m D. H. HILL LIBI^;«y

NOBTH C^OLirm ST4TE C0LLC6C

\>„<^

ENTOMOLOGICAL OOLLECTION

15968S

This book may be kept out TWO WEEKS
ONLY, and is subject to a fine of FIVE
CENTS a day thereafter. It is due on the
day indicated below:

UL 12 196t

- 2 1957

HAI.LANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

THE

NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.

H IRarrative of

A RESIDENCE AT THE GOLD MINES OF CHONTALES;
JOURNEYS IN THE SAVANNAHS AND FORESTS;

SaHit!) 9Db0crt)3tion0 on animal© anH IPIants in Ecference to
tlje %i)tox2 of dEboIution of ILibins jForm0»

By THOMAS BELT, F.G.S.

AUTHOR OF
"mineral veins," "the glacial period in north AMERICA," ETC. ETC.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED.

It was his faith — pei'haps is mine —

Tliat 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. "

LoNGFELLOVif.

TKIlitb /IRap aiiD JUustrations.

LONDON:
EDWARD BUMPUS, 5 & 6 HOLBORX BARS, E.G.

1888.
[The right of translation is 7'eserved.]

TO

A. G. REN SHAW, Esq.,

THE VALUED FlilEND OF THE AUTHOK,

Zbis Edition

IS

DEDICATED BY

MRS. BELT AND HER SONS

AS A SMALL RECOGNITION OF HIS KIND AND UNCEASING

INTEREST IN THEIR WELFARE.

159686

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

In the recently published " Life and Letters of Charles
Darwin," edited by his sou Mr. Francis Darwin (vol.
iii. p. I 8 8), the following passage occurs: —

" In the spring of this year (1874) he (Mr. Darwin) read a boolc
whicli gave him great pleasure, and of which he often spoke with
admiration, ' Tlie 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 admir-
able 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 fatlier wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker: — 'Belt
I have read, and I am delighted that j^ou like it so much ; it
appears to me the best of all natural history journals whicli have
ever been published.' "

Praise so high, from a critic so competent, renders
auy apology for the publication of a second edition
of the work referred to by Air. Darwin, needless.

Moreover, apart from the intrinsic merits of the
book, the great interest which is now generally dis-
played on all subjects connected with Central America
and the circumstance that this book has now for some
time been out of print — render it desirable that a new

viii PREFACE.

edition should be issued from the press. In so doing
it seems fitting to say something of the life and work
of the author, whose death occurred only four years
after the first publication of this book. The follow-
ing account is reprinted from the Quarterly Jounud of
Science of January 1879 : —

^y> '' ' "THOMAS BELT, F.G.S.

" In the obituary of the year, and amongst the list of
scientific men who have loved science for itself, and sought
truth for truth's sake, few will leave a brighter or happier
memory with their friends than Thomas Belt.

"Born in Newcastle in 1832, he was an early member of
the Tyneside Naturalists' Club, and there began that love of
nature and nature's ways that ever remained fresh with him
throughout his life.

"In 1852 his adventurous nature took him to the
Australian gold diggings, and there (the leading spirit of a
family of four brothers located in the colony) from 1853 to
i860 he successively visited, as a miner, the districts of
Friars and Forest Creeks, Maryborough, Mount Molingul,
Kingower, Korong, Mount Egerton.

" In this rough ' school of mines ' he acquired that
practical knowledge which not only served him so well in
after-life in his profession, but gave him that insight into
the building-up of the earth's crust which enabled him, not
seldom, to put forth novel theories in geology and natural
phenomena. Unorthodox as they were when first promul-
gated, yet, silently and solidly, they commended themselves
to those who studied the facts and the inferences he drew
from them. Amid real hard work in Australia, he found
time to speculate on the flight of birds, and to show that

PREFACE. ix

the mechanical action of the birds' wings is not always the
prime mover, but that the force of the wind, particularly in
the albatross, is the real agent that carries them sweeping
over the ocean with the rapidity of the wind itself. Further,
that this force is utilised by the faculty the bird lias of
balancing itself against the power of the wind. It is the
equivalent of the string of the boy's kite, and almost over-
whelming j3roof of this theory is afforded by the fact that
the albatross is helpless in a calm, and cannot — from a level
surface, as the deck of a ship — raise itself or fly so well as
a domestic goose.

" His theory of whirlwinds — viz., that the upper strata of
air pressed upon the lower rarefied and lighter strata, till
a casual opening or thinning out in the upper layer leaves
the lower strata free to fly upwards, and to form the circular
whirlwinds common even in this country — was an outcome
of his actual experience acquired in the dreadful dust storms
of Australia. It is a curious fact that the paper on this
subject, sent to a Melbourne scientific society, and put aside
as unworthy of notice, was sent by Mr. Belt to the present
Astronomer-Royal, and then, as communicated by the
Astronomer-Royal to the Philosophical Institute of Victoria,
Avas accepted and read in Melbourne, in December 1857.
The paper itself will be found in the London, Edinburgh,
and Dublin Philosophical Magazine for January 1859.

" The boldest of his speculations, and one of the soundest,
as after-events proved, was his plan for crossing the Aus-
tralian continent. He proposed, at the time the Govern-
ment 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

X PREFACE.

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 the
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 homewards 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 Car-
pentaria. 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. His ideas were in advance of his time,
and he had that belief in his own powers which should have
won his plan the attention its merits deserved. The writer
knows the fact, that had Belt tlien possessed the means,
he would have spent them all in his endeavour to carry out
this scheme of crossing the Australian continent.

"In 1862 Belt returned to England, and his professional
engagements led him to North Wales, Kova Scotia, Central
America, and Chontales, Nicaragua. At the latter place
his entomological collection has made him famous. Many

PREFACE. xi

hundred species of coleoptera and lepidoptera attest his
energy and labour ; and his charming book, ' The Naturalist
in Nicaragua,' whilst illustrating his great powers of observa-
tion, has endeared him to every lover of nature, and
proved the painstaking truth with which he collected his
facts.

" The succeeding years of his life were spent in almost
continued travel : to North and South Russia, Siberia, the
Kirghese Steppes, and many times to the United States.
In these journeys he, from time to time, made those observa-
tions upon glacial action, upon w^hich he built up his theories
of the ice age. These became the ruling passion of his
later years. Much of this work will be found in the
Quarterly Journal of Science and in the Quarterly Journal
of the Geological Society. How much of it will stand
the test of time the future only can tell ; but all this
special work of his is, at least, a careful and elaborate
argument, advocating the theory that the extraordinary
changes of climate in past ages, over large areas of the
earth's surface which are now temperate regions, during the
period called by geologists the glacial epoch, may have been
brought about by other causes of less intensity than the
submergences and emergences of the land, even than by
the displacement of whole continents, which theories have
been advanced by some to account for the phenomena in
question.

"Mr. Belt advocates the agency of ice, and ice-dams, and
great lakes — to use his own words — in place of ' great up-
heavals and depressions of tlie earth's surface within a com-
paratively short peiiod ; ' and he questions the hypothesis by
which ' we are taught that an immense area in Europe and
America has been a sea bottom, and every part of it a sea
beach as the land rose again, without any evidence of marine
life having been left behind ; ' and he claims that his theory
of glacial action ' explains all the phenomena by one great

xii PREFACE,

advance southwards of the ice of a single glacial period.' —
Quarterly Journal of Science, ' Loess of the Ehine and the
Danube,' January 1877,

" The immediate cause of his death was brain fever, follow-
ing a long attack of mountain fever."

In the " Natural History Transactions of North-
umberland, Durham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne," vol. vii.,
1879, the following short memoir, by Mr. Joseph
Wright, giving some further details of Mr. Belt's
career, appears —

"'Died at Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., September 22nd,
1878, Mr. Thomas Belt, F.G.S., aged forty-five.' Such was
the brief announcement by telegram which appeared in
the newspapers, and told to his astonished friends in this
district that he had passed away from their midst.

" His attainments, and the high position he had won for
himself in the scientific world, render it only fitting that
some record of his life and labours should appear in the
' Transactions of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club,' of
which he was a member for many years.

" Mr. Belt was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1832, and
received his education at the school of the late Mr. Joliu
Storey, one of the first secretaries of our Club.

" He early evinced a taste for natural history pursuits, the
departments of botany and entomology being his favourite
studies. In June 1850, he became a member of the Club,
and in the second volume of the ' Transactions ' his name
several times appears as the authority for the habitats of
some of the rarer plants of the district. On more than
one occasion, his old master, Mr. Storey, acknowledges his
obligations to him for help on these points.

"In October 185 1, he discovered at Eyton a plant new to
the district, the Frog-Bit, Hydrocliarus Morsus-rance. We

PREFACE. xiii

also find him communicating lists of his captures amongst
the lepidoptera to the Club.

" About this time the discovery of gold had been made in
Australia, and, like a great many more, Mr. Belt left Tyne-
side for the new El Dorado.

"This step, we may say, was the turning-point in his life,
and had a great influence on his future career. During his
residence in Australia, although at a time when the whole
colony was moved by the gold-fever, the same quiet habits
of observation which marked him on Tyneside are seen.
The new aspects of nature with which he was brought into
contact in Australia aroused his spirit of investigation, and
in 1857 he was reading before the Philosophical Institute of
Victoria a paper on ' The Origin of Whirlwinds.' This paper
is printed in the Philosophical Magazine for 1859, to which
periodical it was communicated by the Astronomer-Eoyal.

" The auriferous quartz veins of Australia he made his
peculiar study, the results of which he embodied in a work
on ' Mineral Veins : an Inquiry into their Origin.' This
book he published in 1861, and it at once lifted him into
the position of an authority on the subject.

" On his return to England, his services were greatly in
request as a mining engineer, to which profession he now
devoted himself, with an establishment in London. In the
prosecution of his labours he travelled over both Asia and
America ; and in his long wanderings his keen powers of
observation were ever on the alert to enlarge the domain of
human knowledge.

"In 1863 Mr. Belt went to Nova Scotia, where he had the
superintendence of the iSTova-Scotian Gold Company's Mines.
Here the great glacial phenomena of North America were
unfolded to his view, and to the study of them he devoted
himself with enthusiasm. In his investicfations into "lacial
plienomena, careful observations were made at the great
lakes of the American continent, the gorge of the Niagara,

xiv PREFACE.

and the valley of the St. Lawrence, followed afterwards by
an examination of the steppes of Siberia and Southern
Russia, and among the drifts and gravels of our own country.
These results were from time to time communicated to the
various learned societies and scientific periodicals. It was
his intention to embody liis accumulated facts and observa-
tions in this department of geological inquiry in a work on
Glacial Plienomena ; but this purpose of his life his early
death has prevented.

" Whilst in Nova Scotia, where he sojourned for two or
three years, he took an active part in the Proceedings of
the Nova-Scotian Institute of Natural Science ; and the
first geological paper printed in their Transactions is from
his pen ; it is also in these Transactions that his paper on
the Glacial Period in North America appeared.

"After his return from Nova Scotia, he was engaged for
some time in examining the quartz rocks of North Wales,
a project having been at that time started to seek for gold
in these rocks. Whilst so engaged he examined carefully the
geology and palaeontology of the district of Dolgelly, where ■
he resided, and the results of which he published in two
papers in the Geological Magazine, vols, iv., v., 1867-8.

"In 1868 Mr. Belt went to Nicaragua to superintend the
mining operations of the Chontales Gold-Mining Company.
Here he remained until 1872, and to his residence in that
district we owe the work by which his name will be best
known. This work, ' The Naturalist in Nicaragua,' he
published in 1874, and we have in it one of the most
interesting volumes of travel and natural history in the
English language. His observations on the various depart-
ments of zoology, botany, and geology, which came under
his notice in that district, show the eye and the pen of a
competent investigator, and render the book truly a classic
one amongst our natural history literature. In 1873, and
again in 1875 and 1876, he was in Russia, and travelled

PREFACE. XV

over a large portion of that great empire. The steppes of
Siberia, and also those of Southern Eussia, he made his
peculiar study ; and the results of his observations on these
vast plains he embodied in two papers, which he read before
the Geological Society of London in 1874 and 1877, and
which are published in their Journal.

"In the early part of the summer of 1878 he was down in
his native north, revisiting his old acquaintances and the
scenes of his youth ; for always, in all his wanderings, he
turned lovingly to Tyneside. He at this time was in his
usual health and genial spirits ; and little did his friends
think that it was to be his last visit to the place of his birth,
and that they should see his face no more.

" He shortly afterwards left England for Colorado, to fulfil
a professional engagement. Here he was struck down with
fever, which terminated fatally on tlie 21st of September.
To the last he was an earnest student, and the latest record
we have of him shows him still accumulating facts in further-
ance of the work on glacial phenomena to which he had
devoted himself. The letter of the Denver correspondent of
the Times, published in that paper September 25th, 1878,
announces the discovery by Mr. Belt of a human skull that
might prove to be the oldest in existence, the deposits in
which it was found being in his belief of the glacial age.

"It may be said of him 'that his sun went down while
it was yet day,' and that the work to wliich he had dedicated
so much of his life remains unaccomplished. Yet the name
of Thomas Belt will not be forgotten. Though he has passed
away from us in the flower of his age, the work tliat he has
done has gained for him a position in the scientific world to
which few of greater years attain.

" He was a careful and accurate observer, and able with his
pen to lay before the world the results of his observations
clearly and temperately. Whatever he undertook he did
it well, and in the departments of natural science to which

xvi PREFACE.

he applied himself his name stands as an authority, and
his work is quoted as that of a master.

" Residing as he did at a distance from Tyneside, and
actively engaged in the duties of his profession (a profession
which at one time took him to North America, at another
to South America, and to Siberia), he could not take any
active part in the work of the Club, which undoubtedly
he would have done had he lived among us. Yet he took a
warm interest in its welfare, and was always glad to hear of
its progress. Our local natural history may have lost some-
what by his long absence, but that of the world at large has
the more benefited by his labours, and he adds another bright
name to the roll of those who have so well upheld the
natural history fame of the Newcastle district."

List op Works and Papers, by Mr. Thomas Belt.

An Inquiry into the Origin of Whirlwinds. Read before
the Philosophical Institute, and published in the Philo-
sophical Magazine, vol. xvii., p. 47.

Mineral Veins. An Inquiry into their Origin. Pounded
on a Study of the Auriferous Quartz Veins of Australia.
1 86 1. London: John Weale.

The Naturalist in Nicaragua. A Narrativ.e of a Residence
at the Gold Mines of Chontales, and Journeys in the
Savannahs and Forests. 1874. London : John Murray.

Note on the Discovery of a Human Skull in the Drift near
Denver, Colorado. Read before the American Association for
the Advancement of Science at St. Louis, Mo., August 1878.

Transactions of the Nova-Scotian Institute.

On some Recent Movements of the Earth's Surface. Vol. i.,
pt. I, p. 19.

List of Butterflies observed in the neighbourhood of
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Vol. ii., pt. i, p. 97.

PREFACE. xvii

The Production and Preservation of Lakes by Ice Action.
Vol. ii., pt. 3, p. 70.

The Glacial Period in North America. Vol. ii., pt. 4,
p. 91.

Geological Magazine.

On some new Trilobites from the Upper Cambrian of
North "Wales. A^ol. iv., p. 294.

On the Lingula Flags, or Pestiniog Group of the Dolgelly
District. Vol. iv., pp. 493-536, and voL v., p. 5,

On the First Stages of the Glacial Period in Norfolk and
Suffolk. Vol. xiv., p. 156.

Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society.

On the Steppes of Siberia. Vol. xxx., p. 463.

On the Steppes of Southern Kussia. Vol. xxx., p. 843.

On the Drift of Devon and Cornwall : its Origin, Cor-
relation with that of the South- West of England, and Place
in the Glacial Series. Vol. xxxii., p. 80.

Quarterly Journal of Science.

An Examination of the Theories that have been proposed
to account for the Climate of the Glacial Period. Vol. xi.,
1874, p. 421.

Niagara:. Glacial and Post-Glacial Phenomena. Vol.
xii., 1875, p. 135.

On the Geological Age of the Deposits containing Flint
Implements at Hoxne, in Suffolk, and the relation that
Palseolithic Man bore to the Glacial Period. Vol. xiii.,

1876, p. 289.

On the Loess of the Rhine and the Danube. Vol. xiv.,

1877, p. 67.

On the Glacial Period in the Southern Hemisphere. Vol.
xiv., 1877, p. 326.

I

xviii PREFACE.

On the Discovery of Stone Implements in Glacial Drift
in iSTorth America. Vol. xv., 1878, p. 55.

On the Superficial Gravels and Clays around Finchlej',
Ealing, and Brentford. Vol. xv., 1878, p. 316.

It needs not to add more. It would be easy for
the writer, who looks back with recollections of infinite
pleasure upon a journey made to Mexico with Mr.
Belt in 1876, and to numerous expeditions undertaken
with him in Great Britain, to dwell on many incidents
of personal travel, and to say much of his pleasant
and genial qualities as a companion. With a mind
keenly alive to all things natural he brought to bear,
on everything that came under his notice, a wide and
varied knowledge. Singularly modest and even-tem-
pered by nature, he was only roused to' anger by any
sense of oppression or by wanton cruelty. But, in-
deed, his character may be read in his book. Those
who knew him, loved him. Nor was he ever happier
than when assisting others in the cultivation and en-
joyment of those pursuits which occupied his own
leisure.

Only a few days before the fever seized him he
wrote from Georgetown, Colorado : —

" I am expecting to start East in about ten days' time, but shall
not leave America until about the middle of September. The
heat here has been very great, or rather it has been in the States
eastward. Up at this height (over 8000 feet) it is never too hot.
We had many astronomers at Denver to see the eclipse, which
was a great success. The opinion is very general amongst them
that the sun's heat has not been constant in long periods of time,

PREFACE. xix

and they refer the cause of the variation in geological climates
to such fluctuations."

He rests in the Eiverside Cemetery near Denver,
Colorado ; nor should this short notice close without
reference to the kind attention which he received
from Mr. and Mrs. James Duff of Denver, during his
fatal illness.

London, Fehruanj i8{

PREFACE TO THE FIEST 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 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 Clarke finds analogies with
those of my old friends the Brazilian Indians. I now
write this brief preface and the last chapter of my
book on my way across the continent to the Urals,
and beyond, to the country of the nomad Kirghiz
and the far Altai mountains on the borders of Thibet ;
and when readers receive my work I shall pro-
bably have turned my face homewards again, and
for weeks be travelling 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 ;

xxii PREFACE.

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 ;
and some, again, in the bowels of the earth when
seeking for her hidden riches. The tlioughts 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 assist-
ance, and especially for undertaking the superin-
tendence 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 magniticent collection
of Diurnal Lepidoptera. Mrs. Osbert Salvin and Dr.

PREFACE. xxiii

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,

Ociohcr gth, 1873.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Arrival at Greytown — The river San Juan — Silting up of the
harbour — Crossing the bar — Lives lost on it — Sharks — Chris-
topher Columbus — Appearance of the town — Trade — Healthi-
ness 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 II.

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 — Sei'ipiqui
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 hymen-
optera — Utopia . . . . . . . . .11

CHAPTER III.

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 — En-
durance of the boatmen — San Carlos — Interoceanic canal —

i CONTENTS.

