintendence a most irksome and anxious duty. The difficulty of
+the task was vastly increased by the capital of the company having
+been originally wasted in the erection of machinery that proved to
+be useless; so that financial questions constantly retarded the
+completion of the works. This book has not been written, however,
+to tell the story of the struggles of a mining engineer; and I turn
+aside with pleasure from this slight digression to say what little
+more I have to tell of my natural history experiences.
+
+I did not, until near the conclusion of my stay, commence
+collecting the skins of birds, contenting myself with watching and
+noting their habits. I obtained the skins of ninety-two species
+only; but small as this collection was, it proved an important
+addition to the knowledge of the bird-fauna of Nicaragua. The
+eminent ornithologist, Mr. Osbert Salvin, published in the "Ibis"
+for July 1872 a list of seventy-three species that I had up to that
+time sent to England. Altogether, only one hundred and fifty
+species, including those that I had collected, were known from
+Nicaragua. Fragmentary as our knowledge is, it is sufficient, in
+Mr. Salvin's opinion, to indicate, with tolerable accuracy, to
+which of the two sub-provinces of the Central American fauna the
+forest region of Chontales belongs. The birds I sent to England
+proved nearly conclusively that the Costa-Rican sub-province
+included Chontales in Nicaragua, and that the boundary between it
+and the sub-province of Southern Mexico and Guatemala must be
+sought for more to the north-west.
+
+Of the southern species, which in Chontales find their northern
+limit, so far as is known, there are in my small collection
+thirty-two species, whilst belonging to the northern sub-province,
+and not known to range further south, there are only seven species;
+showing that the connection with Costa Rica and the south is much
+closer than that with Guatemala and the north, and that the
+boundary between the two sub-provinces is not found, as was
+supposed, in the depression of the isthmus occupied by the great
+lakes and their outlet the San Juan river, but must exist further
+towards, if not in, Honduras. Mr. Salvin says, "What I suspect to
+be the case, though I cannot as yet bring evidence to prove it, is,
+that the forests of Chontales spread uninterruptedly into Costa
+Rica, but that towards the north and north-west a decided break
+occurs, and that this break determines the range of the prevalent
+Costa Rican and Guatemalan forest forms."* (* "The Ibis" July 1872
+page 312.) I can confirm Mr. Salvin's supposition. The San Juan
+river forms no greater break in the forest than a dozen other
+rivers that run through it and fall into the Atlantic. But a
+decided interruption does occur to the north-west. It is found in
+the valleys of Humuya and Goascoran in Honduras, which, along with
+the central plain of Comayagua, constitute a great transverse
+valley running north and south from sea to sea, and cutting
+completely through the chain of the Cordilleras.* (* Squier "States
+of Central America" page 681.) The highest point of this pass is
+2850 feet above the sea, and the country around is composed of
+undulating savannahs and plains covered with grass. The Gulf of
+Honduras, cutting deeply into the continent, also plays an
+important part in preventing the intermingling of the faunas of the
+two sub-provinces, but the principal barrier is the termination of
+the great Atlantic forest north-westward, which even at Cape
+Gracias begins to give place to plains and savannahs next the
+coast.
+
+(PLATE 25. LONGICORN BEETLES OF CHONTALES.
+  1. Evander nobilis, Bates.
+  2. Gymnocerus beltii, Bates.
+  3. Polyrhaphis fabricii, Thom.
+  4. Deliathis nivea, Bates.
+  5. Taeniotes praeclarus, Bates.
+  6. Chalastinus rubrocinctus, Bates.
+  7. Cosmisoma Titania, Bates.
+  8. Carneades superba, Bates.
+  9. Amphionyca princeps, Bates.)
+
+My entomological collections were much more complete than my
+collections of birds, especially those of the butterflies and
+beetles.* [* The author's bird and insect collections were
+purchased at his death by Messrs Godman and Salvin who also
+acquired from Mr. H.W. Bates the types and other specimens of
+coleoptera described by him which had not remained in the original
+collection. These are all now in the British Museum, together with
+the Hewitson bequest, in which are many of the lepidoptera types.
+It may not be out of place to add that Mr. Hewitson left in his
+will the sum of two hundred pounds to Belt in recognition of the
+way in which the latter's collections had been placed at his
+service.] Mr. W.C. Hewitson has described twenty-five new species,
+but no list of the whole of the butterflies known from Nicaragua
+has yet been published. In Coleoptera I made large collections, but
+the extensive families of the Elateridae, Lamellicorns, and others
+are still uncatalogued, and very many species remain to be
+described. The only beetles that have been catalogued as yet with
+sufficient completeness to warrant any general conclusions are the
+Longicorns. I collected about 300 different species, and Mr. H.W.
+Bates has enumerated 242 of these in a paper "On the Longicorn
+Coleoptera of Chontales, Nicaragua," published in the "Transactions
+of the Entomological Society" for 1872. In an interesting summary
+of the results he gives the following analysis of the range of the
+species:--
+
+Peculiar to Chontales: 133 species.
+
+Common to Chontales and Mexico: 38 species.
+
+Common to Do. and the West India Islands: 5 species.
+
+Common to Do. and the United States: 5 species.
+
+Common to Do. and New Grenada or Venezuela: 24 species.
+
+Common to Do. and the Amazon Region: 22 species.
+
+Common to Do. and South Brazil: 10 species.
+
+Generally distributed in Tropical America: 5 species.
+
+Total: 242 species.
