Case ..-.-^. J^ -: 
 
 She/f. 
 
 '" [ — i 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 Library open for reference from 9 a. m. to 4 p. m. ; for issue and return 
 of books from 11a. m. until 2 p. m. 
 
 RULES. 
 
 1. The use of the Library is confined to employes of the Department of 
 the Interior, who must, before the first loan of a book, file with the Libra- 
 rian a certificate of identity from the Chief Clerk of the Department, or 
 of the Bureau or Oflice in which employed. 
 
 2. Before any book can be taken from the Library it must be submitted 
 to the Lil)rarian for proper registry. 
 
 3. Application for and return of books must be made in person, except 
 in cases of sickness or absence from the city. 
 
 4. Books classed as " Works of Keference" or marked * in the catalogue 
 must not be taken from the Library. 
 
 5. No person will be permitted to take more than one book at a tim&, 
 except in case of works of more than one volume when two volumes may 
 be taken at once. 
 
 6. Books must not be kept longer than two weeks unless, upon applica- 
 tion to the Librarian, the loan be renewed. Only one renewal, for not 
 longer than two weeks, permitted. Netv books will be loaned for one week, 
 and current periodicals for three days, only, without the privilege of re- 
 newal. 
 
 7. Borrowers are strictly prohibited from loaning the books drawn by 
 them to other persons, whether of the Department or not. 
 
 8. When a book has been retained beyond the period of loan its price 
 will be certified to the Disbursing Ofiicer and deducted from the salary of 
 the person withholding it. 
 
 9. Books returned will not be reissued until they have been examined 
 and replaced upon the shelves. 
 
 10. Writing or marking upon leaves or covers, folding or turning down 
 leaves, or other defacement or injury of books is strictly prohibited. 
 Books must be returned in as good condition as when received. Any book 
 injured or defaced while in possession of a borrower must be replaced by a 
 perfect copy. 
 
 1 1. In selecting books from the shelves handle carefully and replace those 
 not drawn upon the shelves from which they were taken. 
 
 12. Final payment of salary will be withheld by the Disbursing Officer 
 from employees quitting the service until he is satisfied that all books 
 charged against them at the library have been returned. 
 
 13. The Librarian is authorized to suspend or refuse the issue of books 
 to persons violating any of the above rules. 
 
 By order op the Secretary: 
 
 EDWARD M. DAWSON, 
 Chief Clerk. 
 
WELL, MY DARK FKIEND, WHO ARE YOU.' 
 
 /..f. 
 
ADVENTU 
 
 MOSQUITO SHORE 
 
 E. GEORGE SQUIER, M.A.,F.S.A. 
 
 WITH SIXTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 " Whatever sweets salute tiie northern sky, 
 With vernal lives, that blossom but to die ; 
 These here disporting, own the kindred soil. 
 Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil; 
 While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand, 
 To winnow fragrance round the smiling land." 
 
 —Goldsmith. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 WORTHINGTON CO., 747 BROADWAY 
 1891 
 
 '(• 
 
f 
 
 COPTRIGHT, 1S90, BT 
 
 FRAKK SqUIEK. 
 
 By Transfer 
 JUii 5 1907 
 
 Press of J. J. Uttle <t Co., 
 Aster Place, New York. 
 
f^ u 
 
 / / 
 
 *^•^ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jamaica, and how the Author got there — A solemn Soliloquy — An Artist 
 Tempted — Painting a Portrait — The Schooner Prince Albert — Captain and 
 Crew — Antonio — Superstitions — Gathering of the Storm — A Scene of 
 Terror — The Shipwrecli . . . 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ' El Roncador" — The Escape — Coral Cays — Scene with the Dead — A Night 
 of Fever — Delirium — Island Scenes — Turtles — A cruel Practice — Sail ho! 
 — An Encounter — Revolvers versus Knives — Departure from "El Ronca- 
 dor" — Island of Providence — A Scene of Revelry — Away for the Main- 
 land 80 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 •'"a)voach to Blnefields — An Imperial City — New Quarters — ^Mr. Hodgson 
 — The Mosquito King — " George William Clarence !" — Grog versus Gospel 
 —The " Big-Drunk" — A Mosquito Funeral — Singular Practices— Supersti- 
 tions^ An ill-fated Colony - Sad Reflections 56 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 fiama Indians —Departure from Blueflelds — Canoe Voyage — Strange Com- 
 panionship — The " Haulover" — Our first Encampment — Epicurean Epi- 
 sode—Night under the Tropics — Life on the Lagoons — Pearl Cay Lagoon 
 — Climbing after Cocoa-Nuts — A Solitary Grave — Mangroves- — Soldier 
 Crabs — Roseate Spoonbill — River "Wawashaan — Deserted Plantation — 
 Sambo Settlement— " A King-Paper" — Extraordinary Reception — Captain 
 Drummer — King's House — Vanilla Plant — Philanthropy — A Dance — 
 "Spoiled Head" — Fire-light Fishing — Night Scene 76 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Visit to the Turtle Cays— Spearing Turtle— Jumping Turtle— Return to tho 
 Lagoon— Off again— Native Indigo — Another Haulover — Tropical Tor- 
 ments—Braving the Bar— Great River— Temporal Camp — Continuous 
 Rain— Doleful Dumps -Freaks of the Flood— Rain, Rain !— Craw-Fish— 
 "El Moro"— The Manzanilla— Guavas— The Release 105 
 
Vill CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 On tho Eiver — Strong Currents — An Indian Village — A 'Woolvva "Welcome 
 — Ceremonious Eeccptioa — lielalions of the Indians — Their Habits — A 
 Tabooed Establishment — Projected Sport — Hunting the Manitus — Habits 
 cf the Animal — The Attack — Great Excitement — Successful Capture — Di- 
 vision of the Spoil — Instruments of the Chase — Another Epicurean Epi- 
 sode 122 
 
 CHAPTER VTI. 
 
 Departure — ^The Plantain-Tree — ^Bisbire — ^Nocturnal Noises — " Stirring up 
 the Animals" — ^At Sea Again — Mollusca of the Canbbean — Walpasixa — The 
 Moonlit Ocean — Prinza-pulkaKiver — Vines and Verdure — Savannahs — ^Vil- 
 lage of Quamwatla — Inhospitable Eeception — A Ketreat — ^Fatal Encoun- 
 ter — ^A Trial of Cunning — Tiopical Thunder-Slorm — ^A Second Encounter 
 —The Fight, an.l tho Triumph— Flight— Asylum in the Forest— The Ex- 
 planation 103 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Tapir Camj) — A Picturesque Eetreat — "Wild Life — Palm "Wine — Queen of tho 
 Forest — Pine Itidges — Parrots and Paroquets — A Fright — " Only a Dante" 
 — ^Trapping the Tapir — Successful Eesult — Narrow Escape — "An Aimy 
 with Banners" — Honey-^ees— Communion with Nature — Once more on 
 the Lagoons 1G3 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Lagoons of tho Mosquito Shore — Indians and Sambos — Life among the La- 
 goons — Aquatic Birds — Silk-Cotton Tree — Water Plant — Night Traveling 
 — Tongla Lagoon — ^Fishing — A Disagreeable Discovery — The Chase — Pros- 
 pect of a Fight — Successful Device — Diamond cut Diamond — Safely off — 
 "Wava Lagoon — Attack of Fever — Primitive Physic — Poisonous Eeptiles — 
 My Poyer Boy Bitten — ^Thc Cure 179 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Leave Fever Camp — ^Towkas Indians — Formal Eeception — Singular Prac- 
 tices — ^Towka Marriage — Extraordinary Ceionionies — Presents Propitia- 
 tory — Shouldering the Eespoiisibility — Marriage Festival — IIow to get 
 Drunk — The End of it — "U'ild Animals — Indian Eabbits — The Curassow — 
 Chachalaca — Gibeonite — Eiver Turtle — Savory Cooking .... 200 
 
 CHAPTER Xr. 
 
 Dnckwarra Lagoon — Aboriginal Eelics — Sandy Bay — ^Mosquito Fashions — 
 Sambos of Sanday Bay — General Peter Slam — An English Captain — ^Bru- 
 tality-Interference — A Drunken Debauch— Mishla Drink— Dances and 
 Songs — A Sukia "Woman — Opportune "Wai-ning — Hurried Departure — 
 Power of the Sukias — ^Making Mishla — A Disgusting Operation . . . 215 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cape Gracias — Its Inhabitants — Fine Savannah — Sambo Practices — ^Novel 
 iloilo of Hunting — Island of San Pio — Mangrove Oystei-s— Tiial of the Su- 
 kia— A Mysterious Seeress — Superstitions of the Sambos— Wulaslia and 
 Lewire — Character and Habits of the Mosquitos — Drunkenness — Decrease 
 — Festival of the Dead — New Plans — lUver Wanks or Segovia — Iguanas — 
 Armadillos 234 
 
 CHAPTER XII r. 
 
 Hivcr Bocay — Xew Scenery — ^End of the Savannahs — Indian Tillage — ^The 
 Messenger — A Night Adventure — Sanctuary of the Sukia — Hoxom-Bal, 
 the Mother of the Tigers — Mysteries — Ruins among the Mountains — Seri- 
 ous Impressions — A Talc of Wanks Eiver — Harry F. and the Padre of 
 Pantasma 251 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Up the Cape River — Imposing Scenery — Storm among the Mountains — In- 
 fluence of the Moon's Rays — Eiver Tirolas — Mountain Streams — Pictu- 
 resque Embarcadero — A Sweet Encampment — xVn Accident — Laid up — 
 Send off the Poyer Boy fi)r Help — Speedy Recovery — Monkeys — xVn En- 
 counter with the Pigs — ^To Eat or to be Eaten, a wide Difference — Return 
 of the Poyer — Abandonment of the Canoe — " El Moro" again — ^Ascent of 
 the Mountains — Another Temporal — Reflections on Fiic .... 272 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Crest of the Mountains — A Desert Waste — ^Descent — Rio Guallambrc — 
 Gold Washing — Tlie Poyer Village — Habits of the Poyers — Plantations — 
 Poisoning I'ish — Primitive Arts — Indian Naiads — Patriarchal Government 
 — Departure — Rio Amacwass — Rio Patuca — "Gateway of Hell" — ^Ap- 
 proach to the Sea — Brus Lagoon 299 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Arrival at Brus — A Festival — Hospitality — Loss of the Poyer Boy — Civiliza- 
 tion of .he Caribs — Cocoa-Groves — Sanitarj^ Precautions — AVild-Fig or 
 Banyan- free — Habits of the Caribs — Industry — The Mahogany-Cutters — 
 Celebration of their Return — A Ca:ib Dandy — Polygamy — Singular Prac- 
 tices — A Carib Crew — Departure — The Bay of Honduras — The Bottom of 
 the Sea — Island of Guanaja — Night — Sombre Soliloquies — Antonio's Secret 
 — The Rousing of the Indians — Deep-laid Schemes of Revenge — The Voice 
 of the Tiger in the Mountains 312 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A — ^Historical Sketch SSH 
 
 B — Notes and Extracts 864 
 
 C — Mosquito Vocabclaey 363 
 
ILLUSTKATIONS. 
 
 NTTMBEE PAGE 
 
 1. ILLUSTRATIVE TITLE 1 
 
 2. MAP OF MOSQUITO SHOEE 12 
 
 8. THE ARTIST 13 
 
 4 MY LANDLADY 22 
 
 5. ANTONIO CHLIL 2S 
 
 6. THE SHIPWRECK 35 
 
 T. THE ESCAPE 36 
 
 8. " SHELLING ' TURTLES 46 
 
 9. A SAIL! A SAIL! 48 
 
 10. "EL RONCADOR" : 52 
 
 11. APPROACH TO BLUEFIELDS 56 
 
 12. GOING TO THE FUNERAL 67 
 
 1-3. A MOSQUITO BURIAL 70 
 
 14. AFLOAT IN THE LAGOON 76 
 
 15. CLIMBING AFTER COCOAS 84 
 
 16. A MANGROVE SWAMP 85 
 
 17. THE ROSEATE SPOONBILL 89 
 
 18. CAPTAIN DRUMMER 93 
 
 19. TURTLE CAYS 105 
 
 20. SPEARING TURTLE 109 
 
 21. TEMPORAL CAMP 117 
 
 22. A FRESHET IN THE EIVER 122 
 
 23. HUNTING THE MANITUS ■ 133 
 
 24. H.\RP00N3 AND LANCES 136 
 
 2.5. TROPIC.VL VERDURE 133 
 
 26. MARINE MOLLUSCA 143 
 
 27. ON THE MOONLIT SEA 154 
 
 23. VILLAGE OF QUAMWATLA 149 
 
 29. FIGHT NEAR QUAMWATLA 153 
 
 80. TAPIR CAMP 162 
 
 81. PALMETTO ROYAL 166 
 
 32. THE DEATH OF THE TAPIR 172 
 
 83. BIRDS OF THE LAGOONS 179 
 
 84. LIFE AMONG THE LAGOONS 182 
 
 85. CHASE ON TONGLA LAGOON 189 
 
 86. FEVER CAMP 200 
 
 87. TOWKAS INDIANS 202 
 
 31. THE END OF IT ' 210 
 
 89. TOWN OF SANDY BAY 215 
 
 40. A GOLDEN IDOL 217 
 
 42. SUKI A OP SANDY BAY 223 
 
 43 CAPE GRACIAS A DIOS 234 
 
 44. HUNTING DEER 287 
 
 45. RIVER BOCAY 251 
 
 46. THE MOTHER OF THE TIGERS 256 
 
 47. SANCTUARY OF THE SUKIA 259 
 
 43. SCENERY ON THE RIVER WANKS 272 
 
 49. EMBARCADERO ON THE TIROLAS 276 
 
 50. THE W A REE 283 
 
 51. THE MOUNTAIN CREST 290 
 
 52. A POYER VILLAGE 295 
 
 53. "THE GATEWAY OF HELL" 009 
 
 5i. VIEW .VT imUS 812 
 
 55. APPROACH TO GUANAJA 825 
 
 66. REVE.^LING THE SECRET 882 
 
THE 
 
 MOSQUITO 
 
 MONTH in Jamaica is enough 
 for any sinner's punishment, 
 ^^ let alone that of a tolerably 
 good Christian. At any rate, 
 a week had given me a surfeit of Kingston, with 
 its sinister, tropical Jews, and variegated inhabit- 
 ants, one-half black, one-third brown, and the 
 balance as fair as could be expected, considering 
 the abominable, unintelligible Congo-English which 
 they spoke. Besides^ ^^^^he cholera which seems to 
 
14 THEMOSQUITOSHORB. 
 
 be domesticated in Kingston, and to have be- 
 come one of its local institutions, had begun to 
 spread from tlie stews, and to invade the more 
 civilized parts of the town. All the inhabitants, 
 therefore, w^hom the emancij)ation had left rich 
 enough to do so, were flying to the mountains, 
 with the pestilence following, like a sleuth-hound, 
 at their heels. Kingston was palpably no place 
 for a stranger, and that stranger a poor-devil artist. 
 
 The cholera had cheated me of a customer. I 
 was moody, and therefore sAvung myself in a 
 hammock, lit a cigar, and held a grand inquisition 
 on myself, as the poets are wont to do on their 
 souls. It ran after this wise, with a very little noise 
 but much smoke : — 
 
 "Life is pleasant at twenty-six. Do you like 
 life ?" 
 
 Eather. 
 
 " Then you can't like the cholera ?" 
 
 No ! — with a hurried pull at the cigar. 
 
 " But you '11 have it here !" 
 
 Then ill be off! 
 
 " Where ?" 
 
 Any where ! 
 . " G-ood, but the exchequer, my boy, how about 
 that ? You can't get away without money." 
 
 There was a long pause, a great cloud of smoke, 
 and much swinging in the hammock, and a final 
 echo — 
 
 Money ! Yes, I must have money ! 
 
 So I got up, sjjasmodically opened my portman- 
 
AND I TOOK DELIHRRATE AIM AT HIS BREAST, AT A DISTANCE OF LESS THAN 
 FIVE VARUS. "mother OF MKRCV 1 " HE EXCLAIMED— 
 
THE artist's soliloquy. 16 
 
 teau, dived deep amongst collars, pencils and foul 
 linen, took out my purse, turned its contents on tlic 
 table, and began to count. 
 
 Forty-tiiree and a half, forty-four, forty-five, and 
 tliis handful of small silver and copper. Call it 
 fifty in all. 
 
 " Only fifty dollars !" ejaculated my mental in- 
 terrogator. 
 
 Only fifty ! responded I. 
 
 " 'T won't do !" 
 
 I lit another cigar. It vi^as clear enough, it 
 would n't do ; and I got into the hammock again. 
 Commend me to a hammock, (a pita hammock, 
 none of your canvas abominations,) and a cigar, as 
 valuable aids to meditation and self-communion of 
 all kinds. There was a long silence, but the in- 
 quisition went on, until the cigar was finished. 
 Finally " I '11 do it !" I exclaimed, in the voice of a 
 man determined on some great deed, not agree- 
 able but necessary, and I tossed the cigar stump 
 out of the window. But what I determined to do, 
 may seem no great thing after all ; it was only to 
 paint the portrait of my landlady. 
 
 " Yes, I '11 paint the old wench !" 
 
 Now, I am an artist, not an author, and have 
 o-ot the cart before the horse, inasmuch as my 
 narrative does not preserve the "harmonies," as 
 every well-considered composition should do. It 
 has just occurred to me that I should first have 
 
•16 THE MOSQDITO SHORE. 
 
 told who I am, and how I came to be in Jamaica, 
 and especially in that filthy place, Kingston. It 
 is n't a long story, and if it is not too late, I will 
 tell it now. 
 
 As all the world knows, there are people who sell 
 rancid whale oil, and deal in soap, and afiect a 
 great contempt for artists. They look down grand- 
 ly on the quiet, pale men who paint their broad red 
 faces on canvas, and seem to think that the few 
 greasy dollars which they grudgingly pay for their 
 flaming immortality, should be received with meek 
 confusion and blushing thanks, as a rare exhibition 
 of condescension and patronage. I never liked such 
 patronage, and therefore would paint no red faces. 
 But there is a great diflerenee between red, bulbous 
 fiices, and rosy faces. There was that sweet girl at 
 
 the boarding-school in L Place, the Baltimore 
 
 girl, with the dark eyes and tresses of the South, 
 and the fair cheek and elastic step of the North ! 
 Of course, I painted her portrait, a dozen times at 
 least, I should say. I could paint it now ; and I 
 fear it is more than painted on my heart, or it 
 would n't rise smiling here, to distract my thoughts, 
 make me sigh, and stop my story. 
 
 An artist who would n't paint portraits and had 
 a soul above patronage — what was there for him to 
 do in New York ? Two compositions a year in the 
 Art Union, got in through Mr. Sly, the manager, 
 and a friend of mine, were not an adequate support 
 for the most moderate man. I '11 paint grand his- 
 torical paintings, thought I one day, and straight- 
 
THE ARTIST TEMPTED. 17 
 
 way purchased a large canvas. I had selected my 
 subject, Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific, bear- 
 ing aloft the flag of Spain, rushing breast-deep in 
 its waves, and claiming its boundless shores and 
 numberless islands for the crown of Castile and 
 Leon. I had begun to sketch in the plumed In- 
 dians, gazing in mute surprise upon this startling 
 scene, when it occurred to inc — for I have patches 
 of common sense scattered amongst the flowery 
 fields of my fancy — to count over the amount of 
 my patrimonial portion. Grand historical paintings 
 require years of study and labor, and I found I had 
 but two hundred dollars, owed for a month's lodg- 
 ing, and had an unsettled tailor's account. It was 
 clear that historical painting was a luxury, for the 
 present at least, beyond my reach. It was then 
 
 some evil spirit, (I strongly -suspect it was the ,) 
 
 taking the cue doubtless from my projected picture, 
 suggested : — • 
 
 " Try landscape, my boy ; you have a rare hand 
 for landscapes — good flaming landscapes, full of 
 yellow and vcrmillion, you know !" 
 
 Although there was no one in the room, I can 
 swear to a distinct slap on the back, after the em- 
 phatic " you know" of the tempter. It was a true 
 diabolical suggestion, the yellow and vcrmillion, 
 but not so sulphurous as Avhat followed : — 
 
 " Go to the tropics boy, tho glorious troj^ics, 
 where the sun is supreme, and never shares his do- 
 minion with blue-nosed, leaden-colored, rheumy- 
 eyed frost-gods ; go there, and catch the matchless 
 
18 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 tints of the skies, the living emerakl of the forests, 
 and the light-giving azure of the waters ; go where 
 the birds are rainbow-hued, and the very fish are 
 golden ; where — " 
 
 But I had heard enough ; I was blinded by the 
 dazzling panorama which Fancy swept past my 
 vision, and cried, with enthusiastic energy, 
 " Hold ; I '11 go to the glorious tropics !" 
 And I went — more's the pity — in a little dirty 
 schooner, full of pork and flour ; and tliat is the 
 way I came to bo in Jamaica, dear reader, if you 
 want to know. I had been there a month or more, 
 and had wandered all over the really magnificent 
 interior, and filled my portfolio with sketches. But 
 that did not satisfy me ; there were other tropical 
 lands, where Nature had grander aspects, where 
 there were broad lakes and high and snow-crowned 
 volcanoes, which waved their j)lumes of smoke in 
 inid-lieaven, defiantly, in the very face of the sun ; 
 lands through whose ever-leaved forests Cortez, 
 Balboa, and Alvarado, and Cordova had led their 
 mailed followers, and in whose depths frowned the 
 strange gods of aboriginal superstition, beside the 
 deserted altars and unmarked graves of a departed 
 and mysterious people. Jamaica was beautiful cer- 
 tainly, but I longed for what the transcendentalists 
 call the sublimely-beautiful, or, in plain English, 
 the combined sublime and beautiful — for, in short, 
 an equatorial Switzerland. And, although Jamaica 
 was fine in scenery, its dilapidated ^plantations, and 
 filthy, lazy negroes, already more than half relapse() 
 
A P O R T n A I T , 
 
 21 
 
 " A picture, you know !" 
 
 Aud now she complacently stroked down her broad 
 face, {m 4 exhibited a^_wide, v erniilio n ch asrn ^jvith 
 a formidable ^halanx^ o f_ ivorieSj^ by way of a sug- 
 gestive smile. 
 
 No, I never j)aint portraits ! 
 
 " Not for ten pounds ?" 
 
 No ; nor for a hundred, — go ! 
 
 And my landlady rolled herself out of the room 
 with a motion which, had she weighed less than 
 two hundred, might have passed for a toss. 
 
 It was on the evening of this day, and after this 
 conversation, one half of the Assembly-house at 
 Spanish-town staring redly from the canvas in the 
 corner, that I lay in my hammock and soliloquized 
 as aforesaid. It was thus and then, that I resolved 
 to paint my landlady. 
 
 And having now, by means of this long paren- 
 thesis, restored the harmonies of my story, and got 
 my horse aiHl cart in correct relative positions, I am 
 ready to go ahead. 
 
 I not only resolved to paint my landlady, but I 
 did it, right over the half-finished Assembly-house, 
 It was the first, and, by the blessing of Heaven, so 
 long as there are good potatoes to be dug at the 
 rate of six cents the bushel, it shall be my last por- 
 trait. I can not help laughing, even now, at that 
 fat, glistening face, looking for all the world as if 
 it had been newly varnished, surmounted by a 
 
22 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 gaudy red scarf, wound round the head in the form 
 of a peaked turban ; and two fat arms, rolling 
 down like elephants' trunks against a white robe 
 for a background, which concealed a bust that 
 passeth description. That portrait — " long may it 
 wave !" as the man said, at the Kossuth dinner, 
 when he toasted " The day we celebrate !" 
 
 MY LANDLADY. 
 
 My landlady was satisfied, and generous withal, 
 for she not only paid me the ten pounds, and gave 
 me my two weeks board and lodging in the bargain, 
 but introduced me to a colored gentleman, a friend 
 of hers, who sailed a little schooner twice a year to 
 the Mosquito Shore, on the coast of Central Amer- 
 ica, where he traded off refuse rum and gaudy cot- 
 tons for turtle-shells and sarsaparilla. There was a 
 steamer from Kingston, once a month, to Cartha- 
 "gena, Chagres, San Juan, Belize, and "along 
 
THE "prince ALBERT." 23 
 
 shore ;" but, for obvious reasons, I could not go 
 in a steamer. So I struck up a bargain with the 
 fragrant skipper, by the terms of v^hich he bound 
 himself to land me, bag and baggage, at Bluefields, 
 the seat of Mosquito royalty, for the sum of three 
 pounds, " currency." 
 
 Why Captain Ponto (for so I shall call my land- 
 lady's friend, the colored skipper) named his little 
 schooner the " Prince Albert," I can not imagine, 
 unless he thought thereby to do honor to the Queen- 
 Consort ; for the aforesaid schooner had evidently 
 got old, and been condemned, long before that lucky 
 Dutchman woke the echoes of Grotha with his baby 
 cries. The " Prince Albert" was of about seventy 
 tons burden, built something on the model of the 
 " Junu'-frau," the first vessel of the Netherlands 
 that rolled itself into New York bay, like some un- 
 wieldy i^orpoise, after a rapid passage of about six 
 months from the Hague. The wise men of the 
 Historical Society have satisfactorily shewn, after 
 long and diligent research, that the "Jung-frau" 
 measured sixty feet keel, sixty feet beam, and 
 sixty feet hold, and was modeled after one of 
 Eubens' Yenuses. The dimensions of the " Prince 
 Albert" were every way the same, only twenty feet 
 less. The sails were patched and the cordage 
 spliced, and she did not leak so badly as to require 
 more than six hours' steady pumping out of the 
 twenty-four. The crew was composed of Captain 
 Ponto, Thomas, his mate, one seaman, and an In- 
 
24 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 dian boj from Yucatan, whose business it was to 
 cook and do the pumping. As may be supposed, 
 the Indian boy did not rust for want of occupa- 
 tion. 
 
 It was a clear morning, toward the close of De- 
 cember, that Captain Ponto's wife, a white woman, 
 with a hopeful family of six children, the three eld- 
 est with shirts, and the three youngest without, 
 came down to the schooner to see us off. I watched 
 the parting over the after-bulwarks, and observed 
 the tears roll down Mrs. Ponto's cheeks as she bade 
 her sable spouse good-by, I wondered if she really 
 could have any attachment for her husband, and if 
 custom and association had utterly worn away the 
 natural and instinctive repugnance which exists be- 
 tween the superior and inferior races of mankind ? 
 I thought of the condition of Jamaica itself, and 
 mentally inquired if it were not due to a grand, 
 practical misconception of the laws of Nature, and 
 the inevitable result of their reversal .^ It can not 
 be denied that where the superior and inferior races 
 are brought in contact, and amalgamate, there we 
 uniformly find a hybrid stock springing up, with 
 most, if not all of the vices, and few, if any of the 
 virtues of the originals. And it will hardly be ques- 
 tioned, by those experimentally acquainted with the 
 subject, that the manifest lack of public morality and 
 private virtue, in the Spanish- American States, has 
 followed from the ftital facility with which the Span- 
 ish colonists have intermixed with the negroes and 
 Indians. The rigid and inexorable exclusion, in re-. 
 