PAGE

Advantages of the Nicaraguan route — The Rio Frio — Stories
about the wild Indians — Indian captive children — Expedi-
tions up the Rio Frio — American river steamboats . . 30

CHAPTER IV.

The lake of Nicaragua — Ometepec — Becahned on the lake — White
egrets — Reach San Ubaldo — Ride across the plains — Vegeta-
tion 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 . . -43

CHAPTER V.

Geographical position of Santo Domingo — Physical geography —
The inhabitants — Mixed races^Negroes and Indians com-
pared— Women — Establishment of the Chontales Gold-Min-
ing 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 papavvs — 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 sub-
ject to their attack — Method of destroying the ants — Migra-
tion of the ants from a nest attacked — Corrosive sublimate
causes a sort of madness amongst them — Indian plan of pre-
venting them ascending young trees — Leaf-cutting ants are
fungus-growers and eaters — Sagacity of the ants . . .61

CHAPTER VI.

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

CONTENTS. xxvii

PAGE

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 connec-
tion with intrusions of plutouic rocks ..... 85

CHAPTER VII.

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 ........ 103

CHAPTER VIII.

Description of San Antonio valley — Great variety of animal life
-^Pitcher-flowered Marcgravias — Flowers fertilised by hum-
ming 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 my riapods — Ascent of Peiia Blanca — Tapirs
and jaguars — Summit of Peiia Blanca ..... 126

CHAPTER IX.

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 150

CHAPTER X.

Juigalpa — A Nicaraguan family — Description of the road from
Juigalpa to Santo Domingo — Comparative scarcity of insects

iii CONTENTS.

PAGE

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 . . . .176

CHAPTER XI.

Start on journey to Segovia — Rocky mountain road — A poor lodg-
ing— 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 consi-
dered— The disadvantages of a covering of hair to a domesti-
cated animal in a tropical country ..... 191

CHAPTER XII.

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 XIII.

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 . . .231

CHAPTER XIV.

Great range composed of boulder clay — Daraily— Lost on the
savannahs — Jamailj' — A deer-hunter's family — Totagalpa —
Walls covered with cement and whitewashed — Ocotal — The
valley of Depilto — Silver mine — Geology of the valley — Glacial

CONTENTS.

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 ......... 247

CHAPTER XV.

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 . . .275

CHAPTER XVI.

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 .......... 292

CHAPTER XVII.

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 . . . 308

CHAPTER XVIII.

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

CONTENTS.

PAGE

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 . . . 327

CHAPTER XIX.

Iguanas and lizards — Granada — Politics — Revolutions — Cacao
cultivation — Masaya — The lake of Masaya — The volcano of
Masaya — Origin of the lake basin .....

CHAPTER XX.

Indian population of the country lying between the great lakes of
Nicaragua and the Pacific — Discovery and conquest of Nica-
ragua 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 ques-
tion of the peopling of America ...... 358

CHAPTER XXL

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 Grey town —
Return to England ........ 374

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Portrait of the Author .... Frontispiece.

PAGE

Alligators 9

Mot-Mots of Chontales 16

Commissioner's House at Santo Domingo ... 66

Nest of Leaf-cutting Ant 80

Machinery of Chontales Gold-Mining Company . 88
Section of Mine showing Method of Extracting the

Ore 92

Section of San Antonio Lode 94

HuMMlNG-BlRDS [Florisuga mellivora, Linn.) . . .111
Tongues of Humming-Bird and Woodpecker . 113, 114
Pitcher-flower [Marcgravia nepcnthoides) . . .129

Flower of the "Palosabre" 130

Adventure with a Jaguar 145

Pena Blanca 148

Indian Statues 165

Path up Steep Hill 193

quiscalus 213

Bull's-horn Thorn 218

Leaf of Melastoma 223

xxxii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAOK

Native Still 233

Native Plough 239

Geological Section near Ocotal 261

Hornet and Mimetic Bug 319

Geological Section at Masaya 348

Longicorn Beetles of Chontales 380

Leaf Insect 381

Moss Insect 382

Sketch Map of Nicaragua .... at the end.

THE

J^ATURALIST W NICARAGUA.

CHAPTER I.

Arrival at Greytown — The river San Juan — Silting up of the
harbour — Crossing the bar — Lives lost on it— Sharks — Christo-
pher Columbus— Appearance of the town — Trade — Healthiness
of the town and its probable cause — Comparison between Grey-
town, 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 I5tli February 1868, the R.M.S.S.
Solent, in which I was a passenger, anchored off Grey-
town, 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 water-shed 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

A

D. H. HILL LIP.RARY
North Carolina State College

2 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. I.

months, from March to June, there is sufficient water
coming clown 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.

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 our-
selves 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

Ch. I.] ARRIVAL AT GREYTOWX. 3

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
underwing, were the most conspicuous. A large alli-
gator 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

4 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. I.

neatest tropical towns that I have visited. The houses,
especially in the business portion of the town, are well
huilt 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 covei'ed with
short grass that makes a beautful sward to walk on.

The trade in the town is almost entirely in the hands
of foreign residents, amongst whom Mr. HoUenbeck, a
citizen of the United States, is one of the most enter-
prising. 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 assist-
ance 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.

Ch. I.] CLIMATE OF GREYTOWX. 5

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 develop-
ment 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, Greytowu might be thought a
very unhealthy site for a town. Notwithstanding, how-
ever, 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 Per-
nambuco, 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

6 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. I.

and ■with a good natural drainage, is much more un-
healthy, fevers being very prevalent. As at Greytown
so at Pernambuco, the trade winds blow with much regu-
larity, and there are neither hills nor hollows to inter-
fere 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 s'p.) having a fruit like a small apple filled
with seeds, of a sub-acid flavour, from which the cele-
brated 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 beauti-
ful tanagers {Txamflioccdus imsserinii) frequent the out-
skirts of the forest, all velvety black, excepting a large
patch of fiery-red above the tail, Avhich renders the bird

Ch. I.] BEETLES RESEMBLING CATERPILLARS. 7

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 tjie 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 butter-
flies, large blue Morphos and nari"ow, weak-winged
Heliconida3, striped and spotted with yellow, red, and
black, were the most conspicuous and most character-
istic of tropical America. Amongst the beetles I found
a curious longicorn {Dcsmiphora fasciculatci) ^ 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 it 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 difierent genera, and even different orders. Thus,

8 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. I.

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 Howers, 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.

That I may not travel over the same ground twice,
I may here mention that on a subsequent visit to Grey-
town I rode a few miles northward along the beach. On
my return, I tied up the horse and walked about a mile

Ch. I.] ALLIGATORS. 9

over the sand-back 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 ritle, 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 ; other-
wise 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 move-
ment 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
voung horses, and I was told of one that had seized a

lo THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. I.

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 authen-
ticated. This Avas 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. ]\Iy 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 liies, 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 II.

Commence journey up San Juan river— Palms and wild canes — Planta-
tions— 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

12 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. II.

a rock, with such force that we were nearly all thrown
down, but the sti'ong 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
out from our view, and our boatmen plyiug 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 vegeta-
tion amongst which they sought their prey. As we
proceeded up the river, the banks gradually became
higher and drier, and we passed some small jjlantations
of bananas and plantains made in clearings in the forest,
which now consisted of a great variety of dicotyledonous

Ch. II.] COLORADO ARM OF THE SAN JUAN. 13

trees with many tall, graceful palms ; the undergrowth
being ferns, small palms, Melastomas, Heliconia3, &c.
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 rai'est sights to see
any of these squatters at work. Their plantain patch
and occasionally some fish fi-om 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 np. 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

14 THP: naturalist in NICARAGUA. [Ch. II.

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 im-
provement 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, threaten-
ing 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 gradu-
ally form sand-banks 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 shores, 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

Ch. II.] IWAT JOURNEY UP THE SAN JUAX. 15

wet aucl the mosquitoes, it was one of the most uncom-
fortable 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 Heliconise. 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 Seri-
piqui 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 Eica. 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.

i6

THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. II.

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 {]\fomotiis
onartii), sitting upon a branch of a tree, moving its

HEADS OF MOT-MOTS.

long curious tail from side to side, until it was nearly
at right ans^les to its bodv. 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

Ch. IL] FORAGING ANTS. 17

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.

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 forao--
ing 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.

B

i8 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. II.

I saw many large armies of this, or a closely allied
species, in tlie 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 grouud, would be seen moving rapidly in one direc-
tion, 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 cock-
roaches, 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

Ch. II.] REMARKABLE CASE OF INSTINCT. 19

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 (Phalangidce), 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.

20 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. II.

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 outlook 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

Ch. II.] PREY OF THE ECITONS. 21

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 Hypodinca is attacked, the ants rush out, carrying
the larvae and pupse in their jaws, only to be immediately
despoiled of them by the Ecitons, which are running
about in every direction with great swiftness. When-
ever they come across a Hypodinca 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 com-
posed 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 Hypodinca
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 unantly disposition
has caused it to become the prey of the Eciton. At

22 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. II.

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 bunting, 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 accom-
pany 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 imme-
diately to take possession of the prize. I have seen
them pulling out the larvae and pupse 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

Ch. II.] EYES OF THE ECITONS. 23

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 eflfectually
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 ad-
vantage 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 communi-
cate the presence of danger, of booty, or other intelli-
gence, to a distance by the diflferent intensity or qualities
of the odours given off. I one day saw a column of
Eciton hamata running along the foot of a nearly per-

24 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. II.

pendicular 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 per-
manently 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 gain-
ing the top of the cutting, the ants entered some brush-
wood 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

Ch. II.] TEMPORARY ANTS' NESTS. 25'

moving in one direction, many of them carrying the
larvse 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 fol-
lowed 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 con-
tained hundreds of thousands of individuals, although
many columns were outside, some bringing in the pupge
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 inor-
ganic 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 larvse and pupee,
which probably were kept warm by the crowding to-
srether 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

26 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. II.

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 sach 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 circum-
stances 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 sympa-
thetic help, such as man only among the higher mam-
malia 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

Ch. II.] REASONING IN ANTS. 27

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 intel-
ligence, 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 difierence 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.*
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 perpen-
dicular, 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

* Houzeau, Etudes sur les Facultes inentales des Animaux corn-
parses k celles de rHomme.

28 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. II.

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." *

The Hymenoptera standing at the head of the Arti-
culata, and the Mammalia at the head of the Vertebrata,
it is curious to mark how, in geological history, the ap-
pearance and development of these two orders (culmi-
nating, 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 to-
gether 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 difiicult places, assisting each other in
danofer, 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
* Darwin, Descent of Man, vol. i. p. 145.

Ch. II.] ATTAINMENT OF UTOPIA BY ANTS. 29

fellows — we may imagine that Sir Thomas More's descrip-
tion 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 every-
thing, 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 con-
triving 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,"

( 30 )

CHAPTER III.

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 boat-
men— San Carlos— Interoceanic canal — Advantages of the Nicar-
aguan 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
taj'agu) 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
fifby 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

Ch. III.] BOAT JOURNEY CONTINUED. 31

of the large boats called hungos, that carry down to
Greytown the produce of the country and take up mer-
chandise 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 settle-
ment consisting of a single house, just below the rapids
of the same name, seventy-seven 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

32 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. III.

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 situa-
tion 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 cling-
ing 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 madfe the acquaintance of Colonel M'Crae, who
was largely concerned in the iudia-rubber trade. He
afterwards distinguished himself during the revolur-
tionary 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 ex-

Ch. III.] INDIA-RUBBER. 33

pected to bring the rubber they obtuin 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 infinding 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 re-
munerative 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 lbs., valued
at 112,413 dollars, in 1867, to 754,886 lbs., 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 Ullcros.
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 Siplionia clastica, a Euphor-
biaceous tree ; but in Central America the tree that
yields 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

c

34 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. III.

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 (Galonyetion speci-
osum), 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 longimmnis) 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 pre-
sented but little change. We saw many tall graceful
palms and tree ferns, but most of the trees were dicoty-
ledons. Amongst these the mahogany [Sividonia ntalio-
gani) and the cedar {Cedrela odoratd) 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

Ch. III.] REACH THE LAKE. 35

seated some of the black Congo monkeys {Mycetes palli-
atns) which at times, especially before rain and at night-
fall, 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 over-
head, 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
0. W. Childs, in 185 1, is 107^ 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

36 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. III.

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 practi-
cable one for a ship canal between the two oceans.
k<i 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 Ton-e, Castillo and
Machvica 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 ad- "
vantage 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.*

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

* Since the publication of the first edition of this work the com-
missioners, appointed by the Government of the United States to
examine into the practicability of making a canal across the isthmus,
have reported in favour of the Nicaraguan route. The total cost is
estimated at ^12,250,000 sterling.

Ch. III.] WILD INDIANS. 37

ruins of a once strong fort built by the Spaniards, the
crumbling walls now green with the delicate fronds of a
maidenhair 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
tlie town there are a few small clearings in the forest,
where maize is grown. Some orange, banana, and plan-
tain 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
Fi'io 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

38 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. III.

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 specula-
tions, 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 Eio 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 the}^ were called Guatuses; for
the natives of Nicaragua, and of parts much nearer

Ch. III.] TREATMENT OF INDIANS. 39

home, are fond of giving fanciful explanations of the
names of places and things : thns, I have been assured
by an intelligent and educated Nicaraguan, that Guate-
mala was so called by the Spaniards because they found
the guate (a kind of grass) in that country bad, hence
" guate malo," " bad guat6," — whereas every student of
Mexican history knows that the name was the Spanish
attempt to pronounce the old Aztec one of Qnauhte-
mallan, which meant the Land of the Eagle. I shall
have other occasions, in tlie 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 Eio 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 firearms,
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 UUeros who ascended tlie river were so successful
in finding rubber, that various other parties were
organised, and now an ascent of the Rio Frio from San

40 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Cli. III.

Carlos is of common occurrence. The poor Indians are
now in such dread of firearms, that on the first appear-
ance 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 fugi-
tives have left behind them ; and in some cases the latter
liave 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
baptized 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 describ-
ing 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, veiy 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 Cas-
tillo ; but neither could succeed in reaching home, on

Ch. Ill] STONE-HATCHETS. 41

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 indepen-
dent 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.* It is a
singular fact, and one showing the persistence of parti-
cular 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

* Well figured in Evan's "Ancient Stone Implements,'' p. 140,
but erroneously stated in the text to be from Texas.

42 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. III.

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 Ameri-
can 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 moan-
ing sound that has from the earliest ages of history
connected the idea of the sea with sorrow and sadness.*
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 w^ere 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 veiy 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.

* "There is sorrow on the sea ; it cannot be quiet" (Jer. xlix. 23).

( 43 )

CHAPTEK IV.

The lake of Nicaragua — Omet^pec — 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.

44 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IV.

We had still a voyage of sixty miles before us up the
lake, aud 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 aud 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 bi'oiled
with the stilling 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.

Ch. IV.] ARRIVAL AT SAN UBALDO. 45

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 soiue large
fish below, and I was told it was a shark.

After dark the wind failed us again, and we sfot
slowly along, bat finally reached our port, San Ubaldo,
about ten o'clock, and found an oflacer 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 ham-
mock 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-

46 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IV.

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
lonff 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 com-
mon 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 iu 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,

Ch. IV.] FORMS OF INDIAN POTTERY. 47

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 out-
side, 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 pi^ocess. 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

48 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. IV.

of the same word may be heard, a tea-cup being called
a chiccliera.

On the 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 bowlings 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 j\Iarch 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
pillow^s, &c. 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 Berraudez, a Nicaraguan gentleman

Ch. IV.] COCK-FIGHTING. 49

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 re-
specting 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

D

<^^

50 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IV.

on every figlit, and much mone}^ is lost and won over
the sport.

Like most of the Nicaraguan towns, Acoyapo appears
to have been an Indian city before the Spanish con-
quest. The name is Indian, and in the plaza Sefior
Bermudez pointed out to me some flat bared rock sur-
faces, 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 Sebas-
tian ; 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 beau-
tiful birds, amongst which the Sisitofe, a fine black and
orange songster, and a trogon (Trogon melanocephalus,
Gould), were the most conspicuous.

We reached and crossed a high range, from the

Ch. IV.] DIFFICULT MARCH. 51

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 bam-
boos 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 feed-
ing 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 " cstcro"
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. With-
out further mishap we reached Esquipula, a village

52 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IV.

inhabited mostly by half-breeds, and slung our ham-
mocks for the night in a small thatched house belong-
ing 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 round 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 Thomas,

Ch. IV.] SAVANNAHS AND FOREST. 53

who had frequently been down it after india-rubber,
assured me that the reported statues were merely rude
carving's 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 un-
doubted Carib workmanship, have been found in the
Vii'gin Islands, it is possible that they are all the work
of that once-powerful race, and not of the settled agri-
cultural 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

54 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IV.

a pointed stick, a few feet apart, into each of wliicli 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 i6th July, made a great festival, called
the feast of Xilo7ien. 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 " elutc." 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 recent
species of marine shells, in a raised beach eighty-five feet

* "Geological Observations in >South America, 1846," p. 49; and
"Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. i. p. 320.

Ch. IV.] MAIZE AND MANDIOCA EATEKS. 55

above the level of the sea ; and in the same country it
has been found in tombs apparently more ancient than
the earliest times of the Incas.* 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 tract-
able disposition, easily frightened into submission. It is
likely that these maize-eating peoples belonged to closely
afiiliated races. In the West India Islands they occupied
most of Cuba and Hayti ; but from Porto Rico south-
wards 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

* Von Tschudi, "Travels in Peru," English edition, p. 177.

56 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. IV.

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 differ-
ence 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 mctlate, 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
Hour. 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

Ch. IV.] THE GREAT FOREST. 57

are set in motion b}' 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 this
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 ^jz/ta, 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 net-
work 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. Some-
times 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

S8 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IV.

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 melastomse,
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

Ch. IV.] ROAD THROUGH THE FOREST. 59

north-east trades, is eyer 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 mono-
tonous 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 tr3ang 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 straggle 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

6o THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IV.

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.

( 6i )

CHAPTER V.

Geographical position of Santo Uomingo — Piiysical geography — The in-
habitants— 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 gene-
rally mature their seeds — Fig-trees — Granadillos 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 destroy-
ing the ants — Migration of the ants from a nest attacked — Cor-
rosive sublimate causes a sort of madness amongst them — Indian
plan of preventing their ascending young trees — Leaf-cutting ants
are fungus growers and eaters — The sagacity of the ants.

The gold-mining village of Santo Domingo is situ-
ated in the province of Chontales, Nicaragua, in lat.
12° 1 6' N. and long. 84° 59' W., 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 ; west-
ward it terminates in a sinuous margin about seven miles
from the village, and there commence the lightly tim-
bered and grassy plains and savannahs stretching to the
Lake of Nicaragua. The surface of the land in the

62 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

forest region forms a succession of ranges and steep
valleys, covered with magnificent timber and mucli
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 Blew-
fields 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 employ-
ment 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 ele-
ment, whilst amongst the rising generation many fair-
haired childien can claim paternity amongst the numerous
German and English workmen that have been employed
at the mines. The storekeepers 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 uihbrella 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

Cli. v.] NEGROES AND INDIANS. 63

be seen with a new shirt, which to show off is worn hang-
ing 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 black mail
upon the poor patient " Mosas," as they are called, in
the shape of a fine for drunkenness. But the " aguar-
diente," 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 quarrel-
lings 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 laz}-. 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

64 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

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 con-
dition 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 en-
slaved 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 multi-
plied 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 compara-
tive 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

Ch. V ] MY RESIDENCE. 65

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 concubin-
age more or less open. The women have children at
an early age, and make kind and indulgent mothers.