+
+Omitting the peculiar species and those generally distributed in
+Tropical America, we have thus forty-three that are found in
+Chontales and in Mexico or the United States, and sixty-one that
+are found in Chontales and countries lying to the southward. The
+preponderance of southern forms is not so great as in the birds,
+but when we reflect on the large number of peculiar species, and
+that the Longicorns of the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica are yet
+scarcely known, it appears likely that many of the Chontales
+species will be found ranging southward across the San Juan river,
+and that the Insect fauna will be shown to have the same relations
+as the Bird fauna; for, as the Atlantic forest continues unbroken
+much further southward than northward, so will the insects peculiar
+to the forest region have a greater range in that direction.
+
+Mr. Hollick has beautifully drawn on wood a few of the
+characteristic Longicorns of Chontales, all of them, with one
+exception (Polyrhaphis fabricii), being as yet only known from that
+province, but probably extending into Costa Rica.
+
+One of these, the lovely little Cosmisoma Titania, Number 7 in
+Plate 25, has been appropriately named after the Queen of the
+Fairies by Mr. Bates. It was first found by Mr. Janson, junior, who
+came out to Chontales purposely to collect insects; and I
+afterwards obtained it in great numbers. The use of the curious
+brushes on the antennae is not known. Another longicorn, about the
+same size (Coremia hirtipes), has its two hindmost legs greatly
+lengthened, and furnished with brushes: one I saw on a branch was
+flourishing these in the air, and I thought at first they were two
+black flies hovering over the branch, my attention being taken from
+the body of the beetle by the movement of the brushes.
+
+Another fine longicorn, figured in Plate 25, Deliathis nivea, looks
+as if made of pure white porcelain spotted with black. It is a rare
+beetle, one or two specimens each season being generally all that
+are taken. It is usually found on the leaves of young trees from
+twelve to twenty feet from the ground. I have taken the rather
+heavy-bodied female by throwing a stone at it and causing it to
+fall within reach, but the male is more active on the wing, and it
+was long before I obtained a specimen.
+
+(PLATE 26. LEAF INSECT.)
+
+(PLATE 27. MOSS INSECT.)
+
+Amongst the insects of Chontales none are more worthy of notice
+than the many curious species of Orthoptera that look like green
+and faded leaves of trees. I have already described one species
+that resembles a green leaf, and so much so that it even deceived
+the acute senses of the foraging ants; other species, belonging to
+a closely-related genus (Pterochroza), imitate leaves in every
+stage of decay, some being faded-green, blotched with yellow;
+others, as in the species figured, resemble a brown withered leaf,
+the resemblance being increased by a transparent hole through both
+wings that looks like a piece taken out of the leaf. In many
+butterflies that resemble leaves on the under side of their wings,
+the wings being raised and closed together when at rest so as to
+hide the bright colours of the upper surface, there are similar
+transparent spots that imitate holes; and others again are jagged
+at the edge, as if pieces had been taken out of them. Many
+chrysalides also have mirror-like spots that resemble holes; and
+one that I found hanging from the under side of a leaf had a real
+hole through it, formed by a horn that projected from the thorax
+and doubled back to the body, leaving a space between. Another
+insect, of which I only found two specimens, had a wonderful
+resemblance to a piece of moss, amongst which it concealed itself
+in the daytime, and was not to be distinguished except when
+accidentally shaken out. It is the larval stage of a species of
+Phasma.
+
+The extraordinary perfection of these mimetic resemblances is most
+wonderful. I have heard this urged as a reason for believing that
+they could not have been produced by natural selection, because a
+much less degree of resemblance would have protected the mimetic
+species. To this it may be answered, that natural selection not
+only tends to pick out and preserve the forms that have protective
+resemblances, but to increase the perceptions of the predatory
+species of insects and birds, so that there is a continual
+progression towards a perfectly mimetic form. This progressive
+improvement in means of defence and of attack may be illustrated in
+this way. Suppose a number of not very swift hares and a number of
+slow-running dogs were placed on an island where there was plenty
+of food for the hares but none for the dogs, except the hares they
+could catch; the slowest of the hares would be first killed, and
+the swifter preserved. Then the slowest-running dogs would suffer,
+and having less food than the fleeter ones, would have least chance
+of living, and the swiftest dogs would be preserved; thus the
+fleetness of both dogs and hares would be gradually but surely
+perfected by natural selection, until the greatest speed was
+reached that it was possible for them to attain. I have in this
+supposed example confined myself to the question of speed alone,
+but in reality other means of pursuit and of escape would come into
+play and be improved. The dogs might increase in cunning, or
+combine together to work in couples or in packs by the same
+selective process; and the hares on their part might acquire means
+of concealment or stratagem to elude their enemies; but, on both
+sides, the improvement would be progressive until the highest form
+of excellence was reached. Viewed in this light, the wonderful
+perfection of mimetic forms is a natural consequence of the
+selection of the individuals that, on the one side, were more and
+more mimetic, and on the other (that of their enemies) more and
+more able to penetrate through the assumed disguises. It has
+doubtless happened in some cases that species, having many foes,
+have entirely thrown off some of them through the disguises they
+have been brought to assume, but others they still cannot elude.
