Chap. VII. VIOLENT ATTACK OF FEVER. 95 
for me, and after a dinner of wild pigeons, which I shot 
from the next tree, I felt quite comfortable. Soon, how- 
ever, an extraordinary sleepiness came over me, and when 
I awoke towards the evening I was shivering from an attack 
of fever, which became very violent during the night. 
The hut had only one room, occupied by several women, 
one of whom had the fever likewise ; and no accommodations 
remaining for me within, I had to pass the night on a 
wooden bench in the open air, and for several hours re- 
mained in a delirious state. In the morning I took six 
grains of quinine, after which I had no return of the attack, 
but my strength was broken to such a degree that I felt 
compelled to abandon my original intention of ascending 
the summit of the peak of Ometepe. 
The wind had been exceedingly high during the night, 
and large branches of trees were broken down by it around 
the house. The sky at the same time was cloudless, and 
the moon and stars shone in all their brilliancy. This 
strange contrast is a main feature in the climate of Nica- 
ragua during the dry season. I took a walk on the beach 
in the morning. It was strewed with three different 
species of bivalve shells ejected by the waves during the 
night. At one place the lake was so full of fish that a boy 
in a single throw of his net caught enough for the dinner 
of the whole family. The fishes belonged to the two 
species called Mojarra and Guapote, which are always to 
be bought in the market of Granada. I sent these two 
and four other species of fishes from the lake of Nicaragua 
to my friend Professor Agassiz, and they all proved to 
be hitherto undescribed, representing six new species and 
two new genera. 
The island has two villages and a number of scattered 
habitations like that which afforded me, I cannot say a 