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 commis-
sioner 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

E

66

THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

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 tlower 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 abun-

"^ "S^t- J^h:^''"

roMMISSIONIUt S HOUSE AT SANTO IiOMlN-GO.

dantly. 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.

Ch. v.] BANANA NOT INDIGENOUS. 67

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 prin-
cipal 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 15 16, 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 natives made
sugar from the green stems of the maize. Humboldt
thinks that some species of plantain were indigenous to

^ 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," vol. ii. p. 169.

68 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

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 men-
tion. One of the Sanscrit names was hhanu — fruit, from
w^hich probably the name " banana " was derived.*

Both the plantain and the banana are always propa-
gated 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 nutri-
ment 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 j ust mentioned. There can be no doubt
that the seedless varieties of bananas, 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 in-
definitely prolonged in that way. Perhaps this may be

* Humboldt's "Aspects of Nature," vol. ii, p. 141.

Ch. v.] FRUIT OF THE PASSION-FLOWER. 69

the case in trees, such as apples, that have come undei'
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 {Twniotcs 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 dis-
tance 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-gowers
were not troubled with this insect.

The grenadilla is the fruit of one of the passion-
fiowers {Fassijiora quadrangulcms), 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 diflficulty in pre-
serving 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.

70 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

In vegetables, I gi*ew 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), queqnisque (a
species of arum, Colocasia esctdenta), lettuces, tomatoes,
capsicums, endives, parsley, and carrots.

The climate was too damp to grow onions ; neither
could I succeed with peas, potatoes, or turnips. Scarlet
runners [Phascolns midtijionis) grew well, and flowered
abundant!}^, 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 wonder-
ful 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.* 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 intro-
duced from tropical America into India, but though it
grows well, and flowers, it never fruits without artiticial
aid. It is the same in the hothouses of Europe. Dr.
Morren, of Liege, has shown that, if ai'tificially 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. -f-
When those interested in the acclimature of the natural

* "Gardener's Chronicle/' Oct. 24, 1857, and Ndv. 14, 1858; also
T. H. Farrer, in "Annals of Natural History," Oct. 1868.
f Taylor's "Annals of Natural History," vol. iii. p. I.

Ch. v.] LEAF-CUTTING ANTS. 71

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. Judg-
ing 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 regard-
ing 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 {CEcodoma) ; 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

72 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

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, with-
out 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 his'h trees in the thick

Ch. v.] DESTRUCTIVENESS OF THE ANTS. 73

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 inter-
fered 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 formi-
cariums 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 under-
neath 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 outgoing, 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 recupera-
tive powers of nature are immense and ever active,
could such devastation be withstood.

Further acquaintance with the subject will teach the

74 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

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 suit-
able 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 unsuit-
able 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 un-
known 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
hmonum) 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 intro-
duced, 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

Ch. v.] NESTS OF THE LEAF-CUTTERS. 75

orange {Citrus anrantiwii) and the citron {Citrus mcdi-
cus), 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

76 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

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 con-
tinually 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. 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 eSect was all
that 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.

* 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.

Ch. v.] METHOD OF ERADICATING ANTS. 77

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 bi'ought 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 bring-
ing along pieces of the ant-food from the old to the new
nests ; others carried the undeveloped white pupa3 and
larvae. It was a wholesale and entire migration ; and
the next dav the formicarium down which I had last

78 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

poured the carbolic acid was entirely deserted. I after-
wards 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 foruiicarium 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 to 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 formi-
carium, 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 i-ush 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

Ch. v.] ANTS GROWERS OF MUSHROOMS. 79

tar, which they spread across tlieir paths when any of
them led to their gardens. I was also told that the
Indians prevent them from ascending 3*oung trees by
tying thick wisps of grass, with the sharp points down-
wards, 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.

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 jout.
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 per-
mitted 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 opera-
tions we also, on two occasions, carried our excavations
from below up through very large formicariums, so that

So

THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.

[Ch. V

all their underground workings were exposed to obser-
vation. 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

NEST OF LEAF-CCTTING ANT.

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 pupge and larva3, 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 tosrether bv a minute white funerus that rami-

Ch. v.] FOOD OF THE ANTS. 8i

fied in every direction througlaout 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 imma-
ture 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 some-
times, 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 habita-
tions. That they do not eat the leaves themselves I con-
vinced 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 Staphy-
linidcc and other beetles.*

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

* This theory that the leaf-ciittitig ants feed on a fungus which they
cultivate ha« been confirmed by Mr. Fritz Miillar, 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, pub-
lished in Nature of June ii, 1874.

F

82 THE NATUEALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

also seen them cutting up and carrying off the flowers
of certain shrubs, the leaves of which they neglected.
They are pai'ticular about the ventilation of their under-
ground 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 tempera-
ture 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
vioforous srrowth. 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 situa-
tions, 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

Ch. v.] REASONING POWERS OF ANTS. 83

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 unsuit-
able 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.

84 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. V.

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 carryiug leaves were thus cut off from the nest,
tbey 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
(Ccelosis bildba) and a species of Staphylinus are found
in the nests, but probably their larvfe live on the rotten
leaves, after the ants have done with them.

( 5^5

CHAPTER VI.

Configuration of the ground at Santo Domingo — Excavation of valleys
— Geology of the district — Decomposition of the rocks — Gold-min-
ing— 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.

Theke is scarcely auy level laud around Santo Domingo,
l3ut 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 agaiu, 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 sub-aiirial 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 pro-
ceeds 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 Nicai'agua there
were some modifications of the surface effected ; I saw

86 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VI.

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, some-
times 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

Cli. VI.] QUARTZ LODES. 87

nearly vertically. Excepting that they are very irregular
in thickness, and often branch and send thin offshoots
iiito 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 hori-
zontally. The probability 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 lodes
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

S8

THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VI.

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 ail the ore treated by the
Chontales Mining Company, up to the end of 187 1, has

' ' ' W^

t,""

MACHINERY OF CHONTALES GOLD-MINING COMPANY.

been about seven pennyweights per ton, and during that
time small patches have been met with worth one hun-
di'ed 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 designa-

Cli. VI.] QUARTZ LODES. 89

tiou 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 man-
ganese. The gold is in minute grains, and generally
distributed loosely amongst the quai'tz. Pieces as large
as a pin's head are rare, and specimens of quartz show-
ing tlie gold in it ai'e seldom met with, even in the
richest portions of a lode. The fine gold-dust can, how-
ever, easily be detected by washing portions of the lode-
stuff in a horn. The quai'tz 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.

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

90 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. VI.

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 penny-
weights 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 decom-
position 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 de-
composed 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 accumula-
tion 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 degrada-
tion, 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 de-

CI). YI] QUARTZ LODES. 91

teriorate in value in depth, I at one time, after having
studied the auriferous quartz veins of Australia, advo-
cated this theory, which was first insisted upon by Sir
E. 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 con-
dition of the lodes, and those due to subsequent concen-
tration. 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.

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 suffi-
ciently 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

92 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VI.

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 pro-
ceeds. The levels are timbered with " nispera," a wood
of great durability and strength, but the excavated

^rantway to Stamps

.SECTION OF GOLD MINE.

Diagram bliowiug luothud of excavating ore at Santo Dooiingo Mines.

A, Levels ; B, Rise, down whieli the ore is thrown ; D, Stopes ; C, Stopes rciilled
with clay and barren rock.

portions between them are only temporarily secured
with common soft wood, and at the end of every fort-
night filled up with clay and barren rock. The mining
is entirely executed by native workmen, principally
Mestizos from the border lands of Honduras and Nica-
ragua, where they have been engaged in silver-mining.
They are paid according to the amount of ground ex-
cavated, and are very industrious when poor ; but
when they accumulate a little mone}", they take fits
of idleness and dissipation until it is spent.

The ore is taken down to the reduction works in

Ch. VI ] QUARTZ LODES. 93

wasfofons that run down bv oravitation, 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 aftinity, 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 retreated
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 con-
densed 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

94

THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VI.

Santo Domingo about two thousand tons of ore are
treated monthly, and the whole cost of treatment, in-
cluding all charges for mining, carriage, reduction, amal-
gamation, 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

SECTION ACROSS SAN ANTONIO LODE.

A, Lode ; B, Decomposed doleryte ; C, Surface soil ;
n, Quartz rocks in surface soil.

the loss in comparison with that of many other gold-
extracting establishments being greatly due to the
employment of sodium in the amalgamating processes.
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

Ch. VI.] QUARTZ LODES. 95

form again, and prevents its being carried off in light
mineralised flakes and powder.

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 annexed section. 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,* in his account of the geology of
* Quart. Journ. Geul. Sue, vol. xvii.

96 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. VT.

Peru and Bolivia, has advanced the opinion that auri-
ferous quartz veins belong- to two different systems, one
occurring in connection with Grranitic, 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.* One of the latest writers on the subject, Mr.
E.. Daintree, in his " Notes on the Geology of Queens-
land," 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 trappeaii dykes themselves are auriferous. •(• Several
years ago, I endeavoured to show that mineral veins in
granitic districts occurred in regular sequences, with
certain intrusive rocks, as follows: — 1st, Intrusion of
main mass of granite ; 2nd, Granitic veins ; 3rd, Elvan
dykes ; and, lastly. Mineral veins, cutting through all
the other intrusive rocks.j 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 desig-
nated Greenstones, in some districts consisting of dia-
base, 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 ; 2ndly, Irregular tortuous dykes of
diabase ; 3rdly, Elvan dykes ; and, lastly, auriferous
quartz veins. In every region of intrusive plutonic

* Geological Magazine, September 1866.

t Quart. Journ. Geol. Sec, vol. xxviii. p. 308.

+ See "Geol. Survey of Canada," pp. 141 and 173.

Ch. YI.] ORIGIN OF MINERAL VEINS. 97

rocks that lias been thorouo-lily explored, a similar
succession of events, culminating in the production of
mineral veins, has been proved to have taken place,*
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 Forth 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.-f*
Granitic, porphyritic, and trappean dykes | also some-
times contain gold and other metals ; 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 superheated
steam ; and M. Angelot has suggested that fused rock
under great pressure may dissolve large quantities of

* " Mineral Veins," p. 16.

t Mr. John Phillips in " Memoirs, Geological Survey of Great
Britain," vol. ii. p. 45.

J Sir R. I. Murchison, "Siluria," pp. 479, 481, 488, and 500; and
R. Daintree, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, vol. xxviii. pp. 308, 310.

G

98 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VI.

the vapour of water, just as liquids dissolve gases. The
presence of the vapour of water would cause the lique-
faction of quartz at a much lower temperature than
would be possible by heat alone, unaided by water.* 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 pheno-
mena of which could be explained on this hypothesis.
The veinstone is pure quartz containing water in micro-
scopical 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 sufliciently 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 auri-
* H. C. Sorby, Jour. Geol. Soc, vol. xiv.

Ch. VI.] ORIGIN OF MINERAL VEINS. 99

ferous lodes is never pure, but forms various 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 injec-
tion, 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 reformed by hydro-thermal agencies. Our miner-
alogical 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 under-
ground, 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

lOO THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VI.

various spars one on the other in cavities is a secondary
operation even now going on, and has nothing neces-
sarily 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,* 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-arrange-
ment of the mineral contents of the strata, so that
by molecular movements, the metamorphic crystalline
rocks, including interstratified granites and green-
stones, 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 intru-
sive 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-fiuid 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

* " Mineral Veins," by Thomas Belt. John Weale, 186 1.

Ch. VI.] ORIGIN OF MINERAL VEINS. lot

and greater depths ; and tlie ligliter 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
lissures 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 subse-
quent 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 lising through the lines of fis-
sures 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
liydro-thermal or aqueous agencies, and may contain,
along with veinstones of calcite derived from neighbour-
ing beds of limestone, some minerals due to a previous

I02 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VI.

igneous injection. Crevices and cavities, called vur/hs
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 de-
posited, excepting that the associated minei-als 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.

( I03

CHAPTER VII.

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 Sauto 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 in-
termission 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 innumer-
able fire-flies flash their intermittent lights as they pass

I04 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

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.*

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 im-
peded 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 ex-

* In moths, numerous fine Sphingidse and Bombycidos ; and in
beetles, amongst many others, the rare Xestia nitida (Bates) and
Hexoplon alhipcnne (Bates) were first described from these evening
captures.

Ch. VII.] EXCURSIONS. 105

tending 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 Do-
mingo ; and even after I had concentrated our opera-
tions to those nearer to our reduction works, there were
many occasions for me to ride into the woods. I had
to look after our woodcutters 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 sur-
veyed, 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 enter-
tained 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 corrup-
tion. These rides and strolls into the woods were very
fruitful in natural-history acquisitions and observations.
1 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

io6 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

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 Do-
mingo," is dignified half a mile lower down, after pass-
ing 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 sometime 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 extermi-
nated 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 moun-
tains, valleys, lakes, and rivers, and often the towns and
many of the natural productions, they accepted the exist-

Ch. VII.] THE RIVULET ARTIGUA. 107

iug names from the survivors of the conquered people.
Often the names were corrupted, the new inhabitants
altering them just a little, to render their pronuncia-
tion easier, or to make them significant in their own
language. Thus the fruit of the Persect 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 Spanisli, " 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 ex-
planation 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.

io8 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

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 num-
bers 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 Timctes,
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. Hesperidge, 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 (Nepliilct) 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.

Ch. YIL] THE HELICONID.^. 109

they threaded their way through open spaces aud 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 men-
tion two others. The Hcliconidcc, 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. Pro-
bably, 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, aud
spiders: their long, trembling antennte 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.

I lo THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

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 veiy small
ones, belonging, I think, to two diflPerent 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 half-way 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. Some-
times 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 feed 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.

Soon after crossing the muddy Arti'gua below Pavon,
a beautifully clear and sparkling brook is reached, com-
ing down to join its pure waters with the soiled river

Ch. VII.]

HUMMING-BIRDS.

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

HUMillNG-BlRDS.

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

112 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

catching the ephemeridae that play above the water, the
tail is not expanded : it is reserved for times of court-
ship. 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 ex-
panding 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 height-
ened 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, ex-
panded. 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 Heliomastcr 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 hum-
ming-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, Pdasophora delphince,
Less., is of a dull brown colour, with brilliant purple
ear-feathers and metallic-green throat. Both it and
Florisuga mdlivora are short billed, generally catching
flying insects, and do not frequent flowers so much as
other humming-birds. I have seen the Pdasophora fly
into the centre of a dancing column of midges and

Ch. VII.] TONGUE OF HUMMING-BIRDS. 113

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 a.nother sudden descent on
them. A fourth species (^Hcliothrix 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 gene-
rally 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.

Tongue of Humming-bird, with the blades a little opened. '

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

H

114 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

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.

Tongue of large red-crested Woodpecker.

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 {Ccdrela
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 multi-
tudes of beetles, whose larvse riddle them with holes.
Some beetles frequent different varieties of timber, others
are peculiar to a single tree. The most noticeable of
these beetles ai-e the numerous longicorns, to the col-
lection 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

Ch. VII.] GIGANTIC ANTS. 115

a radius of four miles, having on one side the savannahs
near Pital, on the other the ranges around Santo Do-
mingo. 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 vibrat-
ing antenna3. 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

Ii6 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

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 melastom^e and a great variety of
dwarf palms, amongst which the Sweetie (Gconoma sp.),
used for thatching houses, is the most abundant. About
here grows a species of cacao {Hcrrania 2^urpurea) dif-"
fering from the cultivated species {Thcohroma 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 in-

Ch. VII.] SPIDER-MONKEYS. 117

destructible, 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 under-
neath, 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
oft' 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

iiS THE NATUKALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

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 pro-
bably 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 carni-
vorous habits, its fiesh 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' nests, breaking
every egg it could get hold of. Generally, after being
a day 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

Ch. VII.] TRICKS OF A MONKEY. 119

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 disap-

I20 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

peared 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, how-
ever, 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 (Ifycctes palliahis),
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.

One day, when riding down this path, 1 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 fiftv

Ch. VII.] CURASSOW BIRDS. 121

in the pack I saw, and nothing seemed likely to escape
their search in the track they were travelling. Some-
times solitary specimens of the pisoti are met with,
huntinar 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
got 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 globiccra), 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 1 7th,
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 globiccra 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 un-

122 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

common, 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 wood-peckers. 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 masscna, 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 stroug 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, Yiell.) 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, &c., that hunt together,

Ch. VII] WOODPECKERS AND MOT-MOTS. 123

traversino' the forests in flocks of huuclreds too-etlier,
beloDging- 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 wood-
peckers 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 oat 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 puche-
rani, 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 {Celcus castaneus, Wagl.).

Of the mot-mots, I met with four species in the forest,
all more or less olive green in colour {Momotus martii

124 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII.

and Icssoiii, and Prion yrhyncJius carinatus and platyrhyn-
chus), 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 Rliamphastus tocarcl, 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. 1 kept a young one for some time
as a pet until it was killed by my monke}^. 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 vege-
tables 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 pabn-
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

Ch. VII.] SECOND-GROWTH FOREST. 125

dirty cotton rags. This was the limit of my journeys in
this direction, although the path continued on to the
savannahs towards San Thomas. 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.

( 126 )

CHAPTEB VIII.

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 — Singu-
lar myriapods — Ascent of Peua Blanca— Tapirs and jaguars —
Summit of Peua Blanca.

On the northern side of the Santo Domingo valley, op-
posite to my house, a branch valley came down from the
north, which we called the San Antonio Valley. It inter-
sected 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 wood-
cutters. I was almost daily up this valley, visiting the
mines, or in the evening after the workmen had left, and
on Saturdays 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 atten-
tion. I planned the whole of the tramway: the upper

Ch. VIII. ] ANT-THRUSHES AND BEETLES. 127

half I surveyed and levelled myself; aud 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.

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 (Fcntatovia 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

128 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VIII.

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 wit-
nessed, 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 pro-
duce a pain worse than the sting of a wasp. Amongst
the bushes were always to be found the beautiful scarlet
and black tanager (Bha niphoccelus passerinii, Bp.), and
more rarely another species {H. sangttinolentios, Less.).
Along with these, a brownish-coloured bird, reddish on
the breast and top of the head {Phcenicothraupis fusi-
cauda, 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 lavinicB, Cass.) ; another, shin-
ing green, with black head {Chlorophanes guatema-
Icnsis) ; and a third, beautiful black, blue, and yellow,
with yellow head (CaUistc larvata, Du Bus.). These and
many others were certain to be found where the climb-
ing Marcgravia ncpcntlwidcs 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

Ch. VIII ] FLOWERS FERTILISED BY BIRDS.

129

of pitclier-like vessels, whicli, 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 men-
tioned 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

FLOWER OF MARCGRAVIA NEPENTHOIDES.

