298 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Cli. XVI. 



for other shelter. The small hut was as usual filled 

 with men, women, and children. Two of the women 

 were lying ill and one seemed to be dying. There was 

 no room for us in the hut if we had been willing to enter 

 it, but we slung our hammocks under a small open- 

 sided shed near by and passed a miserable night. A 

 strong cold wind was blowing, and the swinging of the 

 hammocks caused by it kept a number of dogs con- 

 tinually barking and snapping at our hammocks and 

 boots. We rose cold and cramped at daylight, and 

 without waiting to make ready any coffee, saddled our 

 beasts and rode away. 



A little maize was grown about this place, and the 

 people told us that sugar thrived, but the plantations of 

 it were small and ill-kept, and everything had a look of 

 poverty and decadence. They said that twenty years 

 ago there was no bush growing around their house, but the 

 country was open grassed savannahs, and that there was 

 less fever ; now the bush grows up to their very doors, 

 and they will not take the trouble to cut it down even to 

 save themselves from the attacks of fever. Here, as 

 everywhere throughout the central provinces, deep in- 

 grained indolence paralyses all industry or enterprise, 

 and with the means of plenty and comfort on every side 

 the people live in squalid poverty. 



For four leagues we rode over high ranges with very 

 fine valleys separating them, containing many thatched 

 houses and fields of maize, sugar, and beans. Where 

 not now cultivated the sides of the ranges were covered 

 with weedy-looking shrubs and low trees, proving that 

 all the land had at one time been cropped, and this was 

 further shown by the old lines of pinuela fences and 



