73 
Chap. V.—B.S.] MONTANA DE TALE. 
easterly direction, the road for Matagalpa, which to¬ 
wards noon brought us to Palacaguina,* a village in¬ 
habited by negroes and zamboes, who were so lazy 
that it was only by the help of the alcalde I was 
able to get a guide, for up to this place we had felt 
our way as well as we could. The road, on proceed¬ 
ing, was extremely stony, there being what the Spa¬ 
niards call a cnesta , and one of the new cargo mules 
which we had been compelled to purchase at Ocotal 
soon became unfit for work. Towards sunset we reached 
the rancho of Santa Rosa (nearly every other place 
here is called by that name), and were glad to be 
allowed to sling our hammocks under the veranda of 
the house. Getting another cargo mule, and a boy, 
we were up early in the morning, and crossed several 
rich valleys, full of horses and cattle, where here and 
there isolated farms, but no regular villages, could 
be seen. Our progress was but slow, and, one of 
our mules running back, after kicking off its cargo, 
we did not get further that evening than the Boca de 
la Montana de Yale, where we put up at a rancho, 
so small that there was no room even for our ham¬ 
mocks, which had to be slung under some trees in a 
coffee plantation surrounding it. One of the first ques¬ 
tions which the woman of the house asked was, “How 
I was off for soap ?” I told her that I had still a piece 
or two left; but she wanted to persuade me that we 
were about to enter a very dusty and dirty part of 
the country, and that it would not be amiss to pur- 
* About the church I observed a juniper-looking tree, not pre¬ 
viously observed in the country. 