THEOPENSEA. 25 
 
 spect to the inferior races, of the dominant blood 
 of North America, flowing througli different chan- 
 nels perhaps, yet from the same great Teutonic 
 Bource, is one grand secret of its vitality, and the 
 best safeguard of its permanent ascendency. 
 
 Mrs. Ponto wept ; and as wc slowly worked our 
 way outside of Port Royal, I could see her waving 
 her apron, for she was innocent of a more classical 
 signal, in fond adieus. We finally got out from 
 under the lee of the land, and caught in our sails 
 the full trade-wind, blowing steadily in the de- 
 sired direction. I sat long on deck, watching the 
 receding island sinking slowly in the bright sea, 
 until Captain Ponto signified to me, in the 2'>atois 
 of Jamaica, which the deluded people flatter them- 
 selves is English, that dinner was ready, and led 
 the way into what he called the cabin. This cabin 
 was a little den, seven feet by nine at the utmost, 
 low, dark and dirty, with no light or air except 
 what entered through the narrow hatchway, and, 
 consequently, hot as an oven. Two lockers, one on 
 each side, answered for seats by day, and, covered 
 with suspicious mattresses, for beds by night. The 
 cabin was sacred to Captain Ponto and myself, the 
 mate having been displaced to make room for the 
 gentleman who had paid three pounds for his pas- 
 sage ! I question if the " Prince Albert " had ever 
 before been honored with a passenger ; certainly not 
 since she had come into the hands of Captain Ponto, 
 who therefore put his best foot forward, with a full 
 consciousness of the importance of the incident 
 
 2 
 
26 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 Ponto had been a slave once, and was consequently 
 imperious and tyrannical now, toward all people in 
 a subordinate relation to himself. Yet, as he had 
 evidently been owned by a man of consequence, he 
 had not entirely lost his early deference for the 
 white man, and sometimes forgot Ponto the caj)- 
 tain in Ponto the chattel. It was in the latter 
 character only, that he was perfectly natural ; 
 and, although I derived no little amusement from 
 his attempts to enact a loftier part, I shall not 
 trouble tlie reader with an episode on Captain 
 Ponto. He was a very worthy darkey, with a 
 strong aversion to water, both exteriorly and in- 
 ternally. The mate, and the man who constituted 
 the crew, were ordinary negroes of no possible ac- 
 count. 
 
 But Antonio, the Indian boy, who cooked and 
 pumped, and then pumped and cooked — I fear he 
 never slept, for when there was not a "sizzling" in 
 the little black caboose, there was sure to be a 
 screeching of the rickety pump — Antonio attracted 
 my interest from the first ; and it was increased 
 when I found that he spoke a little English, was 
 perfect in Spanish, and withal could read in both 
 languages. There was something mysterious in 
 finding him among these uncouth negToes, with 
 his relatively fair skin, intelligent eyes, and long, 
 Avell-ordered, black hair. He was like a lithe 
 panther among lumbering bears ; and he did 
 liis work in a way which accorded with his In- 
 dian character, without murmm-, and with a kind 
 
ANTONIO, THE INDIAN BOY. ZT. 
 
 of silent dogg'cdncss, that implied but little re- 
 spect for his present masters. He seldom replied 
 to their orders in words, and then only in mono- 
 syllables. I asked Captain Ponto about him, but 
 he knew nothing, except that he was from Yucatan, 
 and had presented himself on board only the day 
 previously, and offered to work his passage to the 
 main land. And Captain Ponto indistinctly inti- 
 mated that he had taken the boy solely on my ac- 
 count, which, of course, led to the inference on my 
 patt, that the captain ordinarily did 'ife own cook- 
 ing. He also ventured a patronizing remark about 
 the Indians generally, to the effect that they made 
 very good servants, " if they were kept under ;" 
 which, coming from an cx-slave, I thought rather 
 good. 
 
 All this only served to interest me the more in 
 Antonio ; and, although I succeeded in engaging 
 him in ordinary conversation, yet I utterly failed in 
 drawing him out, as the saying is, in resjjcct to his 
 past history, or future purposes. Whenever I ap- 
 proached these subjects he became silent and im- 
 passible, and his eyes assumed an expression of cold 
 inquirv, not unmingied with latent suspicion, which 
 half inclined me to believe that he was a fugitive 
 from justice. Yet he did not look the felon or 
 knave ; and when the personal inquiries droj^ped, 
 his face resumed its usual pleasant altliough sad 
 expression, and I became ashamed that I had sus- 
 pected him. There was certainly something sin- 
 gular about Antonio ; but, as I could imagine no 
 
28 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 very profound mystery attaching to a cook, on 
 board of the '• Prince Albert/' after the iirst day, I 
 made no attempts to penetrate his secrets, but 
 sought rather to attach him to me, as a prospect- 
 ively useful companion in the country to which I 
 was bound. So I relieved him occasionally at the 
 pump, although he protested against it ; and 
 
 ANTONIO. 
 
 finally, to the horror of Captain Ponto, and the 
 palpable h^gh disdain of the mate, I became so in- 
 timate with him as to show him my portfolio of 
 drawings. His admiration, I found to my surprise, 
 was always judiciously bestowed, and his apprecia- 
 tion of outline and coloring showed that he had 
 the spirit of an artist. Several times, in glancing 
 
IT WAS A Kli.lUKANDTlSH I'lCTL'RE THAT NEGRO TRACING HIS FOFJEKINGF.R 
 SLOWLY OS'EK THE CHART. 
 
 /. 2q. 
 
GATHERING OF THE STORM. 29 
 
 over the drawings, he stopped short, looked up, his 
 face full of intelligence, as if about to speak, and I 
 paused to listen. Each time, however, the smile 
 vanished, the flexible muscles ceased their play and 
 became rigid, and a cold, filmy mist settled over the 
 clear eyes which had looked into mine. Whatever 
 was Antonio's secret, great or small, it was evi- 
 dently one that he half-wished, half-feared to re- 
 veal. I was puzzled to think that there could 
 exist any relation between it and my paintings ; 
 but Antonio was only a cook, and so I dismissed all 
 reflection on the subject. 
 
 On our third day out, the weather, which up to 
 that time had been clear and beautiful, began to 
 change, and night settled black and threatening 
 around us. The wind had increased, but it was 
 loaded with sultry vapors — the hot breath of the 
 storm which was ^Dressing on our track. Captain 
 Ponto was not a scientific sailor, and kept no other 
 than what is called " dead reckoning." He had 
 made the voyage yery often, and was confidant of 
 his course. Upon that point, therefore, I gave 
 myself no uneasiness ; not so much from faith in 
 Captain Ponto, as because there was nothing in the 
 world to be done, except to follow his opinion. 
 Nevertheless the captain was serious, and consulted 
 an antediluvian chart which he kept in his cabin. 
 It was a Piembrandtish picture, that negro tracing 
 his forefinger slowly over the chart, by tlie light of 
 a candle, which only half revealed the little cabin, 
 while it brought out his grizzly head and anxious 
 
30 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 face in strong relief against the darkness. What 
 Captain Ponto learned from all this study is more 
 than I can tell ; hut when he came on deck, he 
 ordered a reef to he made in the sails, and a 
 variation of several points in our course, for the 
 wind not only freshened, but veered to the north- 
 east. The hot blasts or puffs of air became more 
 and more frequent, and occasional sheets of light- 
 ning gleamed along the horizon. The sea, too, 
 was full of phosphorescent light ; fiery monsters 
 seemed to leap around us and Avreath and twine 
 their livid volumes in our wake. I could hear the 
 hiss of their forked tongues where the waters closed 
 under our stern. I stood, leaning over the bul- 
 warks, gazing on the gleaming waves, and thinking 
 of home — for the voyager on the great deep always 
 thinks of home, when darkness envelops him, and 
 the storm threatens— when Antonio silently ap- 
 proached, so silently that I did not hear him, 
 and took his place at my side. I was somewhat 
 startled, therefore, when, changing my position a 
 little, I saw, by the dim, reflected light of the sea, 
 his eyes fixed earnestly on mine. " Ah, Antonio," I 
 said, " is that you ?" and I placed my hand famil- 
 iarly on his shoulder. He shrank beneath it, as if it 
 had been fire. " What 's the matter ?" I exclaimed, 
 reproachfully ; " have I hurt you ?" 
 
 " Pardon me \" he ejaculated, rather than spoke, 
 in a voice deep and tremulous ; "I know now that 
 it is not you who will die to-night !'"' 
 
 " What do you mean ? You are not afraid, Anto- 
 
THE LORD WHO NEVER LIES. 31 
 
 nio ? Who thinks of dying ?" I replied, in a light 
 tone, 
 
 " No ! it is not myself. I was afraid it might be 
 you*; for, sir," and he laid a hand cold and clammy 
 as that of a corpse on mine ; " for, sir, there is 
 death on board this vessel [" 
 
 This was said in a voice so awed and earnest that 
 I was impressed deeply, in spite of myself, and for 
 some moments made no reply. " You talk wildly, 
 Antonio," I finally said ; " we are going on bravely, 
 and shall all be in Bluefields together in a day or 
 two." 
 
 " All of us, never," he replied, " never ! The Lord, 
 who never lies, has told me so I" and, pressing near 
 me, he drew from his bosom something resembling 
 a small, round plate of crystal, except that it 
 seemed to be slightly luminous, and veined or 
 clouded with green, " See, see !" he exclaimed, 
 rajDidly, and held the object close to my eyes. I 
 instinctively obeyed, and gazed intently upon it. 
 As I gazed, the clouds of green seemed to concen- 
 trate and assume a regular form, as the moisture of 
 one's breath passes away from a mirror, until I 
 distinctly saw, in the center, the miniature of a 
 human head, of composed and dignified aspect, but 
 the eyes were closed, and all the lineaments had the 
 rigidity of death, 
 
 " Do you see ?" 
 
 " I do !" 
 
 " It is Kucimen, the Lord who never lies !" and 
 Antonio thrust his talisman in his bosom ascain. 
 
6 A THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 and slowly moved away. There was uo mistake in 
 wliat I liad seen, and althougli I am not supersti- 
 tious, yet the feeling that some catastrophe was 
 impending gathered at my heart. It was in vain 
 that I tried to smile at the Indian trick ; the earnest 
 voice of the Indian boy still sounded in my ears, 
 "All of us, never !" What reason should he have 
 for attempting to practice his Indian diablerie 
 on any one, least of all on me ? I rejected the 
 thought, and endeavored to banish the subject from 
 my mind. 
 
 Meanwhile the wind had gathered strength, and 
 Captain Ponto had taken in sail, so that we had no 
 more standing than was necessary to keep the vessel 
 steady before the wind. The waves now began to 
 rise, the gloom deepened, the hot p)uifs of air 
 became more and more frequent, and the broad 
 lightning-sheets rose from the horizon to the very 
 zenith. The thunder, too, came rolling on, every 
 peal more distinctly, and occasional heavy drops of 
 rain fell with an ominous sound on the deck. The 
 storm was evidently close at hand ; and I left the 
 side of the vessel, and approached the little cabin 
 to procure mj 2^onc}w, for I preferred the open deck 
 and the storm to the suifocation below. The hatch- 
 way was nearly closed, but there was a light within. 
 I stooped to remove the slide, and in doing so 
 obtained a full view of the interior. The spectacle 
 which presented itself was so extraordinary that I 
 Btopped short, and looked on in mute surprise. 
 The caudle was standing on the locker, and kneel- 
 
THE OBI SUPERSTITION. 33 
 
 ing beside it was the captain. He was stripped to 
 the waist, and held in one hand what appeared to 
 be the horn of some animal, in which he caught the 
 blood which dripped from a large gash in the fleshy 
 part of his left arm, just above the elbow, while he 
 muttered rapidly some rude and strangely-sounding 
 words, unlike any I had ever before heard. My 
 first impression was that Antonio had tried to fulfill 
 his own prediction, by attempting the life of the 
 captain ; but I soon saw that he was performing 
 some religious rite, a sacrifice or propitiation, such 
 as the Ohi men still teach in Jamaica and Santo 
 Domingo, and which are stealthily observed, even by 
 the negroes professing Christianity and having a 
 nominal connection with the church. I recognized 
 in the horn the mysterious gre-gre of the Gold Coast, 
 where the lowest form of fetish worship prevails, 
 and where human blood is regarded as the most 
 acceptable of sacrifices. Kespecting too rigidly all 
 ceremonies and rites, which ]nay contribute to the 
 peace of mind of others, to think of disturbing them, 
 I silently withdrew from the hatchway, and left the 
 captain to finish his debasing devotions. In a short 
 time he appeared on deck, and gave some orders in 
 a calm voice, as one reassured and confident. 
 
 I was occupied below for only a few minutes, 
 yet when I got on deck again the storm was upon 
 us. The waves were not high, but the water 
 seemed to be caught up by the wind, and to be 
 drifted along, like snow, in blinding, drenching 
 sheets. I was nearly driven off my feet by its 
 
 2* 
 
?4 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 force, and would liave been carried overboard bad I 
 not become entangled in the rigging. The howling; 
 of the wind and the hissing of the water would hav^c 
 drowned the loudest voice, and I was so blinded by 
 the spray that I could not see. Yet I could feel 
 that we were driving before the hurricane with 
 fearful rapidity. The very deck seemed to bend, as 
 if ready to break, beneath our feet. I finally suffi- 
 ciently recovered myself to be able, in the pauses of 
 the wind, and when the liohtnino- fell, to catch 
 glimpses around me. Our sails were torn in tattei-s, 
 the yards were gone, in fact every thing was swept 
 ,eck except three dark figures, like myself, 
 l^lonAilsively to the ropes. On, on, half- 
 bA^^iW| the, sea, we drifted with inconceivable 
 
 i.ty«^/,: • 
 kittle diel' we think that we were rushing on a 
 danger more terrible than the ocean. The storm had 
 buffeted us for more than an hour, and it seemed as 
 if it had exhausted its wrath, and had begun to 
 subside, when a sound, hoarse and steady, but 
 louder even than that of the wind, broke on our 
 ears. It was evident that we were approaching it, 
 for every instant it became more distinct and omin- 
 ous. T gazed ahead into the hopeless darkness, 
 when suddenly a broad sheet of lightning revealed 
 immediately before us, and not a cable's length 
 distant, what, under the lurid gleam, appeared to 
 be a wall of white spray, dashing literally a hun- 
 dred feet in the air — a hell of waters, from which 
 there was no escape. "^ Roncador I" shrieked the 
 
THE SHIPWRECK. 35 
 
 captain, in a voice of utter despair, that even then 
 thrilled like a knife in my heart. The fearful 
 moment of death had come, and I had barely time 
 to draw a full breath of preparation for the strug- 
 gle, when we were literally whelmed in the raging 
 waters. I felt a shock, a sharp jerk, and the hiss 
 and gurgle of the sea, a sensation of immense 
 pressure, followed by a blow like that of a heavy 
 fall. Again I was lifted up, and again struck 
 down, but this time with less force, I had just 
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 
 
 enough consciousness left to know that I was strik- 
 ing en the sand, and I made an involuntary effort 
 to rise and escape from the waves. Before I could 
 gain my feet I was again struck down, again and 
 again, until, nearer dead than alive, I at last suc- 
 ceeded in crawling to a spot where the water did 
 not reach me. I strove to rise now, but could not ; 
 and, as that is the last thing I remember distinctly 
 of that terrible night, I suppose I must have fallen 
 into a swoon. 
 
OW long I remained insensible I 
 know not, but when my conscious- 
 ness returned, Avhicli it did slowly^ 
 like the lifting of a curtain, I felt 
 that I was severely hurt ; and, before opening my 
 eyes, tried to drive away my terrible recollections, 
 as one rousing from a troubled dream tries to ban- 
 ish its features from his mind. It was in vain ; 
 and, with a sensation of despair, I opened my eyes ! 
 The morning sun was shining with blinding bril- 
 liancy, and I was obliged to close them again. 
 Soon, however, I was able to bear the blaze, and, 
 painfully lifting myself on my elbow, looked around 
 me. The sea was thundering with awful force, not 
 on the sandy shore where I was lying, but over a 
 reef two hundred yards distant, within which the 
 water was calm, or only disturbed by the combing 
 waves, as thev broke over the outer barrier. Here 
 
'"EL EON C A DOR." 37 
 
 the first and only object which attracted my atten- 
 tion was our schooner, lying on her Learn ends, high 
 on the sands. The sea, the vessel, the blinding 
 sun and glowing sand, and a bursting pain in my 
 head, were too palpable evidences of my misfortune 
 to be mistaken. It was no dream, but stern and 
 severe reality, and for the moment I comprehended 
 the truth. But, when younger, I had read of ship- 
 wrecks, and listened, with the interest of childhood, 
 and a feeling half of envy, to the tales of old sailors 
 who had been cast away on desert shores. And 
 now, the first shock over, it was almost with a 
 sensation of satisfaction, and something of exulta- 
 tion, that I exclaimed to myself, " shipwrecked at 
 last \" Kobinson Crusoe, and Keilly and his com- 
 panions, recurred to my mind, and my impulse was 
 to leap up and commence an emulative career. 
 But the attempt was a failure, and brought me 
 back to stern reality, in an instant. My limbs were 
 torn and scarified, and my face swollen and stiff. 
 The utmost I could do was to sit erect. 
 
 I now, for the first time, thought of my compan- 
 ions, and desi)airingly turned my eyes to look for 
 them. Close by, and nearly behind me, sat Anto- 
 nio, resting his head on his hands. His clothes 
 were hanging around him in shreds, his hair was 
 matted with sand, and his "face was black with 
 dried blood. He attempted to smile, but the grim 
 muscles could not obey, and he looked at me in si- 
 lence. I was the first to speak : 
 
 Are you much hurt, Antonio ? 
 
38 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 " The Lord of Mitnal never lies \" was liis only 
 response ; and lie pointed to tlie talisman on bis 
 swarthy breast, gleaming like polished silver in the 
 sun. I remembered the scene of the pre^dous night, 
 and asked ; — 
 
 Are they all dead ? 
 
 He shook his head, in sisrn of iy-no ranee. 
 
 Where are we, Antonio ? 
 
 " This is El Koncador V 
 
 And so it proved. We were on one of the nu- 
 merous coral keys or cays which stud the sea of the 
 Antilles, and which are the terror of the mariners 
 who navigate it. They are usually mere banks of 
 sand, elevated a few feet above the water, occasion- 
 ally supjiorting a few bushes, or a scrubby, tempest- 
 twisted palm or two, and only frequented by the 
 sea-birds for rest and incubation, and by turtles for 
 laying their eggs. Around them there is always a 
 reef of coral, built up from the bottom of the sea by 
 those wonderful architects, the coral insects. This 
 reef surrounds the cay, at a greater or less distance, 
 like a ring, leaving between it and the island prop- 
 er a belt of water, of variable depth, and of the 
 loveliest blue. The reef, which is sometimes scarce- 
 ly visible above the sea, effectually breaks the force 
 of the waves ; and if, as it sometimes happens, it 
 be interrupted so as to leave an opening for the ad- 
 mission of vessels, the inner belt of water forms a 
 safe harbor. Except a few of the larger ones, none 
 of these cays are inhabited, nor are they ever fre- 
 quented, except by the turtle iishers. 
 
'•'el ronc 2VD0R." 39 
 
 It wac to the peculiar conformation of these 
 islands that our safety was owing. Our little vessel 
 had been driven, or lifted hy the waves, completely 
 over the outer reef. The shock had torn us from 
 our hold on the ropes, and we had drifted upon the 
 comparatively protected sands. The vessel too, 
 had been carried upon them, and the waves there 
 not being sufficiently strong to break her in pieces, 
 she was left high and dry when they subsided. 
 There was, nevertheless, a broad break in her keel, 
 caused probably by striking on the reef. 
 
 Tavo of the five human beings who had been on 
 board of her, the captain and his mate, were drown- 
 ed. We found their bodies ; — -but I am anticipat- 
 ing my story. When we had recovered ourselves 
 sufficiently to walk, Antonio and myself took a sur- 
 vey of our condition. " El Koncador," the Snorer, 
 is a small cay, three quarters of a mile long, and at 
 its widest part not more than four hundred yards 
 broad, — a mere bank of white sand. At the east- 
 ern end is an acre or more of scrubby bushes, and 
 near them three or four low and distorted palm- 
 trees. Fortunately for us, as will be seen in the 
 sequel, " El Koncador" is famous for the number 
 of its turtles, and is frequented, at the turtle season, 
 by turtle-fishers from Old Providence, and some- 
 times from the main land. Among the palm- 
 trees, to which I have referred, these fishermen had 
 erected a rude hut of poles, boards, and palm- 
 branches, which was literally withed and ancnored 
 to the trees, to keep it from being blown away by 
 
40 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 the liigli winds. It was witli a lieart full of joy- 
 that I saw even this rude evidence of human intelli- 
 gence, and, accompanied by Antonio, hastened to it 
 as rapidly as my bruised limbs would enable me. 
 We discovered no trace of recent occupation as we 
 approached, except a kind of furrow in the sand, 
 like that which some sea-monster, dragging itself 
 along, might occasion. It led directly to the hut, 
 and I followed it, with a feeling half of wonder, 
 half of apprehension. As we came near, however, 
 I saw, through the open front, a black human fig- 
 ure crouching within, motionless as a piece of 
 bronze. Before it, stretched at length, was the 
 dead body of Captain Ponto. The man was Frank, 
 of whom I have spoken, as constituting the crew of 
 the Prince Albert. It was a fearful sight ! The 
 body of the captain was SAvoUen, the limbs were 
 stifl" and spread apart, the mouth and eyes open, 
 and conveying an expression of terror and utter de- 
 spair, which makes me shudder, even now, when I 
 think of it. Upon his breast, fastened by a strong 
 cord, drawn close at the throat, was the mysterious 
 gre-gre horn, and the gash in his arm, from which 
 the poor Avretch had drawn the blood for his un- 
 availing sacrifice, had opened wide its white edges, 
 as if in mute appeal against his fate. 
 
 The negro sailor had drawn the body of the 
 captain to the hut, and the trail in the sand was 
 that which it had made. I spoke to him, but he 
 neither replied nor looked up. His eyes were fixed, 
 as if bv some fascination, on the corpse, Antonio 
 
A SCENE WITH THE DEAD. 41 
 
 exhibited no emotion, but advancing close to the 
 body lifted the gre-gre horn, eyed it curiously for a 
 moment, then tossed it contemptuously aside, ex- 
 claiming : — 
 
 " It could not save him : it is not good \" 
 The words were scarcely uttered, when the 
 nrouching negro leaped, like a wild beast, at the 
 Indian's throat ; but Antonio was agile, and evaded 
 his grasp. The next instant the poor wretch had 
 returned to his seat beside the dead. The negro 
 could not endure a sneer at the potency of the 
 gre-gre. Such is the hold of superstition on the 
 human mind ! 
 
 I tried to induce the negro to remove the body, 
 and bury it in the sand ; but he remained silent and 
 impassible as a stone. So I returned with Antonio 
 to the vessel, for the instincts of life had come 
 back. We found, although the little schooner had 
 been completely filled, that the water had escaped, 
 and left the cargo damaged, but entire. Some of 
 the provisions had been destroyed, and the re- 
 mainder was much injured. Nevertheless the^ 
 could be used, and for the time being, at least, we 
 were safe from starvation. My spirits rose with the 
 discovery, and I almost forgot my injuries in the 
 joy of the moment. But Antonio betrayed no 
 signs of interest. He lifted boxes and baiTcls, and 
 placed them on the sands, as deliberately as if un- 
 loadino; the vessel at Kingston. I knew that it was 
 not probable the wrecked schooner would suffer 
 further damage from the sea, protected as it was 
 
42 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 by the outer reef, yet I sought to make assurance 
 doubly sure, by removing what remained of the 
 provisions to the hut by the palm-trees, Antonio 
 suggested nothing, but implicitly followed my di- 
 rections. 
 
 We had got out most of the stores, and carried 
 them above the reach of the waters on the sands, 
 when I went back to the hut, with the determina- 
 tion, by at once assuming a tone of authority, to 
 have the negro remove and bury the body of 
 the captain. I was surprised to find the hut 
 empty, and a trail, like that which had attracted 
 my notice in the morning, leading off in the direc- 
 tion of the bushes, at some distance from the hut. 
 I followed it ; and, in the centre of the clump, dis- 
 covered the negro filling in the sand above the 
 corpse. He mumbled constantly strange guttural 
 words, and made many mysterious signs on the 
 sand, as he proceeded. When the hole was entirely 
 filled, he laid himself at length above it. I waited 
 some minutes, but as he remained motionless, re- 
 turned to the hut. We now commenced carrying 
 to iL, such articles of use as could be easily removed. 
 But we had not accomplished much when Frank, the 
 negro, presented himself ; and, approaching me, in- 
 quired meekly what he should do. He was least 
 injured of the three, and proved most serviceable in 
 clearing the wreck of all of its useful and moveable 
 contents. 
 
 By night I had bandaged my own wounds and 
 those of my companions, and over a simj)le but 
 
A NIGHT OF DELIRIUM, 43 
 
 profuse meal, forgot the horrors of the shipwreck, 
 and gave luyself up, with real zest, to the pleasures 
 of a cast-away ! I cannot well describe the sensa- 
 tion of mingled novelty and satisfaction, with which 
 I looked out from the open hut upon the turbulent 
 waters, whence we had so narrowly escaped. The 
 sea still heaved from the effects of the storm, but 
 the storm itself had passed, and the full tropical 
 moon looked down calmly upon our island, which 
 seemed silvery and fairy-like beneath its rays. 
 
 At first, all these things were quieting in their in- 
 fluences, but as the night advanced I must have be- 
 come feverish, for notwithstanding the toils of the 
 day, and the exhaustion of the previous night, I 
 could not sleep. My thoughts were never so active. 
 All that I had ever seen, heard, or done, flashed 
 back upon my mind with the vividness of reality. 
 But, owing to some curious psychical condition, 
 my mind was only retrospectively active ; I tried in 
 vain to bring it to a contemplation of the present 
 or the future. Incidents long forgotten jostled 
 through my brain ; the grave mingling strangely 
 with the gay. Now I laughed outright over some 
 freak of childhood, which came back with primitive 
 freshness ; and, next moment, wept again beside the 
 bed of death, or found myself singing some hitherto 
 unremembered nursery rhyme. I struggled against 
 these thronging memories, and tried to ask myself 
 if they might not be premonitions of delirium. I 
 felt my own pulse, it beat rapidly ; my own fore- 
 head, and it seemed to bm'n. In the vague hope of 
 
44 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 averting whatever this strange mental activity 
 might portend, I rose and walked doAvn to the edge 
 of the water. I remember distinctly that the shore 
 seemed black with turtles, and that I thought them 
 creations of a disordered fancy, and became almost 
 mad under the mere apprehension that the mad- 
 ness was upon me. 
 