+
+Since Mr. Bates first brought forward the theory of mimetic
+resemblances its importance has been more and more demonstrated, as
+it has been found how very largely animal life has been influenced
+in form and colour by the natural selection of the varieties that
+were preserved from their enemies, or enabled to approach their
+prey, through the resemblance they bore to something else. So
+general are these deceptive resemblances throughout nature, that it
+is often difficult to determine whether sexual preferences or the
+preservation of mimetic forms has been most potent in moulding the
+form and coloration of species, and in some the two forces are seen
+to be opposed in their operation. Thus in some butterflies that
+mimic the Heliconidae, the females only are mimetic, the males
+retaining the normal form and coloration of the group to which they
+belong. In such cases it appears as if the females have not been
+checked in gradually assuming the disguise they wear, and it is
+important that they should be protected, as they are more exposed
+to destruction while seeking for places to deposit their eggs; but
+that both sexes should not have inherited the change in form and
+colour when it would have been beneficial to both can only be
+explained, I think, on the supposition that the females had a
+choice of mates and preferred those that retained the primordial
+appearance of the group. This view is supported by the fact that
+many of the males of the mimetic Leptalides have the upper half of
+the lower wing of a pure white, whilst all the rest of the wings is
+barred and spotted with black, red, and yellow, like the species
+they mimic. The females have not this white patch, and the males
+usually conceal it by covering it with the upper wing, so that I
+cannot imagine its being of any other use to them excepting as an
+attraction in courtship, to exhibit to the females, and thus
+gratify a deep-seated preference for the normal colour of the order
+to which the Leptalides belong.
+
+I finally left the mines September 6th, 1872, on my way to England.
+I was accompanied through the forest by several of the mining
+officials. Though glad to return to Europe, it was not without some
+feeling of regret that I rode for the last time through the forest
+where I had so often wandered during the years I had been at Santo
+Domingo. The woods had become as familiar to me as home scenes. No
+more should I see the white-headed ruby humming-bird come darting
+down the brook, chasing away the green-throat from its
+bathing-place; no more watch the flocks of many-coloured birds
+hunting the insects in the forests, or admire the wonderful
+instincts of the tropical ants. I listened with pleasure to the
+last hoarse cries of the mot-mots, and tried to impress on my
+memory the curious forms of vegetation--the palms, the gigantic
+arums, the tangled lianas, and perching epiphytes.
+
+After reaching Pital I rode rapidly over the savannahs, where the
+swallows were skimming over the top of the long grass to frighten
+up the insects which rested there. After another flounder across
+the San Jose plains, I reached San Ubaldo without incident,
+excepting a tumble with my mule in the mud. Much of the land
+between Pital and the lake is well fitted for the cultivation of
+maize, sugar, and plantains, and near the river at Acoyapo the soil
+is very fertile. Little of it is occupied, and it is open to any
+one to squat down on it and fence it in. All that is required is
+that the form shall be gone through of obtaining permission from
+the alcalde of the township, which is never refused. Nicaragua
+offers a tempting field for the emigrant, but there are some other
+considerations which should not be lost sight of. When a man finds
+he can live easily without much work, that all his neighbours are
+contented with the scantiest clothing, the coarsest food, and the
+poorest dwellings, he is very apt to fall into the same slothful
+habits. Even if he himself has innate energy enough to ward off the
+insidious foe, he will see his children growing up exposed to all
+the temptations to lead an easy life that a tropical climate
+offers, and without any example of industry or enterprise around
+them to arouse or cultivate a spirit of emulation. The consequence
+is that nearly all the foreign settlers in Nicaragua from amongst
+the European and North American labouring classes have fallen into
+the same lazy habits as the Nicaraguans, and whenever I have been
+inclined to blame the natives for their indolence, some
+recollection of a fellow-countryman who has succumbed to the same
+influences has arrested my harsher judgment. I cannot recommend
+Nicaragua, with all its natural wealth, its perpetual summer, its
+magnificent lakes, and its teeming soil, as a place of emigration
+for isolated families, and even for larger schemes of colonisation
+I do not think it so suitable as our own colonies and the United
+States. A large body of emigrants would carry with them the
+healthful influence of the good and industrious, and the spirit of
+emulation and progress might be preserved if the community could be
+kept together, but I fear this could not be. After a while the
+tastes of one individual would lead in one, those of another in an
+opposite direction. Where all were free to choose, the idle would
+go away from the influences that urged them to industry, the
+sensual from the restraints of morality. Many will, however, smile
+at the objection I have to emigration to Nicaragua, when they
+perceive that it is founded only on the ease with which people can
+live in plenty there. There is one form of colonisation that will
+be successful, and that is the gradual moving down southward of the
+people of the United States. When the destiny of Mexico is
+fulfilled, with one stride the Anglo-American will bound to the
+Isthmus of Panama, and Central America will be filled with cattle
+estates, and with coffee, sugar, indigo, cotton, and cacao
+plantations. Railways will then keep up a healthful and continuous
+intercourse with the enterprising North, and the sluggard and the
+sensual will not be able to stand before the competition of the
+vigorous and virtuous. Nor will the Anglo-American long be stayed
+by the Isthmus in his progress southward. Unless some such
+catastrophe happens as a few years ago threatened to cover North
+America with standing armies as in Europe, which God forbid, not
+many centuries will roll over before the English language will be
+spoken from the frozen soil of the far north to Tierra del Fuego in
+the south.
