GRASSES. 31 



rancho was built in the same way, only 

 smaller, and a third one for a couple of calves, 

 whose mothers roamed in the forest all day, 

 keeping near to the clearance at night, and 

 returning to their young at daybreak, when 

 they were partially milked and the remainder 

 left for the calves. I had a very large quan- 

 tity of poultry that lodged in the few trees 

 left on the clearance, producing plenty of eggs 

 and chickens to eat, when game was scarce. 

 And now I take leave of my head-quarters, 

 from whence I started on many an expe- 

 dition. 



Having mentioned the sacate grass, a di- 

 gression would not, I believe, be unacceptable, 

 relating to the extraordinary change that 

 took place some years ago in almost all the 

 other grasses. Good grass is rarely to be 

 met with in a tropical climate ; but in Cen- 

 tral America, a few years ago, good grass 

 was very common, owing to the great mois- 

 ture combined with intense heat, which, 

 though so fatal to human life, is the cause of 

 luxuriant vegetation. After the first rains, 

 in two or three days the very paths and trails 

 are covered with a short grass, and, as men- 

 tioned above, a few years ago the opener 

 glades of the forest and the savannahs were 



