NICARAGUA AND THE MOSQUITO COAST. 171 



up tlie next story ; while the third story was intended for a bath- 

 room and observatory. The whole is very solidly built of pine 

 lumber. At each corner are heavy braces of timber reaching from 

 the ground to the main floor, while four stout guy-ropes running 

 from the house and fastened to adjacent trees assure the occu- 

 pant additional safety against the strong winds which sometimes 

 rage. To reach the house it is necessary to enter an elevator 

 placed at the back of the tree. This is a simple contrivance, and 

 consists of a small platform to which is attached a rope passing 

 over a pulley in the kitchen. To pull one's self up requires but 

 little exertion, as the weight of a person is balanced by a heavy 

 counter-weight, which descends as the elevator rises by a hand- 

 over-hand pull of the passenger, and in a few moments one is 

 landed at the door opening into the structure. In descending, of 

 course, the operation is reversed. The interior is furnished in 

 very plain style and may be said to contain necessaries only; 

 there is not the slightest attempt at ornament or decoration. The 

 kitchen utensils are few and most of them of home manufacture ; 

 indeed. Nature in this country has supplied food in such form 

 that cooking is a matter of secondary importance, and is not re- 

 garded as one of the serious affairs of the household. As rain 

 falls almost continuously for nine months of the year, the house 

 is not without its supply of water. This comes from the roof and 

 is run into tanks conveniently placed within the house. Captain 

 Wilderson, who is an old Louisiana planter, built his castle in a 

 tree about three years ago, and it is said to have cost thirty - 

 five hundred dollars. The oddity is the result of a theory which 

 the captain has that germs of malarial fever are not as active at 

 an elevation as they are near the ground. Wilderson is said to 

 be hale and hearty, and in consequence thereof his theory has 

 quite a respectable local standing. 



Pearl City. Travel about the rest of the reservation is not 

 as easy as the trip to the banana district by the river steamer. 

 The lagoons along the coast are not all connected by water, and 

 to reach one from the other it is necessary to cut your way across 

 the intervening land through the jungle. The swath thus cut 

 with the machete may be said to answer a double purpose, as, be- 

 sides enabling one to make progress, it leaves a trail by which 

 one can return to the point of starting, thus diminishing the very 

 serious consequences of becoming lost. As already stated, how- 

 ever, traveling is nearly all done by water. The inland water com- 

 munication through the lagoons along the whole two hundred 

 miles of coast is interrupted in only two places, and the rivers 

 running into the interior are numerous. The native boats, which 

 are large dugouts, called " pitpans," are hollowed out of trunks 

 of the ceiba or silk-cotton tree. These trees when in bloom are a 