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

I

I30 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VIII.

America not only bees, motlis, 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,

FLOWER OF PALOSABRE.

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
{Heliomastcr palliditeps, Gould), which I have already
mentioned, is rather rare ; the other {Phaihornis longi-
rostris, 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.

Ch. VIII.] FOXGLOVE AND HUMBLE-BEE. 131

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 Eng-lish flowers there are scores of interesting^ ex-
araples, and I shall describe the fertilisation of one, the
common foxglove, on account of the exceeding simpli-
city with which this object is effected, and to draw the
attention of all lovers of nature to this other branch of a
subject on which the labours of Darwin and other natu-
ralists 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 shiuing 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 im-
portunate 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

132 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VIII.

against tlie 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 oflf.
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 unto 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
downwai-ds, the whole economy of this plant to procure
cross fertilisation would be upset.* 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 perpen-
dicularly, 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 AVales,
where the foxglove was very abundant, and watched
the flowers throughout the season, but only once saw

* 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," p. 127.

Ch. YIIL] SPIDERS THE PREY OF WASPS. • 133

a small bee reacli the nectaiy, tliougli many wei'e seen
trying in. vain to do so.

Great attention has of late years been paid by natu-
ralists 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 adaptatious 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 Angrcecum
scsquipedale of Madagascar might, perhaps, have been
completely explained by Mr. Wallace, if this important
purpose had been taken into account.*

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 (Fompilus
polistoidcs) 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, drag-
ging the spider after it, up a branch reaching to the

* "Natural Selection," by A. R. Wallace, p. 272.

134 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. YIII.

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 combat-
ing 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 tormentors, 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

Ch. VIII ] INSTINCT AT FAULT. 135

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 tbey feed
their young on caterpillars, and are continually hunt-
ing for them. Another species, banded brown and
yellow (Folistes 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 inte-
resting 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.*
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 Folistes
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.

* " Naturalist on the Amazon," p. 222.

136 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VIII.

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 tying 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 frag-
ment 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

Ch. VIII.] HUMMING-BIRDS. 137

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 twilia^ht 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

138 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Cli. VIII.

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 vemista (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 ily 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 sus-
pended 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 snow flake, and stopping
suddenly over the pool, startled the emerald- throat, and
frightened it up amongst the overhanging branches.
The intruder was the white-cap {3Iicrochcra 2JCL'>^viros-
tris, 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,

Ch. VIII.] NOTES OF HUMMING-BIRDS. 139

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 comi-
cality 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-bii'ds I have mentioned, there
were four or five other small ones that we used to call
squeakers, as it is their habit for a gi-eat 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

I40 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. VIII.

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. Mj 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 Hespcridcc, also allow you
to approach near to them, feeling confident that they
can dart away from any threatened danger, — a mis-
placed 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

Ch. VIII.] CATTLE PASTURE. 141

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 o{ Myonapoda
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 foi'ms without
an 3^ 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 Nica-
ragua 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

142 THP: naturalist in NICARAGUA. [Ch. VIII.

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, lead-
ing to the top of a bare rock, rising fully looo 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 aiiywliere 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 quan-
tities of the blossoms. Its colour, when it first opens,
is scarlet and yellow. With it grows a crimson Mack-
leania. Once when I made an ascent, in INIarch, 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

Ch. VIII.] ASCENT OF PENA BLANCA. 143

of scarlet, crimson, aud 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.

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 ex-
cited 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 after-
noon, so that the forest was very wet, and the hills
slippery and diSicult 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

144 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VIII.

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 ai'e harmless beasts.
One of our men cflme across one near Peiia 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 see-
ing 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 No. 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

Ch. VIII.] ENCOUNTER WITH A JAGUAR. 145

to it to do it aay damage with my little charge of small
shot, I ran along towards the sound, which was con-
tinued at intervals of a few seconds. Seeing a large
animal moving amongst the thick bushes, only a few
yards from me, I stopped, wlien, 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. Notwith-
standing 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 fol-
lowed 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

K

146 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VIII.

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 dangei'ous. 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 Peila 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 veiy fine and varied. To the south-
east and east the eye roams over 7'ange beyond range
all covered with dark forest, that partly hides the in-
equalities 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 cliflf 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

Ch. VIII.] VIEW FROM THE PENA BLANCA. I47

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 bafliled and
bruised.

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 lookino-
down over the precipice, instead of foliage there was a
glistening white cloud spread out below, up through

148

THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. YIII.

which came the cries of birds. The hills stood up
throuorh the cloud of mist like islands. To the south-
west, over the savannahs, the air was clear, and the peak
of Ometepec was a line 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,

Jf?^

«K w f Mi 1(1 1 II 'i /

PENA BLANCA.

mantling closely around it, and conforming to its out-
line. 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.

Ch. VIIL] DESCENT OF THE PENA BLANCA. 149

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
Carabidfe 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 bulFs-eye lanthorn was exhausted, but the mule
knew every step of the way, and, though slipping often,
never fell, and carried me safely home.

( ISO )

CHAPTEE IX.

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, liito, 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

Ch. IX.] THE CHURCH BELLS, 151

Domingo, and many of tlie owners of them have ex-
tracted 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 vi^ill 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
oflacials. 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 ai-e
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 applica-
tion 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

152 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

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
gi'assy 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

Ch. IX.] MIGRATIONS OF BUTTERFLIES. 153

millions of individuals, comprising many different species
and genera. The beautiful tailed green and gilded day-
flying moth {Urania Icilus) also joins in this annual
movement. When in Brazil, I observed similar flights
of butterflies at Pernambuco and Maranham, all travel-
ling south-east. Mr. E. 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.* 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 butter-
flies ; 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." f
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 Guate-
mala. 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

* " Journal of the Linnsean Society," vol. ix.
t "Naturalist's Voyage," p. 158.

154 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

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
water-shed 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 rear-
ing 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 reli-
gious 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 represent-
ing 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 hun-
dred years ago since their forefathers used them. Like

Ch. IX.] ANCIENT INHABITANTS. 155

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 termina-
tion of tiquc or rique is of frequent occurrence in the
names of places, as Chaparristique, Zepatcrique, 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 expedi-
tions 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 La-
candones of Guatemala, and the Mayas of Yucatan,

156 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

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 grass}' 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 east-
ward ; 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 (Cehus alhifrons) 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

Ch. IX.] JUIGALPA. 157

a pliotograph. A few steps towards them sent them
scampering off, bai'king 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 oflF
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 get-
ting 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

158 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

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 morn-
ing 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 bi^own 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 dis-
pleasure, 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 {Emnomota superciliaris) made short
flio-hts after the larger insects, or sat on the low branches
by the river- bank, jerking their curious tails from side

Ch. IX.] BANKS OF THE JUIGALPA. 159

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 swift-
ness. I saw one rise from the gTound 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 fi'om
generation to generation the stories they themselves
were told when children.

i6o THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

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

Ch. IX.] REMARKABLE SINGING-BIRD. l6i

tbe 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 com-
mencement 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
aiTanged 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

l62 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

I got within sight of it, sometimes before, it would dart
away through the brushwood, generally across the
brook, and in a lew 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 {Ghiroscipliia
lineatd) 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.
mclanoceplialus) sitting amongst the branches, and now
and then darting off after insects. This species often
breaks into the nests of the termites, and feeds on the
soft-bodied workers. Another trogon about here, with
red breast {T. eln/ans), 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

Ch. IX.] THE EL SALTO WATERFALL. 163

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

i64 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

very hard and tougfh. Tlie 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.

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
revolutionaiy 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

INDIAN STATl'ES.

Page 165.

Ch. IX.] SEARCH FOR ANCIENT SCULPTURES. 165

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 question-
ing, 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 orna-
mented 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

i66 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

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. JNIost 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

Ch. IX.] DEFACEMENT OF ANCIENT STATUES. 167

to the behavioui' 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 dis-
turbed. 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 hun-
dred 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 con-
querors everywhere overthrew and mutilated the " idols "

i68 THE NATUKALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

of the Indians, set up the cross and theii- own images,
and forced the people to be baptized. 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 con-
formed to the new faith. D'Avila is said to have over-
thrown the idols at Rivas, and to have baptized nine
thousand Indians. Then the Spaniards, having Chris-
tianised the Indians, made slaves of them, and ground
them to the dust with merciless cruelties and ovei'work,
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 Chris-
tians of the ninth century may have reached the coast
of Mexico, and introduced some knowledge of the Chris-
tian reliofion. But the cross was a relimous 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

Ch. IX.] GRAVES OF CHIEFS. 169

inhabitants of the Eastern and Western hemispheres
were descended. There is good evidence for supposing
that young childi'en were oifered 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

I70 THE NATURALIST IN NICAPAGUA. [Ch. IX.

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 Spa.nish
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,

Ch. IX.] DEGENERATION OF THE INDIANS. 171

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, reve-
renced 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 pro-
cess 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

172 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

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 lauo-h 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 Terra del Fuego, he says,
" Perfect equality among the individuals composing the

Ch. IX.] NOCTURNAL ANIMALS. 173

Fuegian tribes must for a long time retard their civilisa-
tion. 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 govern-
ments. 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."*

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 tradi-
tion about them. In Europe and North America more
is known about them, and more interest taken in glean-
ing 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
* " Naturalist's Voyage," p. 229.

174 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. IX.

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 advan-
tageous 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 antennie,
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.

Ch. IX.] RETURN TO JUIGALPA. 175

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.

( 176

CHAPTER X.

Juigcalpa — A Nicaraguan family — Description of the road from Jui-
galpa 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 out-
skirts 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 woods. 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 arti-

Ch. X.] INDOLENCE OF THE PEOPLE. 177

ficial rockery, or the grey walls of a castle covered witli
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 maj^ be called the middle class in Nica-
ragua. 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 look-
ing 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
Mcaraguans 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 anv 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 con-

M

178 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. X.

querors 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 immigra-
tion 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, Velas-
quez 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

Ch. X.] BAMBOO THICKETS. 179

hut on tlie 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 kind-
ness 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

i8o THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. X.

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 gene-
rally 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. 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 com-
pared 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 mv garden

Ch. X.] ANIMAL EPIDEMICS. iSi

had been much iujured by a longicoru {Tccniotes scalar is)
in 1870 and 1 87 1, but was not touched in 1872.

Buttertlies 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 pei'ceptible
diminution in number. A little ant [Plieidole sjj.) 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 {Hypoclinca
sp.) that it used to drive away, took its place. A small
stinging black aut {SolcnojJsis s/;.), 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 con-
nected in any way with that amongst the insects. I
recollect that in 1 865 there was a somewhat similar
mortality amongst the wasps in North Wales. In the
autumn of the preceding year they had been exceed-

i82 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. X.

ingly abundant, and very destructive to the fruit. In
tlie next spring, numerous females that had hybernated
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.* Any
varieties of species of insects that could withstand better
than others these great and probably periodical epi-
demics, 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 grada-
tions that must have connected them exist also ? There
is but one answer ; we are ignorant what characters are

* "Descent of Man," vol. i. p. 242; and "Animals and Plants
under Cultivation," vol. ii. pp. 227-230. I liave taken the examples
siven from the same author.

Ch. X.] WATER RESERVOIRS OF PLANTS. 183

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 ga2)es ; 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. Hounded
boggy hills covered with grass, sedgy plants and stunted
trees, replaced the dry gravelly soil of the Juigalpa dis-
trict. 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 diy season. Insects get drowned in
this water, and the plants may derive some nourishment
from their decomposing bodies, but I believe the prin-
cipal 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

iS4 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. X,

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
calif orriica)^ 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.* The different species of Brosera,
or sun-dews, possess quite a different apparatus for
catching insects, and they also live in bogs, which sup-
ports the inference that plants growing in such situa-
tions 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
diy 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
* See "Nature," vol. iii. pp. 159 and 167.

Ch. X.] SHARP DELIMITATION OF FOREST. 185

rane-e on our riyht. 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 leadeu-
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 tlie 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 under-
stand why the forest should end just where it did. It
is not because of any change in the nature of the soil or
bed-rock. It cannot be for lack of moisture, for around
Liber tad 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

i86 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. X.

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 con-
tain 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 indo-
lent 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.

Ch. X.] RETROCESSION OF THE FOREST. 187

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 brush-
wood-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

l88 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. X.

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 vege-
tate 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, return-
ing 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 unford-
able. 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

Ch. X.] REASONING OF MULES. 189

dragged him on shore. Some of the " vacqneros," 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, how-
ever, 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 makinsf

igo THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. X.

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 locali-
ties is much stronger in horses and mules than in man.
When travelling along a road that they have been over
only once, and that vsome years befoi-e, 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 continu-
ously, although at Juigalpa there had been only a few
slierht showers.

( 19"

CHAPTER XI.

start on journey to Segovia — Rocky nKMintain 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 — Tlie cause of
sterility between allied species considered — The disadvantages
of a covering of hair in 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
opei"ations, it was very important that it should be as-
certained whether or not we could depend upon obtain-
ing 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 ob-

192 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. XI.

tained, 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.

Having determined on the journey, I soon completed
my preparations. I took my ]\Iestizo 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 ham-
mock. We started at seven o'clock on the morning of
the [ith 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,

Ch. XL] DIFFICULT TRAVELLING. 193

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

/

/

THE ROAD AND ROCKV LEDGE.

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 Eito's satisfaction, who was antici-
pating 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

194 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XL

of it was quite open at tlae 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 re-
mains 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
fatiffued, 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 homemade 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
growia almost anything ; but the blight of Central
America — the curse of idleness, was upon them, and

Ch. XL] TAME FAWN. 195

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
Eito 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 molestino- it.
Our road still lay within a few miles of the dark Atlantic
forest, the clouds lying all along the first range, con-
cealing 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 cluno- to

196 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Cli. XI.

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
{Ancimca oUonrjifolia and Jdrsuta), with the masses of
spores on stalks rising from the pinnules. The rock
was the same as that of Pena Blanca, but the vegeta-
tion 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 trojoical 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 ; scream-
ing 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 neces-
sity 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 destruc-
tion. The white cockatoo of Australia is a similar
instance. It is equally conspicuous amongst the dark-
green foliage by its jDure white colour, and equally its

Ch. XI.] USE OF TOUCAN'S BEAK. 197

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 nest-
ing 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 {Ram-
phastus 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 cock-
roaches 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

198 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XI.

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, &c., that are constantly
searching about for nests and devouring the eggs aild
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 liito 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, w^as cleaner and
tidier than the others we had seen, and in furniture
could boast of a table and a few chairs, w^hich showed
Ave 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

Ch. XL] A VILLAGE DOCTOR. 199

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 tliem,
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 accom-
modate.

I had shot a pretty mot-mot on the road, and pro-
ceeded to skin it, to the amusement and delight ot
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 toagh, 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,

200 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XI.

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 Liber-
tad 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

Ch. XL] FLIGHT OF BIRDS IN STORMS. 201

a breath of air was stirring and the sails icily flapped
against the mast, have I seen the albatross, the petrel,
and the Cape- pigeon resting on the water, or rising with
difRculty, 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 glim-
mering 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 w^ere 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." *

We were travelling nearly parallel with the edge of

* The Diike 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.

202 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XI.

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 Mestizos, 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

Ch. XL] NAMES OF RIVERS. 203

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 floun-
dering 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,

204 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XI.

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 high-
ways, have names for them all ; but to the agricultural
Indians and Mestizos of the interior, they are but reser-
voirs 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 diffe-
rent 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 occa-
sionally 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 w^ith 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.

Ch. XL] THE HAIRLESS DOG. 205

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,* 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 cer-
tainly 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; Xoloiizcuintli 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. Clavi-
" Aspects of Nature," voL i. p. 109.

2o6 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XL

gero'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, i. The Canis caraihicus (Lesson), without
hair, and which does not bark. 2. The Canis hu/ce
(Tschudi), the common hairy dog, which has pointed
nose and ears, and barks.* 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 Xo-
loitzcitintli, and that Tccliiclvi 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 con-
querors, and that it has survived to the present time,
with little or no change. That it should not have inter-
mixed 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

* J. J. von Tschudi, quoted by Humboldt, " Aspects of Nature,"
English edition, vol. i. p. iii.

Ch. XL] NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL SELECTION. 207

been preserved tlirougla not interbreeding with tlie
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 artifi-
cial 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 com-
paratively short time, produced. But these artificial
varieties, though often more diSerent 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 sepa-
rated 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 divergeuce

2o8 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XI.

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.* 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. Arti-
ficial 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 tempo-
rary and partial, whilst that which nature fixes when
sterility arises is permanent and complete.

For these reasons I think that the fact that the hair-
less 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 ele-
ment 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

* See "Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. ii. p. 241.

Ch. XI.] PLAGUE OF TICKS. 209

of hairs. I cannot agree with some eminent naturalists
that the loss of a hairy covering would always be disad-
vantageous. My experience in tropical counti"ies 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

CD

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
hovis), 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.

0

2IO THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XI.

They abound on all the laro-e mammals, and on many
of the small ones. Sick and weak animals are particu-
larly 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 favour-
able than it is for the ticks. The Pedicnli are specially
adapted to live amongst hair, their limbs being con-
structed for clinging to it. They deposit their nits or
eggs amongst it, fastening them securely to the bases of
the hairs. Although the j^cdimdi are almost unknown to
the middle and upper classes of civilised communities,
in consequence of the cleanliness of their persons, cloth-
ing, and houses, they abound amongst savage and half-
civilised people. A slight immunity from the attacks
of accm and pedicnli 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 ex--
posed 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

Ch. Xr.] HAIR AND PARASITES. 211

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 con-
struct 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 otlier insect pests, instead of wondering
that a hairless breed of dogs has been produced in a
tropical countr}', 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 en-
couraged their multiplication.

( 212 )

CHAPTER XII.

Olaina — The "Sanate" — Muy-muy — Idleness of the people — Moun-
tain 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 be-
tween 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

Ch. XII.

HABITS OF THE SANATE.

213

hour after dark, tlie 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 mis-
construed. 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 " sauate " by the

214 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XII.

natives. They are about the size of a magpie, with much
of the active movements of that bird. They are gene-
rally 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 cor-
ruption 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.

Ch. XII.] JOURNEY CONTINUED. 215

The land around was fei'tile, 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, seilor," 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.

Having breakfasted off tortillas and cheese, we con-
tinued our journey, and crossed two rivers running to the
eastward ; then ascended a liigh 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, bat 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

2i6 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XII.

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 work-
ings, 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 dis-
tressed at our proposal to take up our quarters there for
the night, but he made no objection. The accommoda-
tion was very poor, there being no hammocks or bed-
steads ; 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 larger 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 ex-
cepting 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

Ch. XII.] ROCK-CARVING. 217

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 Mata-
galpa there is a high range, with perpendicular cliffs
near the summit. Rito told us that near the base of
these cliflFs 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 pi-actice
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

2i8 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XII.

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.

THE BULLS-HORN THOEN.

It is a species of acacia, belonging to the section Gum-
tnifcrcc^ 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 buU'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

Ch. XII.] ADAPTATION OF A THEE TO ITS ANTS. 219

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 (PseudoTnyrma hicolor, 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 dis-
tributed as to effect that object with wonderful perfec-
tion. 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 lirst
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

220 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XII.

