232 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



before all the crowd, what a rascally liar he 

 must be to circulate such falsehoods. After 

 reading the book, I sent it by the guide, who 

 was returning home, to H. B. M., vice-consul 

 at Realejo, but I heard nothing more of it. 

 Such a mode of doing a rival country harm 

 could never possibly enter into an English- 

 man's steadier brain. 



By the letters I brought with me I was 

 enabled to make a bargain with the patron 

 or owner of a good strong piragua, to take 

 me down to the Boca St. Juan on the At- 

 lantic, and if I remember right, the price was 

 very moderate. I had a patron and ten rowers 

 for a fortnight's voyage, to victual themselves, 

 and I think I only paid five pounds for every- 

 thing, but laid in my own provisions. 



Having made an appointment to be at the 

 above-mentioned canal-looking spot at one 

 o'clock the next day, my servants and guide 

 started with me on horseback early in the 

 morning, as, by the road, the distance is more 

 than twenty miles. My good friend, the 

 doctor, also came to see me off. 



On leaving Granada, the road for many 

 miles is the lake's sandy shore itself, bounded 

 on the left hand by a dense forest, and on 

 the right hand by the lake ; but the lake is 