 I might, and undoubtedly would, have become 
 mad, had it not been for Antonio. He had missed 
 me from the hut ; and, in alarm, had come to seek 
 me. I felt greatly relieved when he told me that 
 there were real turtles on the shore, and not mon- 
 sters of the imagination ; and that it was now the 
 season for laying their eggs, and therefore it could 
 not be long before the fishers would come for their 
 annual supply of shells. So I suffered him to lead 
 me back to the hut. When I laid down he took 
 my head between his hands, and pressed it steadily, 
 but apparently with all his force. The effect was 
 soothing, for in less than half an hour my ideas had 
 recovered their equilibrium, and I fell into a slum- 
 ber, and slept soundly until noon of the following 
 day. 
 
 When I awoke, Antonio was sitting close by me, 
 and intently watching every movement. He smiled 
 when my eyes met his, and pointing to his forehead 
 said significantly — 
 
 " It is all right now \" 
 
 And it was all right, but I felt weak and feverish 
 still. A sound constitution, however, resisted all 
 attacks, and it was not many days before I was able 
 
CATCHING TURTLES. 45 
 
 to move around our sandy prison, and join Antonio 
 and Frank in catching turtles ; for, with more fore- 
 sight than I had supposed to belong to the Indian 
 and negro character, they were laying in a stock of 
 shells, against the time when we should find an op- 
 portunity of escape. Upon the side of our island, to 
 which I have alluded as covered with bushes, the 
 water was comparatively shoal, and the bottom 
 overgrown with a species of sea-grass, which is a 
 principal article of turtle-food. The surface of the 
 water, also, was covered with a variety of small blub- 
 ber fish, which Antonio called by the Spanish name 
 of dedales, or thimbles — a name not inappropriate, 
 since they closely resembled a lady's thimble both 
 in shape and size. These, at the spawning or egg- 
 laying period of the year, constitute another article 
 of turtle-food. Durino; the nis-ht-time the turtles 
 crawled up on the shore, and the females dug holes 
 in the sand, each about two feet deep, in which 
 they deposited from sixty to eighty eggs. These 
 they contrived to cover so neatly, as to defy the 
 curiosity of one unacquainted with their habits. 
 Both Antonio and Frank, however, were familiar 
 with turtle-craft, and got as many eggs as we de- 
 sired. When roasted, they are really delicious. 
 The Indians and people of the coasts never destroy 
 them, being careful to promote the increase cf this 
 valuable shell-fish. But on the main land, wild 
 animals, such for instance as the cougar, frequently 
 come down to the shore, and dig them from their 
 resting places. Occasionally they capture the turtles 
 
46 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 themselves, and dragging tkem into the forest, kill 
 and devour them, in spite of their shelly armor. 
 
 It was durino; the nio-ht, therefore, that Antonio 
 and Frank, who kept themselves concealed in the 
 bushes, rushed out upon the turtles, and with iron 
 hooks turned them on their backs, when they be- 
 came powerless and incapable of moving. The day- 
 following, they dragged them to the most distant 
 part of the island, where they " shelled " them ; — a 
 
 "shelling" turtles. 
 
 cruel process, which it made my flesh creep to 
 witness. Before describing it, however, I must ex- 
 plain that, although the habits of all varieties of 
 the turtle are much the same, yet their uses are 
 very different. The large, green turtle is best 
 known ; it frequently reaches our markets, and its 
 :9esh is esteemed, by epicures, as a great delicacy. 
 
'•shelling" turtles. 47 
 
 The flesh cf the sinallor or hawk-bill variety is not 
 so good, hut its shell is most valuable, being both 
 thicker and better-colored. What is called tor- 
 toise-shell is not, as is generally supposed, the bony 
 covering or shield of the turtle, but only the scales 
 which cover it. These are thirteen in number, 
 eight of them flat, and five a little curved. Of the 
 flat ones four arc large, being sometimes a foot 
 long and seven inches broad, semi-transparent, 
 elegantly variegated with white, red, yellow, and 
 dark brown clouds, which are fully brought out, 
 Avhen the shell is prepared and polished. These 
 lamina3, as I have said, constitute the external 
 coating of the solid or bony part of the shell ; and 
 a large turtle afibrds about eight pounds of them, 
 tlie jjlates varying from an eighth to a quarter of an 
 inch in thickness. 
 
 The fishers do not kill the turtles ; did they do 
 so, they would in a few years exterminate them. 
 When the turtle is caught, they fasten him, and 
 cover his back with dry leaves or grass, to which 
 they set fire. The heat causes the plates to separ- 
 ate at their joints. A large knife is then carefully 
 inserted horizontally beneath them, and the lam- 
 inae lifted from the back, care being taken not to 
 injure the shell by too much heat, nor to force it 
 off', until the heat has fully i)repared it for separa- 
 tion. Many turtles die under this cruel operation, 
 but instances are numerous in which they have 
 been caught a second time, with the outer coating 
 reproduced ; but, in these cases, instead of thirteen 
 
48 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 pieces, it is a single piece. As I have already said, 
 I could never bring myself to witness this cruelty 
 more than once, and was glad that the process of 
 •' scaling" was carried on out of sight of the hut. 
 Had the poor turtles the power of shrieking, they 
 would have made that barren island a very hell, 
 with their cries of torture. 
 
 We had been nearly two weeks on the island, 
 when we were one morning surprised by a sail on 
 the edge of the horizon. We watched it eagerly, 
 and as it grew more and more distinct, our spirits 
 rose in proportion. Its approach was slow, but at 
 
 noon Frank declared that 
 it was a turtle schooner, 
 from the island of Cata- 
 
 A sailI a sail! 
 
 rina or Providence, and that it was making for " El 
 Eoncador." And the event proved that he was 
 right ; for, about the middle of the afternoon, 
 she had passed an opening through the reef, and 
 anchored in the still water inside. She had a crew 
 of five men, in whom it was difficult to say if 
 white, negro, or Indian blood predominated. They 
 spoke a kind of patois, in which Spanish was the 
 leading element. And although we were unquali- 
 
SUSPICIOUS VISITOKS. 49 
 
 fiedly glad to see them, yet they were clearly not 
 pleased to see us. The patron, or captain, no 
 sooner put his foot on shore, than affecting to re- 
 gard us as intruders, he demanded why we were 
 there ? and if we did not know that this island 
 was the property of the j^eople of Catarina ? We 
 replied hy pointing to our shattered schooner, when 
 the whole party started for it, and unceremoni- 
 ously began to strip it of whatever article of use or 
 value they could find, leaving us to the pleasant 
 reflections which such conduct was likely to suggest. 
 While this was going on, I returned to the hut, 
 and found that Antonio and Frank had already re- 
 moved the shells which they had procured, as also 
 some other valuables which we had recovered from 
 the wreck, and had buried them in the sand — a 
 prudent precaution, which no doubt saved us much 
 trouble. A little before sundown, our new friends, 
 having apparently exhausted the plunder, came 
 trooping back to the hut, and without ceremony or- 
 dered us out. I thought, although the physical 
 forcB was against us, that a little determination 
 might make up for the odds, and firmly replied that 
 they might have a part of it, if they wished, but 
 that we were there, and intended to remain. The 
 patron hereupon fell into a great passion, and told 
 his men to bring up the machetes — ugly instru- 
 ments, half knife, half cleaver. " He would see," 
 he said, in his mongrel tongue, " if this wlii-tc vil- 
 lain would refuse to obey him." Two of the men 
 started to fulfill his order, while he stood scowling 
 
 3 
 
50 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 in tlic doorway. When they had got off a little dis- 
 tance, I unrolled a blanket in which I had wrapped 
 our pistols, and giving one to Frank, and another 
 to Antonio, I took my own revolver, and passed 
 outside of the hut. The patron fell back, in evi- 
 dent alarm. 
 
 " Now, amigo," said I, " if you want a fight, 
 you shall have it ; but you shall die first \" And I 
 took deliberate aim at his breast, at a distance of 
 less than five yards. " Mother of Mercy !" he ex- 
 claimed, and glanced round, as if for support, to 
 his followers. But they had taken to their legs, 
 without waiting for further proceedings. The 
 patron attempted to follow, but I caught him by 
 the arm, and jiressed the cold muzzle of the pistol 
 to his head. He trembled like an aspen, and sunk 
 upon the ground, crying in most abjeet tones for 
 mercy. I released him, but he did not attempt to 
 stir. The circumstances were favorable for negotia- 
 tion, and in a few minutes it was arranged that we 
 should continue to occupy the hut, and that ho 
 should remain with us, while his crew should stay 
 on board the vessel, when not engaged in catching 
 turtles. He did not like the exception in his favor ; 
 but, fearing that he might pull up anchor and leave 
 us to our fate, I insisted that I could not forego the 
 pleasure of his company. 
 
 The reader may be sure that I had a vigilant eye 
 on our patron, and at night either Antonio or 
 Frank kept watch, that he should not give us the 
 slip. Ho made one or two attempts, but finding us 
 
DEPARTURE FROM THE CA.Y. 51 
 
 prepared, at tlie end of a coui)le of days, resigned 
 himself to liis fate. Contenting ourselves with our 
 previous spoil, we allowed the new comers to pur- 
 sue the fishery alone. At the end of a week I 
 discovered, by various indications, that the season 
 was nearly over, and, accordingly, making a care- 
 less display of my revolver, told the captain that I 
 thought it would he more agreeable for us to go on 
 board his schooner, than to remain on shore. I 
 could see that the proposition was not acceptable, 
 and therefore repeated it, in such a way that 
 there was no alternative but assent left. He was a 
 good deal surj)rised when he discovered the amount 
 of shells which we had obtained ; and when I told 
 him that he should have half of it, for carrying us 
 to Providence, and the whole if he took us to Blue- 
 fields, his good nature returned. He asked pardon 
 for his rudeness, and, slapping his breast, pro- 
 claimed himself " un hombre hueno" who would 
 take us to the world's end, if I would only put up 
 my horrible pistol. That pistol, from the very first 
 day, had had a kind of deadly fascination for the 
 patron, who watched it, as if momentarily expecting 
 it to discharge itself at his head. And even now, 
 when he alluded to it, a perceptible shudder ran 
 through his frame. 
 
 Two days after I had taken up my quarters on 
 board of the little schooner, whicli, in age and accu- 
 mulated filth, might have been twin-brother of the 
 Prince Albert, we set sail from " El Roncador." 
 As it receded in the distance^ it looked very beauti- 
 
52 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 ful — an opal in the sea — and I could hardly realize 
 that it was nothing more than a reef-girt heap of 
 desert sands. 
 
 Although friendly" relations had been restored 
 with the patron, for the crew seemed nearly passive, 
 I kept myself constantly on my guard against foul 
 play, Antonio was sleeplessly vigilant. But the 
 patron, so far from having evil designs, appeared 
 really to have taken a liking to me, and expatiated 
 
 "el roncador." 
 
 upon the delights of Providence, where he repre- 
 sented himself as being a great man, with much un- 
 couth eloquence. He promised that I should b3 
 well received, and that he would himself get up a 
 dance — which he seemed to think the height of 
 civility — in my honor. 
 
 About noon, on our third day from " El Konca- 
 dor," the patron pointed out to me two light blue 
 mounds, one sharp and conical, and the other round 
 and broad, upon the edge of the horizon. They 
 were the highlands of Providence, Before night, 
 we had doubled the rocky headland of Santa Cata- 
 rina, crowned with the ruins of some old Spanish 
 fortifications, and in half an hour were at anchor. 
 
ISLAND OF PROVIDENCE. 53 
 
 alongside a large New G-ranadian schooner, in the 
 small but snusr harbor of the island. 
 
 This island is almost unknown to the world ; it 
 has, indeed, very little to commend it to notice. 
 Although accounted a single island, it is, in fact, 
 two islands ; one is six or eis-ht miles long;, and 
 four or five broad, and but moderately elevated ; 
 while the second, which is a rocky headland, called 
 Catarina, is separated from the main body by a 
 narrow but deep channel. The whole belongs to 
 New Granada, and has about three hundred inhab- 
 itants, extremely variegated in color, but with a 
 decided tendency to black. This island was a 
 famous resort of the pirates, during their predom- 
 inance in these parts, who expelled the Spaniards, 
 and built defences, by means of which they several 
 times repelled their assailants. 
 
 The productions consist chiefly of fruits and vege- 
 tables ; a little cotton is also raised, which, with the 
 turtle-shells collected by the inhabitants, constitutes 
 about the only export of the island. Vessels coming 
 northward sometimes stop there, for a cargo of 
 cocoa-nuts and yucas. 
 
 As can readily be imagined, the people are very 
 primitive in their habits, living chiefly in rude, 
 thatched huts, and leading an indolent, tropical 
 life, swinging in their hammocks and smoking by 
 day, and dancing, to the twanging of guitars, by 
 night. My patron, whom I had suspected of being 
 something of a braggart, was in reality a very con- 
 siderable personage in Providence, and I was re- 
 
54 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 ceived with great favor by the people, to whom he 
 introduced me as his own " very special friend." I 
 thought of our first interview on "El Eoncador/' 
 but suppressed my inchnation to laugh, as well as 1 
 was able. True to his promise, the second night 
 after our arrival was dedicated to a dance. The 
 only preparation for it consisted in the production 
 of a number of large wax candles, resembling 
 torches in size, and the concoction of several big 
 vessels of drink, in which Jamaica rum, some fresh 
 juice of the sugar-cane, and a quantity of powdered 
 peppers were the chief ingredients. The music 
 consisted of a vioHn, two guitars and a queer Indian 
 instrument, resembling a bow, the string of which, 
 if the critic will pardon the bull, was a brass wire 
 drawn tight by means of a perforated gourd, and 
 beaten with a stick, held by the performer, between 
 his thumb and forefinsrer. 
 
 I cannot attempt to describe the dance, which, 
 not over delicate at the outset, became outrageous 
 as the calabashes of liquor began to circulate. 
 Both sexes drank and danced, until most could 
 neither drink nor dance ; and then, it seemed to me, 
 they all got into a general quarrel, in which the 
 musicians broke their respective instruments over 
 each other's heads, then cried, embraced, and were 
 friends again. I did not wait for the end of the de- 
 bauch, which soon ceased to be amusing ; but, with 
 Antonio, stole away, and paddled off to the little 
 schooner, where the last sounds that rung in my ears 
 were the shouts and discordant songs of the revelers. 
 
HO, FOR THE MAIN-LAND ! 55 
 
 Providence, it can easily be understood, offered 
 few attractions to an artist minus the materials for 
 pursuing his vocation ; and I was delighted when I 
 learned that the New Granadian schooner was on 
 the eve of her departure for San Juan de Nicara- 
 gua. Her captain readily consented to land me at 
 Bluefields, and our patron magnificently waived all 
 claims to the tortoise-shells which we had obtained 
 at "El Roncador." I had no difficulty in selling 
 them to the captain of " El General Bolivar" for the 
 unexpected sum of three hundred dollars. Fifty 
 dollars of these I gave to the negro Frank, who was 
 quite at home in Providence. I offered to divide 
 the rest with Antonio, but he refused to receive any 
 portion of it, and insisted on accompanying me 
 without recompense, " You are my brother," said 
 he, " and I will not leave you." And here I may 
 add that, in all my wanderings, he was my constant 
 companion and firm and faithful friend. His his- 
 tory, a wild and wonderful tale, I shall some day 
 lay before the world : for Antonio was of regal 
 stock, the son and lieutenant of Chichen Pat, one 
 of the last and bravest of the chiefs of Yucatan, 
 who lost his life, under the very walls of Merida, in 
 the last unsuccessful rising of the aborigines ; and I 
 blush to add that the fatal bullet, which slew the 
 hope of the Indians, was sped from the rifle of an 
 American mercenary ! 
 
jHE approach to the: coast, near 
 "^— Bluefields, holds out no delusions. 
 
 The shore is flat, and in all respects tame and un- 
 interesting. A white line of sand, a green helt of 
 trees, with no relief except here and there a soli- 
 tary palm, and a few blue hills in the distance, are 
 the only objects which are offered to the expectant 
 eyes of the voyager. A nearer approach reveals a 
 large lagoon, protected by a narrow belt of sand, 
 covered, on the inner side, with a dense mass of 
 mangrove trees ; and this is the harbor of Blue- 
 fields. The entrance is narrow, but not difficult, at 
 the foot of a high, rocky bluff, which completely 
 commands the passage. 
 
 The town, or rather the collection of huts called 
 by that name, lies nearly nine miles from the en- 
 trance. After much tacking, and backing, and 
 filling, to avoid the innumerable banks and shal- 
 
TOWX OF BLUEFIELDS. 57 
 
 lows in the lagoon, we finally arrived at the anchor- 
 age. We had hardly got our anchor down, before 
 we were hoarded by a very pompous black man, 
 dressed in a shirt of red check, pantaloons of white 
 cotton cloth, and a glazed straw hat, with feet in- 
 nocent of shoes, whose office nobody knew, further 
 than that he was called " Admiral Eodney," and 
 was an important functionary in the " Mosquito 
 Kingdom." He bustled about, in an extraordinary 
 way, but his final purpose seemed narrowed down 
 to getting a dram, and pocketing a couple of dol- 
 lars, shly slipped into his hand by the captain, just 
 before he got over the side. When he had left, we 
 were told that we could go on shore. 
 
 Bluefields is an imperial city, the residence of the 
 court of the Mosquito Kingdom, and therefore 
 merits a particular description. As I have said, it 
 is a collection of the rudest possible thatched huts. 
 Among them are two or three framed buildings, 
 one of which is the residence of a Mr, Bell, an 
 Englishman, with whom, as I afterwards learned, 
 resided that world -renowned monarch, " George 
 William Clarence, King of all the Mosquitos." 
 The site of the huts is picturesque, being upon 
 comparatively high ground, at a point where a con- 
 siderable stream from the interior enters the lagoon. 
 There are two villages ; the principal one, or Blue- 
 fields proper, which is much the largest, containing 
 perhaps five hundred people ; and " Carlsruhe," a 
 kind of dependency, so named by a colony of Prus- 
 sians who had attempted to establish themselves here, 
 
58 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 but whose colony, at the time of my visit, had utterly 
 failed. Out of more than a hundred of the poor 
 people, who had been induced to come here, but 
 three or four were left, existing in a state of great 
 debility and distress. Most of their companions 
 had died, but a few had escaped to the interior, 
 where they bear convincing witness to the wicked- 
 ness of attempting to found colonies, from north- 
 ern climates, on low, pestiferous shores, under the 
 tropics. 
 
 Among the huts were many palm and plantain 
 trees, with detached stalks of the papaya, laden 
 with its large golden fruit. The shore was lined 
 with canoes, pit2:)ans and dories^ hollowed from the 
 trunks of trees, all sharp, trim, and graceful in 
 shape. The natives propel them, with great rapid- 
 ity, by single broad-bladed paddles, struck vertical- 
 ly in the water, first on one side, and then on the 
 other.* 
 
 There was a large assemblage on the beach, when 
 we landed, but I was amazed to find that, with few 
 exceptions, they were all unmitigated negros, or 
 Sambos {i. e. mixed negro and Indian). I had 
 heard of the Mosquito shore as occupied by the 
 Mosquito Indians, but soon found that there were 
 
 * The dory is usually hollowed from a solid piece of mahogany or 
 cedar, and is from twenty-five to fifty feet in length. This kind of 
 vessel is found so buoyant and safe, that persons, accustomed to the 
 management of it, often feanessly venture out to sea, in weather 
 when it might be unsafe to trust to vessels of a larger kind. 
 
 The 2nt2yan is another variety of canoe, excelling the dory in 
 point of speed. It is of the same material, differing only in being 
 flat-bottomed. 
 
BLUEFIELDS, 
 
 59 
 
 few, if any, pure Indians on the entire coast. The 
 miserable people who go by that name are, in real- 
 ity. Sambos, having a considerable intermixture of 
 trader blood from Jamaica, with which island the 
 coast has its principal relations. The arrival of the 
 traders on the shore is the signal for unrestrained 
 debauchery, always preluded by the traders baptiz- 
 ing, in a manner not remarkable for its delicacy or 
 gravity, all children born since their last visit, in 
 whom there is any decided indication of white blood. 
 The names given on these occasions are as fantastic 
 as the ceremony, and great liberties are taken with 
 the cognomens of all notabilities, living and dead, 
 from " Pompey" down to " WelHngton."' 
 
 Our first concern in Bluefields was to get a roof 
 to shelter us, which we finally succeeded in doing, 
 through the intervention of the captain of the 
 "Bolivar." That is to say, a dilapidated negro 
 from Jamaica, hearing that I had just left that de- 
 lectable island, claimed me as his countryman, and 
 gave me a little deserted thatched hut, the walls of 
 which were composed of a kind of wicker work of 
 upright canes, interwoven with palm leaves. This 
 structure had served him, in the days of his pros- 
 perity, as a kitchen. It was not more than ten feet 
 square, but would admit a hammock, hung diago- 
 nally from one corner to the other. To this abbre- 
 viated establishment, I moved my few damaged ef- 
 fects, and in the course of the day, completely do- 
 mesticated myself. Antonio exhibited the greatest 
 aptness and industry in making our quarters com- 
 
60 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 fortablc, and evinced an elasticity and cheerfulness 
 of manner unknown before. In the evenins;, he re- 
 sponded to the latent inquiry of my looks, by say- 
 ing, that his heart had become lighter since he had 
 reached the continent, and that his Lord gave prom- 
 ise of better days. 
 
 " Look I" he exclaimed, as he held up his talis- 
 man before my eyes. It emitted a pale light, 
 which seemed to come from it in pulsations, or 
 radiating circles. It may have been fancy, but if 
 so, I am not prepared to say that all which we deem 
 real is not a dream and a delusion ! 
 
 My host was a man of more pretensions than 
 Captain Ponto, but otherwise very much of the 
 same order of African architecture. From his 
 cautious silence, on the subject of his arrival on the 
 coast, I inferred that he had been brought out as a 
 slave, some thirty-five or forty years ago, when several 
 planters from Jamaica attempted to establish them- 
 selves here. However that may have been, he 
 now called himself a "merchant," and appeared 
 proud of a little collection of " osliaburgs," a few 
 red bandanna handkerchiefs, flanked by a dingy 
 cask of what the Yankees would call "the rale 
 critter," which occupied one corner of his house or 
 rather hut. He brooded over these with unremit- 
 ting care, although I believe I was his only cus- 
 tomer, (to the extent of a few fish hooks), during my 
 stay in Bluefields. He called himself Hodgson, 
 (the name, as I afterwards learned, of one of the 
 old British superintendents,) and based his hopes 
 
MOSQUITO ROYALTY. 61 
 
 of family immortality ujjon a son, whom lie respect- 
 fully called Blister James Hodgson, and who was, 
 he said, principal counselor to the king. This in- 
 formation, communicated to me within two hours 
 after my arrival, led me to believe myself in the 
 line of favorable j^resentation at court. But I 
 found out afterwards, that this promising scion of 
 the house of Hodgson was " under a cloud," and had 
 lost the sunshine of imperial favor, in consequence 
 of havinq; made some most indiscreet confessions, 
 when taken a prisoner, a few years before, by the 
 Nicaraguans. However, I was not destined to pine 
 away my days in devising plans to obtain an intro- 
 duction to his Mosquito Majesty. For, rising early 
 on the morning subsequent to my arrival. I start- 
 ed out to see the sights of Bluefields. Follow- 
 ing a broad path, leading to a grove of cocoa-nut 
 trees, which shadowed over the river, tall and trim, 
 I met a white man, of thin and serious visage, who 
 eyed me curiously for a moment, bowed slightly, 
 and passed on in silence. The distant air of an 
 Englishman, on meeting an American, is general- 
 ly reciprocated by equally frigid formality. So I 
 stared coldly, bowed stiffly, and also passed on. I 
 smiled to think what a deal of affectation had been 
 wasted on both sides, for it would have been un- 
 natural if two white men were not glad to see each 
 others' faces in a land of ebony like this. So I in- 
 voluntarily turned half round, just in time to witness 
 a similar evolution on the part of my thin friend. It 
 was evident that his thoughts were but reflections 
 
62 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 of my own, and being the younger of tlie two, I re- 
 traced my steps, and approached him with a laugh- 
 ing " Grood morning V He responded to my saluta- 
 tion with an equally pregnant " Good morning," at 
 the same time raising his hand to his ear, in token 
 of being hard of hearing. Conversation opened, 
 and I at once found I was in the presence of a man 
 of superior education, large experience, and alto- 
 gether out of place in the Mosquito metropolis. 
 After a long walk, in which we passed a rough 
 board structure, surmounted by a stumpy pole, 
 supporting a small flag — a sort of hybrid between 
 the Union Jack and the " Stars and Stripes" — 
 called by Mr. Bell the " House of Justice," I ac- 
 cepted his invitation to accompany him home to 
 coffee. 
 
 His house was a plain building of rough boards, 
 with several small rooms, all opening into the prin- 
 cipal apartment, in which I was invited to sit down. 
 A sleepy-looking black girl, with an enormous shock 
 of frizzled hair, was sweeping the floor, in a languid, 
 mechanical way, calculated to superinduce yawning, 
 even after a brisk morning walk. The partitions 
 were hung with many prints, in which " Her Most 
 G-racious Majesty" appeared in all the multiform 
 glory of steel, lithograph, and chromotint. A gun 
 or two, a table in the corner, supporting a confused 
 collection of books and papers, with some ropes, 
 boots, and iron grapnels beneath, a few chairs, a 
 Yankee clock, and a table, completed the furniture 
 and decoration of the room. I am thus particulai 
 
MOSQUITO ROYALTY. 63 
 
 in this inventory, for reasons which will afterward 
 apj)ear. 
 
 At a word from Mr. Bell, the torpid black girl 
 disappeared for a few moments, and then came 
 back with some cups and a pot of coffee. I ob- 
 served that there were three cups, and that my host 
 filled them all, which I thought a little singular, 
 since there were but two of us. A faint, momen- 
 tary suspicion crossed my mind, that the female 
 polypus stood in some such relation to my host as 
 to warrant her in honoring us with her company. 
 But, instead of doing so, she unceremoniously 
 pushed open a door in the corner, and curtly ejacu- 
 lated to some unseen occupant, " Get up !" There 
 was a kind of querulous response, and directly a 
 thumping and muttering, as of some person who 
 regarded himself as unreasonably disturbed. Mean- 
 while we had each finished our first cup of coft'ee, 
 and were proceeding with a second, when the door 
 in the corner opened, and a black boy, or what an 
 American would be apt to call, a " young darkey," 
 apparently nineteen or twenty years old, shuffled up 
 to the table. He wore only a shirt, unbuttoned 
 at the throat, and cotton pantaloons, scarcely but- 
 toned at all. He nodded to my entertainer with a 
 drawling " Mornin', sir \" and sat down to the third 
 cup of coffee. My host seemed to take no notice of 
 him, and we continued our conversation. Soon 
 after, the sloven youth got up, took his hat, and 
 slowly walked down the path to the river, where I 
 afterward saw him washino- his face in the stream. 
 