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.

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 Crcmatogaster,
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 (Polyhia

Ch. XII.] THE BULL'S-HORN THORN ANT. 221

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 frait-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 Fseudo-
myrma 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 com-
mence 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 pro-
duced, and the old glands do not secrete honey. Then
want and hunger overtake the ants that have revelled

222 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XII.

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.

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 buU's-hom acacias,
I, however, only met with two other genera of plants
that furnished the ants with houses, namely the Cecropioe
and some of the Melastomve. I have no doubt that
there are many others. The stem of the Cecropia, or
trumpet-tree, is hollow, and divided into cells by parti-
tions 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 (Coccidce) 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 Coccida: to supply her with
food. I suppose the eggs are removed as soon as laid.

Ch. XII.]

MELASTOJLE AND THEIR ANTS.

223

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
Coccidce ; but I believe that its presence must be bene-
ficial. I have cut into some dozens of the Cecropia trees,

l-EAF OF MELASTOMA.

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 Cccropicc, 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 Melastomw there is a direct pro-
vision of houses for the ants. In each leaf, at the base
of the laminte, the petiole, or stalk, is furnished with a

224 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XII.

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 Coccidcc 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 occu-
pants 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 Coccidcc or aphides, and the latter are
effectually protected by the ants in their common habi-
tation.

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
Fassifiora. I had the common red passion-flower grow-
ing over the front of my verandah, where it was con-
tinually under my notice. It had honey-secreting glands

Ch. XII.] USE OF HONEY-SECRETING GLANDS. 225

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 {Phcidole), 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
theinselves 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 alter-
nately on each side with its antennte, 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 com-
peting successfully with the leaves and sepals for the
attendance and protection of the ants, and was suc-
cessful either through the fluid it furnished being more
attractive or more abundant.* 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

* I have since observed ants attending scale-insects on a large plant
of Passifiora macrocavpa in the palm-house at Kevv.

P

226 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XII.

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 Eosa 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 Coccidce and genera of
Homoptcra, such as Manhracis and its allies. My pine-
apples 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

Ch. XII.] ANTS AND THEIR PROTEGES. 227

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 Mcm-
hracis — 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, larvoe, and adults, I believe it is only the
soft-bodied larvte 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 grow-
ing in my garden were infested by a small brown species
of 3Icmhr(cis — one of the leaf-hoppers — that laid its eggs
in a cottony-like nest by the side of the ribs on the
under pai't of the leaves. The hopper would stand cover-
ing 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 larvaa
exuded drops of honey, and were assiduously attended
by small ants belonging to two species of the genus
Phcidole, 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 Hypodinea —
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

228 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XII.

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 (iV(.Y';!r??'i?i«), attended
some of the clusters of frog-hoppers, and for the posses-
sion 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

Ch. XII.] USE OF COTTONY SECRETIONS. 229

was never left long in peace. Fresh relays of ants were
continually arriving, and generally tilled 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 fii'st 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 secre-
tions 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 awhite,fiocculent,
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 Fulgorid^.
In others it is more abundant, and it reaches its extreme
limit in a species of Phciiax 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 fl3'ing. 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

230 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XII.

wings of the metallic Morplios 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 cap-
ture 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 CicadtB are
piping their shrill cry from morning until night, indi-
viduals 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 Cicadse.

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.

( 231 )

CHAPTER Xlir.

Matapalpa — Aguardiente — Fermented liquors of the Indians — The
wine-pahn — 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 depart-
ment, 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-

232 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIII.

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 {Gocos hntyracea)
is grown. I saw many of thein near San Ubaldo.
The wine is very simply prepared. The tree is felled,
and an oblong bole cut into it, just below the crown of
leaves. This hole is eight inches deep, passing nearly
thi-Qvigh 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 oif. 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

Ch. Xlll.] NATIVE STILLS. 233

there on their festivals, and get drunk on the palm-
wine. The Indians of Nicaragua, when the Spaniards
tirst 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

NATIVE STILL.

contracts are always given to the political supporters of
the party in power.

There are many private illegal stills in the moun-
tains. 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

234 THE NATURALIST W NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIII.

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.

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, busi-
ness, and diversions of Em-opean 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 in-
cessantly. 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

Ch. XIII.] DIFFERENCE OF CLIMATE. 235

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 suff'ering 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 horse were completely tired out ; and
we expected to have been able, without difiiculty, to hire
fresh animals to take us on to Ocotal in Segovia ; but
we were disappointed. We lost the afternoon by de-
pending 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

236 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIII.

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 bungoes, 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 Jiuotega, 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 as-
cended a range on the other side. Here, for the first
time, I got amongst pine trees in the tropics ; and they

Ch. XIII.] PINE FORESTS. 237

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
naiTow-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 strag-
gling 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 fili-
form 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

238 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIII.

aud 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- col lector. 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 (Ci/anocitta melanocijanca), about the size of
a jackdaw, flew in small noisy flocks ; and I noticed a
beautiful trogon, with burnished green back, and rose-

Ch. XIII.] NATIVE PLOUGH. 239

coloured breast. Tlie highest points of the ranges en-
closing this ravine were covered with pine trees (Finns
tcnuifolia) ; 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.

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,

NATIVE PLOUGH.

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 ii'on
plate. Many of the fences were hedges, amongst which
grew the lovely creeper {Antigonon leptopus), with fes-
toons of pink and rose-coloured flowers. The Indian

240 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIII.

and Mestizo girls bind it in their hair, and call it "la
vegessinia/' "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 Grey-
town and the West Indies ; and wherever 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, riot 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 outskiits there are small grass-
thatched huts with high-pitched roofs. Wheat, maize,
potatoes, and beans are the principal things grown.

Ch. XIII.] DESCENDANTS OF THE BUCCANEERS. 241

Many of the people have light sandy-coloured hair and
blue eyes, and I thought at first they might be the off-
spring of a number of Americans that settled in Jino-
tega 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 in-
clined 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 advan-
tages 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, weed-
ing amongst the maize. A few showers had fallen during

Q

242 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIII.

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 un-
dulating country, the hills covered with oak forests, the
lowlands well grassed, we reached about two o'clock San
Eafael, 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, ex-
tending 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 travellino-

Ch. XIII.] BENIGHTED ON THE MOUNTAINS. 243

used it, and that during the last revolution the inhabi-
tants 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 heiarhts,
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 pros-
pect 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.

244 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIII.

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 fami-
lies, 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 con-
tinuous 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 fraoTant smell of the burning
pine splinters. I asked one of the men if he preferi-ed
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,

Ch. XIII.] THE UPLAND INDIANS. 245

as the bleak wind found many a crevice to wliistle
through, and the open network of the hammock, agree-
able 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 Eufope 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 unappro-
priated, 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

246 THP: naturalist in NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIII.

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, con-
quered 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.

{ 247 )

CHAPTER XIV.

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 lower-
ing of the sea-level — The land-shells of the West Indian islands —
The Malay archipelago — Easter islands — 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, com-
posed entirely of boulder clay. This clay was of a
brown colour, and fall 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 Heliconia3 and Melastompe
were again abundant. In these forests, I was told, the
" Quesal," the royal bird of the Aztecs {Trogon resplen-
dens), is sometimes found.

After descending about lOOO feet, we issued from
the forest and passed over well - grassed savannahs

248 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

surrouudecl by high ranges, on the eastern slopes of
which were forests of pine-trees. The ground was
entii'ely 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 Howing 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
w^as 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 pro-

Ch. XIV.] LOST IN THP: HILLS. 249

vinces 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 pro-
posed 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 inter-
rupted our view in every direction. Piito 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. Eito 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, how-
ever, 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

250 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

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

Ch. XIV.] RECOVER THE PATH. 251

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 gTowing, as neither horses
nor cattle will eat the plant. A mile beyond Jamaily
we saw, amongst some bushes, a poor-looking, grass-

252 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

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

Ch. XIV.] GLITTERING CEMENT. 253

went out, and sold the hides- for twenty cents per
pound, the skins averaging five pounds' weight each.
]t 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 orna-
mented 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 ap-
pearance of the cement is due to the admixture of a fine

254 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

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. Ou 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 histoi'ian
that the city of Cholula " had at that time above lOO
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 dr}^ and stony, and filled with
small quartz pebbles. The vegetation was scanty, prin-
cipally 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 town-

Ch. XIV.] THE CAPITAL OF SEGOVIA. 255

ships, 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 in-
habitants of the townships. The boundaries are marked
bj- 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. De-
scending a long rocky slope we foi'ded one of the affluents
of the Rio Wanks, and half a mile fui-ther on arrived
at the town, situated on a dry plain. A heavy thunder-
storm 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
tlie river in their boats and sacked the town, and the
site was deserted for one more difficult of access, the

256 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

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 pre-
sent 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 bungoes 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, how-
ever, 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 diffi-
culty 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

Ch. XIV.] ABUNDANCE OF HAWKS. 257

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 twitterino- amone-st 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 feed-
ing. 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

R

258 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

mates, then again songs, feeding, love, jealousy, and
bickerings.

The banks of the river were sand}^ 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 diflScult and dangerous

Ch. XIV.] THE LAURENTIAN FORMATION'. 259

that about half way up we tied our mules to some young
pine trees and proceeded on foot. The mine was aban-
doned, 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 con-
taining 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, unstratilied beds of gravel are exposed in
numerous natural sections. These beds deepen as the

266 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

river is descended, until at Ocotal they reach a thickness
of between two and three hundred feet, and the undu-
lating 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 forma-
tion 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.

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 accumu-
lations of unstratified sand and gravel, the same ti'ans-
ported 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,
viz., I saw no glacial scratches on the rocks ; but geo-
logists know how rare these are on natural exposures in
some districts that have certainly been glaciated, and

Ch. XIY.]

GLACIAL DEPOSITS.

261

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262 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

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, not-
withstanding 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 Eafael'
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 de-
scended 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

Ch. XIV.] THE LAND HAS NOT SUBSIDED. 263

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 * shown that in Nova Scotia, in the
neighbourhood of rich auriferous quartz veins that have
been greatly denuded, grain gold is only sparingly dis-
seminated 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 iu 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,-f- and to allow for the flotation of icebergs at

* "The Glacial Period in North America," by Thos. Belt. Pub-
lished in Trans. Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science, 1806, /

P-93-1 '

t See ante, p. 35.

264 THR NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

the lower of the two places named, a channel of more
than eighteen hundred feet in depth would have con-
nected the two oceans. This supposition is negatived
by the fact that the mollusca on the two coasts, sepa-
rated 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.

Ch. XIV.] THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 265

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 accu-
mulating 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 hemi-
spheres, 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 Spitz-
bergen, as far north as latitude 78°, 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

266 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

of land and water, and that " we are face to face with a
problem whose solution must be attempted and doubt-
less completed by the astronomer."*

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 extermina-
tion 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 lowei'ing
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.t But

* I have since discussed this question in the Quarterly Journal of
Science for October 1874.

t Geological Magazine, vol. ix. p. 392.

Ch. XIV.] LOWERING OF THE SEA-LEVEL. 267

if we admit that the ice existed in both hemispheres
at the same time, we shall have to speculate on a lower-
ing of the level of the sea to at least looo 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,* 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 Eico, 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. -f-

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

* " Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil," by Ch. Fred. Hartt,

P- 573.

t Quoted in "At Last," by Charles Kingsley, p. 305.

268 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Oh. XIY.

almost the very latest geological epoch ; and show, too,
how little, in the present imperfect state of our know-
ledge, 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 con-
ceive a junction, reaching over at least five degrees of
latitude, between the north of British Guiana and Bar-
bados ; 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 bari-ier which kept the
land shells of Venezuela apart from those of Guiana." *
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. f 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,

* Loc. cit., p. 306.

+ "The Malay Archipelago," vol. i. p. n.

Ch. XIV.] FORMER WIDE EXTENSION OF LAND. 269

almost all the genera found in any of the islands occur-
ring 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 Aus-
tralia, 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 con-
tinents, 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 Vene-
zuela ; 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 popu-
lation. Who can look at the pictures of little Easter

270 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

Island, with its gigantic images standing up in unwor-
sliipped 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 hj the lower-
ing 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? Ob-
scurely 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 ]\Iidas,
the king of Plirygia, 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 " Timeeus 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

Ch. XIV.] THE FABLED ATLANTIS. 271

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 jonr country and ours, and
all the country within the strait. At that time, 0
Solon, your nation shone out from all others by bravery
and power. It was placed in great danger, but it de-
feated the attacking army, and erected triumphal monu-
ments. 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." Grantor, 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 Bras-
seur 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

272 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

a great catastrophe, in which a whole country was sub-
merged, 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." *

If Atlantis were lowlands connecting the West
Indian islands with America, the other islands men-
tioned 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 tradi-
tions of America, because all the highlands there had
been covered with ice, and the inhabitants were re-
stricted 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
* "Lifted and Subsided Rocks in America," by G. Catlin, p. 1S2.

Ch. XIV.] THE SEA DRAINED BY GLACIAL ICE. 273

accuninlation 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 distri-
bution 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 ad-
jacent 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 looo 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 con-
tinental ice all over the world, it will be possible to
calculate the minimum amount of water that was ab-
stracted 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 un-
explored 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

274 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIV.

will appear to be based on substantial truths. The im-
mense accumulation of ice over both poles, reaching far
down into the temperate zones, in some meridians en-
croaching 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.

( 275 )

CHAPTER XV.

A Nicaragua!! criuiiiial — Geology between Ocotal and Totagalpa — Pre-
parations at Totagalpa for their annual festival — Chiclia-drinking
— Piety of the Indians — Ancient civilisation of tropical America
— Palacaguina — Hospitality of the Mestizos — Curious custom at
the festival at Cundego — Cross range between Segovia and Mata-
galpa — 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 morniug. 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. Not-

276 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XV.

withstanding 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
paj'ment. 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 con-
glomerate in the drift, none of which had occurred in

Cli. XV.J GEOLOCJICAL FORMATION. 277

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, fring-ing 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 ho 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 con-
glomerate, apparently derived from the degradation of
the schistose rocks, with their numerous quartz veins.

278 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XV.

We readied 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 proces-
sion 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.

Ch. XV.] CHICHA-DRINKING. 279

Then was bronglit 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.*

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 occa-
sion 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

* Hakluyt Society. " Narrative of Pascual de Andagoya." Trans,
by C. R. Markham, p. 34.

28o THP: naturalist in NICARAGUA. [Ch. XV.

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.

Ch. XV.] DEVOTION TO THE PRIESTS. 281

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 excep-
tions, 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 j ust 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 wor-
shipped 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 some-
times 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 choco-
late 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 bounti-

282 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XV.

fully, then the priest will chide and threaten that he
will not preach." *

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 sin-
gling 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
* Loc. cit., pp. 332-334.

Ch. XV.] ANCIENT CIVILISATION OF THE INDIANS. 283

supplanted it. Who can read tlie accounts of the popu-
lous towns of Mexico and Central America in the time
of Montezuma, with their inagnificent buildings and
squares ; their gardens both zoological and botanical ;
their markets, attended by merchants from the surround-
ing 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 cleanli-
ness, of decency ; their morality and wonderful patriotism,
without feeling that the conquest of Mexico was a deplor-
able 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-govern-
ment 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, pass-
ing 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.

284 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XV.

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 after-
wards, had been gambling, aud 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, &c.
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 comfort-
able quarters. The padre had a good-looking house-
keeper, 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-

Ch. XV.] FRESHNESS OF EARLY MORNING. 285

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, care-
less people, but I care not here to dilate on their short-
comings. Let only the hospitality and kindness I experi-
enced in Palacaguina live in my mind, and let regret draw
a veil over their failings, and censm-e forget to chide.

Next morning Don Trinidad went himself to Q:et us
milk for our chocolate, three or four others assisted us
as kindly on onr 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 liad 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 E-ito 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 fiowers,
the curious thorny bushes, the gorgeous butterflies, and
many-coloured birds were all there ; but our attention

286 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XV.

could only be called unwillingly to thera. 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 1 5th 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 witli 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

Ch. XV.] ASCEND THE HIGH RANGES. 287

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 signifi-
cance 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

28S THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XV.

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 tlie 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 Pdto'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

Ch. XV.] WOODS OF EVERGREEN OAK. 289

had had rather more rain than usual, and in Sesrovia, 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 befoi^e they
could be found. We had a long day's journey before us,
during which we should not be able to buy any pro-
visions, so, over night, Rito's sister had cooked a fowl
for us to take with us. She had married one of the
settlers of Sontiili, 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 de-
creasing 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 Sontiili, the road led over mountain pas-
tures 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 enernies. I
had often, when in the tropics, to notice the great
sagacity or instinct of the small birds in choosing

290 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XV.

places for their nests. So many animals — monkeys,
wild-cats, raccoons, opossums, and tree-rats — are con-
stantly 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 (Jdcridce) 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 assist-
ance 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

Ch. XV.] SITES FOR BIRDS'-NESTS. 291

when the dress is caught, for as one part is cleared
another will be entangled. A yellow and brown fly-
catcher 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 extri-
cate itself got further entangled. Its fluttering dis-
turbed 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 {Spcrmopliila olivacca) 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 porse-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.

( 292 )

CHAPTER XVI.

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 crag-gy, 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-cutfcing 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.

Ch. XVI.] INDIAN NAMES. 293

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 swoi'ds 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 chal-
lenges 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 meanino:. The old names of

294 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVI.

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 pronuncia-
tion 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, Esterl}', UaraUf,
&c., and in " guina " pronounced " weena," as in Pala-
caguina 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 Santo Rosas, San Juans,
and San Tomases. Even some of the towns, which
have well-known Indian names, are called oflicially
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

Ch. XVI.] DARING ROBBERIES UNKNOWN. 295

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 occa-
sionally 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 Nica-
ragua where newspapers do not circulate. It is impos-
sible 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 un-
known 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

296 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVI.

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 Hondu-
raneans 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 under-
growth 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

Ch. XVI.] UNCOMFORTABLE LODGING. 297

tliat 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 geaiing.
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 Mata-
galpa 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 pre-
cipitous 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.

29S THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVI.

the prospect before us of a night's lodging was so dis-
couraging 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 con-
tinually 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 in-
grained 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

Ch. XVI.] TIGER-BEETLES AND BUTTERFLIES. 299

not now cnltivated 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 amyg-
daloidal, 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 mois-
ture. Amongst them were some fine swallow-tails
(Fapilio), quivering their wings as they drank, and
lovely blue hair-streaks {Thedcv). 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 " {Gyrinidcv) wheeled about in mazy gyra-
tions, 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,

300 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVI.

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. Id a minute a spiral column was
formed, reaching, perhaps, to the height of fifty feet, con-
sisting 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 meteor-
ologists who have discussed this difficult question have

Ch. XVL] WHIRLWINDS AND CYCLONES. 301

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 informa-
tion 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.*
More lately, Prof. 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 hemi-
sphere, the lateral conflict of the currents giving an
initial impulse to bodies of air by which they begin to
rotate." Cyclones having thus originated, Prof. Maury
considers that they are continued and intensified by the
vapour condensed in their vortex forming a vacuum.!

