198 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



at least seven or eight months before the 

 animal is of any use. 



Besides the loss of the beast's services for 

 so long a time, he never regains his former 

 usefulness, as the new hoof is never so strong 

 or hard as the former one, which is a serioi^ 

 defect in a country where horse-shoeing is 

 unknown. 



The time of the year that these horse- 

 spiders {Arana de caballo) do most mischief 

 is during the dry season, before, in the first 

 place, the fires ; and in the second, the rains, 

 make them disappear for some months. Hav- 

 ing a large number of horses and mules, I was 

 so far a sufferer as, at first, generally to have 

 two or three on the sick-list ; but having 

 procured some coal-tar from the coast, I 

 found that a slight application of it round 

 the coronet, once or twice a-week, was a 

 most effectual preventive against the spider 

 touching them. 



In the next chapter I mean to lay before 

 the reader some remarks on bees, bee-hunt- 

 ing, &c., and also a few observations on some 

 of the myriads of insects that infest this part 

 of the world. 



