376 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XXI. 



nothing. Pondering during that weary night over the 

 purposes of creation, he startled me about one in the 

 morning with the question, " Mr. Belt, sir, can you tell 

 me what is the use of mosquitoes ? ' 



" To enjoy themselves and be happy, Jacob." 

 " Ah, sir ! if I was only a mosquito ! ' said Jacob, as 

 he came down with another fruitless whack. 



At the first cock-crow we were up, and as the cheerful 

 dawn lighted up the east, we were in our saddles, and 

 the miseries of the night were but the jests of the morn- 

 ing. The mules even seemed to be eager to leave that 

 dismal swamp, where malaria hung in the air, and mos- 

 quitoes did their best to drive mankind away from the 

 pestilential morass. The dry savannahs were before us, 

 our hearts were young as the morning, the tormenting 

 spirits of the night had flown away with the darkness, 

 and jest and banter enlivened the road. We reached 

 Acoyapo at nine o'clock ; and there my good friend Don 

 Dolores Berniudez lent me a fresh mule, so, riding all 

 day, I reached Santo Domingo in the evening. 



I have little more of interest to relate. Years had 

 sped on at Santo Domingo ; and the time approached 

 when I should be set free from the worries and 

 responsibilities attending the supervision of gold mines, 

 the products of which were just at that tantalising point, 

 on the verge between profit and loss, that made their 

 superintendence a most irksome and anxious duty. The 

 difficulty of the task was vastly increased by the capital 

 of the company having been originally wasted in the 

 erection of machinery that proved to be useless ; so that 

 financial questions constantly retarded the completion of 