+
+The fine steamer that the enterprise of Mr. Hollenbeck had placed
+on the lake, and which he had named the "Elizabeth" after his
+amiable wife, had been wrecked a short time before I left the
+country, and Mr. Hollenbeck's own health had greatly suffered by
+the labours he undertook in endeavouring to get the vessel off the
+sunken rock on which it had struck. Notwithstanding this and other
+misfortunes, enough to try a man's mettle to its foundation, his
+native pluck carried him through all his difficulties, and he was
+away to the States to get new vessels and blow another blast at
+fortune's iron gates. Whilst I write these last few pages I learn
+that a new steamer ploughs the lake, and that his transit service
+is again in complete working order. Success attend him.
+
+The result of the wreck of the "Elizabeth", so far as I was
+concerned, was that I had to take a passage down the lake to San
+Carlos in a bungo packet, so full as to necessitate closer
+acquaintanceship with many amiable Nicaraguans than was agreeable
+to my insular prejudices. When in the middle of the night an old
+woman tried to roll me off the soft plank I had found for myself
+into a litter of crying babies, I indulged in some bitter
+reflections on the race, that, I am happy to say, were as
+transitory as the inconvenience to which I was put. At San Carlos
+we changed to the river steamer under my old friend Captain
+Birdsall. As I have already described the scenery of the San Juan
+in the account of my journey up, I shall not repeat the story, but
+simply state that we reached Greytown on the 11th September, and on
+the 16th embarked on the West Indian Mail Packet. I arrived in
+England within a month, to find my native town (Newcastle)
+wealthier and dirtier than ever, with thousands of furnaces
+belching out smoke and poisonous gases; to find the people of
+England fretting about the probable exhaustion of her coal-fields
+in a few hundred years, actually dreading the time when she will no
+longer be the smithy of the world, but the centre of the science,
+philosophy, literature, and art of the Anglo-Saxon race--that race
+whose sons all over the globe will then look up to her with loving
+reverence as the mother of nations, the coloniser of the world, the
+pioneer of freedom, progress, and morality.
+
+INDEX.
+
+Acacias.
+
+Acarus.
+
+Acclimature.
+
+Achras sapota.
+
+Acoyapo.
+
+Acrocinus longimanus.
+
+Adiantum.
+
+Aguardiente.
+
+Aguasco, R.
+
+Ahuacatl.
+
+Airey, Sir George.
+
+Alligators.
+
+Alloy.
+
+Alluvial deposits, gold.
+
+Amalgam.
+
+Amalgamation process.
+
+America, western side of tropical, food of people.
+
+American race, derivation of.
+
+Amerrique range, the.
+
+Ampullari.
+
+Amusements, Nicaraguan.
+
+Ancylus.
+
+Andagoya, Pascual de.
+  his account of Nicaragua.
+  on chicha-drinking.
+
+Aneimea hirsuta.
+  oblongifolia.
+
+Angelot, M.
+  on fused rock.
+
+Angraecum sesquipedale.
+
+Anolis.
+
+Antigonon leptopus.
+
+Antiquities. Indian.
+
+Antonio, San, lode.
+
+Antonio, San, Valley.
+
+Ants.
+
+Ants, army.
+  assisting each other.
+  attending leaf hoppers.
+  attending scale insects.
+  ant bridge.
+  communicate by scent.
+  cows.
+  foraging.
+  hunting.
+  inhabiting bullshorn thorn.
+  leaf cutters.
+  reason in.
+  sagacity of.
+  stinging.
+  thrushes.
+
+Apanas.
+
+Aphidae.
+
+Armadillos.
+
+Arrastres.
+
+Articulata.
+
+Artificial selection.
+
+Artigua, R.
+
+Arum.
+
+Asses.
+
+Ateles.
+
+Atlantis.
+
+Auriferous quartz.
+  veins of, in Queensland.
+
+Australia.
+  hot winds in.
+  wasps in.
+  whirlwinds in.
+
+Avila, Gil Gonzales de.
+
+Avocado.
+  trees.
+
+Axes.
+  ancient Mexican.
+  stone.
+
+Aztecs.
+
+Baldwin, Mr. J.D.
+
+Bamboo thickets.
+
+Bananas.
+
+Baptism, a pre-christian rite.
+
+Bates, Mr. H.W.
+  on instinct in wasps.
+  on life under the equator.
+  on the Longicorn Coleoptera of Chontales.
+  on mimetic forms.
+  on mimetic resemblances.
+  on social birds.
+  on wings of Morphos.
+
+Bats.
+
+Beak of birds.
+
+Bees.
+
+Beetles.
+  habits of.
+  the harlequin.
+  killing bug.
+  on Pena Blanca.
+  tiger.
+
+Begonias.
+
+Benito, San. lode.
+
+Bermudez, Don Dolores.
+
+Birds.
+  accompanying an army of ants.
+  fertilising flowers.
+  nests.
+  rejecting Heliconii.
+
+Bittern.
+
+Bland, Mr., on the distribution of land shells in the West Indies.
+
+Blewfields, R.
+
+Boulder clay.
+
+Boundary question between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
+
+Bourbourg, Brasseur de, Abbe, on the Teo Amoxtli.
+
+Brazil, migratory butterflies of.
+
+Breadfruits.
+
+Bromelia.
+
+Bruce, on whirlwinds in Africa.
+
+Buccaneers.
+
+Bugs. injecting poisonous fluid.
+
+Bullock, Mr. W., on the use of rattles in Mexico.
+
+Bull's-horn thorn.
+  wasps attending glands of.
+
+Bungos.
+
+Buprestidae.
+
+Burial customs of the ancient Indians.
+
+Butterflies.
+  instinct of.
+  migrations of.
