162 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 27, 1897. 
ON THE SPANISH MAIN.— II. 
Fish and FlshinR !n Nicaragua and Costa Rica. 
BY J. F, LE BAEON, C. E. 
The fish found along the eastern coast and in the inlets 
of Central America resemble in general those of Florida 
and the Gulf of Mexico. Like the Florida inlets, these 
waters teem with innumerable numbers of the finny tribe. 
In Nicaragua, where I was stationed for over two years 
in charge of all the operations of the Nicaraguan Canal, I 
organized a crew, gave them a boat, and procured a SOOfl, 
seine from New York. At this time I had twenty-eight 
camps of engineers and laborers, some of them containing 
over 100 men, at work on the line of the canal, including 
the dredges and snag boats. This fishing crew of three 
men kept these camps and my headquarters supplied with 
ftll the fish we could eat. 
I noticed the following varieties: Mullet, 25 to 30in. 
long; crevalli or jackflsh; rovalli, or "snout," as it is 
called in Florida, called by the Nicaraguan guovina; the 
rockfish {Laheax Uneaius); kingfish {Eumbrina alburnnis); 
redfish {Coracionm); drumfish or el tambor; the porgie 
{Bogrus); the mackerel {Scomber coUas); the grouper, or, as 
they call it, "garupa" (Serraims), and many others. 
There also occur in these waters several varieties of 
sharks (Spanish, tiburon). the sawfish or peje sierra (JPristis 
sqiialus), the hog fish {Eelops), the eel {Murmna auguila), 
the barracuda {SpJiyrmna iarraeida), the tarpon or grande 
ecoile, and many others having only Spanish or Indian 
names whose scientific names I do not know. 
In the fresh-water streams I found the guapote, which 
is the same as the big-mouthed black bass, called trout in 
Florida; also the zavolo and the zavolete {Aloza), the for- 
mer of which grows to enormous dimensions (and is be- 
lieved to be the tarpon, but I am not sure); the barbudo 
( (7j(prm'M8 or barbel; the tigrilla. the mojarra, etc., 
etc. 
In Lake Managua they catch great quantities of a small 
white fish which they call sardines and which they dry in 
the sun, and which form in this condition a considerable 
article of trade. They consist of several mixed varieties, 
such as Tetragonopterus, AntheinicMys, etc., etc. 
A very singular fact is noticed here, and that is that Lake 
Nicaragua and the San .Juan River swarm with immense 
sharks and sawfish, which have not lost any of their 
voracity by their life in fresh water. 
I saw great numbers of hammerhead sharks at the con- 
fluence of the San Carlos and San Juan rivers, fifty miles 
above the salt water. 
There is a Reiquada, or custom station, at this point, 
where I stopped several days while examining the site for 
a dam across the river, and in company with the officers of 
the station frequently bathed in the river; but while doing 
so we kept a sharp watch for the back fin of the monsters, 
and when we saw one approaching we at once beat a hasty 
retreat from the water. 
This is the only place on this continent where sharks 
have been known to ascend and live in fresh water. They 
have been noted m the waters of the upper Nile and one 
other river in South Africa. 
It is extremely dangerous bathing in the waters of Nic- 
aragua. Not only are the waters — fresk as well as salt — 
teeming with voracious sharks, but there are great num- 
bera of immense crocodiles from 12 to 20ft. in length, 
which are very bold and vicious. I lost two of my men 
on the canal, who were seized and devoured by crocodiles 
while bathing. One was a Jamaica negro and the other a 
Swede. The negro was bathing on Sunday in the harbor 
at Greytown in front of the receiving camp when he was 
seized and dragged under. His cries brought 200 men to 
the shore, who were in the camp. Many of them had 
rifles and revolvers, but the saurian dove at once, dragging 
the unfortunate man under water, where he soon drowned. 
The reptile rose again with him in his mouth after a little 
while, but it was seen that the man was dead. Several 
shots were fired at the animal, which dove again with the 
man's body, and neither was ever seen again. 
The crocodiles of Central America are very different 
from the alligatoi's of Florida. They are lighter *in color, 
attain to fully double the length of the alligator and have 
a much sharper snout. The upper jaw is hinged, which is 
not the case in the alligator, so that they can throw It up 
at right angles to the body. They have a peculiar habit 
when sleeping on the sand banks of lying in the sun with 
the mouth wide open, the upper jaw standing. I have 
often seen them lying in this way on the sand banks in 
the San Juan River and the harbor of Greytown. 
