34 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
unknown and unexplored, and probably would have done so 
to the present day, if it had not been for the rubber-men. 
When the trade in india-rubber became fully developed, the 
trees in the more accessible parts of the forest were soon 
exhausted, and the collectors were obliged to penetrate 
farther and farther back into the untrodden wilds of the 
Atlantic slope. Some more adventurous than others as- 
cended the Rio Frio, and being well provided with fire-arms, 
which they mercilessly used, they were able to defy the poor 
Indians, armed only with spears and bows and arrows, and 
to drive them back into the woods. The first Ulleros who 
ascended the river were so successful in finding rubber, that 
various other parties were organised, and now an ascent of 
the Rio Frio from San Carlos is of common occurrence. The 
poor Indians are now in such dread of fire-arms, that on the 
first appearance of a boat coming up the river they desert 
their houses and run into the woods for shelter. The Ulleros 
rush on shore and seize everything that the poor fugitives 
have left behind them; and in some cases the latter have 
not been able to carry off their children, and these have been 
brought down in triumph to San Carlos. The excuse for 
stealing the children is that they may be baptised and made 
Christians; and I am sorry to say that this shameful treat- 
ment of the poor Indians is countenanced and connived at 
by the authorities. I was told of one commandante at San 
Carlos who had manned some canoes and proceeded up the 
river as far as the plantain grounds of the Indians, loaded 
his boats with the plantains, and brought them down to San 
Carlos, where the people appear to be too indolent to grow 
them themselves. All who have ascended the river speak of 
the great quantities of plantains that the Guatuses grow, 
and this fruit, and the abundant fish of the river, form their 
principal food. Their houses are large sheds open at the 
sides, and thatched with the “suiti” palm. As is often 
the case amongst the Indians, several families live in one 
house. The floor is kept well cleaned. I was amused with 
a lady in San Carlos who, in describing their well-kept houses 
to Dr. Seemann and myself, pointed to her own unswept.and 
littered earth floor and said, ‘‘ They keep their houses very, 
very clean—as clean as this.”” The lad and the woman who 
were captured and brought down the Rio Frio both ran 