64 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 As I was about leaving, Mr. Bell kindly volun- 
 teered his services to me, in any way they might be 
 made available. I thanked him, and suggested 
 that, having no object to accomplish except to 
 " scare up" adventures and seek out novel sights, I 
 should be obliged to him for an introduction to the 
 king, at some future day, after Antonio should have 
 succeeded in rejuvenating my suit of ceremony, now 
 rather rusty from saturation with salt water. He 
 smiled faintly, and said, as for that matter, there 
 need be no delay ; and, stepping to the door, 
 shouted to the black youth by the river, and beck- 
 oned to him to come up the bank. The youth put 
 on his hat hurriedly, and obeyed. " Perhaps you 
 are not aware that is the king ?" observed my 
 host, with a contemptuous smile. I made no reply, 
 as the youth was at hand. He took off his hat 
 respectfully, but there was no introduction in the 
 case, beyond the quiet observation, " George, this 
 gentleman has come to see you ; sit down !" 
 
 I soon saw who was the real "king" in Bluefields. 
 " George," I think, had also a notion of his own on 
 the subject, but was kept in such strict subordina- 
 tion that he never manifested it by words. I found 
 him shy, but not without the elements of an ordi- 
 nary English education, which he had received in 
 England, He is nothing more or less than a negro, 
 with hardly a perceptible trace of Indian blood, and 
 would pass at the South for " a likely young fellow, 
 worth twelve hundred dollars as a body-servant !" 
 
 The second day after my arrival was Sunday, and 
 
GROG AND THE GOSPEL. 65 
 
 in the forenoon, Mr. Bell read the service of the 
 English Church, in the " House of Justice." There 
 were perhaps a dozen persons present, among them 
 the king, who was now dressed plainly and becom- 
 ingly, and who conducted himself with entire pro- 
 priety, I could not see that he was treated with 
 any special consideration ; while Mr. Bell received 
 marked deference. 
 
 It is a curious fact that although the English 
 have had relations, more or less intimate, with this 
 shore, ever since the pirates made it their retreat, 
 during the glorious days of the buccaneers, they 
 have never introduced the Gospel. The religion of 
 the "kingdom" was declared by the late king, in 
 his will, to be " the Established Church of Eng- 
 land," but the Established Church has never taken 
 steps to bring the natives within its aristocratic 
 fold. Several dissenting missionaries have made 
 attempts to settle on the coast, but as the British 
 officers and agents never favored them, they have 
 met with no success. Besides, the Sambos are 
 strongly attached to heathenish rites, half African 
 and half Indian, in which what they call '■'big 
 drunk" is not the least remarkable feature. Some 
 years ago a missionary, named Pilley, arrived at 
 Sandy Bay, for the purpose of reclaiming the " lost 
 sheep." A house was found for him, and he com- 
 menced preaching, and for a few Sundays enticed 
 some of the leading Sambos to hear him, by giving 
 them each a glass of grog. At length, one Sabbath 
 afternoon, a considerable number of the natives 
 
66 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 attended to liear tlie stranger talk, and to receive 
 the usual spiritual consolation. But the demijohn 
 of the worthy minister had been exhausted. He 
 nevertheless sought to compensate for the deficiency 
 by a more vehement display of eloquence, and for a 
 time flattered himself that he was producing a last- 
 ing impression. His discourse, however, was sud- 
 denly interrupted by one of the chiefs, who rose and 
 indignantly exclaimed, "All preach — no grog — no 
 good !" and with a responsive " No good I" the 
 audience followed him, as he stalked away, leaving 
 the astonished preacher to finish his discourse to 
 two or three Englishmen present. 
 
 In Bluefields the natives are kept in more re- 
 straint than elsewhere on the coast ; but even here 
 it has been found impossible to suppress their tra- 
 ditional practices, especially when connected with 
 their superstitions. My venerable friend Hodgson, 
 after " service," informed me that a funeral was to 
 take place, at a small settlement, a few miles up 
 the river, and volunteered to escort me thither in 
 his pitpan, if Antonio would undertake to do the 
 paddling. The suggestion was very acceptable, 
 and after a very frugal dinner, on roast fish and 
 boiled plantains, we set out. But we were not 
 alone ; we found dozens of pitpans starting for the 
 same destination, filled with men and women. It is 
 impossible to imagine a more picturesque spectacle 
 than these light and graceful boats, with occupants 
 dressed in the brightest colors, darting over the 
 placid waters of the river, now gay in the sun- 
 
GOING TO A FUNERAL. 
 
 67 
 
 light, and anon sobered in the shadows of the trees 
 which studded the hanks. There was a keen 
 strife among the rowers, who, amid shouts and 
 screeches, in which hoth men and women joined, 
 exerted themselves to the utmost. Even Antonio 
 
 smiled at the scene, 
 hut it was half con- 
 temptuously, for he 
 maintained, in re- 
 spect to these mon- 
 grels, the reserve of 
 conscious superiority. 
 
 
 :^:-s.\.^""<,'^^ "i.^ 
 
 GOING TO THE FUNERAL. 
 
 Less than an hour brought us in view of a little 
 collection of huts, grouped on the shore, under the 
 shadow of a cluster of palm-trees, which, from a 
 distance, presented a picture of entrancing beauty. 
 A large group of natives had already collected on 
 the shore, and, as Ave came near, wc heard the 
 monotonous beating of the native drum, or fum- 
 
68 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 Uiin, relieved by an occasional low, deep blast on a 
 large hollow j)ipe, wbich sounded more like tbe dis- 
 tant bellowing of an ox than anj thing else I ever 
 heard. In the pauses, we distinguished suppressed 
 wails, which continued for a minute perhaps, and 
 were then followed by the monotonous drum and 
 droning pipe. The descriptions of similar scenes in 
 Central Africa, given to us by Clapperton and 
 Mungo Park, recurred to me with wonderful vivid- 
 ness, and left the impression that the ceremonies 
 going on were rather African than American in 
 their origin. 
 
 On advancing to the huts, and the centre of the 
 group, I found a small pitpan cut in half, in one 
 part of which, wrajoped in cotton cloth, was the 
 dead body of a man of middle age, much emaciat- 
 ed, and horribly disfigured by what is called the 
 huqns, a species of syphilitic leprosy, which is al- 
 most universal on the coast, and which, with the 
 aid of rum, has already reduced the population to 
 one half what it was twenty years ago. This dis- 
 gusting disease is held in such terror by the Indians 
 of the interior, that they have prohibited all sexual 
 relations, between their people and the Sambos of 
 the coast, under the penalty of death. 
 
 Around the pitpan were stationed a number of 
 women, with palm branches, to keep off the flies, 
 which swarmed around the already festering corpse. 
 Their frizzled hair started from their heads like the 
 snakes on the brow of the fabled Gorgon, and they 
 swayed their bodies to and fro, keeping a kind of 
 
A MOSQUITO BURIAL. Tl 
 
 tread-mill step to the measure of the doleful turn- 
 turn. With the exception of the men who beat the 
 drum and blew the pipe, these women appeared to 
 be the only persons at all interested in the pro- 
 ceedings. The rest were standing in groups, or 
 squatted at the roots of the palm-trees. I was be- 
 ginning to get tired of the performance, when, with 
 a suddenness which startled even the women around 
 the corpse, four men, entirely naked excepting a 
 cloth wi'apped round their loins, and daubed over 
 with variously-colored clays, rushed from the inte- 
 rior of one of the huts, and hastily fastening a 
 piece of rope to the half of the pitpan containing 
 the corpse, dashed away towards the woods, drag- 
 ofino; it after them, like a sledo'e. The women with 
 the Grorgon heads, and the men with the drum and 
 trumpet, followed them on the run, each keeping 
 time on his respective instrument. The spectators 
 all hunied after, in a confused mass, while a big 
 negro, catching up the remaining half of the pit- 
 pan, placed it on liis head, and trotted behind the 
 crowd. 
 
 The men bearing the corpse entered the woods, 
 and the mass of the spectators, jostling each other 
 in the narrow path, kept up the same rapid pace. 
 At the distance of perhaps two hundred yards, 
 there was an open place, covered with low, dank, 
 tangled underbush, still wet from the rain of the 
 preceding night, which, although unmarked by any 
 sign, I took to be the burial place. When I came 
 uj), the half of the pitpan containing the body had 
 
72 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 been put in a shallow trench. The other half was 
 then inverted over it. The Gorgon-headed women 
 threw in their palm-branches, and the painted 
 negroes rapidly filled in the earth. While this was 
 going on, some men were collecting sticks and 
 palm-branches, with which a little hut was hastily 
 built over the grave. In this was placed an earthen 
 vessel, filled with water. The turtle-spear of the 
 dead man was stuck deep in the ground at his head, 
 and a fantastic fellow, with an old musket, dis- 
 charged three or four rounds over the sjDOt. 
 
 This done, the entire crowd started back in the 
 same manner it had come. No sooner, however, 
 did the painted men reach the village, than, seizing 
 some heavy machetes, they commenced cutting down 
 the palm-trees which stood around the hut that 
 had been occupied by the dead Sambo. It was 
 done silently, in the most hasty manner, and when 
 finished, they ran down to the river, and jdunged 
 out of sight in the water — a kind of lustration or 
 purifying rite. They remained in the water a few 
 moments, then hurried back to the hut from which 
 they had issued, and disappeared. 
 
 This savage and apparently unmeaning ceremony 
 was explained to me by Hodgson, as follows : 
 Death is supposed by the Sambos to result from 
 the influences of a demon, called Wiclasha, who, 
 ogre-likc, feeds upon the bodies of the dead. To 
 rescue the corpse from this fate, it is necessary to 
 lull the demon to sleep, and then steal away the 
 body and bury it, after which it is safe. To this 
 
MOSQUITO SUPEllSTITTON S. 73 
 
 end they bring in the aid of the drowsy drum and 
 droning jjipe, and the women go througli a slow 
 and soothing dance. Meanwhile, in the recesses of 
 some hut, where they cannot be seen by Wulasha, 
 a certain number of men carefully disguise them- 
 selves, so that they may not afterwards be recog- 
 nized and tormented ; and when the demon is sup- 
 posed to have been lulled to sleep, they seize the 
 moment to bury the body. I could not ascertain 
 any reason for cutting dow^n the palm-trees, except 
 that it had always been j^racticed by their ances- 
 tors. As the palm-tree is of slow growth, it has re- 
 sulted, from this custom, that they have nearly dis- 
 appeared from some parts of the coast. I could 
 not learn that it was the habit to plant a cocoa-nut 
 tree upon the birth of a child, as in some parts of 
 Africa, where the tree receives a common name with 
 the infant, and the annual rings on its trunk mark 
 his age. 
 
 If the water disappears from the earthen vessel 
 placed on the grave, — which, as the ware is porous, 
 it seldom fails to do in the course of a few days, — it 
 is taken as evidence that it has been consumed by 
 the dead man, and that he has escaped the maw of 
 Wulasha. This ascertained, preparations are at 
 once made for what is called a Seeh^oe, or Feast of 
 the Dead — an orgie which I afterwards witnessed 
 higher up the coast, and which will be described in 
 due course. 
 
 The negroes brought originally from Jamaica, as 
 also most of their descendants, hold these barbar- 
 
 4 
 
74 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 ous practices in contempt, and bury their dead, as 
 they say, " English-gentleman fashion." But while 
 these practices are discountenanced and prohibited 
 in Bluefields proper, they are, nevertheless, univer- 
 sal elsewhere on the Mosquito Shore. 
 
 I cannot omit mentioning here, that I paid a 
 visit both to the establishment and the burial-place 
 of the ill-fated Prussian colony. Many of the 
 houses, now rotting down, had been brought out 
 from Europe, and all around them were wheels of 
 carts falling in pieces, harnesses dropping apart, 
 and plows and instruments of cultivation rusting 
 away, or slowly burying themselves in the earth. 
 They told a sad story of ignorance on the part of 
 the projectors of the establishment, and of the dis- 
 appointments and sufferings of their victims. The 
 folly of attempting to plant an agricultural colony, 
 from the north of Europe, on low, murky, tropical 
 shores, is inconceivable. Again and again the at- 
 tempt has been made, on this coast, and as often it 
 has terminated in disaster and death. It was tried 
 by the French at Tehuantepec and Cape Gracias ; 
 by the English at Vera Paz and Black Eiver ; and 
 by the Belgians and Prussians at Santo Tomas and 
 Bluefields. In no instance did these estabhshments 
 survive a second year, nor in a single instance did a 
 tenth of the poor colonists escape the grave. The 
 Prussians at Bluefields suffered fearfully. At one 
 time, within four months after their arrival, out of 
 more than a hundred, there were not enough retain- 
 ing their health to bury the dead, much less tu 
 
AN ILL-FATED COLONY. 75 
 
 attend to the sick. The natives, jealous of the 
 strangers, would neither assist nor come near them, 
 and absolutely refused to sell them the scanty food 
 requisite for their subsistence. This feeling was 
 rather encouraged than otherwise, by the traders on 
 the coast, who desued to retain the monojDoly of 
 trade, as they had always done a prej)onderance of 
 influence among the natives. They j)rocured the 
 revocation of the grant which had been made to 
 the Messrs. Shepherd of ^San Juan, from whom the 
 Prussians had j)urchased a doubtful title, and 
 threatened the stricken strangers with forcible ex- 
 pulsion. Death, however, soon relieved them from 
 taking overt measures ; and, at the time of my 
 "^dsit, two or three haggard wretches, whose languid 
 blue eyes and flaxen hair contrasted painfully with 
 the blotched visages of the brutal Sambos, were all 
 that remained of the unfortunate Prussian colony. 
 The burying place was a small opening in the 
 bush, where rank vines sweltered over the sunken 
 graves, a spot reeking with miasmatic damps, from 
 which I retreated with a shudder. I could wish no 
 worse punishment to the originators of that fatal, 
 not to say, criminal enterprise, than that they 
 should stand there, as I stood, that Conscience 
 might hiss in thek ears, " Behold thy work I" 
 
MADE many inquiries in Blue- 
 fields, in order to decide on my fu- 
 ture movements, to all of wliicli Mr. 
 Bell gave me most intelligent an- 
 swers. At first, I proposed to ascend the Bluefields 
 river, wHch takes its rise in tlie mountainous district 
 of Segovia in ISTicaragua, and which is reported to he 
 navigable, for canoes, to within a short distance of 
 the great lakes of that State, from which it is only 
 separated hy a narrow range of mountains. Upon 
 its hanks dwell several tribes of pure Indians, the 
 Cookras, now but few in number, and the Ramas, 
 a large and docile tribe. Several of the latter visit- 
 ed Bluefields while I was there, bringing down 
 dories and pitpans rudely blocked out, which are 
 afterwards finished by persons expert in that art. 
 They generally speak Spanish, but I could not learn 
 from them that their country was in any respect re- 
 
/^t 
 
/ ?5 / 
 
UP, AND AWAY ! 77 
 
 markable, or that it held out any prospect of com- 
 pensation for a visit, unless it were an indefinite 
 amount of hunger and hard work. So, although I 
 had purchased a canoe, and made other prejiara- 
 tions for ascending the river, I determined to pro- 
 ceed northward along the coast, and, embarking in 
 some turtling vessel from Cape Gracias, proceed to 
 San Juan, and penetrate into the interior by the 
 river of the same name. 
 
 This, I ascertained, was all the more easy to ac- 
 complish, since the whole Mosquito shore is lined 
 with lagoons, only separated from the sea by narrow 
 strips of land, and so connected with each other as 
 to afford an interior navigation, for canoes, from 
 Bluefields to Gracias. So, procuring the additional 
 services of a young Poyas or Paya Indian, who had 
 been left from a trading schooner, I bade " His 
 Mosquito Majesty" and his governor good-by, took 
 an affectionate farewell of old Hodgson, and, with 
 Antonio, sailed away to the northern extremity of 
 the lagoon, having spent exactly a week in Blue- 
 fields. 
 
 It was a bright morning, and our little sail, filled 
 with the fresh sea-breeze, carried us gayly through 
 the water. Antonio carefully steered the boat, and 
 my Foyer boy sat, like a bronze figure-head, in the 
 bow, while I reclined in the centre, luxuriously 
 smoking a cigar. The white herons flajjped lazily 
 around us, and flocks of screaming curie avs whirled 
 rapidly over our heads. I could scarcely compre- 
 hend the novel reality of my position. The Robin^ 
 
78 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 son Crusoe-ish feeling of my youth came back in 
 all of its freslmess ; I had my own boat, and for 
 companions a descendant of an aboriginal prince, 
 the possessor of a mysterious talisman, devotedly 
 attached to me, half friend, half protector, and a 
 second strange Indian, irom some unknown interior, 
 silent as the unwilling genii whom the powerful 
 spell of Solyman kept in obedience to the weird 
 necromancers of the East. It was a strange posi- 
 tion and fellowship for one who, scarcely three 
 months before, had carefully cultivated the friendly 
 interest of Mr. Sly, with sinister designs on the 
 plethoric treasmy of the Art Union, in New York ! 
 
 I gave myself up to the delicious novelty, and 
 that sense of absolute independence which only a 
 complete separation from the moving world can in- 
 spire, and passed the entire day in a trance of 
 dreamy dehght. I subsequently passed many sim- 
 ilar days, but this stands out in the long perspec- 
 tive, as one of unalloyed happiness, '•' 'Twas worth 
 ten years of common life," and neither age nor suf- 
 fering can efface its bright impress from the crowd- 
 ed tablet of my memory ! 
 
 It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, when 
 we reached the northern extremity of the lagoon, 
 at a place callecl the Haulover, from the circum- 
 stance that, to avoid going outside in the open sea, 
 it is customary for the natives to drag their canoes 
 across the narrow neck of sand which separates 
 Bluefields from the next northern or Pearl Kay 
 Lasroon. Occasionallv, after long and heavv winds 
 
LIFE OX THE LAGOOXS. ("J 
 
 from the eastward, the waters are forced into the 
 lagoons, so as to overflow the belt of land which 
 divides them, when the navigation is uninter- 
 rupted. 
 
 In order to be able to renew our voyage early 
 next morning, our few effects and stores were carried 
 across the portage, over which cm* united strength 
 was sufficient to drag the dory, without difficulty. 
 All this was done with prompt alacrity on the part 
 of Antonio and the Poyer boy, who would not allow 
 me to exert myself in the slightest. The transit 
 was effected in less than an hour, and then we pro- 
 ceeded to make our camp for the night, on the 
 beach. Our little sail, sujjported over the canoe by 
 poles, answered the purpose of a tent. And as for 
 food, without going fifty yards from our fire, I shot 
 half a dozen curlews, which, when broiled, are cer- 
 tainly a passable bud. Meanwhile, the Poyer boy, 
 carefully wading in the lagoon, with a light spear, 
 had struck several fish, of varieties known as snooh 
 and grouper ; and Antonio had collected a bag full 
 of oysters, of which there appeared to be vast 
 banks, covered only by a foot or two of water. 
 They were not pearl oysters, as might be inferred 
 from the name of the lagoon, but similar to those 
 found on our own shores, except smaller, and grow- 
 iuo; in clusters of ten or a dozen each. Eaten with 
 that relishing sauce, known among travelers as 
 •' hunger sauce," I found them something more 
 than excellent,^they Avcre delicious. 
 
 While I opened oysters, by way of helping my- 
 
80 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 self to my princely first course, the Indians busied 
 themselves with the fish and birds. I watched their 
 proceedings with no little interest, and as their 
 mode of baking fish has never been set forth in the 
 cookery books, I give it for the benefit of the gas- 
 tronomic world in general, which, I take it, is not 
 above learning a good thing, even from a Poyer 
 Indian boy. A hole having been dug in the sand, 
 it was filled with dry branches, which were set on 
 fire. In a few minutes the fire subsided in a bed of 
 glowing coals. The largest of the fish, a grouper, 
 weighing perhaps five pounds, had been cleaned 
 and stuffed with pieces of the smaller fish, a few 
 oysters, some sliced plantains, and some slips of the 
 bark of the pimento or pejjper-tree. Duly sprink- 
 led with salt, it was carefully wrapped in the broad 
 green leaves of the plantain, and the coals raked 
 open, put in the centre of the glowing embers, with 
 which it Avas rapidly covered. Half an hour after- 
 ward, by which time I began to believe it had been 
 reduced to ashes, the bed was raked open again and 
 the fish taken out. The outer leaves of the wrapper 
 were burned, but the inner folds were entire, and 
 when they were unrolled, like the cerements of a 
 mummy, they revealed the fish, " cooked to a 
 charm," and preserving all the rich juices absorbed 
 in the flesh, which would have been carried off by 
 the heat, in the ordinary modes of cooking. I after- 
 ward adopted. the same process with nearly every 
 variety of large game, and found it, like patent 
 medicines, of " universal application." Commend 
 
3S'IGHT UNDER THE TROPICS 81 
 
 me to a young loarcc " done brown" in like manner, 
 as a dish fit for a king. But of that anon. 
 
 By and by the night came on, but not as it comes 
 in our northern latitudes. Night, under the tropics, 
 falls like a curtain. The sun goes down with a 
 glow, intense, but brief. There are no soft and lin- 
 gering twilight adieus, and stars lighting up one by 
 one. They come, a laughing group, trooping over 
 the skies, like bright-eyed children relieved from 
 school. Keflected in the lagoon, they seemed to 
 chase each other in amorous play, printing spark- 
 ling kisses on each other's luminous lips. The low 
 shores, lined with the heavy-foliaged mangroves, 
 looked like a frame of massive, antique carving, 
 around the vast mirror of the lagoon, across whose 
 surface streamed a silvery shaft of light from the 
 evening star, palpitating like a young bride, low in 
 the horizon. Then there Avere whispered " voices 
 of the night," the drowsy winds talking themselves 
 to sleep among the trees, and the little ripples of the 
 lagoon pattering with liquid feet along the sandy 
 shore. The distant monotonous beatings of the 
 sea, and an occasional sullen j^lunge of some ma- 
 rine animal, which served to open momentarily the 
 eyelids drooping in slumbrous sympathy with the 
 scene — these were the elements which entranced 
 me during the long, delicious hours of my first 
 evening, alone with Nature, on the Mosquito 
 Shore ! 
 
 My dreams that night so blended themselves 
 with the reality, that I could not now separate 
 
 4* 
 
82 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 them if I would, and to this day I hardlj know if 
 I slept at all. So completely did my soul go out, 
 and melt, and harmonize itself with the scene, that 
 I began to comprehend the Oriental doctrine of 
 emanations and absor^jtions, which teaches that, as 
 the body of man springs from the earth, and after 
 a brief space, mingles again with it ; so his soul, 
 part of the Great Spirit of the Universe, flutters 
 away like a dove from its nest, only to return, after 
 a weary flight, to fold its wings and once more melt 
 away in Nature's immortal heart, and uncreated and 
 eternal essence. 
 
 Before the dawn of day, the ever-watchful Anto- 
 nio had prepared the indispensable cup of coffee, 
 which is the tropical specific against the malignant 
 night-damps ; and the first rays of the sun shot 
 over the trees only to fall on our sail, bellying with 
 the fresh and invigorating sea-breeze. We laid our 
 course for the mouth of a river called Wawashaan 
 (Jiivas or ivass, in the dialect of the interior, signi- 
 fying water), which enters the lagoon, about twenty 
 miles to the northward of the Haulover. Here we 
 were told there was a settlement, which I deter- 
 mined to visit. As the day advanced, the breeze 
 subsided, and we made slow progress. So we pad- 
 dled to the shore of one of the numerous islands in 
 the lagoon, to avoid the hot sun and await the 
 freshening of the breeze in the afternoon. The 
 island on which we landed appeared to be higher 
 than any of the others, and was moreover rendered 
 doubly attractive by a number of tall cocoa-nut 
 
CLIMBING AFTER COCOAS. 83 
 
 palms, tliat clustered near the beacli. Wc ran our 
 boat ashore in a little cove, where there were traces 
 of fires, and other indications that it was a favor- 
 ite stopping-place with the natives. A narrow trail 
 led inward to the palm-trees. Leaving the Poyer 
 boy with the canoe, Antonio and myself followed 
 the blind path, and soon came to an open space 
 covered with plantain-trees, now much choked with 
 bushes, but heavily laden with fruit. The palms, 
 too, were clustering with nuts, of which we could 
 not, of course, neglect to take in a supply. Near 
 the trees we found the foundations of a house, after 
 the European plan, and, not far from it, one or two 
 rough grave-stones, on which inscriptions had been 
 rudely traced ; but they were now too much oblit- 
 erated to be read. I could only make out the figure 
 of a cross on one of them, and the name " San 
 Andres," which is an island ofi" the coast, where it is 
 probable the occupant of this lonely grave was born. 
 To obtain the cocoa-nuts, which otherwise could 
 only have been got at by cutting down and destroy- 
 ing the trees, Antonio j)repared to climb after 
 them. He had brought a kind of sack of coarse 
 netting, which he tied about his neck. He next 
 cut a long section of one of the numerous tough 
 vines which abound in the tropics, with which he 
 commenced braiding a large hooj) around one of the 
 trees. After this was done, he slipped it over his 
 head and down to his waist, gave it a few trialj of 
 strength, and then began his ascent, literally walk- 
 ing up the tree. It was a curious feat, and worth a 
 
94 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SliOliE. 
 
 description. Leaning back in this lioop, lie planted 
 his feet firmly against the trunk, clinging to which, 
 first with one hand, and 
 then with the other, he 
 worked up the hoop, tak- 
 ing a step with every up- 
 ward movement. Nothing 
 loth to exhibit his skill, in 
 a minute he was sixty feet 
 from the ground, leaning 
 back securely in his hoop, 
 and filling his sack with the 
 nuts. This done, he swimg 
 his load over his shoulders, 
 grasped the tree in his 
 arms, let the hoop fall, and 
 slid rapidly to the ground. 
 The whole occupied less 
 time than I have consumed 
 in writing an ac- 
 count of it. 
 
 Loaded with nuts, 
 plantains, and a 
 species of anona 
 called soursoj), we 
 returned to the 
 boat, where the wa- 
 ter, with which the 
 green cocoa-nuts are 
 filled, tempered with a little Jamaica rum, jj)arrt 
 a matar los animalicos, "to kill the animalcu- 
 
 
 CLIMBIXG AFTER COCOAS. 
 
THE MANGROVE, 
 
 85 
 
 lae," as the Spanish say, made a cooling and re- 
 freshing beverage. 
 
