CHAPTER XII. 



Olama 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 Con- 

 test between wasps and ants Waxy secretions of the homop- 

 terous 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 was 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 ; but Velasquez had no apprehensions on that 

 score, as he knew that throughout the central departments 

 of Nicaragua it was the custom for travellers to expect 

 and to receive a welcome at any house they might arrive 

 at at 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 ; but every one expects 

 to be called on to give a night's shelter. This is all that 

 is given, as travellers carry with them their hammocks 

 and food. About an hour after dark, the owner and his 