They diff'er from the alligator also in the manner of de- 
positing their eggs, which they lay in the sand like a tur- 
tle, without making any nest whatever. The Florida alli- 
gator, on the contrary, makes a large nest of sticks and 
grass, often 10ft. or more in diameter, in the marsh or 
raised out of the shoal water of the morass. 
I have never heard of the eggs of the alligator being 
eaten, but the eggs of the Central American crocodile are 
largely used as food by the Indians and negroes. The 
crocodile is much more ferocious and dangerous than the 
alligator. 
The manatee or sea cow {Manatua amerimno), that cross 
between a fish and an animal which is supposed to be the 
origin of the fabled mermaid, is very numerous in the 
lagoons and rivers of the east coast of Central America. 
Their meat is very good eating, and is a staple article in 
the market of Greytown. The flesh is white, sweet and 
tender, somewhat resembling veal. 
When we first arrived in Nicaragua we were told by 
some officers of the navy, who had been in the country on 
former canal surveys, that there were plenty of fish in the 
streams, but that they would not bite, and could not be 
caught with hook and line. 
It did not take us very long to thoroughly disprove the 
latter statement. At first I was inclined to believe it, after 
snaking numerous unsuccessful eflbrts with diflTerent kinds 
of bait, but I saw the quiet pools in many places swarming 
with fish, and shot several, finding them excellent eating. 
Instead of giving up the matter I called to my aid one of 
my Nicaraguan servants, and with the ,camp doctor — a 
jovial Englishman, long a resident of the country— we 
lart©d QW day in » feoat oji tbt §a» Oarlos River ia Oogt» 
Rica to try our luck. Under the skillful tuition of the 
native we had no difficulty in capturing a fine string of 
guapote (pronounced warpote), identical with the black bass 
of Florida. We caught also several barbudos, or barbels, 
a good pan fish. 
I had previously appointed a camp hunter for each 
camp, and I now supplied him with hooks and lines, and 
was pleased to find that the chiefs of the different camps 
reported a good supply of fresh fish brought in, which was 
a very welcome addition to the bill of fare. 
On one of my numerous excursions to reconnoiter and 
map the country I ascended the Trinidad River to Lake 
Maniti in Costa Rica. This stream is an affluent of the 
river San Juan just above the Serapigui, about thirty miles 
above Greytown. The upper part of this river that emp- 
ties into the Maniti Lake is a mere creek about 25ft. wide, 
and just where it debouches into the lake I had rare sport 
with a spinner on a long line trolling behind the boat, 
catching eight very large guapote or black bass from 20 to 
32in. long in less than half an hour. I used no bait on my 
spinner except a red flannel rag. The fish were very 
gamy, often leaping clear out of water, and required skill- 
ful playing to kill. 
The boats that we used were galvanized steel canoes, of 
which we had twenty-two, from 15 to 22ft. in length, made 
to order in New York and brought out on the ship with 
us. They had no rowlocks, but were paddled; the natives 
of that country not understanding the use of oars, but using 
the paddle to perfection. 
My boat's crew always consisted of four men and a cock- 
swain or oapitan, w^ho steered. All our traveling was done 
in these boats and in steamers on the San Juan River and 
Lake Nicaragua, there being no roadswhateverinthe east- 
ern side of the country. The small streams are all filled 
with logs, fallen trees often extending clear across 
and completely barring navigation. Sometimes we were 
obliged to take all our provisions and camp equipage out 
of the boats and haul them around on the bank; at other 
times, when the log was not too large, we would cut it in 
the middle and it would then sink sufficiently to allow us 
to pass, but generally we would haul the bow of the boat 
as far up on the log as possible, putting all the weight in 
the stern, the officers also sitting in the stern, to raise the 
bow. Then, when the men had hauled the boat as high 
up as possible, all the weight would be shifted to the bow, 
the officers standing there also, when the men, jumping 
overboard and standing in the water, would raise the stern 
and launch her over the log; the weight would be dis- 
tributed again and we would continue our voyage. I 
crossed in this way, ascending the Trinidad River, fifty- 
five logs in a distance of ten miles. With wooden boats, or 
any less strong than the excellent steel boats furnished us, 
this would have been impossible, as the boat's back would 
have been broken and the seams opened; but these boats 
stood this work for over two years, until the bottom was 
actually worn through. Add to these troubles the fact that 
it generally rained twenty hours out of twenty-four 
every day, and some of the discomforts of canoeing in that 
country can be appreciated. This is on the east side of the 
great lake, or the country between the lake and the Carib- 
bean Sea, where the rain gauges that I established and had 
measured every day recorded a rainfall of 298in. per year. 
