54 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
ing a view of the machinery, workshops, and part of the 
mines on the other side of the valley, and formed my resi- 
dence for upwards of four years. 
The slope in front of the house, down to the river, was 
covered with weedy bushes when I arrived; but I had these 
cleared away, and a fine greensward of grass took their place. 
On this I planted young orange, lime, and citron trees; and 
I had the pleasure, before I left, to see them beginning to 
bear their fine fruit. To the west of the house was a dell, 
covered with fallen logs and rubbish thrown from the hill, in 
which was a perennial spring of limpid water. I had the 
logs and rubbish gathered together and burnt, put a light 
fence round it, and formed a small vegetable, fruit, and 
flower garden. The mango and avocado trees had not come 
into bearing before I left; but pineappples, figs, grenadillas, 
bananas, pumpkins, plantains, papaws, and chioties fruited 
abundantly. The last named is a native of Mexico; it isa 
climbing plant with succulent stems and vine-like leaves, 
and grows with great rapidity. The fruit, of which it bears 
a great abundance, is about the size and shape of a pear, 
covered with soft prickles. It is boiled and eaten as a 
vegetable, and resembles vegetable marrow. At Santo 
Domingo it continues to bear a succession of fruits during 
eight months of the year. 
Next to maize, plantains and bananas form the principal 
sustenance of the natives. The banana tree shoots up its 
succulent stem, and unfolds its immense entire leaves with 
great rapidity; and a group of them waving their silky 
leaves in the sun, or shining ghostly white in the moonlight, 
forms one of those beautiful sights that can only be seen to 
perfection in the tropics. There are a great many varieties 
of them, and they are cooked in many ways—boiled, baked, 
made into pastry, or.eaten as a fruit. The varieties differ 
not only in their fruits, but in the colour of their leaves and 
stems; the natives can distinguish them without seeing the 
fruit, and have names for each, by which they are known 
throughout all Central America, Mexico, and Peru. These 
names are of Spanish origin; and this fact, together with the 
absence of any native, Mexican, or Peruvian name for the 
fruit, inclines me to adopt the opinion of Clavigero, who 
contends, in opposition to other writers, that the plantain 
