148 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
and found it swollen with recent rains, but fordable. Some- 
times travellers are detained several days, unable to cross, 
and I was always glad when, returning to the mines, I had 
put it behind me. Now and then a traveller is drowned 
when attempting to cross the swollen river, but these accidents 
are rare, as it is well known, by certain rocks being covered, 
when it is unfordable. If carried away, a traveller has little 
chance to save his life, as just below the crossing the river is 
rapid and the banks precipitous. I heard of one man who 
had had a very narrow escape. He was trying to cross on 
mule-back, but his beast lost its footing, rolled over, and was 
rapidly washed away. The poor man was carried into the 
roaring rapids, and would soon have been drowned, but a 
herdsman on the bank, who was looking for cattle, threw 
his lasso cleverly over the drowning traveller, and dragged 
him on shore. Some of the ‘‘ vacqueros,” as the herdsmen 
are called, are wonderfully adroit in throwing the lasso; when 
riding at full speed, they throw it over the horns of the cattle, 
or the heads of the horses, and can hold the strongest if side- 
ways on. But I have seen some old bulls that knew how to 
get loose; they would run straight away from the vacquero in 
places where he could not ride round them, and getting a 
straight pull on the lasso, would break it, or draw it out of 
his hands. There are no horses or mules, and very few 
cattle, however, that know how to do this, I was told by the 
herdsmen. 
After crossing the river, we soon reached Pital, where I 
had a cup of tea and got a fresh mule. We now turned 
nearly at right angles to our former course, and struck into 
the dark forest, the road through which I have already 
described. It was very wet and muddy. In some places, 
although it was only the commencement of the wet season, 
the mules sank above their knees. On this occasion, as on 
many others, I had often to notice how well the mule re- 
membered places where in some former year it had avoided 
a particularly bad part by making a detour. I was riding a 
mule that had tender feet, having just recovered from the 
bite of a spider, that had occasioned the loss of one of its 
hoofs, and when it came near to a place where it could escape 
the deep mud by going over a stony part it would slacken 
its pace and look first at the mud, then at the stones, evidently 
