84. The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
make them significant in their own language. Thus the 
fruit of the Persea gratissima was called “ ahuacatl ” by the 
ancient Mexicans; the Spaniards corrupted it to “ avocado,” 
which means an advocate; and our sailors still further, to 
“alligator pears.” The town of Comelapa, in Chontales, 
the name of which means, in Spanish, “ Eat a macaw,” is 
undoubtedly a corruption of some old Indian name of similar 
form to that of the neighbouring village of Comoapa, although 
the Spaniards give an absurd explanation of it, evidently 
invented, according to which it was so called because a sick 
man was cured of a deadly disease by eating the bird indicated. 
The Artigua—lI shall call it so, to do what I can to save 
the name from oblivion—is woefully polluted by the gold- 
mining on its banks, and flows, a dark muddy stream, through 
the village of Santo Domingo, and just below it precipitates 
itself one hundred and twenty feet over a rocky fall. One 
of the forest roads leads down its banks for several miles to 
some small clearings, where a few scattered, Spanish-speak- 
ing Indians and half-breeds cultivate maize and plantains. 
After leaving Santo Domingo, it at first follows the left bank 
of the stream, through low bushes and small trees of second 
growth, then crosses a beautiful clear brook coming down 
from the east, and finally winding round a slope covered 
with great trees and dense undergrowth, reaches the site 
chosen for the machinery at Pavon, where a large space has 
been cleared, much of which is covered with grass. After 
descending a steep hill, the Artigua, with its muddy water, 
is crossed. Here, in the dry season, in the hot afternoons, 
the wet sandy banks were the favourite resorts of multitudes 
of butterflies, that gathered in great masses on particular 
moist spots in such numbers that with one swoop of my net 
I have enclosed more than thirty in its gauzy folds. These 
butterflies were principally different species of Callidryas, 
yellow and white, mixed with brown and red species of 
Timetes, which, when disturbed, rose in a body and circled 
about; on the ground, looking like a bouquet; when rising, 
like a fountain of flowers. In groups, by themselves, would 
be five or six specimens of yellow and black Papilzos, greedily 
sucking up the moisture, and vibrating their wings, now 
and then taking short flights and settling again to drink. 
Hesperide, too, abounded; and in a favourable afternoon 
