196 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
a fine black sand in the whitewash used. The cement itself 
is strong and durable, and its manufacture was known to the 
Indians long before the advent of the Spaniards. Bernal 
Diaz de Castillo, one of the followers of Cortez, often speaks, 
in his history, of the houses built of stone and lime, and 
covered with cement. On their march to Mexico, when they 
arrived at Cempoal, he says, ‘“‘ Our advanced guard having 
gone to the great square, the buildings of which had been 
recently plastered and whitewashed, in which art the people 
are very expert, one of our horsemen was so struck with the 
splendour of their appearance in the sun that he came back 
in full speed to Cortez to tell him that the walls of the houses 
were of silver.” We also learn from the same historian that 
the city of Cholula “ had at that time above roo lofty white 
towers, which were the temples of their idols.” 
Between Yalaguina and Totagalpa there was much of the 
conglomerate rock that I have already mentioned. Over 
this the soil was dry and stony, and filled with small quartz 
pebbles. The vegetation was scanty, principally thorny 
shrubs and trees. Amongst the former the Pinuela, a plant 
closely allied to the pine-apple, and used to make fences, 
was the most abundant. In the alluvial flats were many 
fine patches of maize looking extremely well, for in Segovia 
the crops had not been injured by drought. The low hills 
were very sandy and dry, and the beds of the brooks water- 
less, but a little beyond Totagalpa we found a small running 
stream, and stopped an hour to refresh our mules and to eat 
some provisions we had bought at Yalaguina. 
All through Segovia the country is divided into townships, 
embracing an area of from twenty to twenty-five square 
leagues. Over each of these there is an alcalde, living in the 
small central town, and elected by the inhabitants of the 
townships. The boundaries are marked by heaps of stones 
surmounted by wooden crosses, set up on the roads leading 
from one town to another. 
After riding a few more leagues over rocky hills with scanty 
vegetation, we came in sight, from the top of one of the 
ranges, of the town of Ocotal, the capital of Segovia, with 
its white walls and red-tiled roofs. Descending a long rocky 
slope we forded one of the affluents of the Rio Wanks, and 
half a mile further on arrived at the town, situated on a dry 
