2y6 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
palms, the gigantic arums, the tangled lianas, and perching 
epiphytes. 
After reaching Pital I rode rapidly over the savannahs, 
where the swallows were skimming over the top of the long 
grass to frighten up the insects which rested there. After 
another flounder across the San José plains, I reached San 
Ubaldo without incident, excepting a tumble with my mule 
in the mud. Much of the land between Pital and the lake is 
well fitted for the cultivation of maize, sugar, and plantains, 
and near the river at Acoyapo the soil is very fertile. Little 
of it is occupied, and it is open to any one to squat down on it 
and fence it in. All that is required is that the form shall be 
gone through of obtaining permission from the alcalde of the 
township, which is never refused. Nicaragua offers a tempt- 
ing field for the emigrant, but there are some other considera- 
tions which should not be lost sight of. When a man finds 
he can live easily without much work, that all his neighbours 
are contented with the scantiest clothing, the coarsest food, 
and the poorest dwellings, he is very apt to fall into the same 
slothful habits. Even if he himself has innate energy enough 
to ward off the insidious foe, he will see his children growing 
up exposed to all the temptations to lead an easy life that a 
tropical climate offers, and without any example of industry 
or enterprise around them to arouse or cultivate a spirit of 
emulation. The consequence is that nearly all the foreign 
settlers in Nicaragua from amongst the European and North 
American labouring classes have fallen into the same lazy 
habits as the Nicaraguans, and whenever I have been inclined 
to blame the natives for their indolence, some recollection 
of a fellow-countryman who has succumbed to the same 
influences has arrested my harsher judgment. I cannot 
recommend Nicaragua, with all its natural wealth, its 
perpetual summer, its magnificent lakes, and its teeming 
soil, as a place of emigration for isolated families, and even 
for larger schemes of colonisation I do not think it so suitable 
as our own colonies and the United States. A large body 
of emigrants would carry with them the healthful influence 
of the good and industrious, and the spirit of emulation and 
progress might be preserved if the community could be kept 
together, but I fear this could not be. After a while the tastes 
of one individual would lead in one, those of another in an 