+  in Rio Plata.
+  in Patagonia.
+  Mr. Darwin on.
+  Mr. R. Spruce on.
+
+Cabbage.
+
+Cacao.
+
+Cactuses. tree.
+
+Californian pitcher-plant.
+
+Callidryas.
+
+Calliste larvata.
+  laviniae.
+
+Calopteron basilis.
+  vicinum.
+
+Canal, interoceanic.
+
+Candelera, El.
+
+Candolle, Alphonse de, on fresh-water productions.
+
+Canis caraibicus (Lesson).
+  ingae (Tschudi).
+
+Capsicums.
+
+Captive Indians.
+
+Carabidae.
+
+Carbolic acid.
+
+Carca Indians.
+  R.
+
+Caribbean Sea, carving on rocks on the banks.
+
+Caribs.
+  food of the.
+
+Carlos, San.
+  R.
+
+Carrots.
+
+Castillo.
+  capture of by Nelson.
+
+Castilloa elastica.
+
+Caterpillars.
+
+Catlin, G.
+  on traditions of the deluge among the American Indians.
+  "Lifted and Subsided Rocks in America" by.
+
+Cattle.
+  raising.
+
+Cebus albifrons.
+  white-faced.
+  anecdotes.
+
+Cecropia.
+
+Cedar.
+
+Cedrela odorata.
+
+Celeus castaneus.
+
+Cement.
+  white.
+
+Centipedes.
+
+Central America.
+  States of, absence of patriotism in.
+  civil war.
+  tyrannical oligarchies.
+
+Centrurus pucherani.
+
+Chicchera.
+
+Chicha.
+
+Chichalakes.
+
+Children, great numbers of.
+
+Childs, Colonel, O.W., survey for canal.
+
+Chilote.
+
+Chioties.
+
+Chirosciphia lineata.
+
+Chlorophanes guatemalensis.
+
+Chocoyo, R.
+
+Choluans.
+
+Chontales, birds of.
+  insects.
+  derived from chontali.
+  Mining Co.
+
+Chontales and Costa Rica, connection of forest forms.
+
+Chontals.
+
+Cicadae.
+
+Cinerary urns.
+
+Citron trees.
+
+Citrus aurantium.
+  lemonum.
+  medicus.
+
+Clarke, Mr. Hyde.
+
+Claro, Santa.
+
+Clausilia.
+
+Clavigero.
+  on the Xoloitzcuintli.
+
+Climate.
+  of Nicaragua.
+  San Domingo.
+
+Club-moss.
+
+Coccidae.
+
+Cockatoo of Australia.
+
+Cockchafer.
+
+Cock-fighting.
+
+Cockroaches.
+  instinct.
+
+Cocos.
+  Cocos butyracea.
+
+Coffee.
+
+Coleoptera.
+
+Colorado, R.
+
+Colour, differences in, correlated with immunity from disease.
+
+Columbus, Christopher.
+
+Colymbetes.
+
+Comelapa.
+
+Comiens.
+
+Comoapa.
+
+Concordia.
+
+Condego.
+  festival of.
+
+Congo monkeys.
+
+Consuelo lode.
+
+Coremia hirtipes.
+
+Corrosive sublimate.
+
+Cortess.
+
+Cosmisoma Titania (Bates).
+
+Couvade, the custom of the.
+
+Coyotes.
+
+Cranes.
+
+Crantor, on the Island Atlantis.
+
+Crax globicera.
+
+Creepers.
+
+Crematogaster.
+
+Cross.
+  the sign of.
+
+Cuapo, rock of.
+
+Cuba.
+
+Curassow.
+
+Cyanocitta melanocyanea.
+
+Cybister.
+
+Cyclones.
+  origin of.
+  West Indian.
+
+Cyrtodeira Chontalensis.
+
+Daintree's, Mr. R., "Notes on the Geology of Queensland".
+
+Daraily.
+
+Darlingtonia californica.
+
+Darwin, "Descent of Man".
+
+Darwin on animals and plants.
+  on the effects of slight differences of colour.
+  on fertilisation of scarlet runner.
+  on fossil maize in Peru.
+  on fresh-water mollusks.
+  on the bumble bee.
+  on the migration of butterflies.
+
+Darwin on natives of Terra del Fuego.
+
+Deer.
+  hunting.
+
+Degeneration of the inhabitants of Central America.
+
+Deliathis nivea (Bates).
+
+Depilto.
+R.
+valley of.
+
+Desmiphora fasciculata.
+
+Diabase.
+
+Diaz de Castello on the use of cement by the Indians.
+
+Dicoteles tajacu.
+
+Digitalis purpurea.
+
+Diodorus Siculus.
+
+Diorytic intrusive rocks.
+
+Diphyrama singularis (Bates).
+
+Diriangan.
+
+Doleryte.
+
+Domingo, Santo.
+  commissioner's house at.
+  mines at.
+  rain at.
+  watershed at.
+  Quebrada de.
+
+Dove, M., on origin of cyclones.
+
+Dragon flies.
+
+Drosera.
+
+Duncan, Professor, on the submergence of Isthmus of Darien
+   in Miocene times.
+
+Du Tertre.
+
+Dytiscidae.
+
+Eagle, monkey-eating.
+
+Easter Island.
+
+_Eciton hamata_.
+  predator.
+
+Ecitons.
+
+Egrets, white.
+
+Elaps.
+
+Elateridae.
+
+Elephantiasis.
