Ch. IX.] NOCTURNAL ANIMALS. 173 



a chief, are most capable of improvement, so is it with 

 the races of mankind. Whether we look at it as a 

 cause or a consequence, the more civilised always have 

 the most artificial governments. For instance, the 

 inhabitants of Otaheite, who, when first discovered, were 

 governed by hereditary kings, had arrived at a far higher 

 grade than another branch of the same people, the New 

 Zealanders, who, although benefited by being compelled 

 to turn their attention to agriculture, were republicans in 

 the most absolute sense."* 



Dusk was coming on before we left the small plain, 

 with its broken statues, and the steep hill overlooking it, 

 on which probably religious rites had been celebrated 

 and human sacrifices offered up. This people have 

 entirely passed away, and the sparse inhabitants of the 

 once thickly-populated province have not even a tradi- 

 tion about them. In Europe and North America more 

 is known about them, and more interest taken in glean- 

 ing what little vestiges of their history can be recovered 

 from, the dim past, than among their own degenerate 

 descendants. 



Half way to Juigalpa was an Indian hut and a small 

 clearing made for growing maize. The fallen trunks of 

 trees were a likely place for beetles, and as I had brought 

 a 'lantern with me, I staved to examine them whilst 



f / 



Velasquez rode on to get some food ready. At night 

 many species of beetles, especially longicorns, are to be 

 found running over the trunks, that lie closely hidden in 

 the day-time. The night- world is very different from, that 

 of the day. Things that blink and hide from the light 



* " Naturalist's Voyage," p. 229. 



