INVESTIGATIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 25 



I have not met in Nicaragua Avith any aborigines in a primitive state. The 

 people I found, not to speak of the descendants of Europeans, were of mixed races ; 

 or, if of a purer blood, already contaminated by European civilization, that is, 

 European fashions and vices. They shared the same characteristic traits with the 

 inhabitants of Honduras in a similar state of civilization. If there was any differ- 

 ence in the two, it would be only in the degree of the qualities, but not in their 

 nature. I found the same scarcity of food for man and beast ; with the sole differ- 

 ence that the price of a viedio almud of maize, twelve to fifteen pounds, was not 

 higher than forty cents. The cause for this might have been the smaller number 

 of consumers of that grain, as with a large number of the inhabitants baked green 

 plantains take the place of the tortillas. The price of the plantains was very high, 

 only six to eight of the green fruit, and not more than four of those near to ma- 

 turity, were bought for half a real, five cents. The currency of Nicaragua is that 

 of the lighter value ; one dollar is worth eighty cents, and a real ten cents. A 

 bottle of lard was sold for forty cents, and an arroba of cheese, twenty-five pounds, 

 for eleven dollars. The only article comparatively cheap was beef, Avhich was five 

 cents a pound. Fruit was scarce all over Nicaragua, with the exception of the 

 two districts of Rivas and Chinandega, which are considered to be the garden 

 spots of the State; the district of Rivas being especially known as such to for- 

 eigners, on account of the road of the Transit having passed through it. There 

 existed a similar scarcity of food for animals, for travelling beasts as well as stock. 

 They were mostly restricted to pasture, of which in the dry season there is very 

 little. If, while travelling in Honduras, I was informed of so many hundred of 

 cattle perishing every year for want of food, here I saw the plains of Segovia and 

 Chontales strewn with the bones of cattle, horses, and mules, and the living crea- 

 tures reduced to skin and bone. The death of the animals on the plain of Segovia 

 might have been caused partly by perishing in the swamps, into which the plain 

 is converted in the rainy season. In fact, I have been informed that such does 

 take place, beasts of burden, and even travellers becoming mired in the swamps. 



The indifference of the people about their animals is the more astonishing as it 

 is not the consequence of any ill feeling towards them; on the contrary, they seem 

 to be fond of them, and treat them on an equal footing with their own kind, and 

 keep a superffuity of them. In Tipitapa, where with the greatest difficulty I could 

 get a few green plantains for myself, and some maize for my horse, I had to stand 

 by the horse while eating to drive away with a stick the emaciated and starving 

 goats, swine, horses, cows, and asses, all belonging to the house in which I was lo- 

 cated, while fowls, cats, and dogs always surrounded my person and impeded my 

 moving about, expecting from me something to eat. The great scarcity of pro- 

 visions can be imagined from the fact that the fowls in Puerta, a solitary dwelling 

 some miles distant from any habitation, in which I passed a night, did not recog- 

 nize maize as a food. 



Another cause for the dearii of the animals is the scarcity of water. One can 

 travel half a day, and more, without coming to water, and when found it is mostly 

 in pools in the dry bed of a brook. In the hamlet of Santa Clara, where I rested 

 in the middle of the day, arriving thirsty and asking for some water, that which 



4 July, 1878. 



