a rock, with such force that we were nearly all thrown down, but the strong canoe was uninjured, although no common boat could have stood the shock without being staved in. Having determined to go up the river in this boat, we took provisions with us for the voyage, and one of the negroes agreed to act as cook. Having arranged everything, and breakfasted with my kind friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hollenbeck, I bade them adieu, and settled myself into the small space in the canoe that I expected to occupy for six days. Captain Anderson took the helm, the "Caribs" dipped their paddles into the water, and away we glided into a narrow channel amongst long grass and rushes that almost touched us on either side. Greytown, with its neat white houses, and feathery palms, and large-leaved bread-fruit-trees, was soon shut out from our view, and our boatmen plying their paddles with the greatest dexterity and force, made the canoe shoot along through the still water. Soon we emerged into a wider channel where a stronger stream was running, and now we coasted along close to the shore to avoid the strength of the current. The banks at first were low and marshy and intersected by numerous channels; the principal tree was a long, coarseleaved palm, and there were great beds of wild cane and grass, amongst which we occasionally saw curious green lizards, with leaf-like expansions, which like those on the leaf-insects assimilated them in appearance to the vegetation amongst which it sought its prey. we proceeded up the river, the banks gradually became higher and drier, and we passed some small plantations of bananas and plantains made in clearings in the As Ch. II.] COLOLAI ALY forest, which LOW CREEA fa dirty hammocks and and salt seg i Their plantain patch and was river suffice to keep them fire and ma At seven o'clock which carries of the greater part of the San Juan to the sea. Thi Greytown, but only disen : the sea, and is near the head of the be the so mentioned. The bird ve man body dv down past Greytown, and kept the LT I LA but a few years ago, da bom to the greatly enlarged and deepened the Colorado Channel, and sing then year of per the fer town harbour has been ting 1873) there is twelve feet of waDES Colorado in the height of the Greytown the cult of the river is some T altogether. The merchants at Gagnon tame enter tained the project of dredging on the dense s but now that the river Las and a macer vir 1. sea by the Colorado this would be a berende it would cost much less money to move the to the Colorado, and then by dredding the bar the a fine harbour might easily be made bus md mms the Colorado is in Costa Rica, the Greytown branch in Nicaragua, and there are constant bickerings between the two states respecting the outlet of this fine river, which makes any well-considered scheme for the improvement of it impracticable at present. A sensible solution of the difficulty, would be a federation of the two small republics, but the heads of the political parties in the two countries see in this a danger to their petty ambitions, and will not risk the step, and so the boundary question remains an open one, threatening at any moment to plunge the two countries into an impoverishing war. If the Colorado were not to be interfered with by man, it would, in the course of ages, carry down great quantities of mud, sand, and trunks of trees, and gradually form sand-banks at its mouth, pushing out the delta further and further at this point, until it was greatly in advance of the rest of the coast; the river would then break through again by some nearer channel, and the Colorado would be silted up as the Lower San Juan is being at present. The numerous half-filled-up channels and long lagoons throughout the delta show the various courses the river has at different times taken. Our boatmen paddled on until nine o'clock, when we anchored in the middle of the stream, which was here about one hundred yards wide. Distant as we were from the shores, we were not too far for the mosquitoes, which came off in myriads to the banquet upon our blood. Sleep for me was impossible, and to add to the discomfort, at midnight the rain commenced to come. down in torrents. We had an old tarpaulin with us, Ch. II.] BOAT JOURNEY UP THE SAN JUAN. 15 but it was full of holes, and let in the water in little streams, so that I was soon soaked to the skin. Altogether, with the streaming wet and the mosquitoes, it was one of the most uncomfortable nights I have ever passed. The waning moon was sufficiently high at four o'clock to allow us to bring the long dreary night to an end, and to commence paddling up the river again. As the day broke the rain ceased, the mists cleared away, our spirits revived, and we forgot our discomforts of the night in admiration of the beauties of the river. The banks were hidden by a curtain of creeping and twining plants, many of which bore beautiful flowers, and the greenery was further varied here and there by the white stems of the cecropia trees. Now and then we passed more open spots, affording glimpses each into the forest, where grew, in the dark shade, slender-stemmed palms and beautiful tree-ferns, contrasting with the great leaves of the Heliconia. At seven we breakfasted on a sand-bank, and got our clothes and blankets dried. There were numerous tracks of alligators, but it was too early to look for their eggs in the sand; a month later, in March, when the river falls, they are found in abundance, and eaten by the canoe-men. At noon we reached the point where the Seripiqui, a river coming down from the interior of Costa Rica, joins the San Juan about thirty miles above Greytown. The Seripiqui is navigable by canoes for about twenty miles from this point, and then commences a rough mountain muletrack to San José, the capital of Costa Rica. We paddled on all the afternoon with little change in the river. At eight we anchored for the night, and although it rained heavily again, I was better prepared for it, and, coiling myself up under an umbrella beneath the tarpaulin, managed to sleep a little. We started again before daylight, and at ten stopped at a small clearing for breakfast. I strolled back a little way into the gloomy forest, but it was not easy to get along on account of the undergrowth and numerous climbing plants that bound it together. I saw one of the large olive-green and brown mot-mots (Momotus marti), sitting up on a branch of a tree, moving its long curious tail from side to side, so that it was nearly at right angles to its body. I afterwards saw other species in the forests and savannahs of Chontales. They all have several characters in |