nearly upon me. We soon found it was our own gun, which had been given to Rito to carry. He had strapped it behind his saddle, and one of the other mules had come up and rubbed against it and let it off. The poor horse was only four feet from the muzzle, and the contents were lodged in its loin. A large wound was made, from which the blood flowed in a great stream, until Velasquez got some burnt cloth and stanched it. Fortunately the charge in the gun was a very light one, and no vital part was touched. We arranged with the muleteers to take our cargo to Juigalpa for us, and determined to leave Rito behind to lead the horse gently to Pital. I may here say that the horse, which was a very good one, ultimately recovered.

At this house the woman had eight children, the eldest, I think, not more than twelve years of age. The man who passed as her husband was the father of the youngest only. Amongst the lower classes of Nicaragua men and women often change their mates. In such cases the children remain with the mother, and take their surname from her. Baptism is considered an indispensable rite, but the marriage ceremony is often dispensed with; and I did not notice that those who lived together without it suffered in the estimation of their neighbours. The European ladies at Santo Domingo were sometimes visited by the unmarried matrons of the village, who were very indignant when they found that there were scruples about receiving them. They were so used to their own social observances, that they thought those of the Europeans unwarrantable prudery.

Before turning out the mules, Rito got some limes and squeezed the juice out upon their feet, just above the

Ch. XVII.]

BITE OF MYGALE.

323

hoof. He did this to prevent them from being bitten by the tarantula spider, a species of mygale that makes its nest in the ground, and was said to abound in this locality. Many of the mules are bitten in the feet on the savannahs by some venomous animal. The mule bitten immediately goes lame, and will not be cured in less than six months, as the hoof comes off, and has to be renewed. The natives say that the mygale is the aggressor, that it gets on the mule's foot to bite off the hairs to line its nest with, and that if not disturbed it does not injure the mule; but that if the latter tries to dislodge it, it bites immediately. I do not know whether this story be true or not, and I had no opportunity of examining a mygale's nest to see if it was lined with hairs; but Professor Westwood informs me that all that he knows are lined with fine silk. Possibly the mules, when rambling about, step on the spider, and are then bitten by it. Velasquez told me that when he was a boy he and other children used to amuse themselves by pulling the mygale out of its hole, which is about a foot deep in the ground. To get it out they fastened a small ball of soft wax to a piece of string, and lowered it down the hole, jerking it up and down until the spider got exasperated so far as to bury its formidable jaws in the wax, whereby it could be drawn to the surface.

We had part of the kitchen to sleep in, and were so tired, and getting so accustomed to sleep anywhere, that we had a good night's rest, rose early next morning, and were soon on the road again, leaving Rito to bring on the lamed horse. We had a good view of the rock of San Lorenzo, a high cliff capping a hill, and resembling the rocks of Cuapo and Peña Blanca, but with less per

JorM

pendicular sides. About this part, which lay high, as well as where we stayed the night before, there had been rains; but on the low lands lying between the two places there had been none. Our road again lay over grassy plains and low, lightly-timbered hills, with very few houses-probably not more than one in a league. The country was now greener; they had had showers of rain, and fine grass had sprung up. Passing as we did from a dried-up district into one covered with verdure, feelings were awakened akin to those with which in the temperate zone we welcome the spring after a long winter.

As we rode on, the grass increased; there were swampy places in the hollows, and now and then very muddy spots on the road. On every side the prospect was bounded by long ranges of hills-some of them precipitous, others covered to the summits with dark foliaged trees, looking nearly black in the distance. About noon we came in sight of the Amerrique range, which I recognised at once, and knew that we had reached the Juigalpa district, though still several leagues distant from the town. Travelling on without halting we arrived at the hacienda of San Diego at four o'clock. Velasquez expected to find in the owner an old acquaintance of his, and we had intended staying with him for the night, as our mules were tired out; but on riding up to the house we found it untenanted, the doors thrown down, and cattle stabling in it. We pushed on again. I thought I could make La Puerta, a hacienda three leagues nearer Libertad than Juigalpa, and as the road to it branched off from that to Juigalpa soon after passing San Diego, and Velasquez had to go to the latter place to make arrangements for getting our luggage

Ch. XVII.]

TOILSOME JOURNEY.

325

sent on, I parted with him, and pushed on alone. Soon
after I crossed rather a deep river, and in a short time
my mule, which had shown symptoms of distress, became
almost unable to proceed, so that it was only with the
greatest difficulty I could get along at all. After
leading—almost dragging-it slowly for about a mile I
reached a small hut, where they told me that it was
three leagues to La Puerta, and only one to Juigalpa.
The road to Puerta was all up hill, and it was clearly
impossible for me to reach it that night, so I turned off
across the savannahs, in the direction of Juigalpa, wish-
ing I had not separated from Velasquez. My poor beast
was dragged along with much labour, and I was getting
thoroughly knocked up myself. Several small temporary
huts were passed, in which lived families that had come
down from the mountains, bringing with them their
cows to feed on the plains during the wet season.
I was
tempted to put up at one of these, but all were full of
people, and I persevered on until it got quite dark.
Just then I arrived at a hacienda near the river, and en-
gaged a young fellow to get his horse and ride with me
to the town. When my mule had a companion it went
better, and being very tired I got on its back again.
It was extremely dark, and I should not have found the
road without a guide. We passed over the small plain,
where the broken statues lie, but my guide, who had
lived all his life within a mile of them, had never heard
of them. My mule fell heavily with me in a rocky pass,
but I escaped with a slight bruise. We had great trouble
to get it on its legs again, but ultimately reached
Juigalpa about nine o'clock.

Next morning I awoke with a dreadful headache and

ཀ

pain in my back, brought on either by the fatigue of the day before, or by having been tempted to eat some halfripe guayavas when coming across the plains tired and hungry. I lay in the hammock until ten o'clock, and then feeling a little better, got on my mule and started. I was so ill as to be obliged to hold on to the pommel of my saddle, and several times to get off and lie down. We had brought some "tiste" with us made from chocolate and maize, and drinks of this relieved me. I at last reached Libertad at four o'clock, and went to bed immediately. Having fasted all day in place of taking medicine, I rose pretty well next morning, and we rode through the forest to the mines, reaching them at noon on the 29th July, after an absence of nineteen days.