350 
DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. XXI.—B. P. 
this operation a great quantity of dark hrown water 
is squeezed out, and the rubber, which has now as¬ 
sumed its elasticity, is in flat round pieces of a quar¬ 
ter to an eighth of an inch thick by twenty inches 
in diameter, and perfectly white. The weight of one 
of these pieces (‘ tortillas ’ the men call them) is about 
seven pounds. The tortillas are hung up in a shed 
on poles to dry, which in fair weather takes about a 
fortnight; the rubber assumes then its dark colour, and 
weighs two pounds a piece. If the “ Achuca ” is not to 
be had in the neighbourhood, two third-parts of water 
are mixed with one-third of the extracted milk in a 
barrel, and this has to remain undisturbed for twelve 
hours; after this time the water is slowly discharged, 
and the residuum—a dark cream—is put in vats made 
in the ground, and left to dry; the drying process 
taking from twelve to fourteen days. 
As mentioned in the preceding chapter, the stay of 
the king at Greytown was very brief; there were, in 
fact, many reasons why it should not be prolonged; 
and, accordingly, we once more left that u weeping” 
locality for Blewfields. “ Ah ! ” said the king, when 
we were fairly under weigh, “ I breathe more freely 
as we leave that detestable place behind. I go there 
as seldom as possible, and always depart with delight; 
nevertheless, if you really think that you can do any¬ 
thing to advance the interests of my poor country by 
means of a transit, pray try; but I am heartily sick 
of the subject, and have no faith in any such specula¬ 
tion. The Nicaraguans will only endeavour to make 
capital out of you; the Yankees will certainly oppose 
