IN NICARAGUA 



173 



Speaking of the rain in this section, the local report is that there are 

 about two hundred and fifty inches a year. I don't know that that is the 

 result of actual measurement, but while we were there it certainly rained 

 about as easily as it does in any part of the world. During a forenoon's 

 ride we would often go through three or four showers, not heavy ones, 

 but the gentlest sort of refreshing spring rain. The elevation of the 

 bunch of plantations that we were visiting is about two hundred and 



SIM IRON S RUBBER PLANTATION. 



fifty feet above sea level, and as a rule, the soil was very rich and very 

 well drained. 



One of the first plantations that we visited was owned by a genial 

 old gentleman from Virginia by the name of Sim Iron. He runs his 

 place himself and has about seventeen thousand trees between three and 

 four years old. His ranch houses were more picturesque than those of 

 the Manhattan, in that they were palm thatched and built largely in the 

 native fashion. During a part of the year the old gentleman has his wife 