 In the afternoon we again embarked, and before 
 dark reached the mouth of the Wawashaan, which 
 looked like a narrow arm of the lagoon, but which, 
 we found, when we entered, had considerable cur- 
 rent, rendering necessary a brisk use of our paddles. 
 
 The banks near the lagoon, 
 were low, and the ground back 
 of them apparently swampy, 
 MANGROVE SWAMP aud dcuscly covered with man- 
 grove trees. This tree is universal on the Mosquito 
 coast, lining the shores of the lagoons and rivers, 
 as high up as the salt water reaches. It is unlike 
 any other tree in the world. Peculiar to lands over- 
 flowed by the tides, its trunk starts at a height of 
 from four to eight feet from the ground, supported 
 
86 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 by a radiating series of smooth, reddish-brown roots, 
 for all the world like the prongs of an inverted can- 
 delabrum. These roots interlock with each other in 
 such a manner that it is utterly impossible to pene- 
 trate between them, except by laboriously cutting 
 one's way. And even then an active man would 
 hardly be able to advance twenty feet in a day. The 
 trunk is generally tall and straight, the branches 
 numerous, but not long, and the leaves large and 
 thick ; on the upper surface of a dark, glistening, 
 unfading green, while below, of the downy, whitish 
 tint of the poplar-leaf. Lining the shore in dense 
 masses, the play of light on the leaves, as they are 
 turned upward by the wind, has the glad, billowy 
 effect of a field of waving grain. The timber of the 
 mangrove is sodden and heavy, and of no great 
 utility ; but its bark is astringent, and excellent for 
 tanning Its manner of propagation is remarkable. 
 The seed consists of a long bean-like stem, about 
 the length and shape of a dipped candle, but thin- 
 ner It hangs from the upper limbs in thousands, 
 and, when perfect, drops, point downward, erect in 
 the mud, where it speedily takes root, and shoots 
 up to tangle still more the already tangled man- 
 grove-swamp. Myriads of small oysters, called the 
 mangrove-oysters, cling to the roots, among which 
 active little crabs find shelter from the pursuit of 
 their hereditary enemies, the long-legged and 
 sharp-billed cranes, who have a prodigious hank- 
 ering after tender and infantile shell-fish. 
 
 The Mosquito settlement is some miles up the 
 
SOLDIE 11 -CRABS. 87 
 
 river, and we were unable to reach, it before dark ; so, 
 on arriving at a spot where the ground became higher, 
 and an open space appeared on the bank, we came 
 to a halt for the night, Wc had this time no fish 
 for supper, but, instead, a couple of qicams, a spe- 
 cies of small turkey, which is not a handsome bird, 
 but, nevertheless, delicate food. Manj of these 
 flew down to the shore, as night came on, selectino; 
 the tojDS of the highest, overhanging trees for their 
 roosting-places, and offering fine marks for my 
 faithful double-barreled gun. 
 
 The mosquitoes proving rather troublesome at 
 the edge of the water, I abandoned the canoe, and 
 spreading my blanket on the most elevated portion 
 of the bank, near the fire, was soon asleep. Before 
 midnight, however, I was roused by the sensation 
 of innumerable objects, with sharp claws and cold 
 bodies, crawling over me. I leaped up in alarm, 
 and hastily shook oft" the invaders. I heard a crack- 
 ling, rustling noise, as of rain on dry leaves, all 
 around me, and by the dim light I saw that the 
 ground was alive "\AT.th crawling things, moving in 
 an unbroken column toward the river. I felt them 
 in the jiockets of my coat, and hanging to my 
 skirts. My nocturnal interview with the turtles at 
 " El Eoncador" recurred to me, and Coleridge's 
 ghastly lines — 
 
 " The veiy sea did rot — 
 
 Oh Clirist, that this should be I — 
 And shniy things did crawl with legs 
 Upon tho slimy sea!" 
 
88 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 Half fearing that it miglit be my own disordered 
 fancy, I shouted to Antonio, who, quick as light, was 
 at my side. He stirred up the fire, and laughed 
 outright 1 We had been invaded by an army of 
 soldier-crabs, moving down from the high back- 
 grounds. Antonio had selected his bed for the 
 night nearest the river, and the fire, dividing the 
 host, had protected him, w^hib it had turned a double 
 column upon me. I could not myself help laughing 
 at the incident, which certainly had the quality 
 of novelty, I watched the moving legion for an 
 hour, but there was no perceptible decrease in the 
 numbers. So I laid down again by the side of An- 
 tonio, and slejjt quietly until morning, when there 
 were no more crabs to be seen, nor a trace of them, 
 except that the ground had been minutely punctured 
 all over, by their sharp, multitudinous claws. 
 
 It was rather late when we started up the river. 
 We had not proceeded far before we came to an 
 open space, where there were some rude huts, with 
 canoes drawn up on the bank, in front. A few 
 men, nearly naked, shouted at us ns we passed, in- 
 quiring, in broken English, what we had to sell, 
 evidently thinking that the white man could have 
 no purpose there unless to trade. We passed 
 other huts at intervals, which, however, had no 
 signs of cultivation around them, except a few 
 palm and plantain-trees, and an occasional small 
 patch of yucas. The mangroves had now disap- 
 peared, and the banks began to look inviting, cov- 
 ered, as they were, with large trees, including the 
 
RIVER WAWASUAAN, 
 
 80 
 
 caoba, or mahogany, and the gigantic ceiba, all 
 loaded down with vines. Thousands of j^^^n'ots 
 jsassed over, Avith their peculiar short, heavy flut- 
 ter, and loud, querulous note. In the early morn- 
 ing, and toward night, they keep up the most ve- 
 hement chattering, all talking and none listening, 
 after tha manner of a Woman's Eights Convention, 
 There were also gaudy macaws, which floated past 
 like frasrments of a rainbow. In common with the 
 parrots, they always go in pairs, and wlien one is 
 found alone, he is always silent and sad, and acts 
 as if he were a lone widower, and meditated sui- 
 cide. 
 
 On the occasional sandy reaches, we saw groups 
 of the Roseate SpoonhilJs, with their splendid plum- 
 age. The whole body is rose-col- 
 ored ; but the wings, toward the 
 shoulders, and the feathers around 
 the base of the neck, are of a 
 bright scarlet, deepening to blood- 
 red. But they form no exception 
 to the law of compensations— in 
 mechanics, called equilibrium, and 
 in mathematics equations, since, 
 while beautiful in plumage, they are sinfully ugly 
 in shape. And I could not help fancying, when I 
 saw them standing silent and melancholy on snags, 
 contemplating themselves in the water, that, as with 
 some other kinds of birds, their brilliant colors gave 
 them no joy, coupled wuth so serious a drawback in 
 form. I shot several, from which the Poyer boy 
 
 "the spooxwll." 
 
90 THE MOSQUITO SHOE E. 
 
 selected tlie most beautiful feathers, wliicli lie 
 afterward interwove with others from the m.acaw, 
 parrot, and egret, in a gorgeous head-dress, as a 
 ]3resent to me. 
 
 Toward noon we came to a cleared space, much 
 the largest I had seen on the coast ; and, as we ap- 
 proached nearer, I saw a house of European con- 
 struction, and a large field of sugar-cane. In strik- 
 ing contrast with these evidences of industry and 
 civilization, a Sambo or Mosquito village, made up 
 of squalid huts, half buried in the forest, filled out 
 the foreground. I recognized it as the village of 
 Wasswatla (literally Watertown), the place of our 
 destination. It, nevertheless, looked so uninviting 
 and miserable, that had I not been attracted bj 
 the Christian establishment in the distance, I 
 should have returned incontinently to the lagoon. 
 
 My unfavorable impressions were heightened on a 
 nearer approach. As we pushed up our canoe to 
 the shore,- among a great variety of dories and 
 other boats, the jDopulation of the village, including 
 a large number of dogs of low degree, swarmed 
 down to survey us. The juveniles were utterly 
 naked, and most of the adults of both sexes had 
 nothing more than a strip of a species of cloth, 
 made of the inner bark of the ule or India-rubber 
 tree (resembhng the tapjpa of the Society Island- 
 ers), wrapped around their loins. There was scarce- 
 ly one who was not disfigured by the blotches of 
 the hulpis, and the hah of each stood out in fright- 
 ful frizzles, '' like the quills on the fretful porcu- 
 
A ROYAL PASSPORT. 91 
 
 pine." Most of the men carried a short spear, 
 pointed with a common triangular file, carefully 
 sharpened by rubbing on the stones, which, as I 
 afterward learned, is used for striking turtle. 
 
 Forbidding as was the appearance of the assem- 
 blage, none of its individuals evinced hostility, and 
 when I jumped ashore, and saluted them with 
 " Good morning," they all responded, " 3Iornin', 
 sir !" brought out with an indescribable African 
 drawl. Two or three of the number volunteered to 
 help Antonio draw up our boat, while I gave vari- 
 ous orders, in default of knowing what else to do. 
 Luckily, it occurred to mo to produce a document, 
 or pass, with which Mr. Bell had kindly furnished 
 me before leaving Bluenelds, and which all seemed 
 to recognize, pointing to it respectfully, and ejacu- 
 lating, " King paper ! King paper !" It was fre- 
 quently called afterward, " the paper that talks." 
 This precious document, well engrossed on a sheet 
 of fools-cap, with a broad seal at the bottom, ran 
 as follows : — 
 
 " illosqnit0 Kingbom. 
 
 " George AA'illiam Clarence, by the Grace of 
 God, King of the Mosquito Territory, to our trusty 
 and well-beloved officers and subjects. Greeting ! 
 We, by these presents, do give jjass and license to 
 Samuel A. Bard Esquire, to go freely through our 
 kingdom, and to dwell therein ; and do furthermore, 
 exhort and command our well-beloved officers and 
 subjects aforesaid, to give aid and hosiJitality to the 
 
92 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 aforesaid Samuel A. Bird Esquire, whom we hold 
 of hisxh esteem and consideration. Given at Blue- 
 
 fields, this day of , in this the tenth year 
 
 of our reisn." 
 
 (Signed,) u ^ 
 
 II 
 
 % 
 
 The ejaculations of " King paper ! King paper !" 
 were followed by loud shouts of " Capt'n ! Cap- 
 t'n !" while two or three tall fellows ran off in the 
 direction of the huts. I was a little puzzled by the 
 movement, hut not long left in doubt as to its ob- 
 ject, for, in a few moments, a figure approached, 
 creating hardly less sensation among the people, 
 than he would have done among the " boys" in the 
 Bowery. I at once recognized him as the " Cap- 
 t'n," whose title had been so vigorously invoked. 
 He was, to start with, far from being a fine-looking 
 darkey ; but all natural deficiencies were more thai) 
 made up by his dress. He had on a most venerable 
 cocked hat, in wliich was stuck a long, drooping, 
 red plume, that had lost half of its feathers, look- 
 ing like the plumes of some rake of a rooster, re- 
 turning, crestfallen and bedraggled, from an unsuc- 
 cessful attempt on some powerful neighbor's harem. 
 His coat was that of a post-cajjtain in the British 
 navy, and his pantaloons were of blue cloth, with a 
 rusty gold stripe running down each side. They were, 
 furthermore, much too short at both ends, leaving an 
 unseemly, projection of ankle, as well as abroad strip 
 
CAPTAIN D R U JI M E R . 
 
CAPTAIN DLUM ME E, 96 
 
 of dark skin between the waistband and tbe coat. 
 And when I say that the captain wore no shirt, was 
 rather fat, and his pantaloons deficient in buttons 
 wherewith to kecj) it appropriately closed in front, 
 the active fancy of the reader may be able to com- 
 plete the 2)icture. He bore, moreover, a huge cav- 
 alry sword, which looked all the more formidable 
 from being bent in several places and very rusty. 
 He came forward with deliberation and gravity, and 
 I advanced to meet him, " king paper" in hand. 
 
 When I had got near him, he adjusted himself in 
 j)Osition, and compressed his lips, with an affecta- 
 tion of severe dignity. Hardly able to restrain 
 laughing outright, I took off my hat, and saluted 
 him with a profound bow, and " Good morning, 
 Captain I" He pulled off his hat in return, and 
 undertook a bow, but the strain was too great on 
 the sole remaining button of his waistband ; it gave 
 way, and, to boiTow a modest nautical phrase, the 
 nether garment " came down on the run !" The 
 captain, however, no way disconcerted, gathered it 
 up with both hands, and held it in place, while I 
 read the " paper that talked." 
 
 The upshot of the ceremony was, that I was wel- 
 comed to Wasswatla, and taken to a large vacant 
 hut, which was called the " king's house," and dedi- 
 cated to the Genius of Hospitality. That is to say, 
 the stranger or trader may take up his abode there, 
 provided he can dislodge the pigs and chickens, who 
 have an oljstiuate notion of their own on the sub- 
 ject of the proprietorship, and can never be induced 
 
96 THEMOSQUITOSHORE. 
 
 to surrender tlieir prescriptive rights. The " king's 
 house" was a simple shed, the ground within trod- 
 den into mire by the pigs, and the thatched roof 
 above half blown away by the wind. But, even 
 thus uninviting, it was better than any of the other 
 and drier huts, for the fleas, at least, had been suf- 
 focated in the mud. Before night, Antonio had 
 covered the floor, a foot deep, with caJioon leaves, 
 and, with the aid of the Poyer boy and one or two 
 natives, seduced thereunto by what they universally 
 call " grog," had restored the roof, and built up a 
 barricade of poles against the pigs. These were 
 not numerous, but hungry and vicious ; and, finding 
 the barricade too strong to be rooted down, they 
 tried the dodge of the Jews at Jericho, and of Cap- 
 tain Crockett with the bear, and undertook to squeal 
 it down ! They neither ate nor slept, those pigs, I 
 verily believe, during the period of my stay ; but 
 kept up an incessant squeal, occasionally reheving 
 their tempers by a spiteful diive at the poles. Be- 
 tween them and pestilent insects of various kinds, 
 my slumbers were none of the sweetest, and I reg- 
 istered a solemn vow that this should be my last 
 trial of Mosquito hospitality. 
 
 In the afternoon I had a visit from the captain, 
 who told me that Ms name was "Lord Nelson Drum- 
 mer," and that his father had been ." Governor " in 
 the section around Pearl-Cay Lagoon. He had laid 
 aside his official suit, and vrith simple breeches of 
 white cotton cloth, and a straw hat, afforded a 
 favorable contrast to his appearance in the morn- 
 
A DESERTED PLANTATION. 97 
 
 ing. He spoke English — quite as well as the ne- 
 groes of Jamaica, and generally made himself mi- 
 derstood. From him I learned that the house, 
 which I had seen in the clearings, had been built, 
 many years before, by a French Creole from one of 
 the islands of the Antilles, who at one time had 
 there a large plantation of coffee, cotton, and sugar- 
 cane, from the last of which he distilled much rum. 
 Drummer was animated on the subject of the rum, 
 of which there had been, as he said, "much 
 plenty !" But the Frenchmen had died, and al- 
 though his family kept up the establishment for a 
 little while, they were obliged to abandon it in the 
 end. The ne2;roes who had been brougrht out, soon 
 caught the infection of the coast, and, slavery hav- 
 ing been prohibited (by the British Superintendent 
 at Belize !), became idle, drunken, and worthless. 
 Some of them still Kngered around AYasswatla, 
 gathering for sale to the occasional trader, a few 
 pounds of coffee from the trees on the j^lantation, 
 which, in spite of years of utter neglect, still bore 
 fruit. The abandoned cane-fields furnished a sup- 
 ply of canes, at which all the inhabitants of Wass- 
 watla, old and young, were constantly gnawing. 
 In fact, this appeared to be their principal occu- 
 pation. I subsequently visited the abandoned es- 
 tate. It was overgrown with vines and bushes, 
 among which the orange, lime, and coffee-trees 
 struggled for existence. The house was tumbling 
 into ruin, and the boilers in which the sugar had 
 been made, Avere full of stagnating water. I re- 
 
 6 
 
98 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 turned to the squalid village, having learned an- 
 other philosophy in the science of j)liilanthropy ; 
 and Tvith a diminishing inclination to tolerate the 
 common cant ahout "universal brotherhood !" 
 
 The soil on the Wawashaan is rich and product- 
 ive. It seems well adapted to cotton and sugar. 
 The climate is hot and humid, and I saw many of 
 the natives much reduced, and suffering greatly 
 from fevers, which, if not violent, appear, neverthe- 
 less, to be persistent, and exceedingly debilitating. 
 The natural products are numerous and valuable. 
 I observed many indian-rubber trees, and, for the 
 first time, the vanilla. It is produced on a vine, 
 which climbs to the tops of the loftiest trees. Its 
 leaves somewhat resemble those of the grape ; the 
 flowers are red and yellow, and when they fall off 
 are succeeded by the pods, which grow in clusters, 
 like our ordinary beans. Green at first, they change 
 to yellow, and finally to a dark brown. To be pre- 
 served, they are gathered when yellow, and put in 
 heaps, for a few days, to ferment. They are after- 
 ward placed in the sun to dry, flattened by the 
 hand, and carefully rubbed with cocoa-nut oil, and 
 then packed in dry plantain-leaves, so as to confine 
 their powerful aromatic odor. The vanilla might 
 be made a considerable article of trade on the 
 coast ; but, at present, only a few dozen packages 
 are exported. 
 
 Lord Nelson, as I invariably called the captain, 
 domesticated himself with me from the first day, 
 and ate and drank with me — " especially the lat- 
 
A MOSQUITO DANCE, 99 
 
 ter." And I soon found out that there was a direct 
 and intimate relation, between his degree of thirst 
 and his protestations of attachment. He even 
 hinted his intention to get up a muslila feast for 
 me, but I would not agree to stay for a sufficient 
 length of time. 
 
 Finally, however, a grand fishing expedition to 
 the lagoon was determined on, and I was surprised 
 to see with how much alacrity the proposition was 
 taken up. The day previous to starting was de- 
 voted to sharpening spears, cleaning the boats, and 
 making paddles, in all of which operations the 
 women worked indiscriminately with the men. 
 Plantains were gathered, and, as it seemed to me, 
 no end of sugar-canes from the deserted plantation. 
 In the evening, which haj^pened to prove clear, the 
 big drum was got out, fires lighted, and there was a 
 dance, as Lord ISTelson said, " Mosquito fashion." 
 My part of the performance consisted in keeping up 
 the spirit of the drummers, by pouring spirits down, 
 which service was responded to by a vehemence of 
 pounding that would have done credit to a militia 
 training. I was surprised to find how much skill 
 the performers had attained ; but afterward dis- 
 covered that the drum is the favorite instrument on 
 the coast, and is called in requisition on all occa- 
 sions of festivity or ceremony. The dance was un- 
 couth, without the merit of being grotesque ; and 
 long before it was finished, the performers, of both 
 sexes, had thrown aside their fournous, and aban- 
 doned every shadow of decency in their actions. 
 
100 THE MOSQUITO SnORE. 
 
 Lord Nelson began to grow torpid early in the 
 evening, and, before I left the scene, bad been 
 carried off dead drunk. Next morning lie looked 
 rather downcast, and complained that the rum 
 " had spoiled his head." 
 
 It was quite late when our flotilla got under 
 way, with a large dory, carrying the big drum, 
 leading the van. There were some twenty-odd 
 boats, containing nearly the entire population of 
 the village. This number was increased from the 
 huts lower down, the occupants of which hailed us 
 with loud shouts, and hastened after us with their 
 canoes. We went down the river with the current 
 very rapidly, the men paddling in the maddest way, 
 and shouting to each other at the top of their 
 voices. Occasionally the boats got foul, when the 
 rivals used the flat of their paddles over each 
 other's heads without scruple. I was considerably 
 in the rear, and, from the sound of the blows, im- 
 agined that every skull had been crushed ; but next 
 moment their owners were paddling and shouting 
 as if nothing had happened. From that day, I had 
 a morbid curiosity to get a Mosquito skull ! 
 
 We all encamped at night, on the sandy beach 
 of a large island, in the centre of the lagoon. The 
 reader may be sure that I made my own camp at a 
 respectable distance from the rest of the party, 
 where I had a quiet supper, patronized, as usual, 
 by Captain Drummer. As soon as it became dark, 
 the j)i'6parations for fishing commenced. The 
 women were left on the beach, and three men ap- 
 
FIRE-LIGHT FISHING. 101 
 
 portioned to eacli boat. One was detailed to j^ad- 
 dle, another to liold the torch, and the third, and 
 most skillful, acted as striker or spearsman. The 
 torches were made of splinters of the fat yellow 
 pine, which abounds in the interior. The spears, I 
 observed, were of two kinds ; one firmly fixed by a 
 shank at the end of a long light pole, called sin-- 
 noch, which is not allowed to escape the hand of 
 the striker. The other, called luaisko-dusa, is 
 much shorter. The staff is holloAv, and the iron 
 spear-head, or harpoon, is fastened to a line which 
 passes through rings by the side of the shaft, and 
 is wound to a piece of light-wood, designed to act 
 as a float. When thrown, the head remains in the 
 fish, while the line unwinds, and the float rises to 
 the surface, to be seized again by the fisherman^ 
 who then hauls in his fish at his leisure. When the 
 fish is large and active, the chase after the float 
 becomes animated, and takes the character of what 
 fishermen call " sport." 
 
 As I have said, no sooner was it dark than the 
 boats pushed off, in difi'erent directions, on the la- 
 goon. My Poyer boy had borrowed a ivaisko- 
 dusa, and with him to strike, and Antonio to 
 paddle, I took a torch, and also glided out on the 
 water. My torch was tied to a pole, which I held 
 over the bow. Antonio paddled slowly, Avhile the 
 Poyer boy, entirely naked (for the strikers often go 
 overboard after their own spears), stood in the bow, 
 with his spear poised in his right hand, eagerly in- 
 cliuinsr forward, and motionless as a statue. He 
 
102, THE MOSQT'ITO SHORE. 
 
 was perfect in form, and his bronze limbs, just 
 tense enough to display without distorting the 
 muscles, were brought in clear outline against the 
 darkness by the light of the torch — reTealing a iig- 
 ure and jjose that would shame the highest achieve- 
 ments of the sculptor. It was so admirable that I 
 quite forgot the fisher in the artist, when, rapid as 
 light, the arm of the Poyer boy fell, and the spear 
 entered the water eight or nine feet ahead of the 
 boat. The motion was so sudden, that it nearly 
 startled me overboard. At first, I thought he had 
 missed his mark, but I soon saw the white float, 
 now dipping imder the water, now jerked this way, 
 now that, evincing clearly that the spearsman had 
 been true in his aim. A few strokes of Antonio's 
 paddle brought the float within reach of the striker, 
 who began, in sporting phrase, to "•' land" the fish. 
 It made a desperate struggle, and, for awhile, it 
 was what is called a " tight pull " between the 
 boy and the fish, iNevertheless, he was finally got 
 in, and proved to be what is called a June^ or Jew- 
 fish (Coracimis), by the English, and Pal_pa by the 
 natives. In point of delicacy and richness of flavor, 
 this fish is unequaled by any other found in these 
 seas. The one which we obtained weiohed not far 
 from eighty pounds. Some of them have been 
 known to weigh two or three hundred pounds. Our 
 prize made a great disturbance in our little canoe, 
 to which Antonio put a stop by disemboweling him 
 on the spot, after which we resumed our sport. 
 We were successful in obtaining a number of rock- 
 
NIGHT FISHING. 103 
 
 iisli, and several sikoko, or slieep's-lieads. Ambi- 
 tious to try my skill, I took the Poyer boy's place 
 for awhile. I was astonished to find how perfectly 
 clear the water proved to be, under the light of the 
 torch. The bottom, which, in the broad daylight, 
 had been utterly invisible, now revealed all of its 
 mysteries, its shells, and plants, and stones, with 
 wonderful distinctness. 1 observed also that the 
 fish seemed to be attracted by the light, and, in- 
 stead of darting away, rose toward the surface and 
 approached the boat. I allowed several opportuni- 
 ties of throwing the sj^ear to slip. Finally, a fine 
 sheep's-head rose just in front of me ; I aimed my 
 spear, and threw it with such an excess of force as 
 literally to drive the dory from beneath my feet, 
 precipitating myself in the water, and knocking 
 doAvn and extinguishing the torch in my ungraceful 
 tumble. The spear was recovered, and I felt rather 
 disappointed to find that it was innocent of a fish. 
 Antonio suggested that he had broken loose, which 
 was kind of him, but it would n't do. As we were 
 without light, and, moreover, had as many fish as 
 we could possibly dispose of, we paddled ashore. 
 
 Up to this time, I had been so much absorbed 
 with our own sport, that I had not noticed the other 
 fishers. It was a strange scene. Each torch glow- 
 ed at the apex of a trembling pyraraid of red light, 
 which, as the boats could not be seen, seemed to be 
 inspired with life. Some moved on stately and slow, 
 while others, Avhere the boats were rapidly whirled 
 in pursuit of the stricken fish, seemed to bo chasing 
 
104 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 each otlier in fieiy glee. Every successful throw 
 was hailed with vehement shouts, heightened by- 
 loud blows made by striking the flat of the paddle 
 on the surface of the water. All along the shore, 
 the women had lighted fires whereat to dry the fish, 
 which, in this climate, can not be kept long without 
 spoiling. The light from these fires caught on the 
 heavy foliage of the shore, and revealing the groups 
 of half-naked women and children, helped to make 
 up a scene which it is difficult to paint in words, 
 but which can never be forgotten by one who has 
 witnessed it. 
 
 It was past midnight before the boats all returned 
 to the shore ; and then commenced the drying of 
 the fish. Over all the fires, just out of reach of the 
 flames, were raised frame-works of canes, like grid- 
 irons, on which the fish, thinly sliced lengthwise, 
 and rubbed with salt, were laid. They were repeat- 
 edly turned, so that, with the salt, smoke and heat, 
 they were so far cured in the morning, as to require 
 no further attention than a day or two of exposure 
 to the sun. Our Jew-fish was thus prepared, and 
 afterward stood us in good stead, much resembling 
 smoked salmon, but less salt. While Antonio super- 
 intended this operation, I cooked the head and 
 shoulders of the big fish in the sand, after the man- 
 ner I have already described, and achieved a signal 
 success, inasmuch as the dish was well seasoned with 
 " hunger sauce." 
 
-^^ 
 
 FF the mouth of Peaii-Cay Lagoon 
 are numerous cays, which, in fact, 
 give their name to the lagoon. They 
 are celebrated for the number and 
 variety of turtles found on and 
 around them. I was so much delighted with our 
 torch-light fishing, that I became eager to witness 
 the sport of turtle-hunting, which is regarded by the 
 Mosquitos as their noblest art, and in which they 
 have acquired proverbial expertness. Drummer 
 required only a little persuasion and a taste of rum, 
 to undertake an exj)edition to the cays. As this 
 involved going out in the open sea, he selected four 
 of the largest pitpans, to each of which he assigned 
 the requisite number of able-bodied and expert men. 
 The women and remaining men were left to continue 
 their fishing in the lagoon. My canoe was much 
 too small to venture off, and accordingly was left in 
 
106 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 charge of the Poyer boy, who, armed with my 
 double-barreled gun, felt himself a host, "With 
 Antonio, I was given a place in the largest pitpan, 
 commanded by Harris, Captain Drummer's " quar- 
 ter-master," who was much the finest specimen of 
 physical beauty that I had seen among the Sambos. 
 
