24 THE INDIOS BLANCOS, OE GUATUSOS. Book I. 
is spread, studded, in the immediate neighbourhood, with 
some green islands of diminutive dimensions, and extend- 
ing, in a north-westerly direction, as far as the eye can 
reach. To the left, a low wooded shore begins at the 
outlet of the lake, and continues in that direction till it is 
lost in the distance of the western horizon. A chain of 
high mountains, cast in a shroud of dark forests, rises in its 
rear, covering an unknown region of Costarica. It com- 
prises several active volcanoes, which on late occasions, as 
in 1854, have illumined the surface of the lake by their 
flames and red-hot streams of lava. To the right, the 
view does not extend beyond the nearest hills ; but, at a 
short distance on the lake, it ranges over a long line of 
broken eminences, with the mountain chain of Chontales in 
their rear, bordering like a wall the table-land of Upper 
Mosquitia. Hill and dale, forests and savanas, appear in 
endless variety in this direction. On the distant horizon 
in the centre of the view the two cones of the island of 
Ometepe are seen, faintly traced, and as their forms are 
lifted up by refraction, they seem to swim over the 
water. 
At the very spot where the San Juan river leaves the 
lake, the Rio Frio enters it. This is a river coming down 
from the mountains of Costarica, through an absolute 
wilderness which, it is asserted, has never been trodden 
by the foot of a civilized man. The dense forests of this 
region are inhabited by a warlike tribe of Indians who 
refuse to have any intercourse with the rest of the world. 
They are said to be of very fair complexion, a statement 
which has caused the appellation of Indios blancos, or 
Guatusos — the latter name being that of an animal of 
reddish-brown colour, and intended to designate the colour 
of their hair. It is stated that not only do they not allow 
