78 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. Y.—B. S'. 
Matagalpa has three churches, but none of the 
public buildings are of any importance. Few of the 
houses have tiled roofs, but the majority, and one of 
the churches, are thatched. There are about 2000 
inhabitants in and about the place, who depend for 
their supplies upon the Indians of the neighbour¬ 
hood. At the best of times these supplies are irre¬ 
gular and insufficient. When we arrived, there was 
not a handful of grass or bushel of corn to be had, 
and our poor beasts had to go without anything that 
night. Early in the morning the inhabitants go seve¬ 
ral miles out of the town to meet the Indians. Our 
servant started long before daybreak to buy up some 
fodder, and had a regular stand-up fight for it. 
Shortly before our arrival the Indians had refused 
to bring in any more; in fact, they had struck 
work, being dissatisfied with the shabby way in 
which the townspeople had behaved, and the con¬ 
sequence had been a perfect panic, there being 
hardly anything to eat. Their conduct was thought 
sufficiently alarming to induce the Gover nm ent to 
send more soldiers to Matagalpa, and this increase of 
the garrison had sufficed to preserve the old order of 
things. Nevertheless, the townsfolk were highly in¬ 
censed against their purveyors ; and a lady who could 
speak a little English told me that it was her firm con¬ 
viction that the aborigines had no souls ] and they 
never will have, I added,—suddenly remembering a 
Shakespearian pun,—until they begin to wear shoes. 
No sooner had the news that we were looking out 
for mines spread through the town, than several 
