Ch. XIII.] DIFFERENCE OF CLIMATE. 235 



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 

 Nicaragua!! 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 suffering 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 difficulty, to hire 

 fresh animals to take us on to Ocotal in Segovia ; but 

 we were disappointed. "VVe 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 

 last, about nine o'clock, we found him at the billiard- 

 room. He said he thought, when he did not return, we 