+
+"Elizabeth", steamer.
+
+Elote.
+
+Elvan dykes.
+
+Endives.
+
+Epidemic among insects.
+  wasps in Great Britain.
+
+Epiphytes.
+
+Eriosoma.
+
+Erythrina.
+
+Esquipula.
+
+Essequibo, carved rocks of.
+
+Estely, the.
+
+Eumonota superciliaris.
+
+Evander nobilis (Bates).
+
+Fairbairn, Mr.
+
+Farina.
+
+Felspar.
+
+Ferns.
+  maiden-hair.
+  oak.
+  tree.
+
+Festa.
+
+Festivals.
+
+Fig trees.
+
+Fire-flies.
+
+Fissure veins.
+
+Floating plants.
+
+Florida.
+
+Florisuga Mellivora, Linn.
+
+Fly-catchers.
+
+Forbes, Mr. David, on auriferous quartz veins.
+
+Forest of the Atlantic slope.
+
+"Forest region, limit of the".
+  effect of cultivation on the.
+
+Forest-vegetation.
+
+Foxglove, fertilisation of.
+
+Franklin on whirlwind in Maryland.
+
+Fresh-water animals.
+  plants.
+
+Frogs.
+on Pena Blanca.
+
+Gage, Thomas, on the Indians' respect for their priest.
+
+Garrapatos.
+
+Glacial beds.
+  period.
+  scratches.
+
+Gneiss.
+
+Gold.
+  bars.
+  distribution of, in quartz veins.
+  mining.
+
+Gosse, P., on grassquit of Jamaica.
+
+Gourd-shaped pottery.
+
+Gracias a Dios, C.
+
+Granada.
+  courts of law at.
+
+Granitic intrusive rocks.
+
+Grasshoppers.
+
+Green, Dr.
+
+Greenstone.
+
+Grenadillos.
+
+Greytown.
+  trade of.
+  salubrity of, due to its flatness.
+
+Grouse.
+
+Guatuse, the.
+
+Guatuses, Indians.
+
+Guava jelly.
+
+Guayava trees.
+
+Guinea grass.
+
+Gummiferae.
+
+Guzman, Senor Fernando.
+
+Gyrinidae.
+
+Harlequin beetle.
+
+Hartt, Professor, on glacial drift in South America.
+
+Hawks.
+  crab eating.
+
+Hayti.
+
+Heer, Professor, on the Miocene flora.
+
+Heliconiae.
+
+Heliconidae.
+
+Heliconii.
+
+Heliomaster pallidiceps (Gould).
+
+Heliothrix barroti.
+
+Hemiptera.
+
+Herrana purpurea.
+
+Hesperidae.
+
+Hewitson, Mr. W.C.
+
+Hides.
+
+Hollenbeck, Mr.
+
+Homoptera.
+
+Honey-glands.
+
+Horse fly.
+
+Huaco.
+
+Huexlotl.
+
+Humboldt.
+  on hairless dogs.
+  on origin of the Mexican and Eastern Asiatics.
+  on origin of whirlwinds.
+
+Humming-birds.
+  abundance of.
+  nests of.
+  rapidity of flight.
+  bathing.
+  fertilising flowers.
+  tongue of.
+
+Hydrophilus.
+
+Hymenoptera.
+
+Hypoclinea sp.
+
+"Ibis".
+
+Ice, influence of, in volcanic eruptions.
+
+Icteridae.
+
+Icterus pectoralis, Wagl.
+
+Iguana.
+
+Indian
+  antiquities.
+  carving.
+  children.
+  cooking vessels.
+  graves.
+  houses.
+  love of flowers.
+  miners.
+  names of towns.
+
+Indians,
+  brown.
+  red.
+  origin of.
+  wholesale baptism of, by Spanish.
+
+India-rubber.
+
+Indigo.
+  plantations.
+
+Insectivorous birds.
+
+Insect life at night.
+  traps.
+
+Insects.
+  instinct of.
+  mimetic.
+
+Interoceanic canal.
+
+Ixodes bovis.
+
+Jacanas.
+
+Jaguar.
+
+Jamaily.
+
+Jatropha Manihot.
+
+Javali lode.
+  mine.
+  R.
+
+Jicara.
+
+Jinotega.
+  valley of.
+
+Jose, San.
+  Plains.
+
+Juan, San, R.
+  Del Norte.
+  bar of.
+  delta of.
+
+Juigalpa.
+  R.
+
+Kidney beans.
+
+Kingfishers.
+
+Kingsley, Canon.
+  account of volcanic eruption of St. Vincent.
+  on the dry land connecting the Islands of the West Indies.
+
+Kotzebue's voyage round the world.
+
+Lacandones of Guatemala.
+
+Lagoon.
+
+Lamellicorns.
+
+Lampyridae.
+
+Landslips.
+
+Las Lajas.
+
+Laurentian rock.
+
+Lenca Indians.
+
+Leptalides.
+
+Lettuces.
+
+Leucopternis ghiesbreghti.
+
+Lianas.
+  water.
+
+Libertad.
+  mines.
+  rain at.
+
+Lime trees.
+  stone.
+
+Lizards.
+  tree.
+
+Locust.
+
+Lodes, deterioration in depth of.
+  direction of.
+
+Logwood.
+
+Longicorn beetles.
+
+Louisiana.
+
+Lymnaea.
+
+Lymnaeacea.
+
+Macaws.
+
+Maceio, subject to fevers.
