36 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
and from further away came that moaning sound that has 
from the earliest ages of history connected the idea of the 
sea with sorrow and sadness.1 The steamer we stayed in 
was one of four river-boats belonging to the Transit Com- 
pany, which was at this time in difficulties, and ultimately 
the boats were sold; part of them being bought by Mr. 
Hollenbeck, and used by the navigation company which he 
established. These steamers are built expressly for shallow 
rivers, and are very different structures from anything we 
see in England. The bottom is made quite flat, and divided 
into compartments; the first deck being only about eighteen 
inches above the water, from which it is divided by no bul- 
warks or other protection. Upon this deck are placed the 
cargo and the driving machinery. A vertical boiler is fixed 
at the bow, and two horizontal engines, driving a large 
paddle-wheel, at the stern. The second deck is for passengers, 
and is raised on light wooden pillars braced with iron rods 
about seven feet above the first. Above this is another deck, 
on which are the cabins of the officers and the steering 
apparatus. The appearance of such a structure is more like 
that of a house than a boat. The one we were in, the Pana- 
loya, drew only three feet of water when laden with 4oo 
passengers and twenty tons of cargo. 
1 ‘“* There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet ”’ (Jer. xlix. 23). 
