94 THE ISLETAS — INDIAN GKATITUDE. Book L 
Alongside the canoe of this obstinate fellow lay the most 
pitiable nutshell in which a man could dream of navigating 
a rough water, such as the lake of Nicaragua, during the 
season of the trade-wind — a hollow tree, just large enough 
to carry two or three persons with a few dozens of water- 
melons, cocoa-nuts, or other fruits. It was occupied by 
an old man and a young boy. When I asked the former 
whether he was willing to take me to the island he made 
all kinds of objections, but ultimately consented, and, not 
to give him time to repent, I took immediate possession of 
his craft. 
It was late in the afternoon when we left the playa of 
Granada, and our course, as far as the point of the isletas, 
being straight in the face of the wind, the old Indian and his 
grandson had to work hard at the oars to reach that locality 
before night. Here we spent some hours, till the moon 
had risen and the wind calmed a little. From that point 
onwards our course was a south-easterly one, so that the 
use of a sail became possible. The lake was very rough, 
and when, a little before noon on the next day, we arrived 
at the island, I had been in a continual bath for five or six 
hours, and felt so cold from the wind to which I had been 
exposed all the time, that I ordered the Indian to put me 
on shore at the first human habitation. When I paid him 
the dollar agreed upon for my passage, and wanted to add 
some reales as a token of my satisfaction, he refused to 
accept the additional sum. I then presented it to the boy, 
upon which the old man clasped me in his arms with 
gratitude. 
I was well received by the inhabitants of a hut which, 
concealed between trees and shrubs, was situated a few 
hundred steps from the water. Here I dried my clothes, 
while some chocolate, cultivated on the spot, was prepared 