+
+Machuca.
+
+Mackleania.
+
+McCrae, Colonel.
+
+Madeira peaks.
+
+Mahogany.
+
+Maize.
+  cultivation of.
+  eaters.
+  food of the people of North-East Brazil.
+  of Mexico.
+  of British Guiana.
+  of the Caribs.
+  stone grinders.
+
+Malacatoyo, R.
+
+Malayan dialects.
+
+Mallocera Spinicollis.
+
+Mammalia.
+
+Mandioca.
+
+Mangos.
+
+Manihot aipim.
+
+Mantos, origin of.
+
+Marcgravia nepenthoides.
+
+Masaya.
+  lake of.
+  volcano of.
+  strata at.
+  origin of strata at.
+
+Masaya Indians, women.
+
+Matagalpa.
+
+Maury, Professor T.B., on origin of cyclones.
+
+Mayas.
+  of Yucatan.
+
+Melastomae.
+  pouches in.
+
+Menmbracis.
+
+Mercury.
+
+Mestayer, Monsieur.
+
+Mestizos.
+
+Metlate.
+
+Mexico.
+  maize in.
+  food of people of.
+
+Miau-tsze.
+
+Mice.
+
+Mico, R.
+
+Microchera parvirostris.
+
+Microscopical cavities in rocks.
+
+Miguelito, San.
+
+Mines.
+  Javali.
+  Domingo, Santo.
+  Libertad.
+  El Coquimba.
+
+Mirage.
+
+Mocoim, the.
+
+Momotus Martii.
+  lessoni.
+
+Monedula surinamensis (Fabr.).
+
+Monkeys.
+  sagacity of.
+  speech of.
+  spider.
+  white-faced.
+
+Montezuma.
+
+Mordellidae.
+
+Morphos.
+
+Morren, Dr., of Liege.
+
+Mosas.
+
+Mosquitoes.
+
+Moss insect.
+
+Moths.
+  migratory.
+
+Mot-mots.
+  tails of.
+
+Mules.
+  bitten by spiders.
+  sagacity of.
+  thieves.
+
+Murderers, punishment of, in Nicaragua.
+
+Muscovy ducks.
+
+Muy-muy.
+
+Mycetes Palliatus.
+
+Mygale.
+
+Myriapods.
+
+Nahuatls.
+
+Names.
+  of natural features of a country important in an inquiry as to
+    the original inhabitants.
+  of places corrupted.
+
+Nancito.
+
+Nandasme.
+
+Nasua fasca.
+
+Nectarina.
+
+Nephila.
+
+Nequen.
+
+Neuwied, Prince Maximilian, on nest of Tody.
+
+Nicaragua.
+  bird fauna of.
+  civil war in.
+  conquest of by Spaniards.
+  division of into three zones.
+  emigration to.
+  insects of.
+
+Nicaragua, name of chief.
+
+Nicaraguans, hospitality of.
+  litigious.
+  and Mexicans closely related.
+
+Nicaraguan judges.
+  soldiers.
+  women.
+
+Nicoya, Gulf of.
+
+Nispera.
+
+Nispral.
+
+Ocalca.
+
+Ocelots.
+
+Ocotal.
+
+Oecodoma.
+
+Olama.
+
+Ometepec, Island of.
+  peaks.
+
+Onions.
+
+Oniscus.
+
+Opossums.
+
+Orange trees.
+
+Orchids.
+  on rock of Cuapo.
+  on Pena Blanca.
+
+Orinoco, carved rocks of.
+
+Ornithorhynchos.
+
+Oropendula.
+
+Orthoptera.
+
+Owls.
+
+Palacaguina.
+
+Palms.
+  cocoa-nut.
+  wine.
+
+Palosabre.
+
+Papaws.
+
+Papilios.
+
+Para grass.
+
+Parrots.
+
+Parsley.
+
+Passiflora quadrangularis.
+
+Passion flower.
+
+Paton, Mr.
+
+Pavon.
+
+Pavones.
+
+Pavos.
+
+Peas.
+
+Pediculi.
+
+Pedrarias.
+
+Pena Blanca.
+  ascent of.
+  rocks of.
+  precipice of.
+
+Penelope.
+
+Pentatoma punicea.
+
+Pernambuco, healthiness of.
+
+Peroxide of iron.
+  magnesia.
+
+Peru, maize found in raised beaches and tombs.
+
+Petasophora delphinae.
+
+Petrels.
+
+Phaethornis longirostris.
+
+Phalangidae.
+
+Phaseolus multiflorus.
+
+Phasma.
+
+Pheidole sp.
+
+Phenax.
+  tail of.
+
+Phoenicothraupis fusicauda.
+
+Physa.
+
+Pigeons, wild.
+
+Pigs, wild, or wari.
+
+Pine apples.
+  trees.
+
+Pinuela, the.
+
+Pinus tenuifolia.
+
+Pionia lycoides.
+
+Pisoti.
+
+Pita.
+
+Pital.
+
+Planorbis.
+
+Plantains.
+
+Plantain trees.
+
+Plant lice.
+
+Platyrhynchus.
+
+Pliocene period.
+
+Plough, Nicaraguan.
+
+Polistes carnifex.
+
+Polybia occidentalis.
+
+Polyrhaphis Fabricii, Thom.
+
+Port Just, veins of granite and quartz at.
+
+Pot-holes.
+
+Pottery.
+  ancient Indian.
+  gourd shaped.
+
+Priocnemis.
