120 
JUIGALPA. 
Book I. 
around the lakes. The hour was late in the day, and we 
were still at a considerable distance from Juigalpa. Since 
that time, however, I have seen the map of Nicaragua, 
published by Don Fermin Ferrer, 1 in which "ruins" are 
indicated between Acoyapa and San Migueleto ; and, from 
this fact as well as from the descriptions of certain old 
Indian fortifications in Guatemala, given by the Abbe 
Brasseur de Bourbourg, I have little doubt that what I saw 
from a distance on the road west of Juigalpa, were the 
remains of some old Indian stronghold. 
Before we could reach Juigalpa a torrent of rain poured 
down upon us, making the mountain path so slippery that 
we had considerable trouble in descending into the valley. 
The town is situated at the foot of one of the highest 
mountains in the chain, which is seen from a great distance 
in the lower country as well as on the table-land, though I 
should not estimate its altitude at more than five thousand 
feet. It is steep and rocky, and the greater part covered 
with forest. The country around this mountain, which I 
may call the Cerro de Juigalpa, has the reputation of being 
rich in gold, and a company of inhabitants of Juigalpa and 
Granada had begun to work a. mine at the sources of the 
Rio Mica, and had accumulated a large quantity of a 
yellow substance of which they were uncertain whether it 
was gold or not. The samples shown to me by a North 
American, who introduced himself as the director of the 
mine, were iron pyrites included in calcareous spar, which, 
according to the general geological character of this section 
of country, should be supposed to form a vein in the por- 
1 Geographical Map of the Eepublic 
of Nicaragua, by Fermin Ferrer, 1855 
= — without an indication of the place of 
publication, which, however, may be 
justly supposed to be New York. The 
map, with the exception of a few spe- 
cialties, is without peculiar value. 
