Chap. IV. INDIAN HOSPITALITY. 61 
beauty. At noon I rested at the habitation of an Indian 
family. Their little hut in the woods was surrounded by 
a selection of the rarest and most distinguished flowering 
shrubs of the country. This, as I have already observed, 
is a characteristic taste of the Indian population of Nica- 
ragua. Near their habitations I have seen some plants 
and flowers of extraordinary beauty, which I observed 
nowhere else, neither in a wild nor in a cultivated state, 
and which it might even be of some historical interest to 
study as to their native region. I was very politely 
received by the female inhabitants, no men being present, 
a dinner of eggs, chocolate, plantains, and oranges was 
served up in a clean and decent manner, and when, on 
taking leave, I proposed payment, I was told that it had 
been given u de carino" out of hospitality. 
