223 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE USE OF TOBACCO. TUMBLE OVER AN ALLIGATOR. 



RED-BEARDED MONKEY. FRESH-WATER SHARKS. 



MODE OF LIVING. A TALE TOO TRUE. SHE SLEEPS IN 



PEACE.' CARIBEE INDIANS. REVIEW OF TROOPS.*— 



HOME. 



JJA VING very nearly completed two years' 

 residence in Central America, and that 

 principally in the wildest part of the interior, 

 I own I began to be weary of the half-savage 

 life I had been so long leading. 



A very severe wound I received on a hunt- 

 ing party decided me to set my face stead- 

 fastly towards the east, as soon as I should 

 be sufficiently recovered to undertake a long 

 journey on horseback and in canoes. I was 

 undecided which course to pursue, but at last 

 resolved to travel back to Leon ; go from 

 thence to the Pacific coast, for the purpose of 

 making arrangements respecting funds, and, 

 returning by Leon, proceed on to the Lake of 

 Nicaragua, and take my chance of finding a 

 " piragua," or large canoe, to take me to the 

 east shore of the lake and down the river St. 



