186 The Naturalist in Nicaragua | 
had never occurred before in his recollection that the maize 
had failed in Jinotega for want of rain. He found us a man 
who promised to supply us with mules or horses to take 
us to Ocotal, but as they had to be brought up from the 
‘“‘Campos ” or plains he could not let us have them early, 
and it was ten o’clock the next day before we started again. 
Whilst waiting for the mules we strolled around the town. 
In the centre most of the houses are substantially built and 
tiled; on the outskirts there are small grass-thatched huts 
with high-pitched roofs. Wheat, maize, potatoes, and beans 
are the principal things grown. Many of the people have 
light sandy-coloured hair and blue eyes, and I thought at 
first they might be the offspring of a number of Americans 
that settled in Jinotega during the civil war in the States, 
but afterwards abandoned the place. I found, however, 
some elderly people with the same distinctive marks of 
ancestry other than the Spaniards, Indians, or Negroes, and 
I am inclined to believe that on the breaking up of the bands 
of buccaneers by Morgan, at the end of the seventeenth 
century, many of them found a refuge up the Rio Grande 
and Rio Wanks. They were well acquainted with these 
rivers, and made many forays up them to harry the Spanish 
settlements on the Pacific slope. In 1688 a body of about 
three hundred French and English pirates abandoned their 
ships in the Gulf of Fonseca, forced their way across the 
country, and descended the Rio Wanks to the Atlantic. 
The fair-haired and blue-eyed natives of Matagalpa and 
Segovia are probably the descendants of the outlaws who 
made these provinces their highway from one ocean to 
another. 
Jinotega is pleasantly situated, and has many advantages 
over other Nicaraguan towns. The climate is temperate 
and moderately dry, the land very fertile. Pine trees on 
the surrounding ranges furnish fuel and light. Pasture is 
abundant; for two miles below the town the valley opens 
out into wide ‘“‘ campos” covered with grass, on which a 
large number of horses, cattle, and mules are reared. 
Our road lay down the valley. On the sides of the enclos- 
ing ranges there were many cultivated patches, and we saw 
whole families, men, women, and children, weeding amongst 
the maize. A few showers had fallen during the night and 
