Chap. XXIII— B. P-] STB0NG AND WEAK DOLLAES. 379 
that the men had to work day and night, was not a 
very exorbitant charge. It was, however, four times 
as much as any resident would have paid; but the 
amateur traveller on the Blewfields river is a rara 
avis , and it is not to be wondered at if he leaves a 
little of his plumage behind. 
The term u strong dollar ” may, perhaps, require 
some explanation. There are two sorts of dollars in 
use throughout the country, the strong and the weak; 
the former is the American silver dollar, worth ten 
dimes, fifty pence, or 4s. 2d.) the latter is the mongrel 
dollar of the interior, considered to be only worth 
eight dimes, forty pence, 3 s. 4 d .,—the present value, 
by the bye, of the paper dollar of the United States 
in its depreciated currency. Future visitors to Cen¬ 
tral America will do well to remember this fact, as 
payment will always be enforced in strong dollars, 
unless the contrary is specially understood; and I 
need scarcely say that the difference is no trifle when 
large sums are involved. 
The first thing I set my canoe-crew to work upon 
was to make a chowpa, or roof, over that part of the 
canoe in which I intended to take up my quarters. 
The materials of which this covering is usually made 
are now very scarce at Blewfields, so that I had to 
send two of the men in a canoe to cut the necessary 
quantity. The traveller should be very careful about 
the construction of this roof, which is to shelter him 
from the sun by day and the very heavy dews by 
night, or from the rain in the rainy season; in fact, it 
is his house, and deserves the greatest attention, which 
