136 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. X. 



country, I have been led to the conclusion that the 

 forest formerly extended much further towards the 

 Pacific, and has been beaten back principally by the 

 agency of man. The ancient Indians of Nicaragua were 

 an agricultural race, their principal food then, as now, 

 being maize ; and in all the ancient graves, the stone 

 for grinding corn is found placed there, as the one thing 

 that was considered indispensable. They cut down 

 patches of the forest and burnt it to plant their corn, 

 as all along the edge of it they do still. The first .time 

 the forest is cut down, and the ground planted with corn, 

 the soil contains seeds of the forest trees, which after the 

 corn is gathered, spring up and regain possession of 

 the ground, so that in twenty years, if such a spot is let 

 alone, it will scarcely differ from the surrounding un- 

 touched forest. But it does not remain unmolested. 

 After two or three years it is cut down again and 

 a great change takes place. The soil does not now 

 contain seeds of forest trees, and in their stead a great 

 variety of weedy-looking shrubs, only found where 

 the land has been cultivated, spring up. Grass, too, 

 begins to get a hold on the ground ; if it prevails, the 

 Indian, or Mestizo, does not attempt to grow corn there 

 again, as he knows the grass will spoil it, and he is too 

 indolent to weed it out. Often, however, the brush- 

 wood has been cut down and burnt, and fresh crops 

 of corn grown several times before the grass has gained 

 such an advantage that the cultivator gives up the 

 attempt to plant maize. There is then a struggle 

 between the weedy shrubs and the grass. The leaf- 

 cutting ants come to the aid of the latter. Grass they 

 will not touch, excepting to clear it away from their 