On the western or Pacific slope the climate and country 
are entirely different, our rain gauges showing only 57in. of 
rainfall per year, and where good roads exist and the coun- 
try is inhabited, and not like the eastern slope, a howling 
wilderness, without a single road or even a cattle trail for 
100 miles. There are a few settlers on the immediate 
banks of the San Juan River, but none whatever back 
from the river. 
At Castillo rapids there is a little town of perhaps fifty 
people, clustered around the old massive stone fort that 
was built by the Spaniards in 1673, and here the Nicara- 
guan Government maintains a custom house (Greytown 
being a free port) and a garrison of twenty-five or thirty 
soldieirs. 
At these rapids there are great quantities of the voracious 
fish called zamlos, or savages, from their ferocity. They 
will rush in a school at anything thrown overboard from 
the steamers, and it appeared an easy matter to catch 
them, so I got out my rod and line and baited with a 
piece of meat from the cook's galley and tried it. At the 
first throw a dozen fish from 1ft. to 2ft. in length rushed 
for the bait, and although I hooked one at once I was un- 
able to land a single fish, for they would tear the hook 
and be off before I could play them or haul in. Several 
of the other passengers on the steamboat tried also, but 
- with no better success. These fish are so voracious that 
they will attack any person in swarms when bathing and 
bite any part of the body they can reach. 
While I was in charge of the surveys for the canal I had 
my headquarters on a small island in the San Juan River, 
called San Francisco Island, about forty miles from Grey- 
town. While here I had some fish traps made and set in 
the river, and we caught quite a number of fresh-water 
crayfish about a foot in length and quite similar to a 
lobster, but lacking the large claws. We found them very 
nice eating. 
I saw numerous tarpon in the river here, and one day I 
concluded to try and harpoon one. I had among my boat- 
men a Carib Indian, who, like all of that tribe, are very 
skillful boatmen and fishermen, I had provided myself 
with a good "lilly iron," a kind of fish spear so made that 
when a fish is struck the stick is detached and floats off on 
the water, the line being fastened to the spear head. We 
took about 200ft. of large line, about the size of a clothes 
line, to the end of which was attached a float or buoy 
made of bolsa wood, which is as light as cork, and which 
grows abundantly all along the river banks in that 
country. Thus equipped we entered a canoe and paddled 
out in the stream, which was about a quarter of a mile in 
width at this place. The Carib stood in the bow with the 
harpoon ready poised, scanning the water, while I slowly 
and noiselessly paddled the boat from my seat in the 
stern. 
It was not long before he saw the silvery sides of a tar- 
pon gliding across the bow of the canoe, and he launched 
the harpoon with so true an aim that the harpoon pierced 
the side of the fish, which gave a tremendous leap and 
rushed off", making the line spin out as if shot from a can- 
non. The Carib instantly threw overboard all the line 
and the buoy, which the immense fish dragged off, making 
it spin through the water as if dragged by a locomotive. 
Now up the river the buoy went, then across and back, the 
beautiM fisb often Jujjipingefli.o^: mor© 9Ht of th© water 
in the vain attempt to free himself from the line, his sides 
glistening in the sunlight like burnished silver. But the 
harpoon held, and the weight of the drag and loss of blood 
began to tell on him, and gradually we could see by the 
slower movement of the buoy that he was succumbing. 
We picked up the harpoon stick and watched him, and for 
fully an hour he kept up the fight against death. Some- 
times we thought he was dead and moved toward the buoy, 
but he would gather his energies and start off again, ap- 
parently as lively as at first. More than a dozen times he 
leaped clear of the water, falling back again and dashing 
the spray high into the air, and darting off with an almost 
indescribable velocity. At last, however, the float lay quiet 
upon the water, drifting down toward us with the current, 
and we paddled up to it and drew it in, finding the noble 
fish dead. We drew him into the canoe, not without some 
trouble and danger of capsizing, and returned to camp, 
where we found him to measure 6ft. 2in. in length, and 
very fair eating. The scales measured 2^ by Sin. each. 
The object of the buoy is to give the fish play, and to 
drag him back and so tire him out. If the line had been 
fastened to the canoe he would have speedily overturned 
it, and probably have torn out the harpoon in his first tre- 
mendous rush. There is probably no gamer or more ener- 
getic fish than the tarpon. I have harpooned sharks, saw- 
fish and big drumfish weighing over lOOlbs., and jewfi&h 
of double this weight; but nothing that I ever saw so much 
resembles the embodiment of electrical energy as a tarpon. 
