Doc. No. 75. 209 



common, but do not often happen, except late in the afternoon^ (com- 

 mencing about four o'clock,) or in the night. They are seldom of long 

 duration ; and often days and weeks elapse without a cloud obscuring the 

 sky.* During this season, the verdure and the crops which, during the 

 dry season, become sere and withered, appear in full luxuriance: the 

 temperature is very equable, differing a little in different localities, but 

 preserving great uniformity all over the country, except in the mountain- 

 ous regions. The range of the thermometer is from 78° to 88°, in rare 

 instances sinking to 77°, during the night, and rising to 90° in the after- 

 noon. During the month of June, at Grenada, the average height of the 

 thermometer was 82° of Pah.; in Leon, during the months of July, 

 August, and September, 83°. Out of the sun this weather would prove 

 agreeable to most persons. There is almost constantly a cool and pleasant 

 breeze, blowing for the most part from the northeast. The nights are 

 delicious, and sleep is seldom, if ever, interrupted by the heat. For 

 weeks together the thermometer has marked 79° at ten o'clock in the 

 evening, and 78° at sunrise. During the dry season, in January, the 

 temperature is less, the nights positively cool, and occasionally the winds 

 are chilling. The sky is cloudless, and trifling shewers fall at rare inter- 

 vals. The fields become dry, cattle are driven to the hills and forests 

 for pasturage, and the dust in the towns becomes almost insupportable. 

 It penetrates everywhere, permeating even through the tiled roofs in 

 showers, and sweeping in clouds through the unglazed windows. Were 

 it not for this, the dry season would not be pronounced unpleasant. It 

 is esteemed healthier than the wet season. f 



*Probably not m-ue that) one-half ihe amouni of rain falis during these six months in Nica- 

 ragua thai falls in the latitude of New York during the same period. 



fUpon the matters here adverted to, it will not be uninteresting to subjoin the following re- 

 maiks of Mr. BaWeyi "In execufing so stupendous an undertaking," says he, " salubrity of 

 cliuiute, and the means of feeding abundantly and econnmically so Imge a body of workmen as 

 would be collected, are tsubjects which cannot be p issed over withoiit notice. With re^^ard to 

 the first, the v/riter can aver that, durin;f four months that he was occupied between the 

 Pacific and the lake of Grenada, witii a party of forty individuals, thf re was not a man pre- 

 vented by sicknesd from performing his daily labor, although confinually sleeping at mght in 

 the open air. On the lake and in the river 8an Juan, with a large party, the men maintained 

 their iiealth well, although exposed to frequent rains in the latter. But when at the port (del 

 Norte,) or near to it, si(kne^s got among ihem, which was mainly at;ributable to the use, or 

 rather aliuse, of ardent spirits, and o:her excesses so freqjf-nily indulged in at such places. 

 This change, however, is not assignable solely to indulgence in excesses, because San Juan is 

 exposed tu all the dangerous influences of climate and temperatuie peculiar to the Mosquito 

 shore, and all the coa^5t from Cape Gracias a Dios to Carthagena and beyond it. 



"The population of the State of Nicaragua may be said not to extend south, only, much be- 

 yond the environs of the town of Nicaragua, so that the line of survey, approaching it in no 

 part nearer than four leagues, passed over a comparative wildernes.s, and consequently all pro- 

 vi.?ions were sup died from that place. Tliese are always to be had in abundance; and should 

 circumstances require it, they could be drawn fr. m other parts of the State to almost any extent. 

 The princif,>al articles of consumption are meat, (,b( ef,) maize, frijoles, rice, f)lantains, and fruits, 

 whica can be furnished at moderate prices; as, for example, meat at, 85, 4, or 4g reals the arroha 

 of '25 pounds, (the real is equal to sixpence of English money ;) maize varying, according to 

 seasons, 6, 8, or 10, seldom 12 reals per fanega, which weighs about 300 pounds; frijoles and 

 rice in similar proportions : plantains, which are universally used, especially by the laboring 

 classes, are so fdentu'ut ihrit a nmle load of them (two or three quint.4s) can be had throughout 

 the year for 2 or 2| reals; so that if a large number of workmen were to be collected in this 

 direction, there would be found no difficulty m supplying them with all the ordinary necessaries 

 of life. 



" The price paid for labor during the survey was per man per month, besides provision?, 

 which, on an average, amounted to half a real a day; but this was higher than what was usual- 

 ly given for general field-work, in consideration of the men being taken to a oif^tance from their 

 families for an mdefirute time. For work such as that in question, good native artisans would 



14 



