12 
Annual Reports of Academy of 
While we heard Tapirs breaking through the bamboo several times, 
they failed to appear for their bath. A full moon came up about 
midnight, silhouetting the long slim bamboos over our heads against 
its silvery light making them look like giant ostrich plumes, as they 
waved and glistened in the gentle tropical breeze. Such a night 
of enchanting beauty fully repaid the disappointment in not seeing 
a Tapir. Mr. Street did, however, collect one on his homeward 
trip to the coast in May. 
Shortly after our return from Santa Rosita we made a trip across 
the mountains from Eden to the Great Falls Power Plant that 
furnished electricity for the mining operation. 
This time we travelled the eight or ten miles on mule back, taking 
the greater part of a day for the journey. Trails, or roads, in this 
part of Nicaragua are very bad even during the dry season, making 
progress extremely slow. Owing to the great amount of rain, and 
the soft nature of the soil, they are worn into deep holes or ruts, 
known as bull hummocks, giving a washboard effect. These bull 
hummocks are caused by the oxen or mules stepping in the same 
place each time and wearing deep gullies, the ground between the 
gullies standing in high ridges. Much of the time the gullies are 
full of water, causing the mule to flounder down to its knees, the 
ridge often touching its belly. Frequently as the mules splashed 
through the hummocks, my feet would touch the ridges, and one 
can easily imagine what mud-bespattered objects we were upon 
reaching our destination. I cannot pay too high a tribute to the 
surefootedness of the mules, for they kept their feet on the steep 
slippery hillsides, jumping over fallen trees across the trail, wallow¬ 
ing in mud-filled holes belly deep, or slowly picked their way along 
a slippery loose-rocked ledge. 
Mr. J. S. McKenzie, electrician in charge, accompanied us and 
acted as our host the week we spent at the Falls, and as his spare 
time permitted, joined us in our hunting, assisted in the skinning of 
mammals or collected insects at night around the lights, thus ren¬ 
dering valuable aid in our work. 
We lived in the comfortable quarters erected for Mr. McKenzie, 
on the hillside overlooking the Pis Pis River, which flows into the 
Waspuc, thence into the Wanks, finally discharging its waters into 
the Caribbean at Cabo Gracias a Dios. Collecting along the river 
and on the surrounding hills netted us many species of birds new 
