160 
CALIFORNIA ILLUSTRATED. 
group number one hundred islands, each baying one bouse and 
one proprietor. Nothing can excel the beauty and fertility of 
this group; tropical fruits grow spontaneously . and in the 
greatest abundance, and the islands seem to nestle, with feeling 
security, in the bosom of this lake, which sleeps in perpetual 
calm. The foliage is most luxuriant, interlaced with vines bear¬ 
ing flowers of every conceivable hue; these flowers generally 
hang from the vines on tendrils, and spend their hours fondling 
with the air, loading its breath with perfume. The trees grow to 
the very margin of the lake, and seem to look admiringly into 
the mirror at their feet. 
Remaining during the night we took an early start, laying our 
course in the direction of Mr. Derbyshire’s plantation, which is 
on the opposite side of the lake, thirty miles distant. Our mis¬ 
sion here, or that of our boatmen, was to take in cattle for the 
San Juan market. We arrived early in the morning of the 
second day from the islands. Our ambitious boatmen would 
work only in the evening and morning; in the middle of the 
day they would lay and broil in the sun. 
We arrived at an early hour, and commenced preparing break¬ 
fast. We had chickens, and rice, and chocolate on board; we 
sent to the plantation for eggs, milk, and bananas, and soon 
sat down to a breakfast that would have pleased the most fas- 
tidous palate. The manner in which it was served I am not 
prepared to say was quite so satisfactory. (See Plate.) One 
was sitting on a rock, drinking his coffee from a tin basin; 
another standing up, doing likewise; a third holding a chicken 
by a leg and wing, trying to dissect it without the use of edged 
tools. One of our party has finished his breakfast, and is sitting 
on a rock, in a very aldermanic attitude, smoking a pipe, pro¬ 
bably the only one ever introduced into Central America. 
While we were taking breakfast, the natives were taking in a 
cargo of bullocks; the manner was truly Spanish. The bun- 
goes were anchored a short distance from shore, the cattle were 
driven as near as convenient, when one of them would be las - 
soed , the other end of the lasso being fastened to the horse’s 
neck ; the horse is mounted and spurred into the lake, drawing 
the victim after him, which, in case of resistance, is unmercifully 
beaten. The horse tows him around on the seaward side of the 
