292 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Ciup. XVIII.—p„ P. 
a new era be inaugurated, which shall have for its 
object the attainment of that civilization and pro¬ 
sperity to which the country, from its geographical 
position, great fertility, and unbounded resources, may 
so justly look forward. 
The superiority of the people in social habits and in 
the amenities of life over their neighbours could not 
fail to strike any one who had travelled in the adja¬ 
cent republics of Central America. It was not in the 
neatly-kept church and well-ordered school alone that 
the ameliorated condition of the people could be traced, 
but in the consistent application of the religious in¬ 
struction taught by the Moravian missionaries. 
These good men were not without their troubles, 
for the ruler of the country in which their lot was 
cast was a source of great anxiety to them. He pro¬ 
fessed to be a Christian, and was unquestionably the 
man of all others, living in Mosquito, who had re¬ 
ceived the best education, but his conduct was a per¬ 
petual scandal to them. He could not be induced to 
attend church, and fell an easy victim to the slightest 
temptation of indulging in more wine or spirits than 
was good for him. Poor king ! he was a disappointed 
man, utterly wasted and thrown away. After the 
death of his guardian, Mr. Walker, who seems really 
to have had the advancement and prosperity of Mos¬ 
quito at heart, he soon found that left to himself he had 
not force of character to cope with the many adverse 
circumstances by which he was surrounded, and that 
he was almost openly made a tool of for political or 
selfish purposes. It is therefore not so much to be 
