RIDE TO GRANADA. 
137 
Chap. IX.— B. 8.] 
standing with Captain Watson, that neither of us 
would outbid the other; and when I found that he 
was anxious to have the San Juan, I went away 
without even making an offer for it. It was rather 
amusing to see all the artifices to which the natives 
resorted in order to make us run a race in acquiring 
properties. They looked quite disappointed, and could 
hardly believe their eyes, when I took my departure 
without opening the big purse to which they knew I 
had free access. 
I took the direct road to Granada, where the owner 
of the Javali resided, passing Juigalpa, and, after a 
long and dreary ride through an uncultivated country, 
reaching Acote. The latter is merely a farm at the 
banks of a small river, and famous for the myriads of 
mosquitoes with which it is infested during the rainy 
season. The people are a well-to-do Zamho family, a 
widow, with several sons and daughters, who do all in 
their power to make travellers comfortable. They 
have everything the country produces in plenty, both 
for man and beast, and are very moderate in their 
charges. The house which they inhabit is open on 
two sides, with the kitchen partitioned off by canes, 
but otherwise built of substantial timber. We were 
told that in some wet seasons the rivulet rose to 
such a height that the water entered the house, and 
at one time they had to save their lives by climbing 
on the roof; all their things floating away, and they 
themselves nearly starving. Before our hostess and 
family went to bed they had very long prayers, 
the mother intoning them, and the rest of the com- 
