all its natural wealth, its perpetual summer, its magnificent lakes, and its teeming soil, as a place of emigration for isolated families, and even for larger schemes of colonisation I do not think it so suitable as our own colonies and the United States. A large body of emigrants would carry with them the healthful influence of the good and industrious, and the spirit of emulation and progress might be preserved if the community could be kept together, but I fear this could not be. After a while the tastes of one individual would lead in one, those of another in an opposite direction. Where all were free to choose, the idle would go away from the influences that urged them to industry, the sensual from the restraints of morality. Many will, however, smile at the objection I have to emigration to Nicaragua, when they perceive that it is founded only on the ease with which people can live in plenty there. There is one form of colonisation that will be successful, and that is the gradual moving down southward of the people of the United States. When the destiny of Mexico is fulfilled, with one stride the Anglo-American will bound to the Isthmus of Panama, and Central America will be filled with cattle estates, and with coffee, sugar, indigo, cotton, and cacao plantations. Railways will then keep up a healthful and continuous intercourse with the enterprising North, and the sluggard and the sensual will not be able to stand before the competition of the vigorous and virtuous. Nor will the Anglo-American long be stayed by the Isthmus, in his progress southward. Unless some such catastrophe happens as a few years ago threatened to cover North America with standing armies as in Europe, which God forbid, not many centuries will roll

over before the English language will be spoken from the frozen soil of the far north to Tierra del Fuego in the south.

The fine steamer that the enterprise of Mr. Hollenbeck had placed on the lake, and which he had named the Elizabeth after his amiable wife, had been wrecked a short time before I left the country, and Mr, Hollenbeck's own health had greatly suffered by the labours he undertook in endeavouring to get the vessel off the sunken rock on which it had struck. Notwithstanding this and other misfortunes, enough to try a man's mettle to its foundation, his native pluck carried him through all his difficulties, and he was away to the States to get new vessels and blow another blast at fortune's iron gates. Whilst I write these last few pages I learn that a new steamer ploughs the lake, and that his transit service is ao-ain in complete working order. Success attend him.

The result of the wreck of the Elizctbeth, so far as I was concerned, was that I had to take a passage down the lake to San Carlos in a bungo packet, so full as to necessitate closer acquaintanceship with many amiable Nicaraguans than was agreeable to my insular prejudices. "When in the middle of the night an old woman tried to roll me off the soft plank I had found for myself into a litter of crying babies, I indulged in some bitter reflections on the race, that, I am happy to say, were as transitory as the inconvenience to which I was put. At San Carlos we changed to the river steamer under my old friend Captain Birdsall. As I have already described the scenery of the San Juan in the account of my journey up, I shall not repeat the story, but simply state

that we reached Greytown on the i ith September, and on the 1 6th embarked on the West Indian Mail Packet. I arrived in England within a month, to find my native town (Newcastle) wealthier and dirtier than ever, with thousands of furnaces belching out smoke and poisonous gases; to find the people of England fretting about the probable exhaustion of her coal-fields in a few hundred years, actually dreading the time when she will no longer be the smithy of the world, but the centre of the science, philosophy, literature, and art of race whose sons all over thethe Anglo-Saxon race—that globe will then look up to her with loving reverence as the mother of nations, the coloniser of the world, the pioneer of freedom, progress, and morality.

;

INDEX,

Acacias, 46, 156 Antonio, San, valley, 126 Acarus, 209 Ants, 8, 17, 181, 219, 221, 314, Acclimature, 70 315 Achras sapota, 116 Ants, army, 17; assisting each Acoyapo, 48, 386 other, 26; attending leaf- Acrocinus longinianus, 34 hoppers, 227; attending scale- Adiantum, 37 insects, 225; ant bridge, 27: Aguardiente, 63, 231 communicate by scent, 23 Aguasco, 202 cows, 226; foraging, 17; Ahuacatl, 107 hunting, 115; inhabiting bull's- Airey, Sir George, 305 horn thorn, 218; leaf-cutters, Alligators, 3, 9, 15, 45, 159 71-84; reason in, 27, 76, 83; Alloy, 88 sagacity of, 83; stinging, 115; Alluvial deposits, 86 thrushes, 20 gold, 263 Apands, 242 Amalgam, 93 Aphida;, 226 Amalgamation process, 93 Armadillos, 46, 84, 313 America, western side of tropical, Arrastres, 93 food of people, 55 Articulata, 27, 28 American race, derivation of, Artificial selection, 207 371 Artigua river, 106, 147 Amerrique range, the, 155, 324 Arum, 6, 58 AmpuUari, 331 Asses, 48 Amusements, Nicaraguan, 235 Ateles, 341 Ancylus, 331, 333 _ Atlantis, 270, 365 Aneimea ohlongifolia, 196 Auriferous quartz, 87, 95, 96 hirsuta, 196 veins of, in Queens- Andagoya, Pascual de, 360; his land, 96 account of Nicaragua, 360; on Australia, hot winds in, 305 chicha-drinking, 279 wasps in, 134 Angelot, j\I.. on fused rock, 97 whirlwinds in, 303 Angrcecum sesquipedale, 133 Avila, Gil Gonzales de, 358 Anolis, 339, 340 Avocado, 107 Antigonon leptopus, 4, 239 trees, 66 Antiquities, 50 Axes, ancient Mexican, 41