 I was quite concerned on finding how little pro- 
 visions were taken in the boats, since bad weather 
 often keeps the fishermen out for two or three 
 weeks. But Drummer insisted that we should find 
 plenty to eat, and we embarked. We caught the 
 land-breeze as soon as we got from under the lee of 
 the shore, and drove rapidly on our course. Although 
 the sea was comparatively smooth, yet the boats all 
 carried such an amount of sail as to keep me in a 
 state of constant nervousness. One would scarcely 
 believe that the Mosquito men venture out in their 
 pitpans, in the roughest weather with impunity, 
 riding the waves like sea-gulls. If upset, they right 
 llicir boats in a moment, and with their broad pad- 
 dle-blades clear them of Avatcr in an incredibly short 
 space of time. 
 
 We went, literally, with the wind ; and in four 
 hours after leaving the shore, were among the cays. 
 These are very numerous, surrounded by reefs, 
 through which wind intricate channels, all well 
 kuoAvn to the fishers. Some of the cays are mere 
 heaps of sand, and half-disintegrated coral-rock, 
 others are larger, and a few have bushes, and an 
 occasional palm-tree upon them, much resembling 
 " El Roncador." It was on one of the latter, where 
 
TAKING TURTLE. 107 
 
 there were the ruins of a rude hut, and a place 
 scooped in the sand, containing brackish water, 
 that we hmded, and made our encampment. No 
 sooner was this done than Harris started out with 
 his boat after turtle, leaving the rest to repair the 
 liut, and arrange matters for the night. Of course 
 I accompanied Harris. 
 
 The apparatus for striking the turtle is exceed- 
 ingly simple, corresponding exactly with the waislw- 
 dusa, which I have described, except that instead 
 of being barbed, the point is an ordinary triangular 
 file, ground exceedingly sharp. This, it has been 
 found, is the only thing which will pierce the thick 
 armor of the turtle ; and, moreover, it makes so 
 small a hole, that it seldom kills the green turtle, 
 and very slightly injures the scales of the hawkbill 
 variety, which furnishes the shell of commerce, 
 
 Harris stood in the bow of the pitpan, keeping a 
 sharp look out, holding his si)ear in his right 
 hand, with his left hand behind him, where it an- 
 swered the purpose of a telegraph to the two men 
 who jjaddled. They kept their eyes fixed on the 
 signal, and regulated their strokes, and the course 
 and speed of the boat, accordingly. Not a word 
 was said, as it is supposed that the turtle is sharp 
 of hearing. In this manner we paddled among 
 the cays for half an hour, when, on a slight motion 
 of Harris' hand, the men altered their course a lit- 
 tle, and worked their paddles so slowly and quietly 
 as scarcely to cause a ripple. I peered ahead, but 
 saw only what I supposed was a rock, projecting 
 
108 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 above the water. It was, nevertheless, a turtle, 
 floating lazily on the surface, as turtles are wont to 
 do. Notwithstanding the caution of our approach, 
 he either heard us, or caught sight of the boat, and 
 sank while we were yet fifty yards distant. There 
 was a quick motion of Harris' manual telegrajoh, 
 and the men began to paddle with the utmost ra- 
 pidity, striking their paddles deep in the water. In 
 an instant the boat had darted over the spot where 
 the turtle had disappeared, and I caught a hurried 
 glimpse of him, making his way with a speed which 
 quite upset my notions of the ability of turtles in 
 that line, predicated upon their unwieldiness on 
 land. He literally seemed to slide through the 
 water. 
 
 And now commenced a novel and exciting chase. 
 Harris had his eyes on the turtle, and the men 
 theirs on Harris' telegraphic hand. Now we darted 
 this way, then that ; slow one moment, rapid the 
 next, and anon stock still. The water was not so 
 deep as to permit our scaly friend to get entirely 
 out of reach of Harris' practiced eye, although to 
 me the bottom appeared to be a hopeless maze. As 
 the turtle must rise to the surface sooner or later 
 to breathe, the object of the j)ursuer is to keep near 
 enough to transfix him when he appears. Finally, 
 after half an hour of dodging about, the boat was 
 stopped with a jerk, and down darted the spear. 
 As the whole of the shaft did not go under, I saw it 
 had not failed of its object. A moment more, and 
 Harris had hold of the line. After a few struggles 
 
STRIKING TURTLE. 
 
 100 
 
 and spasmodic attempts to get away, his spirit gave 
 in, and the tired turtle tamely allowed himself to 
 be conducted to the shore. A few sharp strokes 
 disengaged the file, and he was turned over on his 
 back on the sand, the very picture of utter helpless- 
 ness, to await our return. I have a fancy that the 
 expression of a turtle's head, and half-closed eyes, 
 under such circumstances, is the superlative of 
 saintly resignation ; to which a few depreciatory 
 movements of his flippers come in as a sanctimoni- 
 ous accessory, like the upraised palms of a Avell-fed 
 parson. 
 
 iXniKIXG TURTLE. 
 
 This " specimen," as the naturalists would say, 
 proved to be of the smaller, or hawk-bill variety, 
 the flesh of which is inferior to that of the green 
 turtle, although hawk-bills are most valuable on 
 account of their shells. So wo paddled ofi* again. 
 
110 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 keeping close to the cays and reefs, where the water 
 is shallow. It was nearly dark before Harris got a 
 chance at another turtle, which he struck on the 
 bottom, at least eight feet below the surface. 
 This was of the green variety ; he was lifted in the 
 boat, and his head unceremoniously chopped off, 
 lest he should take a spiteful nip at the hams of 
 the paddlers. 
 
 We wound our way back to the rendezvous, jDick- 
 ing up our hawk-bill, who was that night unmer- 
 cifully put tlu-ough the cruel process, which I have 
 already had occasion to describe, for separating the 
 scales from the shell, after which he was permitted 
 to take himself off. I may here mention, that be- 
 sides the two varieties of turtle which I have 
 named, there is another and larger kind, called 
 the loggerhead turtle (Testudo Caretta), which re- 
 sembles the green turtle, but is distinguished by 
 the superior size of the head, greater breadth of 
 shell, and by its deeper and more variegated colors. 
 It grows to be of great size, sometimes reaching one 
 thousand or twelve hundred pounds ; but its flesh 
 is rank and coarse, and the laminse of its shell too 
 thin for use. It, nevertheless, supplies a good oil, 
 proper for a variety of j)urposes. 
 
 That evening, we had turtle steaks, and turtle eggs, 
 roasted turtle flippers, and caUipash and callipee 
 (the two latter in the form of soup), — in fact, turtle 
 in every form known to the Mosquito men, who 
 well deserve the name of turtle-men. The turtle 
 conceals, its eggs in the sand, but the natives are 
 
"jumping turtle," 111 
 
 ready to detect indications of a deposit, wMch tkey 
 verify by thrusting in the sand the iron ramrod of 
 a musket, an operation which they call " feeling 
 for eggs." 
 
 About midnight, it came on to rain heavily, and 
 continued all the next day, so that nothing could 
 be done. The time was " put in" talking turtle, and 
 Harris got so warmed up as to promise to show me 
 what the Mosquito men regard as the ne plus ultra 
 of skill in turtle craft, namely, "jumping turtle." 
 He did not explain to me what this meant, but 
 gave me a significant wag of the head, which is a 
 Mosquito synonym for nous verrons. 
 
 The third day proved propitious, and Harris was 
 successful in obtaining several fine turtles. About 
 noon he laid aside his spear, and took his position, 
 entirely naked, keeping up, nevertheless, his usual 
 look-out. We were not long in getting on the 
 track of a turtle. After a world of maneuvering, 
 apparently with the object of driving him into shal- 
 low water, Harris made a sudden dive overboard. 
 The water boiled and bubbled for a few moments, 
 when he reappeared, holding a fine hawk-bill in 
 his outstretched hands. And that feat proved to 
 be what is called "jumping a turtle." It often 
 happens that bungling fishermen get badly bitten 
 in these attempts, which are not without their dan- 
 gers from the sharp coral rocks and spiny sea-eggs. 
 
 During the afternoon of the fourth day, we re- 
 turned to the lagoon, taking with us eight green 
 turtles, and about ninety pounds of fine shell. We 
 
112 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 found that most of the party whicli we liad left had 
 gone back to the village, whither Drummer and his 
 " quarter-master" were urgent I should return with 
 them. But Wasswatla had no further attractions 
 for me, and I was firm in my purpose of j)roceeding 
 straightway up the coast. 
 
 With many last turns at the grog, I parted — not 
 without regret — with Drummer and Harris, giving 
 them each a gaudy silk handkerchief, in acknowl- 
 edgment of two fine turtles which they insisted on 
 my accepting. Harris also gave me his turtle- 
 spear, and was much exalted when I told him that 
 I should have it engraved with his name, and hung- 
 up in my ivatia (house) at home. 
 
 Pearl-Cay Lagoon is upward of forty miles long, 
 by, perhaps, ten miles wide at its broadest part. 
 There are three or four settlements upon it, the 
 principal of which are called Kirka, and English 
 Bank. I did not visit any of these, but took my 
 course direct for the upper end of the lagoon, where, 
 as the chain of salt lakes is here interrupted for a 
 considerable distance, there is another liaulover 
 from the lagoon to the sea. I saw several collec- 
 tions of huts on the western shore, and on a small 
 island, where we stopj)ed during the mid-day heats, 
 I gathered a few stalks of the jiquilite {Indigofera 
 dispermd), or indigenous indigo-plant, which may 
 be ranked as one of the prospective sources of 
 wealth on the coast. 
 
 We arrived at the haidover in the midst of a 
 drenching thunder-storm, which lasted into the 
 
TROPICAL TORMENTS. 113 
 
 night. It was impossible to light a fire, and so we 
 drew up the canoe on the beach, and, piling our 
 traps in the centre, I perched myself on the top, 
 where, with the sail thrown over my head, I enact- 
 ed the part of a tent-pole for the live-long night ! 
 My Indian companions stripped themselves naked, 
 rubbed their bodies with palm oil, and took the 
 pelting with all the nonchalance of ducks. For 
 want of any thing better to do, I ate plantains and 
 dried fish, and, after the rain subsided, watched the 
 brilliant fire-flies, of which hundreds moved about 
 lazily under the lee of the bushes. The atmos- 
 phere, after the storm had subsided, was murky and 
 sultry, making respiration difficult, and inducing a 
 sense of extreme lassitude and fatigue. Every 
 thing was damp and sticky, and so saturated with 
 water, that it was impossible for me to lie down. I 
 applied to my Jamaica for comfort, but, in spite of 
 it, relajjsed into a fit of glums, or " blue-devils." 
 To add to my discomfort, innumerable sand-flies 
 came out, and, soon after, a cloud of mosquitos, 
 while a forest-full of some kind of tree-toad struck 
 up a doleful piping, which proved too much for 
 even my tried equanimity. I got up, and strode 
 back and foi'tli on the narrow sand-beach, in a ve- 
 hement and intemperate manner, wishing myself in 
 New York, any where, even in Jamaica ! The re- 
 membrance of my first night on the shores of the 
 lagoon only served to make me feel the more 
 wretched, and I longed to have " some gentleman 
 do me the favor to thread on the tail of me coat !'"' 
 
114 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 Toward daylight, however, my corapanions had 
 contrived to malce up a sickly fire, in the smoke of 
 which I sought refuge from the mosquitoes and 
 sand-flies, and became soothed and sooty at the 
 same time. Day came at last, hut the sun was ob- 
 scured, and things wore but slight improvement on 
 the aight. I found that we were on a narrow strip 
 of sand, scarcely two hundred yards wide, covered 
 with scrubby bushes, interspersed with a few twist- 
 ed trees, looking like weather-beaten skeletons, be- 
 yond which was the sea, dark and threatening, 
 under a gray, filmy sky. Antonio predicted a 
 storm, what he called a temporal^ during which it 
 often rains steadily for a week. Under the circum- 
 stances, it became a pregnant question what to do : 
 whether to return down the lagoon to some more 
 eligible spot for an encampment, or to push out 
 boldly on the ocean, and make an eff'ort to gain the 
 mouth of a large river, some miles up the coast, 
 called Rio Grrande or Great River. 
 
 I resolved upon the latter course, and we drag- 
 ged the canoe across the haulover. Although the 
 surf was not high, we had great difficulty in 
 launching our boat, which was effected by my com- 
 panions, who, stationed one on each side, seized a 
 favorable moment, as the waves fell, to drag it be- 
 _j;ondAe line of breakers. ^^While one kept it sta- 
 tionary witEHbiis paddle, the other, watching his op- 
 portunity, carried oft" the articles one by one, and 
 finally, stripping myself, I mounted on Antonio's 
 shoulders, and was deposited like a sack in the 
 
BRAVING THE BAR, 115 
 
 boat. We paddled out until wc got a good offing, 
 then put up our sail, and laid our course north- 
 nortli-west. The coast was dim and indistinct, but 
 I had great faith in the Poyer boy, whose judgment 
 had thus far never failed. About four o^clock in 
 the afternoon, we came in sight of a knoll or high 
 bank, which, covered with large trees, rises on the 
 north side of the mouth of Great Kiver, constitut- 
 ing an excellent landmark. I was in no wise sorry 
 to find ourselves nearing it rapidly, for the wind be- 
 gan to freshen, and I feared lest it might raise such 
 a surf on the bar of the river as to prevent us from 
 entering. In fact, the waves had begun to break at 
 the shallower places on the bar, while elsewhere 
 the north-east wind drove over the water in heavy 
 swells. The sail was hastily gathered in, and my 
 Indians, seizing their paddles, watched the seventh, 
 or crowning wave, and, by vigorous exertion, cheer- 
 ing each other with shouts, kept the canoe at its 
 crest, and thus we were swept majestically over the 
 bar, into the comparatively quiet water beyond it. 
 Half an hour afterward, the great waves broke on 
 the very spot where we had crossed, in clouds of 
 spray, and with the noise of thunder ! 
 
 The mouth of Great Eiver is broad, but entirely 
 exposed to the north-east ; and, although it is a 
 large stream, the water on its bar is not more than 
 five or six feet deep, shutting out all large vessels, 
 which otherwise might go up a long way into the 
 country. There are several islands near the mouth. 
 On the innermost one, which toward the sea is 
 
116 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 bluff and high, we made our encampment. It ap- 
 peared to me as favorable a spot as we could find, 
 whereon to await the temporal which Antonio had 
 predicted, and the approach of which became ap- 
 parent to even the most unpracticed observer. For- 
 tunately, with Harris' turtles, we felt easy on the 
 score of food. So we dragged the canoe high up on 
 the bank, and while I kindled a fire, my companions 
 busied themselves in constructing a shelter over the 
 boat. Stout forked stakes were planted at each 
 end of the canoe, to support a ridge-pole, with other 
 shorter ones supporting the outer poles. To these, 
 canes were lashed transversely, and over all was 
 woven a thatch of calioon, or palmetto-leaves. Out- 
 side, and on a line with the eaves, a little trench 
 was dug, to carry off the water, and preserve the 
 interior from being flooded by what might run 
 down the slope of the ground. So rapidly was all 
 this done, that before it was quite dark the hut was 
 so far advanced as to enable us to defy the rain, 
 which soon began to fall in torrents. The strong 
 sea wind drove off^ the mosquitos to the bush on the 
 main-land, so that I slept comfortably and well, in 
 spite of the thunder of the sea and the roaring of 
 the wind. 
 
 For eight days it rained almost uninterruptedly. 
 Sometimes, between nine and eleven o'clock, and 
 for perhaps an hour near sunset, there would be a 
 pause, and a lull in the wind, and a general light- 
 ing up of the leaden sky, as if the sun were about to 
 break through. But the clouds would gather again 
 
A TROPICAL 
 
 TEMPORAL. 
 
 117 
 
 darker than ever, and the rain set m with a steady 
 pouring unknown in northern latitudes. For eight 
 mortal days wo had no ray of sun, or moon, or star ! 
 Every iron thing became thickly coated with rust ; 
 our plantains began to spot, and our dried fish to 
 grow soft and mouldy, requiring to be hung over 
 the small fire which we contrived to keep alive, in 
 on3 corner of our extemporaneous hut. 
 
 TEMPORAL CAMP. 
 
 After the third day, the water in the river began 
 to rise, and during the night rose more than eight 
 feet. On the fifth day the current was full of large 
 trees, their leaves still green, which seemed to be 
 bound together with vines. In the afternoon down 
 came the entire thatched roof of a native hut, which 
 lodged against our island, bringing us a most accept- 
 able freight, in the shajic of a plump two-months 
 
118 THE MOSQUITO S II O li E . 
 
 old pig. His follow- voyager — strange companion- 
 ship I — was a tame parrot, with clipped Anngs, who 
 looked melancholy enough when rescued, bnt who, 
 after getting dry in onr hut, and soothing his appe- 
 tite on my plantains, tirsr became mirthful, then 
 boisterous, and linally mischievous. He was im- 
 mediately installed as one of the party, and made 
 more noise in the world than all the rest. To me 
 he proved an unfailing source of amusement. He 
 was respectful towanl xVntonio, but vicious toward 
 the Foyer boy, and never happy except when 
 cautiously stealing to get a bite at his toes. When 
 successful in this he became wild with delight, and 
 as noisy and vehement as a lucky Frenchman. It 
 was one of his ])rinie delights to gnaw oti* the corks 
 of my bottles ; and he was possessed of a most in- 
 sane desire to g-et inside of my demijohn, mistak- 
 ing it, perhaps, for a wicker cage, from which he 
 imagined liimself wrongfully excluded. Antonio 
 called him " El Moro," the Moor, for what reason I 
 did not undei-stand, and the name suiting me as 
 well as any other, I baptized him Avith water, '• El 
 Moro," and gx>t an ugly pinch on the wrist for my 
 blasphemy. 
 
 Our young porker escaped droANTiing only to fall 
 into the hands of the Philistines ; we had nothing 
 to feed him ; he might g-et away : he Avas, more- 
 over, invitingly fat ; so aac incontinently cut his 
 throat, and ate him up ! 
 
 During our imprisonment, my companions Axere 
 not idle. I']ion the island were many wo^of-trees. 
 
ISLAND IMPRISONMENT, lliJ 
 
 the bark of which is tough, and of a line, soft, 
 white fibre. Of this tliey collected considerable 
 quantities, which the Poyer boy braided into a sort 
 of cap, designed as the foundation of the elegant 
 feather head-dress Avhicli he afterward gave me ; 
 while Antonio, more utilitarian, wove a small net, 
 not unlike that which wo use to catch crabs. He 
 jvt once put it into requisition to catch craw-fish, 
 which abounded amonir the rocks to the seaward of 
 the island. But before entering upon the subject 
 of craw-Iish, I may say that the mohoc bark, from 
 its fine quality, and the abundance in wliich it may 
 be procured, might be made exceedingly useful for 
 the manufacture of paper — mi article now becom- 
 ing scarce and dear. 
 
 The Cray or craic-fisli resemble the lobster, but 
 are smaller in size, and want the tAvo great claws. 
 Their flesh has more flavor than that of either the 
 crab or lobster, and we found them an acceptable 
 addition to our commissariat. There were many 
 Avood-pigeons and parrots on the island, but my gun 
 had got in such a state, from the damp, that I did 
 not attempt to use it. 
 
 Our i)rotracted stay made a large draft on our 
 picas and plantains, and it became important to us 
 to look out for fruit and vegetables. The current 
 in the river Avas too strong, and too much obstruct- 
 ed with floating timber, to permit us to use our 
 boat. The Avater, even at the broadest part of the 
 stream, had risen upward of fifteen feet, equivalent 
 to a rise of tAventy or tAventy-five feet in the inte- 
 
120 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 rior ! The banks were overflowed ; the low islands 
 outside of us completely submerged and our own 
 space much circumscribed. A few plantain-trees, 
 which we had observed on the first evening, had 
 been broken doAvn or swept away, and we were fain 
 to put ourselves on a short allowance of vegetables. 
 One morning, during a pause in the rain, I ven- 
 tured out ; and, after a little search, found a tree, 
 resembling a pear-tree, and bearing a large quan- 
 tity of a small fruit, of the size and shape of a crab- 
 apple, and exactly like it in smell, I cried out de- 
 lightedly to Antonio, holding up a handful of the 
 supposed apples. To my surprise, he shouted, 
 " Throw them down ! throw them down I" explain- 
 ing that they were the fruit of the m angeneel or 
 manzanilla, and rank poison. He hurried me away 
 from" the tree, assuring me that even the dew or 
 rain-drops which fell from its leaves w^ere poisonous, 
 and that its influence, like that of the iohlQ^upas^ 
 is so powerful as to swell the faces and limbs of 
 those who may be ignorant or indiscreet enough 
 to sleep beneath its shade ! I found out subse- 
 quently, that it is with the acrid milky juice of this 
 tree that the Indians poison their arrows. I ever 
 afterward gave it a wide berth. In shape and 
 smell is is so much like the crab-apjjle that I can 
 readily understand how it might prove dangerous to 
 strangers. Under the tropics, it is safe to let wild 
 fruits alone. Antonio, more successful than myself, 
 found a large quantity of guavas, which the natives 
 eat with great relish, but which to me have a disa- 
 
T H E R E L E A S E . 1 21 
 
 greeable aromatic, or rather, musky taste. So I 
 stuck to plantains, and left my companions and 
 " El Moro'' to enjoy a monojDoly ol' guavas. 
 
 Finally, the windows of heaven were closed, the 
 rain ceased, and the sun came out with a bright, 
 well- washed face. It was none too soon, for every 
 article which I possessed, clothing, books, food, all 
 had begun to spot and mould from the damp. I 
 had myself a sympathetic feeling, and dreamed at 
 night that I was covered with a green mildew ; 
 dreams so vivid that I once got up and went out 
 naked in the raiii, to wash it off ! 
 
 After the leaves had ceased to drip, Ave stretched 
 lines between the trees, and hung out our scanty 
 Avardrobe to dry, I rubbed and brushed at my 
 court suit of black, but in vain. What with salt 
 water at "El Eoncador," and mould here, it had 
 acquired a jjermanent rusty and leprous look, which 
 half inclined me to follow the Poyer boy's sugges- 
 tion, and soak it in palm oil ! Few and simple as 
 were our equipments, it took full two days to redeem 
 them from the effects of the damp. My gun more 
 resembled some of those quaint old lire-locks taken 
 from Avi-ecks, and exhibited in museums, than any 
 thing useful to the present generation. In view of 
 all things, I was fain to ejaculate. Heaven save me 
 from another ^'■temporal" on the Mosquito Shore ! 
 
 6 
 
T was three days after tlie rain had 
 r;i_ ceased, before we could embark on 
 the river, and even then its current 
 was angry and turbid, and filled 
 with floating trees. We hu^^-ged the banks in cm- 
 ascent, darting from one side of the stream to the 
 other, to avail ourselves of the hacl'-sefs, or eddies, 
 sometimes losing, by an unsuccessful attempt, all we 
 had gained by half an hour of hard paddling. The 
 banks were much torn by the water ; in some places 
 they had fallen in, carrying many trees into the 
 stream, where they remained anchored to the shore 
 by the numerous tough vines that twined around 
 them. Elsewhere the trees, half luidermined, leaned 
 heavily over the current, in which the long A-ines 
 hung trailing in mournful masses, like the drooping 
 leaves of the funeral willow. The long grass on the 
 low islands had been beaten down, and was covered 
 
EL RIO GRANDE. 123 
 
 with a slimy deposit, over which stalked hungry 
 water-birds, the snow-white ibis, and long-shanked 
 crane, in search of worms and insects, and entangled 
 fish. 
 
 We were occupied the whole day, in reaching the 
 first settlement on this river — a picturesque collec- 
 tion of low huts, in a forest of palm, papaya, and 
 plantain-trees. Near it were some considerable 
 patches of maize, and long reaches of yucas, squash, 
 and melon-vines. There were, in short, more evi- 
 dences of industry and thrift than I bad yet seen on 
 the entire coast. 
 
 As we approached the bank, in front of the huts, 
 I observed that all the inhabitants were pure In- 
 dians, whom my Poyer boy hailed in his own tongue, - 
 I afterward found out that they were Wool was, and 
 spoke a dialect of the same language with the 
 Foyers, and Cookras, to the northward. As at 
 Wasswatla, nearly all the inhabitants crowded 
 down to the shore to meet me, affording, with their 
 slight and symmetrical bodies, and long, well- 
 orderad, glossy black hair, a strildng contrast to the 
 large-bellied, and spotted mongrels on the Wawa- 
 shaan. I produced my " King-paper," and ad- 
 vanced toward a couple of elderly men bearing 
 white wooden wands, which I at once conjectured 
 were insignia of authority. But no sooner did 
 they get sight of my " King-paper," than they 
 motioned me back with tokens of displeasure, 
 exclaiming, "Sax/ sax I" which I had no dif- 
 ficulty in comprehending meant " take it away !" 
 
124 THE MOSQUITO T II O R L . 
 
 So I folded it up, put it in my pocket, and ex- 
 tended m\ liand, Avhich was taken by eacli, and 
 sliakcn in tlio most formal manner. When the men 
 with the wands had finished, all the others came 
 forward, and went through the same ceremony, 
 most of them ejaculating, interrogatively, Nahisma ? 
 which appears to he an exact equivalent of the 
 English, " How are you ?" 
 
 This done, the men with the wands beckoned to me 
 to follow them, which I did, to a large hut, neatly 
 wattled at the sides, and closed by a door of 
 canes. One of them pushed this open, and I en- 
 tered after him, followed only by those who had 
 wands, the rest clustering like bees around the 
 door, or peering through the openings in the wat- 
 tled walls. There were several rough blocks of wood 
 in the interior, upon which they seated themselves, 
 placing me between them. All this while there 
 was an unbroken silence, and I was quite in a fog 
 as to whether I was held as a guest or as a jDrisoner. 
 I looked into the faces of my friends in vain ; they 
 were as impassible as stones. I, however, felt re- 
 assured when I saw Antonio at the door, his face 
 wearing rather a pleased than alarmed expression. 
 
 Wo sat thus a very long time, as it appeared to 
 me, when there was a movement outside, the crowd 
 separated, and a man entered, bearing a large 
 earthen vessel filled with liquid, followed by two 
 girls, with baskets piled with cakes of corn meal, 
 fragments of some kind of broiled meat, and a 
 quantity of a paste of plantains, having the taste of 
 
HE Fl'KTHEUMORE POINTED Ol' I' TO ME A RlTlK DRIM HANGINC IN ONE 
 
 COKNEK ri'ON WHICH HK INSI'HUCTKU .ME TO r.KAr IN CA>E I 
 
 WANTED ANVIHIM;. 
 
