44 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE, f Chap. III.—B. S. 
dress in dark colours,—if possible, winter pattern. 
The reason is an historical one. White, during the 
times of the Spanish dominion,—tyranny, in republi¬ 
can parlance, when all these countries were better off 
than they ever have been or ever will be again, so 
long as the present institutions last,—was the colour 
of the slaves, and though slavery, thank God, has 
long been abolished, the Nicaraguans cannot, as yet, 
quite forget that little fact; and hence you wonder, 
on your first entering the country, why the upper 
classes should dress in materials and colours quite un¬ 
suited to such a climate. The dress which the men 
of the lower classes wear seemed to me always a 
most sensible and becoming one. It consists of a 
white shirt and trousers, a red scarf around the waist, 
and a broad-brimmed straw-hat. The women of both 
classes dress as ridiculously here as in most other 
parts of the world, at one time keeping one at arms 
length by their iron-hoops and other strange contri¬ 
vances with outlandish names, at others, raising 
clouds of dust by dragging their trains along the 
ground. 
Captain Holman, on passing Managua, had seen 
General Martinez, the President of the Eepublic, who 
had sent a letter to the Prefect of Leon, strongly re¬ 
commending him to assist us in procuring the neces¬ 
sary beasts and muleteers. We found the prefect, 
who is of French extraction, extremely obliging, and, 
at his recommendation, took into our service a man 
named Cleto Herrera, a half-caste,—Indian and negro, 
—who knew the country well, having been a soldier, 
