113 
Chap. VIII.—B. S.] DISCOVERY OF THE JAVALI. 
to lead to results which would more than a thousand¬ 
fold repay the expenses of such an undertaking. But 
Nicaragua, like most parts of Spanish America where 
the foreign element has as yet not penetrated, is so poor 
that it has no funds for projects of this nature. Though 
all mines are national property, the discovery and 
tracing of them out is entirely left to the individual 
enterprise of people who have acquired a certain 
amount of empirical geological knowledge, and who, 
when they find rich spots, make them their own by 
registering them officially. As long as the mines are 
worked, and worked properly, the title thus acquired 
is undisputed; but if for two years no work is done 
in them, they revert once more to the nation, and may 
be registered anew. Some of the most important 
mines of Chontales are now owned by foreigners, who 
are gradually introducing a better system of working 
them. The natives still go on mining in the most ex¬ 
pensive and primitive manner. Deep shafts they can¬ 
not sink, because they do not know how to timber the 
ground; and, not having deep shafts, they cannot 
avail themselves of even such a simple contrivance as 
a tackle, and have to carry all the ore on the hacks of 
men in leather hags fastened by a strap round the 
forehead. A man carries about a hundredweight at 
a time, and has to climb up steep trunks of trees in 
which notches have been cut. In damp weather 
these primitive ladders are very slippery, and causa 
numerous accidents. The ore is ground by water¬ 
power, and in arrastras , heavy rocks of quartz and 
basalt being used for crushing. 
i 
