166 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Executive Council being elected by a General Council, and the 

 latter in turn being appointed by the chief from among the 

 "head men" of the tribe and representative inhabitants of the 

 various districts of the country. The present chief, his Excel- 

 lency Robert Henry Clarence, who, as above stated, is a full- 

 blooded Mosquito Indian, is a handsome, intelligent, and well- 

 educated young man of twenty or thereabouts, with a magnifi- 

 cent head of glossy black hair. The other government officials 

 are nearly all descendants of Jamaica negroes, and perform their 

 duties with becoming gravity and ease. Hon. Charles Patterson, 

 the vice president, whose features betray some admixture of 

 European blood, is also the guardian of the chief during his 

 minority. The law of the land, by the Mosquito Constitution, is 

 declared to be the common and statutory law of England, so far 

 as the same can be made applicable and not inconsistent with local 

 customs and the enactments of the chief and Council. Many of 

 the young men who desire educational advantages better than the 

 local schools afford are sent to Jamaica or even to England. The 

 land laws are very liberal. Each head of a family is permitted to 

 take six hundred and forty acres on a ninety-nine years' lease, for 

 which he pays an annual rental of three cents an acre to the Gov- 

 ernment, equal to about fifteen dollars American gold. He is ex- 

 pected to pay, besides, the cost of surveying his " section/' but 

 beyond this there is no tax of whatever kind imposed, no matter 

 how valuable the improvements he may make. Altogether the 

 Mosquito people have made a considerable advance toward civil- 

 ized life. The missionaries have not succeeded entirely in uproot- 

 ing the superstitious practices among the lowest walks of the 

 population, and the obeah or obeaism, a system of necromancy, by 

 which ill luck can be averted and injuries done to your enemies, 

 has still a powerful hold. The periodic " big drunk " of former 

 times, when whole villages used to engage in wild orgies, is no 

 longer a popular institution, although it is possible that individu- 

 als do not disdain to indulge in a periodic spree. The Mosquitos 

 proudly and justly boast that for many years they have lived 

 and maintained their institutions in peace, whereas the sovereign 

 Republic of Nicaragua is constantly riven and torn by revolutions 

 and strife. The state of culture described is found, however, only 

 in the " cities " and mission stations. Away from these and in the 

 jungles the people are still pure savages. 



The chapter on roads in Mosquito is as brief and of the same 

 tenor as the chapter on snakes in Iceland. The only means of 

 communication are the rivers and lagoons ; beyond these all is 

 dense, impenetrable forest arid jungle, interspersed here and there 

 in the more northerly portions by grassy plains called savan- 

 nas. The principal article of commerce, besides the banana, is 