Humboldt had long ago ascribed whirlwinds to the
meeting of opposing currents of air.j There is this
dynamical objection to the theory. The movements of

* ■' Law of Storms," p. 246.

t Quarterly Journal of Science, 1872, p. 418.

+ "Aspects of Nature," vol. i. p. 17.

302 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVI.

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 Prof. 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 conse-
quently 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,* 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 tliere was never any per-
ceptible 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
* " Anahuac," by E. B. Tylor, p. 21.

Ch. XVI] WHIRLWINDS AND CYCLONES. 303

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 mois-
ture ; 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.* It was about
thirty yards in diameter. It destroyed several hay-
stacks, 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 Kandalstown 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 water-spout. 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 oppor-
tunities of studying the dust whirlwinds; and as I
looked upon them as the initial form of a cyclone, I
* "Nature," vol. vi. p. 541.

304 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVI.

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 dnst
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.*

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

* A friend of mine tells me that he saw a similar whirlwind rise at
noon one still summer day, and traverse the dnsty 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.

Ch. XYL] WHIRLWINDS AND CYCLONES. 305

into tlie 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 over-
lying 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 sug-
gested to me that the reason of the particles of air not
rising as they are heated, when there is no wind blow-
ing, 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

u

3o6 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVI.

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 sur-
rounded 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 hurri-
cane. When at last the huge vortex is formed, the
heated atmosphere rushes towards it from all sides, and

Ch. XVL] EXPLANATION OF CYCLONES. 307

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 com-
municated by the Astronomer-Eoyal to the London
Fhilosophical 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 hemi-
spheres 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.

( 3o8 )

CHAPTER XVII.

Cattle-raising — Don Filiberto Trano's new house — Horse-flies and
wasps — Tenstepe — 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 tracbytic 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, how-
ever, 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 alwa.ys close- cropped, and

Ch. XVII.] A PEASANT FARMER. 309

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 condi-
tion 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 excep-
tion 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 some-
thing 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

3IO THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVII.

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 unen-
closed 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 dilapi-
dated 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 eveuinsf, when his wife and children are milk-
ing the cows, will come out, smoke his cigarette, leaning
against the door-post of his patched and propped-up
dwelling, aud 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 be said we should need
the mules to cross the river. Thinking, from his descrip-
tion, that it was only about a mile distant, I started on
mule-back with him ; but after riding fully a league, dis-

Ch. XYII.] FREE HOSPITALITY. 311

covered 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 lime-
stone. 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 four-
pence 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 pro-
visions, 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

312 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVII.

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 srrass 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 mid-
day, 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

Ch. XVII.] HORSE-FLIES AND WASPS. 313

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 bromelite were the most abundant. Animal life
was scarce ; there were a few flycatchers amongst the
birds, and armadilloes were the only mammals. Horse-
flies {Tahanus) 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
{Monedida surinamensis, Fabr.) came Hying 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

314 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVII.

tlie 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 Buprestidee, and I struck these and other
beetles off with my net as I rode along. 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 closel}^ resembled an ant, and so perfect was the
imitation that it was not until I killed it that I deter-
mined 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.* The use that

the deceptive resemblance is to them has been explained

to be the facility it affords them for approaching ants on

* See " Nature," vol. iii. p. 508.

Ch. XVII.] IMITATIVE RESEMBLANCES. 315

which they prey. I fim 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
asrainst 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 find-
ing 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.* 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 diflScult to imagine how the
first steps in the process of imitation took place. Look-
ing however at the immense variety of insect life in the

* Amongst the longicorn beetles of Chontales, Mallocera spinicollis,
Neoclytus (Esopus, and Dipliyrama sinr/ularis, ,Jia.tes, all closely resemble
stinging ants when moving about on fallen logs.

3i6 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVII.

tropics, and remembering that in early tertiary times,
nearly tlie whole world was in the same favourable
condition as regards temperature (vegetation, according
to Heer, extending to the poles), and must have sup-
ported 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 unplea-
sant odours or flavours, or are exceedingly swift in
Hight ; 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

Ch. XVII.] MIMETIC COLEOPTERA. 317

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, how-
ever, from the monkey's actions, that they were dis-
tasteful to him. A large species of spider {Ncphila) also
used to drop them out of its web when T 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 amonsrst the butter-
flies. These are the Lampyridje, to which the fireflies
belong. ]\Iany ot 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. hasalis,
(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 ob-
served exactly the same movement in a longicorn beetle
{Erandcr nohilis, 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

3i8 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVII.

moth vai^ies 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. hasalis. Professor West-
wood 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 Lampy ridge, 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 nume-
rous and wide-spread, 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 Mordellidee. These, in their normal form, are
curious wedge-shaped beetles, which are common on
flowers, and leap like fleas. In some of the Nicaragnan
species the body is lengthened, and the thorax and elytra
coloured, so as to resemble wasps and flies. In the
Mordellidro the head is small, and neai'ly 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

Ch. XVII.] EXTRAORDINARY DISGUISES,

319

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 serai-trans-
parent wings and yellow antennae. It ran along the
ground vibrating its wings and antennae exactly like a

nuuNET a:<d mimetic buu.

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 Ilemiptera,
Spiniger lutcicornis (Walk.), and had every part coloured
like the hornet {Priocncniis) 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.

320 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVII.

All the insects that have special means of protection,
by which they are guarded from the attacks of insecti-
vorous 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 con-
trary, they appear to endeavour to make their presence
known. The long narrow wings of the Heliconii butter-
flies, 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 dis-
tended, and move them up and down, so as to attract
attention ; and other species of Lampyrid^e are phos-
phorescent, 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 con-
spicuous 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.*

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

* 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 dis-
cussed this question. My observations are supplemental to his and
to the original ones of Bates.

Ch. XVII.] PROTECTED FROGS. 321

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 beauti-
fully banded coral snake (Maps), whose bite is deadly,
is marked as conspicuously as any noxious caterpillar
with bright bands of black, yellow, and red. I only
met with oue 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 swallow-
ing it, however, it instantly threw it out of its mouth,
and Ys'ent 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.

X

322 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVII.

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 con-
tents 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. For-
tunately 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 E-ito 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 in-
dispensable rite, but the marriage ceremony is often
dispensed with; and I did not notice that those who
lived tosfether without it suffered in the estimation of

Ch. XVII.] BITE OF MYGALE. ' 323

their neighbours. The European ladies at Santo Do-
mingo 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 unwai'rantable
prudery.

Before turning out the mules, Eito 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 savan-
nahs by some venomous animal. The animal bitten
immediately goes lame, and cannot be cured in less
than sis 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
IDulling 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

324 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVII.

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 Venn, Blanca, but with less per-
pendicular 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 ou the road. On every side the prospect was
bounded by long ranges of hills — some of them preci-
pitous, 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.

Ch. XVII.] TOILSOME JOURNEY. 325

Velasquez expected to find in the owner an old acquaint-
ance of liis, 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 pass-
ing 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 lead-
ing— 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, wish-
ing 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.
[ w^as 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

326 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XYII.

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 hanmiock 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 choco-
late and maize, and drinks of this relieved me. I at last
reached Libertad at four o'clock, and went to bed imme-
diately. Having fasted all day in place of taking medi-
cine, 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.

{ 327 )

CHAPTER XVIII.

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 — Distribu-
tion 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 iny 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 con-
fines 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 doler^^tic 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 jet ceased. Most
of the land, resulting from the decomposition of the
tufas, is of extreme fertility ; and, therefore, w^e find on
the Pacific side of Nicaragua, indigo, coffee, sugar, cacao,
and tobacco growing with the grreatest luxuriance.

328 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVIII.

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 187 1, 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 enofaofed. Takino-
Velasquez and a servant with me, I rode over to Jui-
galpa on the I st 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 border-
ing the river were covered with fine, though short, grass,
amongst which were some beautiful flowers. The orange
and black " sisitote " {Icterus pcdoralis, Wagl.) flew in

Ch. XVIII] EMBARK TO CROSS THE LAKE. 329

small flocks amongst the bushes ; and the '' sanatu "
(Qmscalus). 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 tiy 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 pre-
cipitous 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 Seilor 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

330 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVIII.

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 mid-
night, 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 re-

Ch. XVIII.] FRESH-WATER ANIMALS. 331

semblecl 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,
Flanorhis, Ancylus, and Am.puUari.

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. Gyrinidce swam round and round in
mazy circles ; Dytiscido' came up to the surface for a
moment, aud dived down again to the depths below with
a globule of air glistening like a diamond. Amongst the
vegetation at the bottom aud sides of the pools Hydro-
philidce crawled about, just as in ponds in England.
Not only were those familiars there, but they were re-
presented by species belonging to the typical genera
— Gyrinns^ Colymhetes, and Hydroj'iliilus. 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. Alph. 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 distribu-
tion than the former. It is well known to botanists
that many fresh-water and marsh plants have an im-
mense range over continents, extending even to the most

332 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XYIII.

remote islands.* The close aiBnities of fresli-water
animals and plants have been noticed by many natu-
ralists. Darwin saw with surprise, in Brazil, the simi-
larity of the fresh-water insects, shells, &c., and the
dissimilarity of the surrounding terrestrial beings com-
pared with those of Britain.t Dr. D. Sharp informs
me that water-beetles undoubtedly present the same
types all over the world. He believes there is no
faTuily of Coleoptcrn in which tropical or extra-tropical
species so closely resemble one another as in the
Dytiscidcc. Cyhister 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 simi-
larity of the Dytiscidcc is of special interest when "we
recollect that they are nothing but Carabidce fitted for
swimming, and yet that the Ca rabid ce 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 raoUusca 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
* Darwin, " Origin of Species," p. 417. t Ibid., p. 414.

Ch. XVIIL] LAND AND FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS. 333

difference in the distribution of tlie land and fresh-
water species. According to Mr. Lovell Beeve, 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 Scot-
land. 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 Lyinim'a-cca '* there are not six species, it may be
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 pro-
genitors of our British species were created in Siberia,
Hungary, or Thibet. There is scarcely any variation
either in the form or number of the species in those
remote localities. Of Planorhis scarcely more than
fifteen species inhabit the whole Caucasian province, and
we have eleven of them in Britain." — " Of Physa and
Lymncea^ 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," p. 225.

334 THE NATURAIJST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVIII.

The wide distribution of species inhabiting fresh water
compared with those Hving 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-moUusks 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 gi'eat continents the land has pro-
bably never been totally submerged at any one time ; it
also is continuous over great areas, and as one part

Ch. XVIII.] EXPLANATION OF FRESH-WATER FORMS. 335

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 pro-
ductions 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
wide-spread 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 phy-
sical causes; so that when variation is most checked
old forms will longest survive. Therefore I think it

336 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVIII.

is that amongst fislies 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 fresh-water animals is in proportion to
the more or less continuous development that was
possible under the different conditions under which
they lived.

Ch. XVIII.] CONTINUITY OF LAND AND AIR. 337

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 sub-
merged 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 con-
tinuous, and the animals that could use it as a high-
way 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.

( 338 )

CHAPTER XIX.

Iguanas and lizards — Granada — Politics — Revolution — Cacao cultiva-
tion— 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

Ch. XIX.] LIZARDS. 339

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 cool-
ness, and continued the pursuit unflaggingly. Doubt-
less experience had tanght him that his perseverance
would ultimately be rewarded : that sooner or later he
would surjDrise 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

340 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIX.

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 after-
wards 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 gliiesbrcghti) 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 diSerent 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

Ch. XIX.] FOOD OF MONKEYS. 341

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 Mons. 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 {Ccbus albifroyis), and several
small long-haired Mexican dogs. I was interested in
watching the monkey examining all the loose bai'k 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 Mons. Mestayer's did not
touch the figs on the tree, and I believe it ; the Cehus is
much more of an animal than a vegetable feeder, whilst
the spider-monkeys (A teles) live principal!}^ 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 1 522.
The streets are well laid out at risfht ansfles to each

342 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIX.

other, and there are many large churches, some of them
in ruins. In one of the latter a company of mounte-
banks 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 whole-
sale 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, &c. Many of these merchants
are very wealthy ; but all deal retail as well as whole-
sale ; 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 popula-
tion 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

Ch. XIX.] ABSENCE OF PATRIOTISM. 343

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 states-
men 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 pai'tisans 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.

344 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIX.

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 cul-
tivate 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, how-
ever, 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 compre-
hend 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 govern-
ment— whether the chief of the state be elective or

Ch. XIX.] GRANADA. 345

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 o^Eri/thrina, 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 con-
victed, and, to show the moral torpidity of the people, I
may mention that his only punishment was banishment
to Greytown, where he appeared to mis 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, Senhor
Rafael Blandino, who most deservedly bears a very high

346 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIX.

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, Seiior 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 sur-
rounded 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 carry-
ing 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.

Ch. XIX.] LAKE OF MASAYA. 347

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 maiden-hair
ferns, belonging to three different species.

On the opposite shore rises the cone of the volcano
of Masaya, and the streams of lava that have liowed
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

348 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIX.

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.

STRATA AT MASAYA.

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

Ch. XIX.] LAKE OF MAS AY A. 349

the water for the supply of the town. At the bottom
are seen great cliffs of massive trachyte (No. i 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 (No. 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 scorice 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 No. 5 in section are exactly the same in com-
position 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

350 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIX.

cannot expect that this explanation will be readily
received, nor should I myself have advanced it if I
could in any other vs^ay 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 iiext 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 Guate-
mala, four hundred miles to the westward, and at
Jamaica, eight hundred mile's 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

Ch. XIX.] GREAT EARTHQUAKE. 351

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 earth-
quakes had continued, when they culminated in one
great tragedy, which should be read at length in the
pages of Humboldt. On March 26th, 181 2, when the
people of Caracas were assembled in the churches,
beneath a still and blazing sky, one minute of earth-
quake sufficed to bury, amid the ruins of churches and
houses, nearly ten thousand souls. The same earth-
quake wrought terrible destruction along the whole line
of the northern Cordilleras, and was felt even at Santa
Fc 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 17 18, if, at least, the eruption
spoken of by Moreau de Jonnes took place in the
Souffriere. According to him, with a terrific earth-
quake, 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

352 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIX.

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 18 12 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 moun-
tain 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

Ch. XIX.] GREAT ERUPTION OF ST. VINCENT. 353

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, wex'e terrified by a sub-
terranean 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 artilleiy. 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 Guadaloupe ; 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 were 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 ori-
ginal vent must have become so jammed and consolidated,
in the few years between 1785 and 18 12, that it could

z

354 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIX.

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 erup-
tion 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 lar^e 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
liad been exerted. Eighty miles to windward lies Bar-
badoes. 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.

Ch. XIX.] GREAT ERUPTION OF ST. VINCENT. 355

" Those who will recollect that Barbadoes 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." *

I have quoted this graphic account of the great
volcanic eruption of St. Vincent in 18 1 2 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 immi-

* " At La.st,'" by Charles Kingsley, vol. i. p. 90.

356 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIX.

nent. 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 vol-
canic outbursts. Let us reflect, too, that not only was an
enormous mass of matter, before lying over the poles, re-
moved 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 every-
where 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

Ch. XIX.] VOLCANIC ORIGIN OF LAKES. 357

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 eugulphment of At-
lantis, 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
o.t the time of the great cataclysm.

In these reinarks on the origin of some of the lakes
of Nicai'agua 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.

( 358 )

CHAPTER XX.

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 Indiaa villages around the lake, from
each of which paths have been cut through the forest
down to the water, along which the women are con-
stantly 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

Ch. XX.] SPANISH INVASION OF NICARAGUA. 359

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 baptized 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 pos-
sessed an astronomical calendar of great accuracy.

36o THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XX.

Peclrarias, 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, where-
with 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 ncqucn^ 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

Ch. XX.] INIQUITY OF SPANIARDS. 361

them." * ]\rucli 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 pos-
sessions 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 indepen-
dence 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, blas-
phemy, 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 — un-
daunted courage ; and the human mind is so constituted
that this single redeeming point irresistibly enlists our

* This and the other quotation are from the " Narrative of Pascual
de Andagoya," translated by C. R. Markham, Esq. Hakluyt Soc.

362 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XX.

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.* The American arch^ologist,
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 civili-
sation, they separated into two branches, one of which
occupied Peru, the other Central America and Mexico.
Both bi-anches advanced greatly in civilisation, and both

* 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.

Ch. XX.] ORIGIN OF THE INDIANS. 363

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.*

Looking then far back we have, according to the old
traditions, a few people who had escaped a great cata-
clysm, when fire and water both fought against mankind ;
remnants perhaps of many tribes, who, when the low-
lands were overwhelmed, escaped to the mountains, speak-
ing 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 pro-
gress ; 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

* "Ancient America," by J. D. Baldwin, A.M.

364 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XX.

kings and leaders ; in their mode of life all agriculturists
and d^vellers 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 miser-
able towns and villages of the present inhabitants along-
side 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 dis-
tinguish 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

Ch. XX.] ORIGIN OF THE INDIANS. 365

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, except-
ing 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 re-
semblance, 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 break-
ing 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 sub-
merged 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 pre-

366 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XX.

ponderance on the western coast favours the idea that
they had a western oi'igin.*

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 fi'om 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, IVIr. 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, &c.

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 inter-
course 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."

This couvade is developed to the highest degree in

* I have already at page 55 alluded to the fundamental difference
in the food of the Nahuatls and the Caribs.

Ch. XX.] THE " COUVADE." 367

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 com-
plain, and takes to his hammock, and there he is visited
as though he were sick, and undergoes a course of diet-
ing " 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. 1'he 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

368 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XX.

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 neigh-
bours' 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 Beam, 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 forma-
tion 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

Ch. XX.] THE COUVADE. 369

point of view. Among the savage tribes of South Ame-
rica 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 super-
stition. 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 luiropean 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 pro-
gressive, 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 geo-

2 A

370 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XX.

graphical 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." *

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 reckon-
ing 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 trouble-
some 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 com-
parison of the Mexican and Thibeto- Japanese calendars,
— from the correct orientation of the steps of the pyra-
midal 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," -f-

* E. B. Tvlor, " Early History of Mankind," pp. 2S8-297.
t Humboldt, "Aspects of Nature," vol. ii. 174.

Ch. XX.] DERIVATION OF THE AMERICAN RACE. 371

Whilst there are undoabtedly many curious coinci-
dences 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 man-
kind 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 chrono-
logical and astronomical systems of the Nahuatis 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 N.-W. to S.-E., and the
eastern coasts of Asia in the opposite direction, the dis-
tance between the two continents in 45° of latitude, or
in the temperate zone, which is most favourable to mental
development, is too considerable to admit of the proba-
bility 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°,
and that the civilisation thus introduced, like the general
movement of population in America, has proceeded by

372 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XX.

successive stations from north to south."' * 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 Hum-
boldt'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 know-
ledge, 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 Hum-
boldt, 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° 45' N,
longitude 133° 3' W. 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 to-
wards 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,
* Humboldt, "Aspects of Nature," vol. ii. 176.

Ch. XX.] ASIATIC ORIGIN. 373

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 em-
braced 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 Thibeto - Japanese
calendars might result from the accidental stranding
of a Japanese or Chinese vessel on their shores, bring-
ing 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.

( 374 )

CHAPTER XXI.

Keturn to Santo Domingo — The birds of Chontales — The insects of
Chontales — Mimetic forms — Departure from the mines — Nica-
ragua 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.

