6 ARCHJ3OLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN NICARAGUA. 



grass. The llanos widen as they descend, until, in the foot hills, they extend 

 from Moyogalpa on the north to Los Angeles, south. Near the lake, around 

 these villages and between them, is a tract of arable land of unsurpassed fertility. 

 The recent formation, which encroaches on the lake between the villages, is of 

 alternate layers of volcanic ash and caked cinder, or rotten lava of a loose for- 

 mation, with a rich soil on the surface. A section exposed in a bank above the 

 beach at the hacienda de Baltaza shows in twelve feet two layers of cinder and 

 four of ash. 



Section, hacienda de Baltaza. 



On this end of the island there are no streams, the porous ground absorbing 

 all the rain-fall, except in the wet season. Still vegetation, especially on the 

 southwest side, is kept green by the showers which almost daily come down the 

 mountain. In the driest season the peak draws an unfailing supply from the 

 trade wind. 



Cacao grows here with great luxuriance, and the planter can choose for his 

 crop sugar, coffee, rice, cotton, or indigo, with all the fruits of tropical America. 

 But the favorite productions are watermelons and tobacco, which grow better 

 than elsewhere in the republic. 



The inhabitants of the island are said to number three thousand, the ma- 

 jority of whom live in or near Alta Gracia. Of the rest some five or six hun- 

 dred are at Moyogalpa and the others scattered over the island ; fifteen or twenty 

 houses constituting the village of Los Angeles, and a few families living on the 

 Madera end. Most of the people are nearly pure-blood Indians, with many who 

 have a mixture of Spanish, and a few of partially African stock. Those of 

 mixed race are most numerous at Moyogalpa, where they have come from the 

 mainland in comparatively late years. In physique the Indians are usually 

 rather short, low-browed, with dark copper skin and thick coarse hair. On and 

 near Madera are a few of commanding stature, many of the men being over six 

 feet high, and the women proportionately large. The head is short, the features 

 strongly marked, with heavy lower jaw and large teeth. I am inclined to be- 



