158 
CALIFORNIA ILLUSTRATED. 
of consigning their most beautiful maidens to its terrific bosom. 
After stopping two hours we were again under way, en route 
to Grenada, distant twelve miles. 
The country is rolling, and timbered with cedars, our route 
laying along a stream emptying into Lake Nicaragua. After 
traveling six miles we encamped for the night. In the morn¬ 
ing our companion’s donkey was non est; there were three 
drivers now in the party; four reals was the first charge for 
finding said donkey; the proposition being readily accepted 
by the owmer, they thought it was worth five ; this being, ac¬ 
cepted, six were demanded, or two reals each for the drivers. 
Now, we still had fresh in our minds a certain transaction, the 
subject of which was an ox instead of a donkey. After a word 
of consultation we came to the conclusion, that notwithstanding 
the disparity in the length of ears, the same remedy might 
prove effectual in both cases. We immediately acted upon this 
hypothesis, and prepared a liberal dose of saplings , and in 
order that the medicine might reach the system unadulterated , 
we ordered them to take off their shirts. The medicine proved 
too strong for their nerves, even before tasting it, and forgetting 
the reals , they assured us that they would have “ mula aqui una 
momentofi and in five minutes his donkey ship was under the 
saddle. It was the donkey belonging to our long friend, and it 
was shrewdly suspected that he (the above-named donkey) was 
in collusion with the drivers. Whether the accusation was true 
or false, I am not prepared to say; I noticed, however, that in 
the course of the morning his master administered to him a 
'dose of the same kind of medicine. 
At 9 A. m., we were on the banks of Lake Nicaragua, at Gre¬ 
nada. This is a beautifully located town, with paved streets, 
and magnificent churches. A description of one town in Cen¬ 
tral America describes them all. They are all built upon the 
same plan, with spacious plazas in the. centre;—extensive 
churches and convents, all after a similar order of architecture, 
some of them ornamented with a degree of splendor seldom 
surpassed, if equalled, on this continent. The streets, when 
paved, are paved with cobble-stone, with the gutter in the cen¬ 
ter. This mode has its advantages when carriages are seldom 
used. 