A WOOLWA WELCOME. 125 
 
 figs, and called hishire. The eldest of the men of 
 wands filled a small calabash with the liquid, 
 touched it to his lips, and passed it to me. I did 
 the same, and handed it to my next neighbor ; but 
 he motioned it back, exclaiming, " Dis •' dis I" 
 drink, drink ! I found it to be a species of palm- 
 wine, with which I afterward became better ac- 
 quainted. It proved pleasant enough to the taste, 
 and I drained the calabash. Another one of the 
 old men then took up some of the roast meat, tore 
 off and ate a little, and handed the rest to me. 
 Not slow in adaptation, I took all hints, and wound 
 up by making a hearty meal. The remnants 
 were then passed out to Antonio, who, however, 
 was permitted to wait on himself. 
 
 I made some observations to Antonio in Spanish, 
 which I perceived was understood by the principal 
 dignitary of the wands, who, after some moments, 
 informed me, in good Spanish, that the hut in 
 which we were, was the cabildo of the village, and 
 that it was wholly at my service, so long as I chose 
 to stay. He furthermore pointed out to me a rude 
 drum hanging in one corner, made by stretching 
 the raw skin of some animal over a section of a hollow 
 tree, upon which he instructed me to beat in case I 
 wanted any thing. This done, he rose, and, followed 
 by his companions, ceremoniously retired, leaving 
 me in quiet possession of the largest and best hut 
 in the village. I felt myself quite an important 
 personage, and ordered up my hammock, and the 
 various contents of my canoe, with a degree of sat- 
 
126 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 isfaction which I liad not experienced when waging a 
 war against the pigs, in tlie '' King's house" at 
 Wasswatla. 
 
 I subsequently ascertained that all of the ideas 
 of government which the Indians on this river pos- 
 sess, were derived from the Spaniards, either de- 
 scending to them from former Spanish establish- 
 ments here, or obtained from contact with the 
 Spaniards far up in the interior. The principal 
 men were called " alcaldes," and many Spanish 
 words were in common use. I discovered no trace 
 of negro blood among them, and found that they 
 entertained a feeling of dislike, amounting to hostil- 
 ity, to tho Mosquito men. So far as I could ascer- 
 tain, while they denied the authority of the Mos- 
 quito king, they sent down annually a certain 
 quantity of sarsaparilla, maize, and other articles, 
 less as tribute than as the traditionary price of 
 being let alono by the Sambos. In former times, it 
 appeared, the latter lost no opportunity of kidnap- 
 ping their children and women, and selling them to 
 the Jamaica traders, as slaves. Indeed, they some- 
 times undertook armed forays iii the Indian terri- 
 tory, for the purpose of taking prisoners, to be sold 
 to men who made this traffic a regular business. 
 This practice continued down to the abolition of 
 slavery in Jamaica — a measure of wliich the Mos- 
 quito men greatly complain, notwithstanding that 
 they were not themselves exempt from being occa- 
 sionally kidnapped. 
 
 The difficulty of entering the Eio Grande, and 
 
HABITS OF THE INDIANS. 127 
 
 the absence of any considerable traffic with the 
 natives on its banks, are among the causes which 
 have contributed to keep them free from the de- 
 grading influences that prevail on the Mosquito 
 Shore. They rely chiefly upon agriculture for their 
 support, and fish and hunt but little. They have 
 abundance of maize, yucas, cassava, squashes, plan- 
 tains, papayas, cocoa-nuts, and other fruits and 
 vegetables, including a few limes and oranges, as 
 also jjigs and fowls, and higher up the river, in the 
 savannah country, a few horned cattle. I observed, 
 among the domestic fowls, the true Muscovy duck, 
 and the idigenous hen or cliachalaca. 
 
 The people themselves, though not tall, are well- 
 made, and have a remarkably soft and inoffensive 
 expression. The women — and especially the girls — 
 were exceedingly shy, and always left the huts when 
 I entered. The men universally wore the ule tour- 
 nou, or breech-cloth, but the women had in its 
 place a piece of cotton cloth of their own manufac- 
 ture, striped with blue and yelloAv, Avhich hung half- 
 way down the thighs, and was supported above the 
 hips by being tucked under in some simj^le, but, to 
 me, inexplicable manner.* The young girls were 
 full and symmetrical in form, with fine busts, and 
 large, lustrous, black eyes, which, however, always 
 had to me a startled, deer-like expression. I saw 
 
 * The blue dye, used in coloring bj' these Indians, is made from 
 the jiquilite, which, as I have said, is indigenous on the coast. The 
 yellow from the anotta, called achiota, the same used to give the color 
 known as nankeen. The tree producing it is abundant throughout 
 all Central America. 
 
128 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 no lire-arms among the men, although they seemed 
 to be acquainted with their use. They had. in- 
 stead, fine bows and arrows, the latter pointed with 
 u'on, or a species of tough wood, hardened in the 
 fire. The boys universally had blow-pipes or reeds, 
 with which they were very expert, killing ducks, 
 curlews, and a kind of red partridge, at the distance 
 of thirty and forty yards. The silence with which 
 the light arrow is sped, enables the practiced hun- 
 ter frequently to kill the greater part of a flock or 
 covey, before the rest take the alarm. 
 
 My life in the cabildo was unmarked by any ad- 
 venture worth notice. I received plantains, fowls, 
 whatever I desked, Aladdin-like, by tapping the 
 drum. This was always promptly responded to by a 
 couple of young Indians, who asked no questions, and 
 made no replies, but did precisely what they were 
 bid. Neither they nor the alcaldes would accept 
 any thing in return for what they furnished me, be- 
 yond a few red cotton handkercliiefs, and some 
 small triangular files, of which old Hodgson had 
 wisely instructed me to take in a small supply. They 
 all seemed to be unacquainted with the use of 
 money, although not without some notion of the 
 value of gold and silver. I saw several of the wo- 
 men with rude, light bangles of gold, which metal, 
 the alcaldes told me, was found in the sands of the 
 river, very far up, among the mountains. 
 
 Among the customs of these Indians, there is one 
 of a very curious nature, with which I was made 
 acquainted by accident. Nearly every day I strolled 
 
STRANGE CUSTOMS. 129 
 
 off in the woods, with a vague hope of some time 
 or other encountering a luaree, or wild hog (of 
 whose presence in the neighborhood, an occasional 
 foray on the maize fields of the Indians bore wit- 
 ness), or perhaps a i^eccary, or some other large 
 animal. As the bush was thick, I seldom got far 
 from thi beaten paths of the natives, and had to 
 content myself with now and then shooting a 
 curassoio, in lieu of higher game. One day, I 
 ventured rather further up the river than usual, 
 and came suddenly upon an isolated hut. Being- 
 thirsty, I approached with a view of obtaining some 
 water. I had got within perhaps twenty paces, 
 when two old women dashed out toward me, with 
 vehement cries, motioning me away with the wild- 
 est gestures, and catching up handfuls of leaves 
 and throwing them toward me, I thought this 
 rather inhospitable, and at first was disposed not to 
 leave. But, finally, thinking there must be some 
 reason for all this, and seeing that the women ap- 
 peared rather distressed than angry, I retracted my 
 steps. I afterward found, upon inquiry, that the 
 hut was what is called tabooed by the South Sea 
 Islanders, and devoted to the women of the village, 
 during their confinement. As this period ap- 
 proaches, they retire to tliis secluded place, where 
 they remain in the care of two old women for two 
 moons, passing through lustrations or purifications 
 unknown to the men. While the woman is so con- 
 fined to the hut, no one is allowed to approach it, 
 and all persons are especially cautious not to pass it 
 6* 
 
130 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 to the windward, for it is imagined that by so doing 
 the wind, which supplies the breath of the newlj- 
 born child, would be taken away, and it would die. 
 This singular notion, I afterward discovered, is also 
 entertained by the Mosquito people, who no doubt 
 derived it from their Indian progenitors. 
 
 The course of life of the Indians appeared to be 
 exceedingly regular and monotonous. Both men 
 and women found abundant occupation during the 
 day ; they went to bed earh^, and rose with the 
 dawn. Although most of them had hammocks, 
 they universally slept on what are called crickeries, 
 or platforms of canes, supported on forked posts, 
 and covered with variously-colored mats, woven of 
 the bark of palm branches. I observed no drunken- 
 ness among them, and altogether they were quiet, 
 well-ordered, and industrious. In all their relations 
 with me, they were respectful and obliging, but ex- 
 ceedingly reserved. I endeavored to break through 
 their taciturnity, but without success. Hence, after 
 a few days had passed, and the novelty had worn off, 
 I began to weary of inactivity. So I one day pro- 
 posed to the principal alcalde, that he should 
 undertake a hunt for the tilhia, mountain cow, or 
 tapir, and the peccary, or Mexican hog. He re- 
 ceived the proj)osition deferentially, but suggested 
 that the manitus, or sea-cow, was a more wonderful 
 animal than either of those I had named, and that 
 it would not be difficult to find one in the river. I 
 took up the hint eagerly, as I had already caught 
 one or two glimpses of the manitus, which had 
 
THE MANITUS. 131 
 
 greatly roused my curiosity. The drum was there- 
 upon beaten, and the alcaldes convened to consult 
 upon the matter. They all came with their wands, 
 and after due deliberation, fixed upon the next 
 night for the expedition. Boats were accordingly 
 got ready, and the hunters sharpened their lances 
 and harpoons. The latter resembled very much 
 the ordinary whaling harjDOons, but were smaller in 
 size. The lances were narrow and sharp, and 
 attached to thin staffs, of a very tough and heavy 
 wood. Notwithstanding that Antonio smiled and 
 shook his head, I cleaned my gun elaborately, and 
 loaded it heavily with ball. 
 
 Before narrating our adventure in the pursuit of 
 the manitus, it will not be amiss to explain that 
 this animal is probably the most remarkable one 
 found under the tropics, being amphibious, and the 
 L__apparent connecting link between quadrupeds and 
 fishes. It may perhaps be better compared to the 
 seal, in its general characteristics, than to any other 
 sea-animal. It has the two fore feet, or rather 
 hands, but the hind feet are wanting, or only appear 
 as rudiments beneatb the skin. Its head is thick 
 and heavy, and has something the appearance of 
 that of a hornless cow. It has a broad, flat tail, or 
 integument, spreading out horizontally, like a fan. 
 The skin is dark, corrugated, and so thick and hard 
 that a bullet can scarcely penetrate it. A few scat- 
 tered hairs appear on its body, which has a general 
 resemblance of that of the hippopotamus. There 
 are several varieties of the manitus, but it is an 
 
132 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 animal which appears to be little known to natural- 
 ists. Its habits are very imperfectly understood, 
 and the natives tell many extraordinary stories 
 about it, alleging, among other things, that it can 
 be tamed. It is herbivorous, feeding on the long 
 tender shoots of grass growing on the banks of the 
 rivers, and will rise nearly half of its length out of 
 water to reach its food. It is never found on the 
 land, where it would be utterly helpless, since it 
 can neither Avalk nor crawl. 
 
 It is commonly from ten to fifteen feet long, huge 
 and unwieldy, and weighing from twelve to fifteen 
 hundred pounds. It has breasts placed between 
 its paws, and suckles its young. The male and 
 female are usually found together. It is extremely 
 acute in its sense of hearing, and immerges itself 
 in the water at the slightest noise. Grreat tact and 
 caution are therefore necessary to kill it, and a 
 manitee hunt puts in requisition all the craft and 
 skill of the Indians. 
 
 The favorite hour for feeding, with the manitus, 
 is the early morning, during the dim, gray dawn. 
 In consequence I w^jis called up to join the hunters 
 not long after midnight. Two large pitpans, each 
 holding four or five men, were juit in requisition, 
 and we paddled rapidly up the river, for several 
 hours, to the top of a long rexach, where there were 
 a number of low islands, covered with grass, and 
 where the banks were skirted by swampy savan- 
 nahs. Here many bushes were cut, and thrown 
 lightly over the boats, so as to make them resemble 
 
HUNTING THE M A N I T U S , 
 
 138 
 
 floating trees 
 
 Wo Avaitod patiently until the 
 j^roper hour arrived, when the boats "were cast loose 
 from the shore, and we drifted down with the cur- 
 rent. One man was placed in the stern with a 
 paddle to steer, another with a harpoon and line 
 
 i.vi.^-i^k ^^^f. 
 
 IIUXTIXG THE MAXTTUS. 
 
 crouched in the how, while the rest, keeping their 
 long keen lances clear of impediments, knelt on the 
 bottom. We glided down in perfect silence, one 
 boat close to each bank. I kept my eyes opened 
 to the widest, and in the dim light got quite ex- 
 cited over a dozen logs or so, which I mistook for 
 manitee. But the hunters made no sign, and we 
 drifted on, until I got impatient, and began to 
 fear that our expedition might prove a failure. 
 But of a sudden, when I least exj^ected it, the man 
 in the bow launched his harpoon. The movement 
 was followed by a heavy plunge, and in an instant 
 the boat swung round, head to the stream. Before 
 
r l^^MkU^THB 'm«SQUITO shore. 
 
 i J'WtildWBirfy c.fliup*lieud what was going on, tlie 
 [jj^igHS were ^lj|;tlirowii overboard, and the men 
 • stood with their king hinces poised, ready for in- 
 stant ifse. We had run out a large part of the 
 slack of the harpoon-line, which seemed to he fast 
 to some immovable object. The bowsman, how- 
 ever, now began to gather it in, dragging up the 
 boat slowlj against the current. Suddenly the 
 manitus, for it was one, left his hold on the bottom, 
 and started diagonally across the river, trailing us 
 rapidly after him. This movement gradually 
 brought him near the smiace, as we could see by 
 the commotion of the water. Down darted one of 
 the lances, and under again went the manitus, now 
 taking his course Mitli the current, down the 
 stream. The other boat, meantime, had come to 
 our assistance, hovering in front of us, in order to 
 fasten another harpoon the instant the victim 
 should apjiroach near enough to the surface. An 
 opportunity soon offered, and he received the second 
 harpoon and another lance at the same instant. All 
 this time I had both barrels of my gun cocked, 
 feverishly awaiting my chance for a shot. Soon the 
 struggles of the animal became less violent, and he 
 several times came involuntarily to the surface. I 
 watched my chance, when his broad head rose in 
 sight, and discharged both barrels, at a distance of 
 thirty feet, startling the hunters quite as mucli as 
 they had disconcerted me. It was the Lord's own 
 mercy that some of them did not get shot in the 
 aeueral scramble ! 
 
A DISAPP0INTygJ}y.Yta 1p'A..ft 1 
 
 The manitus, after receiviii2^|tlie^e^ont^^ar] 
 became nearly helpless, and the Indians, t^Tjl 
 secure of their object, allowed the boats to dril 
 Avitli him quietly down the river. Occasicftially he 
 made an ineffectual attempt to dive to the bottom, 
 dashing the water into foam in his efforts, but lon;^ 
 before we reached the village he floated at the sur- 
 face, quite dead. The morning was bright and 
 clear when we paddled ashore, where we found 
 every inhabitant of the place clustering to meet us. 
 When they saw that we had been successful, they 
 set up loud shouts, and clapped their hands with 
 vigor, whence (as this was the only manifestation of 
 excitement which I had seen) I inferred that the 
 .capture of a manitus was regarded as something of 
 a feat, even on the Mosquito Shore. 
 
 Eopes were speedily attached to the dead animal, 
 at which every body seemed anxious to get a chance 
 to pull, and it was dragged up the bank triumph- 
 antly, amid vehement shouts. I had been some- 
 what piqued at tlie contempt in which my gun had 
 been held, and had been not a little ambitious of 
 being able to say that I had killed a manitus, and 
 as, after my shot, the animal had almost entirely 
 ceased its struggles, I thought it* possible I had 
 given it the final coup, and might conscientiously 
 get up a tolerable brag on my adventure, over 
 Mr. Sly's punch, when I returned to New York. 
 It was with some anxiety, therefore, that I investi- 
 gated its ugly head, only to find that my balls had 
 hardly penetrated the skin, and that the hide of the 
 
136 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SlIOEE. 
 
 manitus is proof against any thing in the shape of 
 firearms, except, perhaps, a Minie rifle. And thus 
 I was cheated out of another chance for immortal- 
 ity ! Lest, however, my story that the hide of the 
 manitus is an inch thick, and tough as whale- 
 hone, should not be credited, I had a strip of it cut 
 off, which, when dried, became like horn, and a ter- 
 ror to dogs, in all my subsequent rambles. I suspect 
 there are some impertinent ciu-s here, in New York, 
 who entertain stinging recollections of that same 
 strip of manitus-hide ! Dr. Pounder, my old school- 
 master, I am sure, would sacrifice his eyes, or per- 
 haps, what is of equal consequence, his spectacles, 
 to obtain it ! 
 
 But while my balls were thus impotent, I found 
 that the lances of the Indians had literally gone 
 through and through the manitu?. The harpoons 
 
 M A :r I T E E U A R r O O N AND L A X C E G . 
 
 did not penetrate far, their purpose being simply to 
 fasten the animal. The lances were the fatal in- 
 struments, and I afterwards saw a young Indian 
 drive his completely through the trunk of a full- 
 grown palm-tree. This variety of lance is called 
 silak, and is greatly prized. 
 
 There were great doings in the village over the 
 
DIVIDING THE SPOIL. 137 
 
 manitus. Beneatli tlie skin there was a deep layer 
 of very sweet fat, below which appeared the flesh, 
 closely resembling beef, but coarser, and streaked 
 throughout with layers of fat. This, when broiled 
 before the fire, j)roved to be tender, well-flavored, 
 and altogether delicious food. The tail is esteemed 
 the most delicate part, and, as observed by Captain 
 Henderson, who had a trial of it on the same shore, 
 " is a dish of which Apicius might have been proud, 
 and which the discriminating palate of Heliogoba- 
 lus would have thought entitled to the most distin- 
 guished reward !" The better and more substantial 
 part of the animal, namely, the flesh, was carefully 
 cut in strips, rubbed with salt, and, hung in the sun 
 to dry, made into what the Spaniards call tasojo. 
 The other portions were distributed among the va- 
 rious huts, and the tail was presented to me. When 
 I came to leave, I found that the cured or tasajoed 
 flesh had also been preserved for my use. Broiled 
 on the coals, it proved quite equal to any thing I 
 ever tasted, and as sweet as dried venison. And 
 here I may mention that the flesh of the manitus, 
 like that of the turtle, is not only excellent food, 
 but its cft'ects on the system are beneficial, particu- 
 larly in the cases of persons afilicted with scorbutic 
 or scrofulous complaints. It is said these find 
 speedy relief from its free use, and that, in the 
 course of a few weeks, the disease entirely disap- 
 pears. 
 
''■'i:^-^'.:^^'^^^^T the end of two weeks, I signified 
 \'','^s-'. c^ifW' ! to my friends that I should be com- 
 pelledj on the following day, to 
 leave them, and pursue my voyage 
 up the coast. I had supposed that 
 there existed an interior connection between Great 
 River and the lagoons which led to Cape Gracias, 
 but found that they commenced with a stream some 
 twenty miles to the northward, called " Snook 
 Creek," and that it would be necessary to trust our 
 little boat again to the sea. 
 
 The announcement of my intended departure was 
 received without the slightest manifestion of feel- 
 ing, but, during the evening, the inhabitants vied 
 with each other in loadins; the canoo with fruits 
 and provisions. They were, in fact, so lavish of 
 their presents, that I was unable to accept them 
 all, and had to leave more than half of what they 
 
AFLOAT, ONCE MORE! 139 
 
 brought me. I, nevertheless, made special room 
 for the tasajoed manitus, and took all the hishirc 
 which was brought. As I have already explained, 
 the hishire is a paste made of ripe plantains, hav- 
 ing about the consistency, and very much the taste, 
 of dried figs. It is made into rolls, closely wrapped 
 in the leaves of the tree on which it grows, which 
 preserve it perfectly, and it thus becomes an article 
 of prime value to the voyager.* 
 
 I left the village with as much ceremony as I had 
 entered it. The Alcaldes bearing their wands, 
 escorted mo down to the water, where I was obliged 
 to shake hands with all the people, each one ex- 
 claiming, " Disabia .'" equivalent to "Good-bye!" 
 
 * The plantain and the banana are varieties of tlie same plant. 
 They not only constitute marked features in the luxuriant foliage of 
 the tropics, but their fruit supplies the place of bread, and forms the 
 principal part of the food of the people. They thrive best in a rich, 
 moist soil, and are generally grown in regular walks, from shoots or 
 bulbs like those of the air-plant, which continually spring up at the 
 roots of the parent stem. They are very rapid in their growth, pro- 
 ducing fruit within a twelvemonth. Moreover, not being dependent 
 upon the seasons, a constant supply is kept up during the year ; for, 
 while one stem drops beneath its load of ripe fruit, another throws 
 out its long flower-spike, and a third shows the half-formed cluster. 
 The fruit is very nutritive, and is eaten in a great variotj^ of forms — 
 raw, boiled, roasted, and fried — and in nearlj- every stage of its growth, 
 as well when green as when yellow and mature. Humboldt tells 
 us, that it affords, in a given extent of ground, forty-four times more 
 nutritive matter than the potato, and one hundred and thirty-three 
 times more than wheat. As it requires little if any care in tlie culti- 
 vation, and produces thus perennially and abundantly, it may bo 
 called an " institution for the encouragement of laziness." On the 
 banks of all tlie rivers on the Mosquito Shore, it is found growing 
 wild, from shoots brought down from tlio plantations of the In- 
 dians, and which have taken root where they were lodged by the 
 current. 
 
140 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 They stood on the bank until we were entirely out 
 of sight. I left them with admiration for their 
 primitive habits, and genuine though formal hospi- 
 tality. Although, in their taciturnity, they were 
 not unlike our own Indians, yet, in all other re- 
 spects, they afforded a very striking contrast to 
 them. The North American savage disdains to 
 work ; his ambition lies in war and the chase ; but 
 the gentler dweller under the tropics is often indus- 
 trious, and resorts to hunting only as an accessory 
 to agriculture. 
 
 The ceremonies of my departure had occupied so 
 much time that, when we reached the mouth of the 
 river, it was too late to venture outside. So we 
 took up our quarters, for the night, in our old en- 
 campment, on the island. The moon was out, and 
 the evening was exceedingly beautiful — so beauti- 
 ful, indeed, that I might have fallen into heroics, 
 had it not been for a most infernal concert kept up 
 by wild animals on the river's banks. I at first sup- 
 posed that all the ferocious beasts of the forest had 
 congregated, preparatory to a general fight, and 
 comforted myself that we were separated from them 
 by the river. There were unearthly groans, and 
 angry snarls, and shrieks, so like those of human 
 beings in distress as to send a thrill through every 
 nerve. At times the noises seemed blended, and 
 became sullen and distant, and then so sharp and 
 near that I could hardly persuade myself they were 
 not produced on the island itself I should have 
 passed the night in alarm, had not Antonio been 
 
NOCTURNAL NOISES, 141 
 
 there to explain to me that most, if not all these 
 sounds came from what the Spaniards call the 
 " mono Colorado," or howling monkey. I after- 
 ward saw a specimen — a large, ugly beast, of a 
 dirty, brick-red color, with a long beard,' but other- 
 wise like an African baboon. Different from most 
 other monkeys, they remain in nearly the same 
 places, and have favorite trees, in which an entire 
 troop will take up its quarters at night, and oj)en a 
 horrible serenade, that never fails to fill the mind 
 of the inexperienced traveler with the most dismal 
 fancies. Notwithstanding Antonio's explanations, 
 they so disturbed my slumbers that I got up about 
 midnight, and, going down to the edge of the 
 water, fired both barrels of my gun in the direction 
 of the greatest noise. But I advise no one to try a 
 similar experiment. All the water-birds and wild 
 fowl roosting in the trees gave a sudden flutter, and 
 set up responsive croaks and screams, from which 
 the monkeys seemed to derive great encourage- 
 ment, and redoubled their howhng. I was glad 
 when the unwonted commotion ceased, and the deni- 
 zens of the forest relapsed again into their chronic 
 serenade. 
 
 A large proportion of tropical animals are em- 
 phatically " children of the night." It is at night 
 that the tiger and maneless Mexican lion leave 
 their lairs, and range the dense forests in pursuit 
 of their prey, rousing the peccary and tapir from 
 their haunts, and sending them to seek refuge in 
 the thickets, where crashing of bushes and splash- 
 
142 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 ings in liidden pools testify to the blind fear of the 
 pursued, and the fierce instincts of the pursuers. 
 A sudden plunge of the alligator from the banks, 
 will startle the wild birds on the overhanging trees, 
 and in an instant the forest resounds to the wild 
 cries of the tiger, the plaints of the frightened 
 monkeys, and the shrieks and croaks of the numer- 
 ous water-fowl ; while the wakeful traveler starts 
 up and hastily grasps his faithful gun, surprised to 
 find the wilderness, which was so still and slumber- 
 ous under the noonday heats, now terrible with 
 savage and warring life. 
 
 Toward morning the commotion in the forest 
 subsided, and I was enabled to snatch a few hours 
 of slumber. I awoke to find the sun just streaking 
 the horizon, and the boat all ready for departure. 
 Antonio had cut two trunks of the buoyant molioe 
 tree, which were lashed to the sides of our boat to 
 act as floats, and prevent us from being overturned 
 by any sudden flaw of the wind. We passed the 
 bar without much trouble, and made a good ofling, 
 before laying our com^se for " Snook Creek." The 
 'wind was fresh, and the water bright and playful 
 under the blue and cloudless sky. I leaned over 
 the side of our frail boat — scarce a speck in the broad 
 breast of the ocean — and watched the numerous 
 marine animals and mollusca that floated past ; 
 the nautilus, " small commodore," with its tiny sail 
 and rosy prow, the pulsating rMzostoma, and the 
 hernice, with its silken hair — most fragile forms of 
 life, and yet unharmed dwellers in the mighty sea, 
 
MONOTINOUS SHORE, 
 
 143 
 
 which mocks at the strength of iron, and under- 
 mines continents in its wrath ! 
 
 During the afternoon we came close in shore, 
 keeping a sharp look-out for the mouth of '' Snook 
 Creek." There are, however, no landmarks on the 
 
 JIOLLUSCA OF THE CARIBBEAN SEA. 
 
 entire coast ; throughout it wore the same flat, mo- 
 notonous appearance — a narrow strip of sand in front 
 of a low impenetrable forest, in which the fierce 
 north-easters had left no large trees standing. 
 Hence it is almost impossible for voyagers, not inti- 
 mately acquainted with the shore, to determine their 
 position. My Poyer boy had coasted here but once, 
 and I found, toward evening, that he was of opinion 
 that we had passed the mouth of the creek of which 
 we were in search. So we resolved to stand along 
 the shore for either Walpasixa or Prinza-pulka, 
 where part of the hull of an American ship, wrecked 
 sometime before, still remained as 
 
 a guide to 
 
 voyagers. 
 
