VOLCANOES. 27 



central range of mountains : the forest is so 

 thick, and the trees so high, that a view of 

 these mountains can only be had in passing 

 some of the larger clearings. 



The volcanoes near Leon are a conspi- 

 cuous land-mark from the sea ; and form 

 a view from Leon itself that may almost be 

 called national, as the government coins and 

 seals bear the impression of those volcanos ; 

 but the metalliferous ranges of hills are much 

 further in the interior, and deserve the name 

 of mountains ; and it is near the foot of 

 these hills, where the different gullies or 

 " quebrados," with generally a clear rippling 

 stream running in the bottom, begin to 

 dehouche into the plain ; and where the 

 forest, losing its character of sameness and 

 gloomy majesty, begins to break into patches, 

 intermixed with savannahs and modulating 

 hills, that the most beautiful, as well as the 

 most healthy spots, are found in a country 

 so fatal in general to European life. It was 

 on one of these spots I pitched my tent 

 in the shape of a couple of cottages or 

 ranchos, as they are called ; and a short 

 account is given of the mode of building, for 

 the benefit of any who may come after me. 



A yoke of tame oxen were procured from 