Indian, 50, 165 stone, 154 Antonio, San, lode, 89 Aztecs, 155, 363

Baldwin, J. D., 362 Bread-fruit, 4 Biiinboo thickets, 179 British Guiana, food of the Bananas, 12, 67 people of, 55 Baptism, a pre-Christian rite, 168 Bromelia, 184 Bates, Mr. H. W., on instinct in Bruce on whirlwinds in Africa, wasps, 135; on life under the 302

Equator, 172; on the Longi- Buccaneers, 241, 255 corn Coleoptera of Chontales, Bugs, 71

Nicaragua, 379; on mimetic injecting poisonous fluid, forms, 8; on mimetic re- 128 semblances. 320, 384; on Bullock, Mr. W., on the use of social birds, 123; on wings rattles in Mexico, 154 of Moi'phos, 229 Bull's-horn thorn, 23, 218, 290 Bathing places of humming- wasps attending glands birds, 137 of, 220 Bats, 104, 174 Bungos, 31 Beak of birds, 197 Buprcstidce, 314 Bees, 320 Burial customs of the ancient Beetles, 34, 69, 104, 143, 173, Indians, 165 318 Butterflies, 7, 299, 3S2 habits of, 114; the harle- instinct of, 109; migra-quin, 34; killing bug, 127; tions of, 152; in Rio Plata, on Pena Blanca, 149 153; in Patagonia, 153; Mr. Beggars in Nicaragua, scarcity Darwin on, 153; Mr. R. of, 160 Spruce on, 153 Begonia, 58 Bell given to church at Libertad, 151 Benito, San, 126 Cabbage, 70 lode, 89 Cacao, 4, 116, 345 Bermudez, Don Dolores, 48 Cactuses, 45, 158 Birds accompanying an army of Californian pitcher-plant, 184 ants, 20 Callidryas, 1 08 fertilising flowers, 130 Calliste larvata, 128 nests, 22, 289 • lavino', 128 rejecting Heliconii, 316 Colowjction speciosum, 34 Bittern, 158 Calo2:)teron basalts (Klug), 317 Bland, Mr., on the distribution vicinum (Deyrolles), 317 of land shells in the West Canal, interoceanic, 36

Indies, 267 Candelera, El, 329 Blewfields river, 52, 62 Candolle, Alph. de, on fresh- Boulder clay, 247, 260, 291 water productions, 331 Boundary question between Ni- Canis caraibicus (Lesson), 206 caragua and Costa Rica, 14 inga (Tschudi), 206 Bourbourg, Brasseur de, 357 Canoe, 1 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abbe, on Cape Gracias a Dios, 3 the Teo Amoxtli, 271 Capsicums, 70 Brazil, North-east, food of the Captive Indians, 40 people of, 55 Carabidse, 149, 332 Brazil, migratory butterflies of, Carbolic acid, 76 153 Carca Indians, 338

INDEX. 39:

Carca river, 147 Chontales and Costa Rica, connec- Caribbean Sea, carving on rocks tion of forest forms, 377, 378 on the banks of rivers running Chontals, 155 into, 53 Christians, Icelandic, 168 Caribs, 2, 12, 53, 55, 204, 364- Cicada, 312 366 Cinerarj' urns, 164 food of the, 55 Citron trees, 65 Carlos, San, 35, 36 Citrus auraiitlum, 75 river, 35 Icmonum, 74 Carrots, 70 mcdicus, 75 Castillo, captiire of, by Nelson, Clarke, Mr. Hyde, 366 31 Claro, Santo, 329 Castilloa clastiea, 33 Clausilia, 333 Caterpillars, 71 Clavigero, 67; on the Xoloitz- Catlin, G., on traditions of the cuintli, 205 deluge, among the American Climate of Nicaragua, 235

