116 EXCURSION TO CHONTALES. Book I. 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
An Excursion to the Province of Chontales and to Upper Mosquitia — Estero 
Panaloya — The Jicarales — Masapa — Savanas on Fire — Parallel Chains 
— Juigalpa — Opals in Nicaragua — Old Indian Fortifications — The Gold 
Region — The Aquilucho — Minerals — Acoyapa — Snakes in Nicaragua — 
A beautiful Species of Spoonbill — The Supa, or Pijivaye — The Nancite 
— The Edge of the Table-land — Hydrographical Remarks — Change of 
Scenery — View from the Summit — Climate of the Table- land — The 
Woolwa Indians and the Ancient Chontalli — Village of Lovago and its 
Population — Aztec Colonies — Manners of the Woolwas — Hacienda de San 
Jose' — Nicaraguan Curassows — A White Harpy. 
On the 2 1 st of May a party of four, of which I formed 
one, started from Granada on a trip to the province or 
district of Chontales, This name is given to the country 
extending from the north-eastern shores of the lake to the 
table-land of Upper Mosquitia. 
The ride in the cool air of the morning along the smooth 
sand beach of the lake was refreshing and delightful. I 
know nothing in natural scenery to be compared with the 
beauty of a fine morning in Nicaragua. We had to follow 
the beach for a distance of twenty miles in a northerly 
direction. Our horses, moving at a quick travelling pace, 
kept close to the water's edge, where the sand was moist, 
and consequently forming a firm bottom. Their hoofs 
were bathed from time to time by a wave, and a better and 
more pleasant road could not be imagined. Flocks of 
plovers, avocettes, snipes, sandpipers, and other birds of 
the waterside, ran before the feet of our horses. To our 
left was the bush, where parrots were chattering on the 
boughs of every tree. To our right the view passed over 