Ch. XXI.] MUDDY PLAINS. 375

It was two hours after dark before we got across tlie
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
sti'etchers, 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. Seemanu 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 im-
pending 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, Esqre.
(himself), in which he informed himself that he had
been left legacies of ten, twenty, or thirty thousand

376 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. XXI.

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 cheer-
ful 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 moruing, 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
Dominsro in the evenino-.

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 respon-
sibilities attending the supervision of gold-mines, the
products of which were jnst 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

Ch. XXL] BIRDS OF NICARACxUA. 377

that financial questions constantly retarded the com-
pletion 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, com-
mence 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 col-
lection was, it proved an important addition to the
knowledge of the bird-fauna of Nicaragua. The emi-
nent ornithologist, Mr. Osbert Salvin, published in the
IMs 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. Frag-
mentary 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 Nica-
ragua, 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

378 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XXI.

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." * 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 run-
ning north and south from sea to sea, and cutting com- "
pletely through the chain of the Cordilleras.f 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.

* The Ibis, July 1872, p. 312.

t Squier, ' States of Central America," p. 68l.

Ch. XXL] INSECTS OF NICARAGUA. 379

My entomological collections were mucli more com-
plete than my collections of birds, especially those of
the butterflies and beetles. Mr. W. C. Hewitson has
described 25 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 Elateridte, Lamellicorns,
and others ai'e still uncatalogued, and very many
species remain to be described. The only beetles that
have been catalogued as yet with suflUcient 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," pub-
lished 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 „

Do. and the West India Islands . 5 „

Do. and the United States . . 5 „

Do. and New Grenada or Venezuela 24 „

Do. and the Amazon Region . .22 „

Do. and South Brazil . . .10 „

Generally distributed in Tropical America . . 5 ,,

242

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 Chon-
tales and countries lying to the southward. The pre-

38o THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XXI.

ponderance 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 rela-
tions as the Bird fauna ; for, as the Atlantic forest
continues unbroken much further southward than north-
ward, 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 [FohjrapMs Fahricii), being as yet
only known from that province, but probably extending
into Costa Eica,

One of these, the lovely little Cosmisoma Titania,
No. 7 in Plate, 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 pui'-
posely to collect insects ; and I afterwards obtained it
in srreat numbers. The use of the curious brushes on
the antennse is not known. Another longicorn, about
the same size (Corcmia 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, Dcliathis
nivea, looks as if made of pure white porcelain spotted
with black. It is a rare beetle, one or two specimens

LONGICORN BEETLES OP CHONTALES. PagO 3S0.

1. Emnder noUlis, Bates. 2. Gijmnocerus Beltii, Bates. 3. Polyrhaphis Fabricii. Thorn.
i. Deliathis nivea, BaXaa. 5. Tceniotes prceclarus,'B-A.X,6s. 6. Chalastinus rubrocinctus, 'B&.Us.
7. Cosmisoma Titania, Bates. 8. Carneades superba, Bates. 9. Amphionyca princeps, Bates.

Ch. XXL]

MIMETIC INSECTS.

381

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.

LEAF INSECT.

Amongst the insects of Choutales 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-

382 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XXI.

related genus (Ffcrochroza), imitate leaves in every
stage of deca}^, 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

MOSS INSECT.

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 Fhasma.

Ch. XXI.] EXPLANATION OF MIMETIC FORMS. 383

The extraordinary perfection of these mimetic resem-
blances is most wonderful. I have heard this urged as
a reason for believing that they could not have been pro-
duced 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

384 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XXI.

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 doubt-
less 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 Heliconidge, 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 de-
struction 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

Ch. XXI.] DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND. 385

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, 1 872, 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, chas-
ing 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.

2 B

386 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA [Ch. XXI.

After reacliing Pital I rode rapidly over the savannalis,
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 cloth-
ing, 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 insi-'
dious 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 in-
dolence, some recollection of a fellow-countryman who
has succumbed to the same influences has arrested my
harsher judgment. I cannot recommend Nicaragua, with

Ch. XXL] EMIGRATION. 387

all its natural wealth, its perpetual summer, its magnifi-
cent 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 emi-
grants 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 in-
fluences 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 enterpris-
ing 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

388 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XXI.

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, Hollen-
beck'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
ao-ain in complete working order. Success attend him.

The result of the wreck of the Elizctbeth, 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 de-
scribed the scenery of the San Juan in the account of my
journey up, I shall not repeat the story, but simply state

Ch. XXL] CONCLUSION. 389

that we reached Greytown on the i ith September, and
on the 1 6th 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, 46, 156

Acarus, 209

Acclimature, 70

Achras sapota, 116

Acoyapo, 48, 386

Acrocinus longinianus, 34

Adiantum, 37

Aguardiente, 63, 231

Aguasco, 202

Ahuacatl, 107

Airey, Sir George, 305

Alligators, 3, 9, 15, 45, 159

Alloy, 88

Alluvial deposits, 86

gold, 263

Amalgam, 93
Amalgamation process, 93
America, western side of tropical,

food of people, 55
American race, derivation of,

371

Amerrique range, the, 155, 324
AmpuUari, 331

Amusements, Nicaraguan, 235
Ancylus, 331, 333 _
Aneimea ohlongifolia, 196

hirsuta, 196

Andagoya, Pascual de, 360 ; his

account of Nicaragua, 360 ; on

chicha-drinking, 279
Angelot, j\I.. on fused rock, 97
Angrcecum sesquipedale, 133
Anolis, 339, 340
Antigonon leptopus, 4, 239
Antiquities, 50

Indian, 50, 165

Antonio, San, lode, 89

Antonio, San, valley, 126

Ants, 8, 17, 181, 219, 221, 314,

315

Ants, army, 17 ; assisting each
other, 26 ; attending leaf-
hoppers, 227 ; attending scale-
insects, 225 ; ant bridge, 27 :
communicate by scent, 23 ;
cows, 226 ; foraging, 17 ;
hunting, 115; inhabiting bull's-
horn thorn, 218 ; leaf-cutters,
71-84; reason in, 27, 76, 83 ;
sagacity of, 83 ; stinging, 115;
thrushes, 20

Apands, 242

Aphida;, 226

Armadillos, 46, 84, 313

Arrastres, 93

Articulata, 27, 28

Artificial selection, 207

Artigua river, 106, 147

Arum, 6, 58

Asses, 48

Ateles, 341

Atlantis, 270, 365

Auriferous quartz, 87, 95, 96

veins of, in Queens-
land, 96

Australia, hot winds in, 305

■ wasps in, 134

whirlwinds in, 303

Avila, Gil Gonzales de, 358

Avocado, 107

trees, 66

Axes, ancient Mexican, 41

stone, 154

Aztecs, 155, 363

392

INDEX.

Baldwin, J. D., 362

Biiinboo thickets, 179

Bananas, 12, 67

Baptism, a pre-Christian rite, 168

Bates, Mr. H. W., on instinct in
wasps, 135 ; on life under the
Equator, 172 ; on the Longi-
corn Coleoptera of Chontales,
Nicaragua, 379 ; on mimetic
forms, 8 ; on mimetic re-
semblances. 320, 384 ; on
social birds, 123; on wings
of Moi'phos, 229

Bathing places of humming-
birds, 137

Bats, 104, 174

Beak of birds, 197

Bees, 320

Beetles, 34, 69, 104, 143, 173,
318

habits of, 114; the harle-
quin, 34 ; killing bug, 127 ;
on Pena Blanca, 149

Beggars in Nicaragua, scarcity
of, 160

Begonia, 58

Bell given to church at Libertad,

151

Benito, San, 126

lode, 89

Bermudez, Don Dolores, 48
Birds accompanying an army of

ants, 20

fertilising flowers, 130

nests, 22, 289

rejecting Heliconii, 316

Bittern, 158

Bland, Mr., on the distribution

of land shells in the West

Indies, 267
Blewfields river, 52, 62
Boulder clay, 247, 260, 291
Boundary question between Ni-
caragua and Costa Rica, 14
Bourbourg, Brasseur de, 357
Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abbe, on

the Teo Amoxtli, 271
Brazil, North-east, food of the

people of, 55
Brazil, migratory butterflies of,

153

Bread-fruit, 4

British Guiana, food of the

people of, 55
Bromelia, 184
Bruce on whirlwinds in Africa,

302
Buccaneers, 241, 255
Bugs, 71

injecting poisonous fluid,

128

Bullock, Mr. W., on the use of

rattles in Mexico, 154
Bull's-horn thorn, 23, 218, 290
wasps attending glands

of, 220
Bungos, 31
Buprcstidce, 314
Burial customs of the ancient

Indians, 165
Butterflies, 7, 299, 3S2

instinct of, 109 ; migra-
tions of, 152; in Rio Plata,
153; in Patagonia, 153; Mr.
Darwin on, 153 ; Mr. R.
Spruce on, 153

Cabbage, 70

Cacao, 4, 116, 345

Cactuses, 45, 158

Calif ornian pitcher-plant, 184

Callidryas, 1 08

Calliste larvata, 128

• lavino', 128

Colowjction speciosum, 34
Calo2:)teron basalts (Klug), 317

vicinum (Deyrolles), 317

Canal, interoceanic, 36
Candelera, El, 329
Candolle, Alph. de, on fresh-
water productions, 331
Canis caraibicus (Lesson), 206

inga (Tschudi), 206

Canoe, 1 1

Cape Gracias a Dios, 3
Capsicums, 70
Captive Indians, 40
Carabidse, 149, 332
Carbolic acid, 76
Carca Indians, 338

INDEX.

39:

Carca river, 147

Caribbean Sea, carving on rocks

on the banks of rivers running

into, 53
Caribs, 2, 12, 53, 55, 204, 364-

366

food of the, 55

Carlos, San, 35, 36

river, 35

Carrots, 70

Castillo, captiire of, by Nelson,

31

Castilloa clastiea, 33

Caterpillars, 71

Catlin, G., on traditions of the
deluge, among the American
Indians, 272

Cattle, 48

raising, 308

Cebus alhifrons, 156, 341

white-faced, iiS; anecdotes

about, 119

Cecropia, 58, 222

Cedar, ii, 34

Cedrela odorata, 1 1, 34

Celeus castaneus, 123

Cement, 253

Centipedes, 22, 174

Central America, states of, ab-
sence of patriotism in, 343 ;
civil war and revolutionary
outbreaks in, 343, 344 ;
tyrannical oligarchies in, 343

Centrurus pucherani (Mahl), 123

Chachalakes, 121

Chicchera, 48

Chieha, 232, 279, 293

Children, great numbers of, 289

Childs, Col. O. W., survey for
canal, 35

Chilote, 54

Chioties, 66

Chirosciphia lineata, 162

Chlorophancs guatemalensis, 12S

Chocoyo river, 30S

Choluans, 364

Chontales, birds of, 377

insects, 379

derived from Chontali,

362

Mining Co., 60, 65, 88

Chontales and Costa Rica, connec-
tion of forest forms, 377, 378

Chontals, 155

Christians, Icelandic, 168

Cicada, 312

Cinerarj' urns, 164

Citron trees, 65

Citrus auraiitlum, 75

Icmonum, 74

mcdicus, 75

Clarke, Mr. Hyde, 366

Claro, Santo, 329

Clausilia, 333

Clavigero, 67 ; on the Xoloitz-
cuintli, 205

Climate of Nicaragua, 235

of Santo Domingo, 104

Club moss, 238

Coccidse, 222, 226

Cockatoo of Australia, 196

Cockchafer, 127

Cock-fighting, 49

Cockroaches, 17, 174, 318

instinct of, 109

Cocoa-nut palms, 2

Cocos, 256

Cocos butyracca, 232

Ccelosis hiloha, 84

Coffee, 4 ; plants, 60

Coleoptera, 315, 332, 379

Colocasia cscidcnta, 70

Colorado river, 2, 13, 14

Colour, differences in, correlated
with immunity from disease,

183
Columbus, Christopher, 3
Colymbetes, 331
Comayagua, plain of, 378
Comelapa, 107
Comiens, 18 1
Comoapa, 107, 199
Concordia, 292
Condego, 286
Congo monkeys, 35
Consuelo lode, 89
Contrast between the ancient and

present inhabitants of central

America, 171
Coral snake, 320

tree, 345

Cordova, Hernando de, 341, 359

394

INDEX.

Coremia hirtipes, 3S0
Corroisive sublimate, 78
Corruption of names of places,

107
Cortess, 116

Cosaguina, volcano of, 350
Cosmisoma Titania, 3 So
Couvade, the custom of the, 366-

369
Coyotes, 48
Cranes, 3
Crantor, on the island Atlantis,

271
Crux (jlohicera, 121
Creepers, 20, 122
Crematofjastei', 220
Crickets, 22

Cross, the sign of the, 16S
Crosses, 166
Cuapo, rock of, 55
Cuba, 55
Cuckoo-spit, 230
Curassow, 121

Cyanocitta melanocyanea, 238
Cybister, 332
Cyclones, 300-307

■ origin of, 301

West Indian, 306

Cyrtodeira Chontalensis, 116

Daintree, Mr. B., on auriferous
veinstones, 96

Darailly, 248

Darlingtonia Calif arnica, 184

Darwin on animals and plants,
332 ; on continual varieties in
the same direction, 208 ; on
the effect of slight differences
of colour, 182 ; on fertilisation
of scarlet runner, 70 ; on fossil
maize in Peru, 54 ; on fresh-
water molluf'ks, 334 ; on the
humble bee, 132 ; on migrations
of butterflies, 153 ; on natives
of Terra del Fuego, 172

Decomposition of the rocks in
the forest region, 86

Deer, 252

hunter, 252

Defoliation of trees, 72
Degeneration of inhabitants of

Central America, 171, 177, 344
Deliathis nivea (Bates), 180
Delta of the San Juan, i
Deluge, traditions of the, 272
Denudation, 263
Depilto, 256

Desmiphora fasciculata, 7
Deterioration of lodes in depth,

90
Diabase, 96
Diaz de Castillo, on the use of

cement by the Indians, 254
Dicoteles tajacu, 30
Diego, San, 324
Difference between artificial and

natural selection, 207
Digitalis purpurea, 131
Diodorus Siculus, 368
Dioryte, 96

Diorytic intrusive rocks, 96
Diphyrama singularis (Bates),

315. n-
Diriangan, 358
Distribution of gold in quartz

veins, 91
Dogs, hairless, 205
Doleryte, 86
Domed nests, 291
Domingo, Santo, 60, 62, 85, 376

commissioner's house

at, 66

mines at, 376

rain at, 104

watershed of, 104

on origin of cyclones.

M.

Dove,
301

Dragon-flies, 299

Drosera, 184

Drought in Matagalpa, 288

Drowning man saved bj' being
lassoed, 188

Du Tertre, 366

Ducks, 44

Muscovy, 44

whistling, 44

Duncan, Prof., on the submergence
of Isthmus of Darien in Mio-
cene times, 264

Dytiscidae, 331, 332

INDEX.

395

386,

Eagle, monkey-eating, 1 1 7
Easter Island, 269
Eciton hamata, 20

predator, 17

Ecitons, 17, 22
Egrets, 44

white, 44

Elam, Jacob, 375
Elaps, 320
Elateriche, 379
Elephantiasis, 160
Elizabeth steamer, 388
Elote, 54
Elvan dykes, 96
Emigration in Nicaragua,

3S7

Endives, 70

Epidemic amongst insects, iSl

amongst wasps in Great

Britain, 181

Eipphytes, 6, 57, 183

Eriosoma, 229

Erythrina, 130, 345

Esquipula, 52

Essequibo, carved rocks of, 53

Estelj', 249

Eumomota superciliaris, 158

Erander nobilis (Bates), 317

Extinction of intermediate va-
rieties that connected extreme
forms, 182

Fairbairn, Mr., 154

Earina, 55

Fauna of the Malay Archipelago,

268
Felspar, 97
Ferns, 6, 57, 238
Fertilisation of flowers by birds,

130

foxglove, 131

• marcgravia, 130

palosabre, 130

Festa, 49

Festivals, 278, 287

Fig-trees, 66, 69

Fireflies, 103, 317

Fissure veins, 87

Flight of birds that soar, 200

Floating plants, 44

Florida, 55

Florisuga melllvora, in

Flour-mill, 296

Flowers, 279

fertilised by birds, 130

insects, 70

Fly-catchers, 123, 158, 291, 313

Foraging ants, 17, 198

Forbes, Mr. David, on auriferous
quartz veins, 96

Forest of the Atlantic slope, 57,
185

Forest region, limit of the, 185

— — effect

of cultivation on the, 186

Forest vegetation, 58

Formicarium, 72

Foxglove, fertilisation of, 13 1

Franklin on whirlwind in Mary-
land, 302

Fresh-water animals, 331

plants, 331

Frogs, 321

on Peiia Blanca, 143

Gage, Thomas, on the Indians'
respect for their priest, 282

Garrapatos, 210

Glacial beds, 248, 260

period, 264

scratches, 260

Glaciers, 263

Glands on plants, 219

Gneiss, 258, 277

Goascoran valley, 378

Gold, 88

bars, 93

distribution of, in quartz

veins, 91

concentration of, near the

surface, 89

mining, 86

Gosse, P., on grassquit of Ja-
maica, 291

Gourd-shaped pottery, 47

Gracias a Dios, Cape, 3

Granada, 341, 345

courts of law at, 345

396

INDEX.

Granitic intrusive rocks, 96
Grass, Para, 30S

Guinea, 308

Grasshoppers, 18
Grassquit, 291
Graves of chiefs, 169

Indian, 154

Green, Dr., 4
Greenstone, 86, 96
Gregarious birds, 123
Grenadillos, 66, 69
Gre>i;own, i, 4, 13

trade of, 4

salubrity of, due to its

flatness, 5
Grouse, 122
Guatuse, the, 38
Guatuses, Indians, 38
Guava jelly, 6
Guayava. 156

trees, 6

Gui.ana, British, food of the people

of, 55
Guinea grass, 141, 308
GummifcrcE, 2iS
Guzman, Seiior Fernando, 346
Gyrinidcv, 299, 331
Gyrinus, 331

Half-breeds, 63

Harlequin beetle, 34

Hart, Prof., on glacial drift in

South America, 265 ; on the

elevation of Brazil in the glacial

period, 267
Hawk, crab-eating, 16 1
Hawks, 1 28, 257, 340
Hayti, 55
Heavy rains, 104
Heer, Prof., on the Miocene Flora,

265
Heliconife, 13, 15, 58
Hdiconidce, 7, 384
Heliconii, the, 266, 316
Heliomastcr pallidiceps, 112, 130
Heliothrix barroti, 1 13
Helix, 333
Hemiptera, 315
Herrania purpurea, 116

Ecsperida, 108

Hewitson, W, C, 479

Hickory, 46

Hides, 4, 342

HoUenbeck, Mr., 4, 9, 43, 374, 3S0,

3S8
Homoptera, 226
Honduras, Gulf of, 378
Honey glands, 219
Hornet, 319
Horse-flies, 313
Horses, 48

Hot winds of Australia, 305
Huaco, 202
Huexlotl, 205
Humble bee, 70, 131
Humboldt on hairless dogs, 205

on origin of the Mexican

and Eastern Asiatics, 370-

373

on origin of whirlwinds,

301
Humming-birds, 58, 159, 315

abundance of, 139

nests of, 140

rapidity of flight,

140

bathing, 137

fertilising flowers, 13 1

tongue of, 113

Humuya vallej', 378
Hydrophilidce, 331
Hydrophilus, 331
Hymenoptera, 27, 28
Hypoclinea, sp., 20, 181, 227

"Ibis," the, 377

Ice, influence of, in volcanic erup-
tions, 356

Icterida:, 290

Icterus pectoralis (Wagl,), 328

Igneous injections, 97

Iguana, the, 338, 339

India-rubber, 4, 32-34, 39, 328
342

Indian antiquities, 50, 165

carving, 217

children, 38

cooking vessels, 293

INDEX.