Indians, 272 of Santo Domingo, 104 Cattle, 48 Club moss, 238 raising, 308 Coccidse, 222, 226 Cebus alhifrons, 156, 341 Cockatoo of Australia, 196 white-faced, iiS; anecdotes Cockchafer, 127 about, 119 Cock-fighting, 49 Cecropia, 58, 222 Cockroaches, 17, 174, 318 Cedar, ii, 34 instinct of, 109 Cedrela odorata, 1 1, 34 Cocoa-nut palms, 2 Celeus castaneus, 123 Cocos, 256 Cement, 253 Cocos butyracca, 232 Centipedes, 22, 174 Ccelosis hiloha, 84 Central America, states of, ab- Coffee, 4; plants, 60 sence of patriotism in, 343; Coleoptera, 315, 332, 379 civil war and revolutionary Colocasia cscidcnta, 70 outbreaks in, 343, 344; Colorado river, 2, 13, 14 tyrannical oligarchies in, 343 Colour, differences in, correlated Centrurus pucherani (Mahl), 123 with immunity from disease, Chachalakes, 121 183 Chicchera, 48 Columbus, Christopher, 3 Chieha, 232, 279, 293 Colymbetes, 331 Children, great numbers of, 289 Comayagua, plain of, 378 Childs, Col. O. W., survey for Comelapa, 107 canal, 35 Comiens, 18 Chilote, 54 Comoapa, 107, 199 Chioties, 66 Concordia, 292 Chirosciphia lineata, 162 Condego, 286 Chlorophancs guatemalensis, 12S Congo monkeys, 35 Chocoyo river, 30S Consuelo lode, 89 Choluans, 364 Contrast between the ancient and Chontales, birds of, 377 present inhabitants of central insects, 379 America, 171 derived from Chontali, Coral snake, 320 362 tree, 345 Mining Co., 60, 65, 88 Cordova, Hernando de, 341, 359

Coremia hirtipes, 3S0 Defoliation of trees, 72 Corroisive sublimate, 78 Degeneration of inhabitants of Corruption of names of places, Central America, 171, 177, 344 107 Deliathis nivea (Bates), 180 Cortess, 116 Delta of the San Juan, i Cosaguina, volcano of, 350 Deluge, traditions of the, 272 Cosmisoma Titania, 3 So Denudation, 263 Couvade, the custom of the, 366- Depilto, 256 369 Desmiphora fasciculata, 7 Coyotes, 48 Deterioration of lodes in depth, Cranes, 3 90 Crantor, on the island Atlantis, Diabase, 96 271 Diaz de Castillo, on the use of Crux (jlohicera, 121 cement by the Indians, 254 Creepers, 20, 122 Dicoteles tajacu, 30 Crematofjastei', 220 Diego, San, 324 Crickets, 22 Difference between artificial and Cross, the sign of the, 16S natural selection, 207 Crosses, 166 Digitalis purpurea, 131 Cuapo, rock of, 55 Diodorus Siculus, 368 Cuba, 55 Dioryte, 96 Cuckoo-spit, 230 Diorytic intrusive rocks, 96 Curassow, 121 Diphyrama singularis (Bates), Cyanocitta melanocyanea, 238 315. n- Cybister, 332 Diriangan, 358 Cyclones, 300-307 Distribution of gold in quartz origin of, 301 veins, 91 West Indian, 306 Dogs, hairless, 205 Cyrtodeira Chontalensis, 116 Doleryte, 86 Domed nests, 291 Domingo, Santo, 60, 62, 85, 376 commissioner's house Daintree, Mr. B., on auriferous at, 66 veinstones, 96 mines at, 376 Darailly, 248 rain at, 104 Darlingtonia Califarnica, 184 watershed of, 104 Darwin on animals and plants, Dove, M. on origin of cyclones. 332; on continual varieties in 301 the same direction, 208; on Dragon-flies, 299 the effect of slight differences Drosera, 184 of colour, 182; on fertilisation Drought in Matagalpa, 288 of scarlet runner, 70; on fossil Drowning man saved bj' being maize in Peru, 54; on fresh- lassoed, 188 water molluf'ks, 334; on the Du Tertre, 366 humble bee, 132; on migrations Ducks, 44 of butterflies, 153; on natives Muscovy, 44 of Terra del Fuego, 172 whistling, 44 Decomposition of the rocks in Duncan, Prof., on the submergence the forest region, 86 of Isthmus of Darien in Mio- Deer, 252 cene times, 264 hunter, 252 Dytiscidae, 331, 332

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