32 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
San Carlos is a small town at the foot of the great lake, 
where it empties its waters into the San Juan river, its only 
outlet to the ocean. On a hill behind the town, and com- 
manding the entrance to the river, are the ruins of a once 
strong fort built by the Spaniards, the crumbling walls now 
green with the delicate fronds of a maidenhair fern (Adian- 
tum). The little town consists of a single rugged street lead- 
ing up from the lake. The houses are mostly palm-thatched 
huts, with the bare earth floors seldom or never swept. The 
people are of mixed origin, Indian, Spanish, and Negro, the 
Indian element predominating. Two or three better built 
stores, and the quarters of the military governor, redeem the 
place from an appearance of utter squalor. Behind the 
town there are a few small clearings in the forest, where 
maize is grown. Some orange, banana, and plantain trees 
exhaust the list of the productions of San Carlos, which is 
supported by being a calling place for all vessels proceeding 
up and down the river, and by the Ulleros or. rubber-men 
who start from it for expeditions up the Rio Frio and other 
rivers. We found there two men who had just been brought 
down the Rio Frio by their companions, greatly injured, by 
the lianas up which they had made their ladder to ascend one 
of the rubber trees, having broken and precipitated them to 
the ground. I learnt that this was a very unusual accident, 
the lianas generally being very tough and strong, like great 
cables. 
Most fabulous stories have been told about the Rio Frio 
and its inhabitants; stories of great cities, golden ornaments, 
and light-haired people, and it may be useful to relate what 
is known about it. 
The Rio Frio comes down from the interior of Costa Rica, 
and joins the San Juan, near where the latter issues from the 
lake. The banks of its upper waters are inhabited by a race 
of Indians who have never been subjugated by the Spaniards, 
and about whom very little is known. They are called 
Guatuses, and have been said to have red or light-coloured 
hair and European features, to account for which various 
ingenious theories have been advanced; but, unfortunately 
reported in favour of the Nicaraguan route, and the work was begun 
at Greytown in 1889. But after an expenditure of 4,500,000 dollars, 
the scheme was abandoned, for political reasons, in favour of the 
Panama route. 