397

Indian graves, 154, 166, 169, 170

houses, 40

love of flowers, 279

names of towns, 293

Indians, brown, 364

red, 365

origin of the, 363

wholesale baptism of, by

Spanish conquerors, 167
Indigo, 4, 297, 328, 342
Indolence of natives, 298
Insect life at night, 174

traps, 183

Insectivorous birds, 7
Insects, instinct of, 313

mimetic, 315, 381

Instinct of ants, 26

butterflies, 109

cockroaches, 10 )

Interoceanic canal, 36
Ixodes bovis, 209

Jacanas, 3, 158
Jaguar, 30, I44, 1 74, 286
Jamaily, 251
Janson, Mr., 380
Jatropha manihot, 70
Javali lode, 89

mine, 60

river, 106

Jicara, 46, 156
Jinotega, 204, 240, 293
Jose, San, 15, 45

plains, 374

Juan, San, river, i, 15, 35

bar of, 2 ; del Norte, i

Juigalpa river, 150, 156, 157, 163,
176

Kidney-beans, 73

Kingfishers, 158

Kingsley, Canon, account of vol-
canic eruption of St. Vincent,
350-355 ; on the dry land con-
necting the islands of the West
Indies, 267

Kotzebue's voyage round the world,
372

Lacanpones of Guatemala, 155

Lagoon, 5

Lainellicorns, 379

lAiinpiiridcE, 317

Land-shells of the West Indies,

268
Landslips, 86, 95
Las Lajas, 60
Lasso, 189
Laurentian rock, 259
Laziness of natives, 245
Lead, 89

Leaf-cuttingant, the, 127,219,225
destructive-

ness of, 73 ; method of eradicat-

'"Si 77 j growers of mushrofims,

79 ; nests of, 80, 81 ; food of

81 ; duties, &c., 82 ; reasoning

powers, 83
Leaf-hoppers, 226

ants attending, 227

wasps attending, 228

Leaf -insect, 8, 381
Legrand d'Aussy, 367
Lenca Indians, 155
Leo Amontli, 357
Leptalides, 385
Lettuces, 70

Leucopttrnus ghiesbregldi, 340
Lianas, 6, 33, 57
Libertad, 150

■ mines, 95, 150

Lime, 74

trees, 65

stone, 310

Lizards, 12, 312

tree, 339, 340

Locust, 19

Lodes, 86 ; Consuelo, 89 ; San

Benito, 89 ; San Antonio, 89 ;

Javali, 89
Lodes, deterioration in depth of,

90 ; direction of, 86 ; dip of, 86
Logwood, 4
Longicorn beetles, 7, 6g, 104, 127,

159, 173, 180, 379, 380
Lorenzo, San, 323
Los Cocos, 330
Louisiana, 55
Lowering of the level of the sea

in the glacial period, 266

INDEX.

LymnEea, 333
Lymnaeacea, 333

Macaws, 196

Maceio, subject to fevers, 5

Machuca, 31

Macklcania, 142

M'Crae, Colonel, 32

Madeira peaks, 147

Mahogany, 34, 328

Maize, 53-56, 328, 386

cultivation of, 53

eaters, 54, 55

stone grinders, 55

food of the people of north-
east Brazil, 55 ; of Mexico, 55 ;
of British Guiana, 55 ; of western
side of tropical America, 55 ; of
the Caribs, 55

Malacatoyo river, 314

Malayan dialects, 269

Mallocera sjnnocollis ( Bates ),

315. n-
Mammalia, 28
Mandioca, 55
Mango trees, 4, 66
Mangos, 161
Manihot aipim, 55
Mantos, origin of, 95
Marcgravia nepentJioides, 128, 129
Marcgravia fertilised by birds, 130

pitchers of, 130

Masaya, 330, 346 ; lake of, 346,

347> 355 ; volcano of, 347, 355 ;

strata at, 348 ; origin of strata

at, 349
Masaya Indians, marriage custom

of, 36
Matagalpa, 203, 217, 231
Maury, Prof. T. B., ou origin of

cyclones, 301
Mayas, 156

of Yucatan, 363

Melastomse, 13, 58, 222
Melzer, 60
Mcrahracis, 226
Mercury, 93, 94
Mestayer, M., 341
Mestizos, 92, 202
Metlate, 56, 293

Mexico, maize in, 55

food of people of, 55

Miasma, 6
Miau-tsze, 367, 369
Mice, 23
Michel, 367

Mico river, 52, 150, 151, 18S
Microchera 2Mrvirostris, 1 38
Microscopical cavities in rocks, 97
Migrations of butterflies, 152
Miguel, San, volcano, 350
Miguelito, San, 177
Mimetic forms, 8, 314 ; explanation
of, 383

insects, 315, 381

Mineral veins, 96 ; formation of, 99
Mineralogical specimens, 99
Miners, Indian, 63
Mines, 86, 89 ; Javali, 60 ; Santo

Domingo, 86 ; Libertad, 95 ; El

Coquimba, 258
Miocene Flora, 265
Mirage, 300
Mocoim, the, 209
MoUusks, marine and freshvt^ater,
335 ; land and freshwater,

332-337

Melania, genus of, 336

of the isthmus of Darien, 264

Mombacho, volcano of, 345
Momotus lessoni, 123

martii, 123

Monkeys, 35; sagacity of, 119;

speech of, 120
white-faced, 118-120, 316,

341
Monedula Surinamensis (Fabr.),

313

Montezuma, 47
Morddlida;, 318
More, Sir Thomas, account of

Utopia, 29
MorpJios, 7
Morpen, Dr., 70
Mosas, 63

Mosquitoes, 14, 32, 103, 374, 375
Moss insect, 382
Moths, 104, 174

migatory, 153

Mot-mots, 16, 22, 122, 123, 158,

199

INDEX.

399

Mot-mots, tails of, 124

Mountain hens, 121

Mules, 48

bitten by spiders, 323

sagacity of, 1S9 ; thieves,

256

Murderers, punishment of in Ni-
caragua, 275

Muscovy ducks, 203

Muy-muy, 214

Mycetes palliatus, 35

Mygale, 323

Myriapods, 140

Nahuatls, 44, 155, 364, 365, 370,

371, 373

Names of natural features of a
country important in an inquiry
as to the oi-iginal inhabitants,
106 ; of places corrupted, 107

Nancito, 6, 156

Nandasme, 358

Nectarina, 228

Negroes, 63

Nelson, Lord, capture of Castillo,

31

Neocli/tus (Esopus (Bates), 315, n.

Nephila, 108, 317

Nequen, 360

Nests, of birds, 289 ; of wasps, 290

Neuwied, Prince Maximilian, on
nest of Tody, 291

Nicaragua, bird fauna of, 377 ;
civil war in, 342 ; conquest of
by Spaniards, 359 ; division of,
into three zones, 32S ; emigra-
tion to, 3S6, 3S7 ; insects of, 379

Nicaragua, name of chief, 359

Nicaraguan judges, 105

soldiers, 63

Nicaraguans, hospitality of, 275,
2S5 ; litigious, 105

and Mexicans closely re-
lated, 362

Nicoya, Gulf of, 359

Night-jars, 174

Nispera, 92, 1 16

Nispral, 59

Nocturnal animals, 1 73

OCALCA, 216

Ocelots, 174

Ocon, Sehor Trinidad, 328

Ocotal, 255

(Ecodonia, 71-84

Olaraa, 203

"Old man's beard," 238

Omotepec, 43 ; island of, 362 ;

peaks, 147
Onions, 70
Oniscus, 115
Opossums, 23, 174
Orange tree, 4, 65, 68
Orchids, 6 ; on Peha Blanca, 142
Ore, extraction of, 92 ; reduction

of, 93 ; testing of, 89
Orinoco, carved rocks of, 53
Ornithorhynchos, 142
Oropendula, 290
Orthoptcra, 381
Owls, 174

Palacagdina, 249, 2S3

Palms, 4, 13, 35, 58

Palosabre, 130

Papaws, 66

Papilio, 108, 299

Pani grass, 141, 308

Melastomffi at, 224

Parasites, 84 ; on wasps' nests, 134

Parasitical insects, 209

Parrot, green-leek, 197

Parrots, 6, 22, 158

Parsley, 70

Passijlora quadrangularis, 69

Passion-flower, 224

Patagonia, migrations of butter-
flies, 153

Paton, Mr., 5

Pavon, 60

Pavones, 121

Pilvos, 121

Peaches, 1S3

Peas, 70

Pcdiculi, 210

Pedrarias, 359

Peua Blanca, ascent of, 143 ; rocks
of, 146, 148 ; precipice of, 146

Penelope, 121

400

INDEX.

Pentatoma piinicea, 127
Peopling of barren spots, 246
Pernambuco, healthiness of, 5
Peroxide of manganese, 89

of iron, 89

Peru, maize found in raised beaches

and tombs, 55
Petasophora delphince, 1 1 2
Petrels, 201

Phcethornis longirostris, 130
Phalanr/idce, 19
Phascolus multv^orus, 70
Phasma, 383

Pheidole, sp., 181, 224, 227
Phenax, 229

Phcenicothranpis fusicauda, 128
Phosphorescent myriapods, 14 1
Physa, 333
Pigeons, 46

wild, 158

Pigs, wild, 10, 30
Pine-apples, 66

trees, 216, 236

Pinuela, the, 254

Pinul, 293

PinuUo, 293

Pinus tenuifolia, 238

Pionia lycoidcs (Walker), 317

Pisoti, 120, 339

Pita, 57

Pital, 53

Plains, 46, 51

Planorbis, 331, 333

Plant-lice, 71, 226

Plantains, 12, 67, 386

Plantain-trees, 345

Plato, on the island of Atlantis, 2 70

Platyrhynchus, 123

Pliocene period, 264

Plough, Nicaraguan, 239

Plutonic intrusive rocks, 97

Polistes carnifex, 135

Polybia occideutalis, 220

Polyraphis Fahricii, 380

Pompilus polistoides, 133

Porphyritic dykes, 97

Port Just, veins of granite and

quartz at, 97
Pot-holes, 163
Pottery, 32, 154; ancient Indian,

154 ; gourd-shaped, 47

Pouches in Melastomse, 223

Precipice at Pena Blanca, 146

Priocnemis, 319

Prion yi'hynchus carinatus, 123

Pseudomyrma bicolor, 219

Psidium, sjj., 6

Pterochroza, 3S2

Puerta, La, 324

Pulque, 232

Pumpkins, 66, 70

Quartz, 89; conglomerate, 253,

286 ; rock, 258 ; veins, 86
Quebrada de Santo Domingo, 106
Quequisquea, 70
Quesal, the, 247
Quiches, 155
Quiscalus, 213, 329

Rafael, San, 242
Ramphastus tocard, 1 24, 197
Rampihoccelus passerinii, 6, 128

saiKjuinolentus, 128

Rats, 23

Rattles, Indian, 154

Reasoning powers in insects, 137

Reeve. Mr. Lovell, on mollusks,

333'

Retorts, 93

Rio Frio, 32, 37 ; expeditions up,
37 : Indians of, 32

Rio Grande, 204

Mico, 52, 150, 151, 188

Plata, migrations of butter-
flies, 153

Wanks, 255

Rivers, names of, 203

Rocks, carved, of Orinoco, 53 ; of
Essequibo, 53 ; of Virgin Islands,

53
Rosa villosa, 226

Rose, glands on, 225

Rosechafer, 127

Salto, El, 163

Salvin, Mr. Osbert, 377

Sanate, the, 213 ,

INDEX.

401

Sand-flies, 103

San Sebastian, 50

Santarem, wasps at, 135

Sap, rise of, 232

Sarcopti, 211

Sarraccnia, 184

Savallo river, 35

Savannahs, 46, 51

Scale insects, 222, 225

Scarlet-runners, 70

Schombiirgk, 53

Sclater, Dr., on the species of
Crax, 121

Scorpions, 22, 174

Season, dry, 2 ; wet, I

Seemann, Mr., 374, 375

Segovia, townships of, 254

Selection, artificial and natural,
difference between, 207

Self-government of the small In-
dian towns, 2S2

Seripiqui river, 15

Sharks, 3

Sharp, Dr. D., on water-beetles,
332

Shells, 331 ; of the Caribbean pro-
vince, 264 ; of the Panamic pro-
vince, 264

Silkworms, 183

Silver, 88

mine, 258

Simpson, Dr. J. H., 76

Siphonia dastica, 33

Sisitote, 50, 328, 159

Skunk, the, 174, 249, 320

Slavery, 64

Snakes, 159

Social flocks of birds, 122

trees, 237

Sodium used in amalgamation, 93,

94

action of, on mercurj', 94

Soldiers, Nicaraguan, 63
Solcnopsis, s}^., 181, 226
Sdntuli, 28s
Sorby, Mr. H. C, on microscopical

cavities in quartz, 97
SouS^riere, the, 351
Spaniards, invasion of Nicaragua

by, 359 ; cruelties practised bv,

361

SpcrmopMln olivacea, 291
Spiders, S, 17, 19, no, 174, 314,

315.317

Spider-monkeys, 117, 118, 341

Spinigcr hdcirornis, (Walk.), 319

Spiny plants and trees, 46

Spi7-aiithcs autiimnalis, fertilisa-
tion of by humble bee, 1 32

Spoons, horn, for testing ores, 89

Spruce, ]Mr. R., on migrations of
butterflies, 153

Squiers, Mr., 362 ; on the Lenca
Indians, 155

Squatters, 13

Stamps, 93

iStaphi/linidce, 81

Statues, 165 ; mutilation of, 167 ;
stories of, on banks of the Rio
Mico, 53

Steamboats on San Juan, 41

Steamers, river, 42

Sterility, 206

Still, native, 233

Stone axes, 154

hatchet, 41

■ implements, 32, 41

maize-grinders, 165, 293

Storekeepers, Nicaraguan, 62

Stove, Indian, 244

Strabo, 367

Sugantia, 140

Sugar, 4, 56, 32S, 342, 386

cane, 56, 67

plantations, 56

Sugarloaf hills, 179

Suiti, 40

Sulphate of silver, 89

Sulphide of copper, 89

iron, 89

Sun -dews, 184

Superheated steam in rock, 98

Swallows, 159

Sweet potatoes, 70

Swordsmen, 293

Sivietonia mahogani, 34

Tabanus, 313
Tablason, 193

Tccniotts scala7-is (Fabr.), 69, iSi
9. r.

402

INDEX.

Talcose scliists, 253, 260

Tatiagers, 6, 35, 122

Tapir, 144

Tarantula spider, 323

Techichi, the, 206

Termites, 181

TiialEE, the god of rain, 168

Thai uremia vcnusta, 138

Thccliv, 299

Thcobroma cacao, 1 16

Theopompus, on a large island

outside of Europe, Asia, and

Africa, 270
Thunderbolts, 154
Tibareni of Pontus, 367, 369
Ticks, 209
Tierrabona, 299
Tiger-beetles, 127, 159, 299
Tillandsia, 6, 183
TUlandsia \isneoides, 237, 289
Ti metes, 108
Timetcs chiron, 152
Tinamus, 121
Tiste, 293, 326
Tod}', the, 291
Toledo, 161
Toltecs, 363

the cultivators of maize, 55

Tomatoes, yo

Tongue of humming-bird, 1 13

woodpecker, 114

Tortillas, 56
Totagalpa, 253, 27S
Toucans, 6, 22, 35, 122, 124

beak of, 197

Trachyte, 299

Trade of Greytown, 4

winds. 5

Transported boulders, 262

Trap-rocks, 96

Trappean dykes, 96, 98

Tree-cactus, 237

Tree-ferns, 15

Trend of ranges of San Domingo,

86
Trogons, 20, 22, 50, 122, 123, 162
Trogon atricollis, 122

caliyatus, 122

elcgans, 162

females, dull-coloured, 122

melanocephalus (Gould), 50

Trogon rcsplendcns, 247

Trumpet tree, 222

Tschudi, on indigenous dogs of
tropical America, 206

Tufas, volcanic, 346

Tylor, Mr. Alfred, on the reduc-
of the level of the sea, 266

Tylor, E. B., on the Couvade, 368,
369 ; his " Early History of
Mankind," 366, 36S, 369 ; on
whirlwinds in Mexico, 302

Ubaldo, San, 45, 374
Ulleros, 33, 37, 39, 41
Ulli, 33
IJnio, 331
Urania leilus, 153
Utopia, 29

Vacqukros, 189, 191

Valleys, 85 ; denudation of, 86 ;

excavation of, 85
Value of theore atSanto Domingo,

88
Vanilla planifolia, 57)7°
Vegessima, La, 4, 239
Velasquez, Don Francisco, 78
Vertebrata, 28
Viduas, 123
Vieni par aca, 290
Vincent, St., volcano in, 350 ;

Canon Kingsley's account of,

350-355
Virgin Islands, carved rocks of, 53
Volcanoes: Caracas, 351 ; Cosa-

guina, 350; Masaya, 347, 355 ;

San Miguel, 350 ; St. Vincent,

530
Vultures, 200

Wallace, A. R., on Avgra'cum
sesquipedale, 133 ; on brightly-
coloured caterpillars, 320 ; on
the faunas of the Malay archi-
pelago, 268

INDEX.

403

War, not always a curse, 1 7 1

Wari, 30, 35

Wasps, 7, 22, 157, 313

attending leaf -hoppers, 228 ;

hunting for spiders, 133; kill-
ing caterpillars, 135 ; nests of.
290 ; taking note of place to
which they wish to return, 135

Water-bearing plants, 183

Water-beetles, 174, 331, 33^

Waterfall near Santo Domingo,
107

of El Salto, 163

Water liana, 232

West Indian cyclones, 306

Westwood, Professor, on nests of
IMygale, 323

Whirlwinds, 300-307

origin of, 301

Whitecap, 13S

White-faced monkey, I18-120,
316, 341

Wine-palm, 232

Wolves, 48

Women, Nicaraguan, 64
Woodlouse, chased by ants, 1 1 5
Woodlice, 22, 174
Woodpeckers, 122, 123
tongue of, 114

XiCALLi, 47

Xilonien, 54 ; feast of, 54
Xilotl, 54
Xoloitzcuintli, the, 205

Yalaguina, 253, 283
Yales, 248

Yucatan, the cross in, 16S
Yuccas, 70

Zeolite. 299

Zones, the three, of Nicaragua, 328

THE END.

PRINTED BY BALLANTVNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBUKGH AND LONDON.

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