Ch. VII.] THE RIVULET ARTIGTJA. 107 



many of the natural productions, they accepted the names 

 from the survivors of the conquered people, instead of in- 

 venting new ones. Often the names were corrupted, the 

 new inhabitants altering them just a little, to render their 

 pronunciation easier, or to make them significant in their 

 own language. Thus the fruit of the Persea gratissima 

 was called " ahuacatl ' by the ancient Mexicans ; the 

 Spaniards corrupted it to " avocado/' which means an 

 advocate; and our sailors still further, to " alligator 

 pears/' The town of Comelapa, in Chontales, the 

 name of which means, in Spanish, "Eat a macaw," is 

 undoubtedly a corruption of some old Indian name of 

 similar form to that of the not distant village of Comoapa, 

 although the Spaniards give an absurd explanation of it* 

 evidently invented, according to which it was so called 

 because a sick man was cured of a deadly disease by 

 eating the bird indicated. 



The Artigua I shall call it so, to do what I can to 

 save the name from oblivion is wofully polluted by the 

 gold-mining on its banks, and flows, a dark muddy 

 stream, through the village of Santo Domingo, and just 

 below it precipitates itself one hundred and twenty feet 

 over a rocky fall. One of the forest roads leads down 

 its banks for several miles to some small clearings, whero 

 a few scattered, Spanish- speaking Indians and half- 

 breeds cultivate maize and plantains. After leaving 

 Santo Domingo, it at first follows the left bank of the 

 stream, through low bushes and small trees of second 

 growth, then crosses a beautiful clear brook coming 

 down from the east, then, winding round a slope covered 

 with great trees and dense undergrowth, reaches the 

 site chosen for the machinery at Pavon, where a large 



