94 NICARAGUA. 



the remainder shops or private houses. Living was cheap and 

 regular. In the American hotel, which was a large building, 

 the fare was six shillings daily, for board and lodging. In the 

 French hotel four shillings. Besides these, they were mesons 

 (native inns) where you could rent one room for one 

 shilling a day, getting your food where you liked. Meat, 

 fish, pork, fowls and eggs were always plentiful in the 

 market, where you could buy also many sorts of vegetables 

 and fruits, brought over by Indians from the interior. 

 Plantains were very abundant and cheap. For sixpence you 

 could buy an entire bunch containing from 60 to 100 fruits. 

 Many sorts were seen, Guinea, Manilla, Santo Domingo, and 

 others, but the most abundant were Platanos machos (Male 

 Plantains) a very large one, eaten by all, instead of 

 tortillas of maize, or bread. This last commodity could be 

 had good and at a fair price. 



In Nicaragua, the plantain is the most important article of 

 food. It is eaten raw, baked, roasted, or made into sweets. 



At first it is well liked, but it would never be supposed 

 that the time would come when you could scarcely do without 

 them, but it is a fact. The more you eat them, the more you like 

 them. Excepting the large ones, all the other sorts are eaten 

 raw, or made into sweets, but it is dangerous to eat too many. 

 It is said that they contribute to engender fevers. I do not 

 know how far this is true. 



T\\Q platano macho is eaten green, or half ripe, or quite 

 ripe. In this last stage it is good, but not so much as the 

 smaller sorts. Fried it is delicious. When green, they are 

 boiled and have a very unsavoury taste, but they are farinaceous 

 and replace bread advantageously. The natives usually eat 

 them so. Half ripe they are roasted upon hot cinders, and 

 they are exqusiite, when well done. They are then slightly 

 sweet and farinaceous. I was never tired of them, when pre- 

 pared in this manner. Boiled, one is enough for one meal. 

 Roasted, two are the utmost which you can eat. 



The plantain belongs to the family of the Musacae. It 

 is found in all tropical countries. These plants have scarcely 

 any aerial stem, but shoots from subterraneous root stocks, 

 from which emerge stems composed of sheathing leaf stalks. 

 The leaves are flat and traversed throughout by a thick 

 median rib, with simple veins running directly towards it 

 from the margin. The general aspect of the plant is some- 

 what like that of a palm tree. The genus, M usa, is the type 

 of the family. 



