Reasoning of Mules 149 
balancing in its mind which was the lesser evil. Sometimes, 
too, when it came to a very bad place, which was better at 
the sides, I left it to itself, and it would be so undecided which 
side was the best, that making towards one it would look 
towards the other, and end by getting into the worst of the 
mud. It was just like many men who cannot decide which 
of two courses to take, and end by a middle one, which is 
worse than either. And just as in men, so in mules, there 
is every variety of disposition and ability. Some are easily 
led, others most obstinate and headstrong; some wise and 
prudent, others foolish and rash. The memory of localities 
is much stronger in horses and mules than in man. When 
travelling along a road that they have been over only once, 
and that some years before, where there are numerous branch 
roads and turnings, they will never make a mistake, even in 
the dark; and I have often, at night, when I could not make 
out the road myself, left them to their own guidance, and 
they have taken me safely to my destination. Only once 
was I misled, and that through the too good memory of my 
mule. Many years before it had been taken to a pasture of 
good grass, and recollecting this, it took me several miles 
out of my road towards its old feeding-ground, causing me 
to be benighted in consequence. 
I reached the mines at nine o’clock, and found that during 
my absence it had been raining almost continuously, although 
at Juigalpa there had been only a few slight showers. 
