196 
DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. XII.— B. S. 
to place the mode of working the mine on a proper 
footing. We planned three tunnels, which we named 
respectively the Pollock, Pirn, and Salmon tunnels, 
and shafts to connect them; and made contracts for 
tramways, to do away with the cruel and wasteful 
manner of raising all the ore of the mine, even that 
from the lowest depths, on men’s heads, and carrying 
it in the same manner, for a quarter of a mile, to the 
mills. We had many obstacles to overcome, hut by 
slow degrees the whole place began to assume a more 
tidy and business-like appearance, so that those who 
had not seen it for a time hardly recognized it again. 
Although the gold region of Chontales is very 
close to the Atlantic Ocean, yet there is no direct 
road between it and the seaboard, and all commu¬ 
nication is kept up by way of the river San Juan 
and Lake Nicaragua. Passengers are discharged at 
San Ubaldo, where, during the wet season, they 
have to traverse the most awful swampy plains ima¬ 
ginable. They have, whether they like it or not, 
to plunge into holes filled with mud and water, that 
make the hair of any novice in Central American 
travelling stand on end. One of my companions, 
who had never seen any other roads than those of 
England, despondingly inquired whether we could not 
go round when we came to the first of these mud-holes, 
from which a Californian, out “ prospecting,” was 
struggling with all his might to extricate himself and 
his wretched mule. My old shipmate, the late Cap¬ 
tain J. Hill, E.N., has fixed the geographical position 
of St. Domingo, one of the larger mines, making 
