282 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. XV. 



beforehand to the Indians of the day of their saint. If 

 they contribute not bountifully, then the priest will chide 

 and threaten that he will not preach." * 



When we left Totagalpa, they were still drinking 

 " chicha ; ' and I shall not forget the solemn satisfied 

 look of the shoeless corporation, as they sipped their 

 drink in sight of their townspeople, now and then singling 

 out some friend, to whom they signed to come and quaff 

 at the big bowl. The warm drink had loosened the 

 tongue of the solemn alcalde. He came, and with many 

 compliments, wished us a good journey. He, good man, 

 had reached the summit of his ambition he was the 

 chief of his native town ; he wore shoes ; and what more 

 could he hope for or desire ? 



The central government interferes but little with the 

 local officials ; and the small towns in the interior are 

 almost self -governed. Neither do they pay any direct 

 taxes, the only contributions to the national exchequer 

 being fees for killing cattle, selling land or houses, and 

 making agreements, and a government monopoly in the 

 sale of tobacco and spirits. So the country folks lead an 

 easy life, excepting in times of revolution, when they are 

 pressed into the army. The Indian townships are better 

 managed than those of the Spaniards and Mestizos ; the 

 plazas are kept freer from w^eeds, and the roads in good 

 order. Probably nowhere but in tropical America can it 

 be said that the introduction of European civilisation has 

 been a retrogression; and that those communities are the 

 happiest and the best governed who retain most of their 

 old customs and habits. Yet there it is so. The civili- 

 sation that Cortez overthrew was more suitable for the 



* LOG. cit., pp. 332334. 



