330 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Cli. XVIII. 



that night, and notwithstanding our remonstrances they 

 tied the boat to some bushes. Our cramped position was 

 very irksome ; the river was bordered by swamps, so 

 that we could not land, and thousands of mosquitoes 

 came about and rendered sleep impossible. About mid- 

 night, the moon rose, and two hours later we prevailed 

 on the boatmen to set sail ; but, notwithstanding their 

 excuse about it being too rough, there was so little wind 

 that we made slow progress. At eight we went on shore, 

 where there was a hut built close by the lake below 

 Masaya. The lake was flooded, and the water had been 

 over the floor of the hut during the night. All around 

 were swamps, and the mosquitoes were intolerable. We 

 could buy no food at the miserable shanty, and soon set 

 sail again ; a little more wind afterwards springing up, 

 we reached Los Cocos at eleven o'clock. There is a 

 small village at this place, where we got breakfast 

 cooked, and did justice to it. We hired horses to take 

 us to Granada ; but as the road for a league further on 

 was overflown by the lake, we went on in the boat, and 

 a boy took the horses round to meet us, swimming them 

 across the worst places. 



Glad we were to get on horseback again, and to canter 

 along a hard sandy road, instead of sitting cramped up 

 in a little boat, with the sun's rays pouring down on us. 

 The path led amongst the bushes, and was sometimes 

 overflowed ; but the soil was sandy, and there was no 

 mud. All the beach was submerged, or we should have 

 ridden along it. The last time I had passed by this part 

 of the lake was in July, 1868. Then the waters of the 

 lake were low, and we rode along the sandy beach, black 

 in some parts with titanic iron sand. The beach re- 