The fish in shape and general appearance resembles an 
immense herring. 
The disciples of Izaak Walton will find abundant sport 
in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and the naturalist will be 
rewarded by many unique specimens. The fishing in Lake 
Nicaragua is excellent, and one can stand on the beach at 
Greytown, as I have done, or on the rocks of Brito in the 
Pacific, and catch small fish, such as rockfish, sailor's choice, 
etc., in abundance. In the Caribbean Sea, off" Greytown, I 
have had fine sport catching crevalli by trolling behind 
one of our tug boats. - . , ■. . 
We incidentally killed a great many fish with dynamite 
in the Descado and San Francisco rivers when engaged in 
blowing up logs to clear the channel for our steamboats to 
reach the canal line, among which were many strange and, 
to us, unknown varieties. 
Great numbers of green turtles are caught in the Carib- 
bean Sea, and they formed a staple article of food with us. 
I fenced off a part of the harbor at Greytown and bought 
these delicious turtles by the hundreds, keeping them in ' 
the "crawl" thus made until wanted to send to the camps 
in place of beef, which was difficult to obtain there, and 
more costly. AVe obtained their eggs also in large number?, 
They are round, with a soft, membranous shell, about the 
size of a pullet's egg, and we became very fond of them ' 
for the table. It is impossible to boil them hard, like a' 
hen's egg. 
The fishing in Lake Nicaragua is very fine around some' 
old wrecks at Fort San Carlos, and the small, cold streams- 
falling from the mountains contain many small but fine 
fish; but I did not see any trout. 
THE GOLDEN PLOVER* 
{Charadrius pluvialis, Link.). 
The golden plover spends the autumn, winter and part of 
the spring in various portions of the Uuited States, appear- 
ing in considerable numbf-rs both along the coast and in the 
interior, and not infrequertly on our highest grounds. A 
much greater number, however, proceed in severe winters 
beyond the limits of our Southern States, and tbe partial 
migrations of this species are much influenced by the state 
of the weather. They are more abundant along the sea 
shores of the Middle and Eastern districts, from the middle 
of April to the beginning of May, whereas in autumn they 
range over the interior, and more especially the Western 
prairies In the early part of May they congregate in im- 
mense flocks, and commence their journey toward more 
northern regions, where they are said to breed. 
The account which Wilson gave of this species refers in part 
to the bull-headed plover (Charadrius Jielveticus), although 
his figure cannot be mistaken for that of tbe latter, even in its 
first autumnal dress. But the editor of the second edition 
of Wilson's work has rejected the golden plover as an Amer- 
ican bird, although he might have frequently seen it in the 
very markets of Philadelphia. The Prince of Musignano 
corrected this error In bis valuable "Observations on the 
Nomenclature of Wilson's Ornithology " Mr. Selby, in 
speaking of the golden plover, gives it as hia opinion that 
the bird so called in America differs from that of Europe. 
This opinion, however, I cannot consider as correct, as I 
have seen and examined the golden plovers of both coun- 
tries, and have found their manners, tone of voice and ap- 
pearance precisely similar. 
This bird moves on the ground with sprighfliness. When 
observed it often runs with considerable rapidity to some 
distance, suddenly stops short, nods once or twice, vibrating 
its body at the same time, and if it should icnagine itself 
noticed it often lies down and remains crouched until the 
danger is over. At the time of their departure from the 
north, and while on the sands or mud bars on the sea shore, 
they often raise their wings as if to air them for a few mo^i 
ments. While searching for food they move in a direct 
manner, often look sideways toward the ground, and pick 
up the object of their search by a peculiar bending move- 
ment of the body. They are frequently observed to pat the 
moist earth with their feet, to force worms from their bur- 
rows. In autumn they betake themselves to the higher 
grounds, where berries as well as insects are to be met with, 
and where they find abundance of grasshoppers. 
When traveling to a considerable distance, the golden 
plover flies at the height at from 30 to 60f t. , in a regular 
manner, with considerable velocity; the flock, when large, 
forming an extended front and moving with regular flap- 
pings, an individual now and then uttering a mellow note. 
Before alighting they often perform various evolutions, now 
descending and flying swiftly over the ground, then curvr 
ing upward or eidewise, closing and extending their ranks, 
until the sportsman is often tired of watching them ; and, 
after all, the flock, just when he expects it to alight, may 
suddenly shoot off and fly to a distance. Wheg they aligljt; 
" # I'row "AudubQB's Or^itUologiosi Biogr»pljy/" 
