82 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
The heaviest rains fall in July and August, and at these 
times the brooks are greatly swollen. The one in front of my 
house sometimes carried away the little wooden bridge that 
crossed it, and for an hour or two became impassable, but 
subsided again almost as soon as the heavy rain ceased falling, 
for the watershed above does not extend far. Every year 
our operations were impeded by runs in the mines, or by 
small landslips stopping up our tramways and levels, or 
floods carrying away our dam or breaking our watercourses; 
but after August we considered our troubles on this score at 
an end for the season. Occasionally the rains lasted three 
or four days without intermission, but generally they would 
come on in the afternoon, and there would be a downpour, 
such as is only seen in the tropics, for an hour or two, then 
some clear weather, until another great bank of clouds rolled 
up from the north-east and sent down another deluge. In 
September, October, and November there are breaks of fine 
weather, sometimes lasting for a fortnight; but December is 
generally a very wet month, the rains extending far into 
January, so that it is not until February that the roads begin 
to dry up. 
I had much riding about. The mines worked by us, 
when I first went out, extended from Consuelo, a mile 
higher up the valley, to Pavon, a mile below Santo Domingo; 
and even after I had concentrated our operations on those 
nearer to our reduction works, there were many occasions 
for me to ride into the woods. [had to look after our wood- 
cutters and charcoal-burners, to see that they did not 
encroach upon the lands of our neighbours, as they were 
inclined to do, and involve us in squabbles and lawsuits; 
paths had to be opened out, to bring in nispera and cedar 
timber, our property surveyed, and new mines, found in the 
woods, visited and explored. Besides this, I spent most of 
my spare time in the forest, which surrounded us on every 
side. Longer excursions were frequent. The Nicaraguans, 
like all Spanish Americans, are very litigious, and every now 
and then I would be summoned, as the representative of the 
company, to appear at Libertad, Juigalpa, or Acoyapo, to 
answer some frivolous complaint, generally made with the 
expectation of extorting money, but entertained and probably 
xemanded from time to time by unscrupulous judges, who 
