SICKNESS AND iMUTINY. 



831 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Sickness and Mutiny.— Illness of Captain Jay.— Critical Situation.— Rough 

 Nursing.— A Countryman in Trouble.— Dolphins.— Succession of Volcanoes. 

 — Gulf of Nicoya. — Harbour of Caldera. — Another Countryman, — Another 

 Patient. — Hacienda of San Felippe. — Mountain of Aguacate.— " Zillenthal 

 Patent Self-acting Cold Amalgamation Machine."— Gold Mines.— View from 

 the Mountain Top. 



On Monday, the twenty-second of January, two 

 hours before daylight, we started for the port. 'Hezoos 

 led the way, carrying before him all my luggage, rolled 

 up in a baquette, being simply a cowhide, after the 

 fashion of the country. At daylight we heard behind 

 us the clattering of horses' hoofs, and Don Manuel 

 de Aguila, with his two sons, overtook us. Before the 

 freshness of the morning was past we reached the port, 

 and rode up to the old hut which I had hoped never to 

 see again. The hammock was swinging in the same 

 place. The miserable rancho seemed destined to be the 

 abode of sickness. In one corner lay Senor D'Yriarte, 

 my captain, exhausted by a night of fever, and unable 

 to sail that day. 



Dr. Drivin was again at the port. He had not yet 

 disembarked his machinery ; in fact, the work was sus- 

 pended by a mutiny on board the English brig, the 

 ringleader of which, as the doctor complained to me, 

 was an American. I passed the day on the seashore. 

 In one place, a little above high-water mark, almost 

 washed by the waves, were rude wooden crosses, mark* 

 ing the graves of unhappy sailors who had died far from 

 their homes. Returning, I found at the hut Captain 

 Jay, of the English brig, who also complained to me 

 of the American sailor. The captain was a young 



