NICARAGUA. 35 
the Amazon (Siphonia elastica), and which is prepared in another manner; the former 
is abundant in the forests of Nicaragua and Honduras. ‘The San Juan River continues 
with much the same high forest on its banks as far as San Carlos, at the entrance to 
the Lake of Nicaragua; it is about 120 miles long and the lake is 107 feet above the 
sea, so the water falls a little less than one foot a mile. The height of the lowest pass 
between the lake and the Pacific Ocean is said to be only 26 feet, and consequently 
this is the greatest depression in Central America between the Atlantic and Pacific. 
Owing to the enormous reservoir of water in the lakes, it has frequently been 
suggested as a practicable route for a ship canal between the two Oceans. 
On reaching the lake a sail was hoisted on board the little boat, and in a couple of 
days Belt arrived on the northern shore at Ubaldo, the landing-place for the machinery 
and goods destined for the mines at Santo Domingo. Leaving Ubaldo the road 
crosses some low rocky hills with scanty vegetation, consisting of spiny cacti, leathery 
leaved trees, thorny palms, prickly acacias, and bromelias with sharply serrated 
leaves; this being the dry season, the mule track was parched and dusty, though 
during the rains it becomes a slough of mud and water. The road led through the 
town of Acoyapo, which is in a grazing district with large cattle ‘ haciendas.’ Soon 
after this, Belt crossed the range which divides the forest region extending from the 
mountains of Segovia to the Caribbean Sea, and separating it from the great lake 
depression. The savannas on this side were more humid and the moisture increased 
as he proceeded across the upper waters of the Mico River, which enters the sea 
at Blewfields. The black margin of a great forest, which had been visible for some 
time, was reached in the neighbourhood of Santo Domingo; the ranges of irregular 
hills running mainly east and west were covered with vegetation, which was usually 
enveloped in a dense mist and produced a most depressing effect. The last part of the 
road was through brushwood, which had sprung up where the high forest had been 
cleared for planting maize; but Belt soon found himself under a canopy of high trees 
the trunks of which were entwined with creeping aroids and lianas, sending down their 
: great rope-like stems to the ground. This forest is always wet, and the undergrowth 
consists of small palms and magnificent tree ferns, with thin stems and delicate foliage, 
and broad leaved heliconie, leathery melastome, and flesh-coloured begonias, with a 
variety of other damp forest loving plants. 
In 1872 Belt made a long journey to Segovia in order to engage labour, as the 
Indian miners mostly came from that province. The road lay over a rough forest 
country on the east side of the range dividing the great lake valley from Matagalpa, 
and this part of his journey strongly contrasted with any former one, as he was now 
at a long distance from the Atlantic, in a dry and arid region, due to the north-east 
trade wind having deposited its moisture on the intervening stretch of high land. 
Belt crossed several high ranges before reaching Ocotal, the capital of Segovia, situated 
near the sources of the Rio Wanks; here grew pine trees and evergreen oaks at 
F2 
