328 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVIII. 



Nicaragua is thus divided into tliree longitudinal zones. 

 The most easterly is covered by a great unbroken forest ; 

 the principal products being india-rubber and mahogany. 

 The central zone is composed of grassed savannahs, on 

 which are bred cattle, mules, and horses. It is essentially 

 a pasturage country, though much maize and a little 

 sugar and indigo are grown in some parts. The western 

 zone skirts the Pacific, and is a country of fertile soil, 

 where all the cultivated plants and fruits of the tropics 

 thrive abundantly ; the rich, fat land might, indeed, 

 with a little labour, be turned into a Garden of 

 Eden. 



In the autumn of 1871, it became necessary for me to 

 proceed to Granada to empower a lawyer there to act 

 for us in a lawsuit in which we were engaged. Taking 

 Velasquez and a servant with me, I rode over to Jui- 

 galpa on the first of November. We had intended to go 

 by land to Granada ; but we learnt that, through continued 

 wet weather, much of the low land of the delta of the 

 Malacatoya was impassable, so we determined to make 

 for the lake, and try to get a boat to take us to Los 

 Cocos, from which place there was a good road to 

 Granada. We found at Juigalpa a Libertad storekeeper, 

 named Senor Trinidad Ocon. He had already engaged 

 a boat, and courteously offered, if we could not find one 

 when we got to the lake, to give us a passage in his. 



We started from Juigalpa the next morning ; and for 

 the first few miles our road lay down by the river, a deep 

 branch of which we crossed. The alluvial plains border- 

 ing the river were covered with fine, though short, grass, 

 amongst which were some beautiful flowers. The orange 

 and black " sisitote " (Icterus pecforalis, Wagl.) flew in 



