100 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. X. 



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 some years before, where there are 

 numerous branch roads and turnings, they will never 

 make a mistake, even in the dark ; and I have often, at 

 night, when I could not make out the road myself, left 

 them to their own guidance, and they have taken me 

 safely to my destination. Only once was I misled, and 

 that through the too good memory of my mule. Many 

 years before it had been taken to a pasture of good grass, 

 and recollecting this, it took me several miles out of my 

 road towards its old feeding-ground, causing me to be 

 benighted in consequence. 



I reached the mines at nine o'clock, and found that 

 during my absence it had been raining almost con- 

 tinuously, although at Juigalpa there had been only a 

 few slight showers. 



