130 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



A well-mounted and fully-equipped Mexican 

 is certainly a fine sight, with his saddle, bridle, 

 and accoutrements richly mounted with silver, 

 and his broad sombrero and slashed trousers 

 ornamented with the same costly material. All 

 carry a rifle, sword, and pistol, very necessary 

 additions to one's outfit in that country. 



We rode one day to the coffee plantation of 

 La Fortuna, and were most kindly received by 

 the proprietor, who showed us over the estate. 



One of the great difficulties which planters in 

 these countries have to contend against is the 

 ants. Some of these insects are nearly an inch 

 long; they will strip a tree of its leaves in 

 a single night, and completely ruin a coffee 

 plantation if precautions are not taken to defeat 

 them. I have, whilst hunting in the woods of 

 Central America and Mexico, come across these 

 insects travelling along a beaten path as broad 

 as a man's thigh, made by themselves. There 

 were myriads of them going to and fro, and all 

 of those going in one direction would be carry- 

 ing a leaf, or part of a leaf, plucked from some 



