Chap. VIII. SHAKES IN NICARAGUA. 123 
With regard to the name of this stream, I am in an 
uncertainty of which I cannot tell whether it is my own 
fault or not. As I understood the people of Acoyapa, 
they called their river Rio Mico, the Monkey River. But 
it must be remarked that a river of the same name is on 
the other side of the principal chain, running in an 
opposite direction and being a tributary of the Bluefield. 
Fermin Ferrer, in his maps of Nicaragua above men- 
tioned, and Mr. Squier in the map to his " Notes on 
Central America," call the river of Acoyapa Rio Poderoso. 
According to Mr. Buschmann, the name Acoyapa signifies 
"a place where the water expands;" from the Aztec 
words atl, water, and coyahua, to spread. I cannot see, 
however, how this corresponds with the nature of the 
locality, unless it be referred to an extensive jicaral in the 
valley below the town. 
We were received in the house of the first Alcalde, who 
we found to be a very intelligent an,d obliging person, to 
whom I am indebted for much information respecting the 
independent Indians of the neighbouring district of Mos- 
quitia. On one of the nights we passed in his house, 
illumined by the light of the moon, a companion of mine 
called me to see a large snake passing between the wooden 
bars of the window into our room. The reader must be 
aware that in the whole State of Nicaragua, and I suppose 
throughout Central America in general, glass windows are 
unknown. A rat then was seen running up the wall, to 
hide itself under the thatch of the house, which, as there 
was no ceiling between, we had immediately over us. 
The snake followed it with a spring, and soon the scream- 
ing of the rat told us that it was caught by its enemy. 
This snake was of a species called ratonera, or rat-snake, 
and being totallv harmless and even useful, is tolerated in 
