264 ‘The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
fine butterflies, most of them of different species from those 
of Chontales. 
At four o’clock we entered Masaya, and passed down a 
long road bordered with Indian huts and gardens. The 
town is said to contain about 15,000 inhabitants, nine-tenths 
of whom are Indians. It covers a great space of ground, as 
the Indian houses are each surrounded by a garden or 
orchard; they stand back from the road, and are almost 
hidden amongst the trees. There was no water when I 
visited Masaya, excepting what was brought up from the lake 
which lies more than 300 feet below the town, surrounded, 
excepting on the western side, by precipitous cliffs, down 
which three or four rocky paths have been cut. Up these, all 
day long, and most of the night, women and girls are carrying 
water in Indian earthenware gourd-shaped jars, which they 
balance on cushions on their heads, or sling in nets on their 
backs. No men, or boys above ten years of age, carry water, 
and the women seemed to have all the labour to do. I 
believe it would have been impossible to find ten men at 
work in Masaya at any one time. 
I spent the next day exploring around Masaya, as I was 
greatly interested with the geological structure of the country. 
One of the paths down to the lake has been made passable 
for animals taken down to drink. I rode my horse down, 
but in the steepest part he slipped on to his side, and I was 
content to lead him the rest of the way. The scene was one 
which is only possible in a half-civilised tropical land. 
Women, with the scantiest of clothing, or less, were washing 
linen, standing up to their waists in the water amongst the 
rocks, on which they thumped the clothes to be cleansed; 
laughing and chatting to each other incessantly. Men with 
mules and horses were bathing themselves and their animals 
at a small sandy beach, and girls were carrying off great jars 
of water, which they obtained further down, where the water 
was less tainted with the ablutions. Great rocks, that had 
fallen from the cliffs above, lined the shore; and amongst 
these grew many shrubs and plants new to me. The cliffs 
themselves were, in some parts, green with lovely maiden- 
hair ferns, belonging to three different species. 
On the opposite shore rises the cone of the volcano of 
Masaya, and the streams of lava that have flowed down to the 