+
+Prionyrhynchus carinatus.
+
+Pseudomyrma bicolor (Guer.).
+
+Ptero-chroza.
+
+Puerta, La.
+
+Pulque.
+
+Pumpkins.
+
+Quartz.
+  conglomerate.
+  rock.
+  veins.
+
+Quequisque.
+
+Quesal.
+
+Quiches.
+
+Quiscalus.
+
+Rafael, San.
+
+Ramphastus tocard.
+
+Rats.
+
+Reeve, Mr. Lovell, on Mollusks.
+
+Rhamphocoelus passerinii.
+  sanguinolentus.
+
+Rio Frio.
+  expeditions.
+  Indians of.
+
+Rio.
+  Grande.
+  Mico.
+  Plata, migration of butterflies.
+  Wanks.
+
+Rivers, names of.
+
+Rosa Villosa.
+
+Rosechafer.
+
+Rose, glands on.
+
+Salto, El.
+
+Salvin, Mr. Osbert.
+
+Sanate, the.
+
+Sand-flies.
+
+San Sebastian.
+
+Santarem, wasps at.
+
+Sarracenia.
+
+Savallo, R.
+
+Savannahs.
+
+Scarlet runner.
+
+Schomburgk.
+
+Sclater, Dr., on the species of Crax.
+
+Scorpions.
+
+Season,
+  dry.
+  wet.
+
+Seemann, Mr.
+
+Segovia.
+  townships of.
+
+Selection, artificial and natural, difference between.
+
+Seripiqui, R.
+
+Sharks.
+
+Shells.
+  of the Caribbean prov.
+  of the Panamic.
+
+Silkworms.
+
+Silver.
+  mine.
+
+Simpson, Dr. J.H.
+
+Sisitote.
+
+Skunk.
+
+Solenopsis sp.
+
+Sontule.
+
+Sorby, Mr. H.C., on microscopic cavities in quartz.
+
+Spaniards, invasion of Nicaragua by.
+  cruelties practised by.
+
+Spermophila olivacea.
+
+Spider monkeys.
+
+Spiders.
+
+Spiniger luteicornis (Walk.).
+
+Squiers, Mr.
+  the Lenca Indians.
+
+Steamboats on San Juan.
+  Lake of Nicaragua.
+
+Still, native.
+
+Stone.
+  axes.
+  hatchet.
+  implements.
+  maize grinders.
+
+Stove, Indian.
+
+Strabo.
+
+Sugantia.
+
+Sugar.
+  cane.
+  plantations.
+
+Sugar-loaf hills.
+
+Sulphide of.
+  copper.
+  iron.
+  silver.
+
+Swallows.
+
+Sweet potatoes.
+
+Tabanus.
+
+Tablason.
+
+Taeniotes scalaris.
+
+Talcose schists.
+
+Tanagers.
+
+Tapir.
+
+Termites, or white ants.
+
+Thaloc, the god of rain.
+
+Thalurania venusta.
+
+Theclae.
+
+Theopompus, on a large island outside of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
+
+Thunderbolts.
+
+Tillandsia.
+  usneoides.
+
+Timetes.
+  cheron.
+
+Tinamus.
+
+Tiste.
+
+Toledo.
+
+Toltecs.
+  the cultivation of maize.
+
+Tomatoes.
+
+Tortillas.
+
+Totagalpa.
+
+Toucans.
+  beak of.
+
+Trachyte.
+
+Trappean dykes.
+
+Trap rocks.
+
+Trogon atricollis.
+  caligatus.
+  elegans.
+  females, dull coloured.
+  melanocephalus.
+  resplendens.
+
+Trogons.
+
+Tschudi, on indigenous dogs of tropical America.
+
+Tylor, Mr. Alfred.
+  on the reduction of the level of the sea.
+
+Tyler, E.B.
+  on the couvade.
+  his "Early History of Mankind".
+  on whirlwinds in Mexico.
+
+Ubaldo, San.
+
+Ulleros.
+
+Ulli.
+
+Unio.
+
+Urania leilus.
+
+Utopia.
+
+Vacqueros.
+
+Vanilla planifolia.
+
+Velasquez, Don Francisco.
+
+Vertebrata.
+
+Viduas.
+
+Viena paraca.
+
+Virgin Islands.
+  carved rocks of.
+
+Volcanoes.
+  Caracas.
+  Cosaguina.
+  Masaya.
+  San Miguel.
+  St. Vincent.
+
+Vultures.
+
+Wallace, Mr. A.R.
+  on Angraecum sesquipedale.
+  on brightly coloured caterpillars.
+  on the faunas of the Malay archipelago.
+
+War, not always a curse.
+
+Wasps.
+  attending leaf-hoppers.
+  hunting for spiders.
+  killing caterpillars.
+  nests of.
+  taking note of place to which they wish to return.
+
+Water-beetles, bearing plants.
+
+Waterfall near San Domingo.
+  of El Salto.
+
+Westwood, Professor, on nests of mygale.
+
+Whirlwind.
+  origin of.
+
+Whitecap.
+
+Wolves, or Coyotes.
+
+Wood-lice.
+  chased by ants.
+
+Woodpeckers.
+  tongue of.
+
+Xilomen, feast of.
+
+Xoloilzcuintli.
+
+Yalaguina.
+
+Yales.
+
+Yucatan, the cross in.
+
+Zeolite.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Naturalist in Nicaragua, by Thomas Belt
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA ***
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