CHAPTER IV. 



The Lake of Nicaragua Onietepec Becalmed on the Lake White 

 Cygnets Reach San Ubaldo Ride across the Plains Vegeta- 

 tion of the Plains Armadillo Savannahs Jicara Trees Jicara 

 Bowls Origin of Gkrard-shaped Pottery Coyotes Mule-breed- 

 ing Reach Acoyapo Festa Cross High Range Esquipula 

 The Rio Mice Supposed Statues on its banks Pital Cultivation 

 of Maize Its use from the earliest times in America Separa- 

 tion 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 Onietepec towered up, 5,050 

 feet above the sea, and 4,922 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. 



