Chap. IV.—B. S.] LIMIT OF THE PINE-TREES. 
55 
tion, we were only too glad to engage the lad, who 
turned out to he very useful. The road passed Las 
Tablas, where for the first time we found ourselves 
in a most delightfully cool temperature, and in a forest 
of fir-trees (Pirns tenuifolia , Benth., known by the 
name of u Ocote,” a corruption of the Aztec (Mexican) 
“ Ocotl).” I may, however, add that this is not the 
most southern limit of the pines on the Pacific side of 
America, hut that it is, as far as at present ascer¬ 
tained, in latitude 12° 40' north, on the Yolcan 
Viejo, near Chinandega, at an elevation of three thou¬ 
sand feet above the sea-level, whilst the most north¬ 
ern limit, as I have shown in my Plora of Eskimo- 
land, is on the hanks of the river Noatak, in latitude 
66° 44' 0" north, where Captain Bedford Pirn found a 
regular forest composed of a species (Abies arctica , 
A. Murr.) closely allied to the white pine. 
"We did not long remain in this delightfully cool 
atmosphere, hut were compelled again to descend into 
the hot valleys, passing the village of San Juan de la 
Maya. Burnt bricks had been made for a church in 
the course of erection, all the other houses, about t hir ty 
in number, being built of “ adobes” (sun-dried bricks) 
or sticks only. Here Captain Holman’s mule shied so 
violently that he was thrown to the ground, and, I re¬ 
gret to add, seriously injured. Much to his credit, he 
would not hear of stopping, but insisted upon our push¬ 
ing on. A few leagues more brought us to the farm 
of Bonbon, one of the hottest places we had as yet 
passed, where again we slung our hammocks in the 
yard, under a hospitable shed, sharing it with pigs, 