 As the sun went down, the wind fell, and the 
 
144 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 moon came up, sliedding its light upon tlic broad, 
 smooth swells of the sea, silver-burnished upon one 
 side, and on the other dark but clear, like the 
 shadows on polished steel. We lowered our useless 
 sail, and my companions took their paddles, keep- 
 ing time to a kind of chant, led off by Antonio, the 
 Poyer boy joining in the swelling chorus. The 
 melody was very simple, and, like that of all purely 
 Indian chants, sad and plaintive. I have often 
 thought, in listening to them, that they were the 
 wails of a people conscious of their decay, over a 
 continent slipping from their grasp, and a power 
 broken forever ! 
 
 ON THE MOONLIT SEAI 
 
 I lay long, watching the shore as it glided past, 
 and listening to the tinkle of the water under our 
 prow, but finally fell into a deep and dreamless 
 slumber, rocked by the ocean in its gentlest mood. 
 When I awoke we had already passed the Prinza- 
 pulka bar, and were fastened to the branches of a 
 large tree, which had become entanged among the 
 
VINES AND VEEDURE. 145 
 
 mangroves, on the banks of the river. It was with 
 no small des-ree of satisfaction that I found we had 
 now an uninterrupted river and lagoon navigation 
 to Cape Grracias, and that we should not again be 
 obliged to venture, with our little boat, upon the 
 open sea. 
 
 The Prinza-pulka seemed rather an estuary than 
 a river, and was lined with an impenetrable forest 
 of mangroves. These were covered with flocks of 
 the white ibis, and, as we advanced up the stream, 
 we came upon others of a rose color, looking like 
 bouquets of flowers among the green leaves of the 
 trees. 
 
 At the distance of three miles, the river banks 
 grew higher, although densely covered with wild 
 plants and vines, which seemed to have subdued 
 the forest. The few trees that were left were clus- 
 tered all over with twining rope-plants, or Uanes, 
 sometimes hanging down and swinging in mid-air, 
 and again stretched to the ground, like the cord- 
 age of a ship, supporting in turn, hundreds of 
 creepers, Avith leaves of translucent green, and 
 loaded with clusters of bright flowers. An oc- 
 casional fan-palm thrust itself above the tangled 
 verdure, as if struggling for light and air ; while the 
 broad leaves of the wild plantain emerged here and 
 there in groups, and the slender stalks of the 
 bamboo-cane, fringed with delicate leaves like those 
 of the willow, bent gracefully over the water. At 
 the foot of this emerald wall was a strip of slimy 
 earth, and I observed occasional holes, or tunnel- 
 
14li THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 like apertures, through, which the alligator trailed 
 his hideous length, or the larger land-animals came 
 dovrn to the water to drink. As we glided by one 
 of these openings, a tapu* suddenly projected his 
 head and ugly proboscis, but, startled by our canoe, 
 as suddenly withdrew it, and disappeared in the 
 dark recesses of the impenetrable jungle, in which 
 it is beyond the power of man to penetrate, except 
 he laboriously carves his way, foot by foot, in the 
 matted mass. 
 
 About ten o'clock we reached the mouth of a 
 narrow creek, or stream, diverging from the river 
 under a complete canopy of verdure. Up this creek, 
 my Poyer assured me, the Prinza-pulka village was 
 situated. So we paddled in, and, after many wind- 
 in2,-s, finallv came where the vesretation was less 
 rank, and the banks were higher and firmer, I 
 began to breathe freer, for the air within these 
 tropical fastnesses seemed to me loaded with mias- 
 matic damps, like the atmosphere of a vault. As 
 we i>roceeded, the country became more and more 
 open, and the water clearer, revealing a gravelly 
 bottom, until, at last, to my surj^rise, we came upon 
 broad savannahs, fringed, along the water, by 
 narrow belts of trees. Through these I caught 
 glimpses of gentle sweUs and undulations of land, 
 upon which, to my further amazement, I saw 
 clumps of pine-trees ! I had supposed the pine to 
 be found only in high, temperate latitudes, and 
 could scarcely believe that it grew here, side by 
 side with the palm, almost on a level with the sea, 
 
A DOUBTFUL RECEPTION. 147 
 
 until I was assured by my Poyer that it abounded 
 in all the savannahs, and covered all the j)iciteaics 
 and mountains of the interior. 
 
 A bend in the creek brought us suddenly in view 
 of a group of canoes, drawn up on the shore, in 
 front of a few scattered huts. One or two women, 
 engaged in some occupation at the edge of the 
 water, fled when they saw us, scrambling up the 
 bank in evident alarm. As we approached nearer, 
 " I saw through the bushes a number of men hurry- 
 ing back and forth, and calling to each other in 
 excited voices. Before we had fairly reached the 
 landing-place, they had collected among the canoes, 
 Avhence they motioned us back with violent ges- 
 tures. Some were armed with spears, others had 
 bows and arrows, and two or three carried muskets, 
 which they pointed at us in a very careless and un- 
 pleasant manner. I observed that they were Sam- 
 bos, like those at Wasswatla, equally frizzled about 
 the head, and spotted with the biil^ns. Whenever 
 we attempted to approach, they shouted " Bus I 
 bus '" and raised their weapons. The Poyer boy 
 responded by calling " Wita," i. e., chief, or head 
 man. Hereupon one of the number came forward a 
 little, and inquired " Inglis ? Inglis ?" pointing to 
 me. I held up my pass, and, remembering Wass- 
 watla, pointed to it, exclaiming, " King paper ! 
 king paper \" This seemed to produce an imj)res- 
 sion, and we made a movement to land, but uj) 
 came the guns again, their muzzles looking as large 
 as church doors. Things certainly appeared squally. 
 
148 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 and I was a little puzzled what to do. Prudence 
 suggested that we should retreat, but then that 
 might he understood as an evidence of fear, which, 
 with savages, as with wild beasts, is a sure way of 
 inviting attack. I preferred, therefore, to await 
 quietlj the result of a conference which seemed to 
 be going on, and in which I noticed I was frequently 
 pointed out, with very suggestive gestures. While 
 this was going on, Antonio carefully got out my 
 gun and revolver, handing me the latter in such a 
 manner as not to attract notice. He had evinced 
 a high consideration for it, ever since it had played 
 so large a part in my first interview with the patron 
 at " El Koncador." 
 
 After much debate, two of the Sambos, including 
 the head man, pushed off to us in a canoe, under 
 the cover of the weapons of those on shore. They, 
 however, fell back in evident alarm when they 
 caught sight of my revolver. I therefore laid it 
 down, extended both open hands, and hailed them 
 with the Mosquito salutation, which applies equally 
 at all hours of the day and night, " Grood morning !" 
 They replied, with the universal drawl, " Mornin', 
 sir I" I put my "king paper" forward, very con- 
 spicuously, and read it through to them, no doubt 
 to their edification. The head man said, " Good ! 
 good !" when I had finished, but nevertheless 
 seemed suspicious of the contents of our boat, in- 
 quhing, in a broken way, for " Osnabergs," and 
 '^ pauda," or powder, I explained to them, as well 
 as I could, that we were not traders, which piece of 
 
VILLAGE OF QUAMWATLA. 
 
 149 
 
 information did not seem to please them. But 
 when they caught sight of my demijohn, they 
 evinced more amiability, which I hastened to 
 heighten by giving them a calabash of the contents. 
 They afterward signified their willingness to let 
 me go ashore, if I would first give them my gun 
 and revolver, which I sternly and peremptorily refus- 
 ed to do. They finally paddled to the shore, motion- 
 ing for us to fallow. Upon landing, I gave them 
 each a dram, which was swallowed in a breath, 
 with unequivocal signs of relish. The head men, 
 
 VILLAGE OF QUAMWATLA. 
 
 after another inefiectual attempt to induce me to 
 surrender my revolver, led the way up the bank, 
 Antonio and the Foyer boy remaining with the 
 canoe. 
 
 The village was very straggling and squalid, al- 
 though the position was one of great beauty. It 
 stood on the edge of an extensive savannah, cov- 
 ered thickly with coarse grass, and dotted over 
 
150 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 with little clusters of bushes, and clumps of dark 
 pines, more resembling a rich park, laid out with 
 consummate skill, than a scene on a wild and un- 
 known shore, under the tropics. As we advanced, 
 I observed that the huts were all comparatively 
 new, and that there were many burnt spots, mark- 
 ed by charred posts and half-burned thatch-poles. 
 Among the rubbish, in one or two places, I noticed 
 fragments of earthenware of European manufac- 
 ture, and pieces of copper sheathing, evidently from 
 some vessel. 
 
 I was conducted to the head man's hut, where 
 room was made for me to sit down on one of the 
 crickeries. Some kind of fermented drink was 
 brought for me, which I had [2;reat difficulty in de- 
 clining. In fact, I did not like the general aspect 
 of things. In the first place, there were no women 
 visible, and then the ugly customers with the guns 
 and spears, when not scrutinizing me or my re- 
 volver — which seemed to have a strange fascination 
 in their eyes — were engaged in a very sinister kind 
 of consultation. 
 
 The head man seemed particularly anxious to 
 know my destination, and the puYposes of my visit. 
 My suspicions had been roused, and I represented 
 myself as a little in advance of a large party from 
 the Cape, bound down the coast, and inquired, in 
 return, what kind of accommodations could be pro- 
 vided for my companions when they arrived. This 
 rather disconcerted him, and I thought the oppor- 
 tunity favorable to fall back to the boat, now fully 
 
TROrCLE BREWING. 151 
 
 convinced that some kind of treachery was meditat- 
 ed. A movement was made to intercept me at the 
 door, but the presented muzzle of my revolver 
 opened the way in an instant, and I walked slowly 
 down to the landing, the armed men following, and 
 callino: out an2;rilv, " Mcr'ka man ! Mer'ka man !" 
 Antonio stood at the top of the bank, with my gun, 
 his face wearing an anxious expression. He whis- 
 pered to me hurriedly, in Spanish, that half a dozen 
 armed men had gone down the creek in a boat, and 
 that he had no doubt the intention was to attack 
 us. 
 
 In fact the cowardly wretches were now brandish- 
 ing their weapons, and uttering savage shouts. I 
 at once saw that there was but one avenue of es- 
 cape open, namely, to take to our boat, and get 
 away as fast as j^ossible. I waited until my com- 
 panions had taken their places, and then walked 
 down the bank deliberately, and entered the canoe. 
 A few rapid strokes of the paddles carried us well 
 clear of the shore, before the Sambos reached the 
 top of the bank. I brought my gun to bear upon 
 them, determined to fire the instant they should 
 manifest any overt act of hostility. They seemed 
 to comprehend this, and contented themselves with 
 running after us, along the bank, shouting " Mer'ka 
 man !" and pointing their weapons at us, through 
 the openings in the bushes. 
 
 We were not long in getting beyond their reach, 
 but they nevertheless kept up loud, taunting shouts, 
 while we were within hearino:. I counted this a 
 
152 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 lucky escape from the village, but was not at my 
 case about tbe party which had gone down the creek. 
 I felt sure that they were in ambush in some of the 
 dark recesses of the banks, and that we might 
 be attacked at any moment. Botli Antonio and 
 myself, therefore, sat down in the bottom of the 
 canoe, closely watching the shores, while the Poyer 
 boy paddled noiselessly in the stern. It was now 
 near night, and the shadows gathered so darkly 
 over the narrow stream that we could see nothing 
 distinctly. On we went, stealthily and watchfully. 
 We had reached the darkest covert on the creek, a 
 short distance above its junction with the river, 
 when a large canoe shot from the bank across our 
 bows, with the evident purpose of intercepting us. 
 At the same instant a flight of arrows whizzed past 
 us, one or two striking in the canoe, while the 
 others spattered the water close by. I at once com- 
 menced firing my revolver, while Antonio, seizing 
 the long manitee-spear, sprang to the bow. At the 
 same instant our canoe struck the opposing boat, as 
 the saying is, "head on," crushing in its rotten 
 sides, and swamping it in a moment. Antonio gave 
 a wild shout of triumph, driving his spear at the 
 struggling "UTctches, some of whom endeavored to 
 save themselves by climbing into our canoe. I 
 heard the dull tchug of the lance as it struck the 
 body of one of the victims, and, with a sickening 
 sensation, cried to the Poyer, who had also seized a 
 lance to join in the slaughter, to resume his paddle. 
 He did sO;, and in a few seconds we were clear of the 
 
THE FLIGHT. 155 
 
 scene of our encounter, and gliding away in tlic 
 darkness. I caught a glimpse of tlie struggling 
 figures clinging to their shattered boat, and utter- 
 ing the wildest cries of alarm and distress. The 
 quick ear of Antonio caught responsive shouts, and 
 it soon became evident that wc had been followed 
 by boats from the village. 
 
 Convinced that we would be pursued, and that if 
 overtaken we should be borne down by numbers, the 
 question of our safety became one of superior craft, 
 or superior speed. I was disposed to try the latter, 
 but yielded to Antonio, who, watching an opportu- 
 nity, ran our boat under an overhanging tree, where 
 the tangled bank cast an impenetrable shadow on 
 the water. Here we breathlessly awaited the course 
 of events. It was not long before we heard a slight 
 ripple, and through the uncertain light I saw three 
 canoes dart rapidly and silently past. The pursuers 
 evidently thought we had reached the river, where 
 the mangroves and impenetrable jungles on the 
 banks would effectually prevent concealment or 
 escape. Relieved from the sense of immediate 
 danger, it became a vital question what we should 
 next do to secure our ultimate safety. The moon 
 would soon be up, and our pursuers, not finding us 
 on the river, would at once divine our trick, and, 
 placing us between themselves and the town, render 
 escape impossible. To abandon our boat was to 
 court a miserable death in the woods. Antonio 
 suggested the only feasible alternative. There 
 were but three canoes, and when they reached the 
 
156 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 river, lie slirewdly reasoned, two would follow our 
 most probable track down the stream, while the 
 third would doubtless search for us above. Our 
 policy, then, was to follow in the wake of the latter, 
 until it should be as widely separated from aid as 
 possible, and then, by a sudden coup-de-main, either 
 disable or paralyze our opponents, and make the 
 best of our way into the interior, where we could 
 not fan to find creeks, and other places of refuge 
 from pui'suit. 
 
 My companions stripped themselves, so as not to 
 be encumbered in the water, in case of accident, and 
 I followed their example, retaining only my dark 
 shii-t, lest my white body should prove too conspic- 
 uous a mark, I carefully loaded my 2:)istols, put a 
 handful of buck-shot in each baiTel of my gun, and 
 we started down the creek. A few moments brought 
 us to the river, but we could neither see nor hear 
 the canoes of oiir enemies. We turned up the 
 stream, paddling rapidly, but silently, and keeping 
 close to the shore. Every few minutes Antonio 
 would stop to listen. Meantime, I hailed with joy 
 some heavy clouds in the East, which promised to 
 prolong the obscurity, by hiding the light of the 
 rising moon. 
 
 The excitement of the night of the terrible storm, 
 in which I was wrecked on "El Koncador," was 
 trifling to what I experienced that evening, paddling 
 up the dark and sullen river. I exulted in every 
 boat's length which we gained, as tending to make 
 the inevitable contest more equal, and welcomed 
 
GATHERING OF THE STORM. 157 
 
 every ebon fold of cloud which gathered in the hori- 
 zon. I felt that a thunder-storm was hroodino- ; 
 and the marshaling of the elements roused still 
 more the savage desperation which gradually ab- 
 sorbed every other feeling and sentiment. At first, 
 ■ every nerve in my system vibrated, and I trembled 
 in every limb ; I felt like one in an ague fit ; but 
 this soon passed away — every muscle became tense, 
 and I felt the strong pulsations in my temples, as 
 if molten iron was coursing through the veins. I 
 no longer sought to avoid a contest, but longed 
 for the hour to come when I could shed blood. 
 Every moment seemed an age, and I know not how 
 I subdued my impatience. 
 
 Meantime the threatened storm gathered, with a 
 rapidity peculiar to the tropics on the eve of a 
 fervid day, and the darkness became so dense that 
 we several times run our boat against the bank, 
 from sheer inability to see. Suddenly the dark vail 
 of heaven was rift, and the lurid lightning fell with 
 a blinding flash, which seemed to sear our eye-balls. 
 An instant after rolled in the deej^-voiced thunder, 
 booming awfully among the primeval forests. A 
 few rain-drops followed, which struck with steel-like 
 sharpness on the naked skin, and hot puffs of air 
 came soughing along the river. A moment after 
 the heavens again glowed^with the lightnings, glar- 
 ing on the dark breast of the river, and revealing, 
 but a few yards in advance of us, the hostile canoe, 
 returning from what its occupants no doubt regarded 
 as a hopeless pursuit. Their loud shout of savage 
 
158 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 defiance and joy was cut short by tlic heavy roll of 
 the thunder, and, an instant after, the bows of our 
 boats came together. They glanced apart, and I 
 was nearly thrown from my balance into the water, 
 for I had risen, the more surely to pour the contents 
 of my gun into the midst of oui' assailants. Another 
 shout followed the shock, and I heard the arrows, 
 shot at random in the darkness, hiss past our heads. 
 I reserved my fire until the lightning should fall 
 to guide my aim. I had not long to wait ; a third 
 flash revealed the opposing boat ; I saw that it was 
 filled with men, and that in their midst stood the 
 treacherous head man of the village. The flash of 
 my gun, and that of the lightning, so far as human 
 senses could discern, were simultaneous ; yet instan- 
 taneous as the whole transaction must have been, I 
 saw my victim fall, and heard his body plunge in 
 the water, before the report had been caught up by 
 the echo, or drowned by the thunder. I shall never 
 forget the shriek of terror and of rage that rung out 
 from that boat to swell the angry discord of the ele- 
 ments. Even now, it often startles me from my 
 sleep. But then it inspired me with the wildest 
 joy ; I shouted back triumphantly, and tossed my 
 arms exultingly in the face of the unblenching dark- 
 ness. A few more arrows, a couple of musket-shots, 
 fired at random toward us, and the combat was 
 over. "We heard wails and groans, but they grew 
 fainter and more distant, showing that our enemies 
 were dropping down the river. Another flash of 
 
YICTORY, AND THE ESCAPE. 159 
 
 lightning disclosed tliem drifting along the bank, 
 and beyond the reach of our weajDons. 
 
 Our jDurpose was now accomplished ; our foes 
 were behind us, and before us an unknown mesh of 
 lagoons and rivers. We had no alternative but to 
 advance, perhaps upon other and more formidable 
 dangers. However that might be, we did not stop 
 to consider, but all through the stormy night plied 
 our paddles with incessant energy. About midnight 
 we came to a small lagoon, on the banks of which 
 we observed some fires, but the sky was still over- 
 cast, and we escaped notice. Toward morning the 
 moon came out, and we directed our boat close in 
 shore, so as to take refuge in some obscure creek 
 during the day. An opening finally presented it- 
 self, and wc paddled in. As we advanced it became 
 narrow, and was obstructed by drooping branches 
 and fallen trunks. Under some of them we forced 
 our boat with difficulty, and others we cut away 
 with our machetes. After infinite trouble and labor 
 we passed the mangrove-swamp, and came to high 
 grounds, on which were many coyol palm-trees, and 
 a few dark j^ines. Here, exhausted with our ex- 
 traordinary efibrts, and no longer sustained by ex- 
 citement, we made a hasty encampment. To guard 
 against surprise Antonio undertook the first watch, 
 and, wrapping myself in my blanket, I fell into a 
 profound slumber. 
 
 And now, to remove any mystery which might 
 attach to the hostile conduct of the Sambos at 
 Quamioatla (for that was the name of the inhos- 
 
160 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE, 
 
 pitable village), I maj explain that, in September, 
 1849, the bark " Simeon Draper," from New York, 
 bound for Chagres, with passengers for California, 
 was wrecked on the coast, near the mouth of the 
 Prinza-pulka Eiver. The remains of her hull I 
 have alluded to, as now constituting one of the 
 principal landmarks on that monotonous shore. 
 Her passengers all escaped to the land, and suc- 
 ceeded in recovering most of their effects. Thev 
 were soon discovered by the Sambos of Quamwatla, 
 who, affecting friendship, nevertheless committed 
 extensive depredations on the property of the pas- 
 sengers. Strong representations were made to the 
 head man, but without effect ; in fact, it soon be- 
 came evident that he was the principal instigator 
 of the robberies. The news of the wreck spread 
 along the coast, and a large number of Sambos 
 gathered at the villaoe. As their numbers in- 
 creased, they grew bold and hostile, until the po- 
 sition of the passengers became one of danger. 
 They finally received intimations that a concerted 
 attack would soon be made upon them, which they 
 anticipated by an assault upon the Sambo village. 
 The inhabitants, taken by surprise, fled after a few 
 discharges of the rifles and revolvers, and the village 
 was set on fire and biu-ned to the ground. The 
 wrecked Americans were not afterward disturbed, 
 and their condition becoming known in San Juan, 
 a vessel was dispatched to their relief, and they 
 were taken off in safety. 
 
 It was not until I arrived at Cape G-racias that I 
 
THE EXPLANATION. 161 
 
 became acquainted with these facts, which account- 
 ed for the appearance of things in Quamwatla, and 
 explained the hostility of the natives. Every Eng- 
 lishman on the coast is a trader, and as I disowned 
 that character, and, moreover, carried a revolver, 
 they were not long in making up their minds that 
 I was an American. 
 
 Under all the circumstances of the case, our es- 
 cape was almost miraculous. I subsequently ascer- 
 tained that tlu'ee of our assailants had been Jrilled 
 outright in the two encounters, and that the treach- 
 erous head man had died of his wounds. 
 
 It is with no feeling of exultation that I mention 
 this fact ; for, so long as I live, I shall not cease to 
 lament the necessity, which circumstances imposed 
 upon me, of taking the life cf a human being, how- 
 ever debased or criminal. I know of no sacrifice 
 which I would not now make to restore those mis- 
 erable wretches to their deserted huts, and to the 
 rude affection of which even savages are capable. 
 The events of that terrible night have left a shadow 
 over my heart, which time rather serves to deepen 
 than to efface. 
 
'UR reception at Quamwatla had cer- 
 ' tainly not been of a kind to inspire 
 lis with the most cheerful anticipa- 
 tions. We knew that a vast net-work of lagoons, 
 rivers, and creeks extended to Cape Gracias, hut of 
 the character and disposition of the people, scatter- 
 ed along their tangled shores, we were utterly igno- 
 rant. Turning back was not to be thought of ; and 
 going ahead was a matter which required caution. 
 Should we be so unfortunate as to get involved in 
 another fight, we could hardly expect to get off so 
 easily as we had done in our last encounter. 
 
 Under all the circumstances, we concluded that, 
 inasmuch as our place of refuge seemed secure, and 
 withal was not deficient in resources, it would be 
 the wisest plan to remain where we were until the 
 
CAMP IN THE WILDERNESS. 163 
 
 pursuit, which we were sure would be made, should 
 have been abandoned ; or, at least, until the waning 
 of the moon should afford us a dark night, wherein 
 we could pursue our voyage unobserved. With this 
 sage resolution, we set to work to establish a tem- 
 porary camp. 
 
 As I have said, the little creek, which we had fol- 
 lowed, led us to the base of a range of low hills, or 
 rather ridges or swells of land, where the ground 
 was not alluvial, but dry and gravelly. These 
 ridges could hardly be called savannahs, although 
 they were covered with a species of coarse grass, 
 relieved, here and there, by clumps of gum-arabic 
 bushes, groups of pine-trees, and an occasional 
 coyol, or spiny-palm. Between these comparative- 
 ly high grounds and the lagoon, intervened a dense, 
 impenetrable mangrove-swamp, pierced by a few 
 choked channels formed by the small streams com- 
 ing down from the hills. 
 
 I selected the shelter of a clump of fragrant 
 pines for our encampment, where the ground was 
 covered with a soft, brown carpet of fallen leaves. 
 A rope stretched between the trees supported our 
 little sail, which was spread out, tent-wise, by poles. 
 Under this my hammock was suspended, affording 
 a retreat, shady and cool by day, and secure from 
 damps and rains at night. 
 
 In a little grassy dell, close by, was a clear spring 
 of water. We lit no fires except at night, lest the 
 smoke might betray us ; and only then in places 
 whence the light could not be reflected. 
 
164 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 Accustomed as were my companions to wild and 
 savage life, they seemed to enjoy the danger and 
 the seclusion in wliicli we found ourselves. It gave 
 them an opportunity to display their skill and re- 
 sources, and they really assumed toward me an air 
 of com]dacent patronage, something like that of a 
 city hahitiic toward his country cousin, when show- 
 ing to him the marvels of the metropolis. 
 
 One of Antonio's earliest exploits, after onr reso- 
 lution to stop had been taken, was to cut down a 
 number of the rough-looking palm-trees. In the 
 trunks of these, near their tops, where the leaves 
 sprang out, he carefully chiseled a hole, cutting 
 completely through the pulp of the tree, to tho 
 outer, or woody shell. This hole was again cov- 
 ered with the piece of rind, which had iirst been 
 removed, as with a lid. I watched the operation 
 curiously, but asked no questions. In the course of 
 the afternoon, however, he took elf one of these 
 covers, and disclosed to me the cavity tilled with a 
 frothy liquid, of the faintest straw tinge, looking 
 like delicate Sauterne wine. He presented me with 
 a piece of reed, and with a gratitied air motioned 
 me to drink. My early experiments with straws, in 
 the cider-barrels of New England, recurred to me 
 at once, and I laughed to think that I had come to 
 repeat them under the tropics. I found the juice 
 sweet, and slightly pungent, but altogether rich, 
 delicious, and invigorating. As may be supposed, 
 I paid frequent visits to Antonio's reservoirs. 
 
 This palm beai-s the name of coyol among the 
 
VINO DE COYOL. 165 
 
 Spaniards, and of cocl'atncce among the Mosquitos. 
 Its juice is called by the former Vino dc Coyol, 
 and by the Indians generally Chiclia (cheechee) — a 
 name, however, which is applied to a variety of 
 drinks. When the tree is cut down, the end is 
 plastered with mud, to prevent the juice, with 
 which the core is saturated, from exuding. A hole 
 is then cut near -the top, as I have described, in 
 which the liquid is gradually distilled, filling the 
 reservoir in the course of ten or twelve hours. This 
 reservoir may be emptied daily, and yet be con- 
 stantly replenished, it is said, for upward of a 
 month. On the tiiird day, if the tree be exposed to 
 the Gun, the juice begins to ferment, and gradually 
 grows stronger, until, at the end of a couple of weeks, it 
 becomes intoxicating — thus aifording to the Sambos 
 a ready means of getting up the " big drunk." The 
 Spaniards affirm that the "vino de coyol" is a spe- 
 cific for indigestion and j)ains in the stomach. 
 
 The nuts of this variety of palm grow in large 
 clusters. They are round, containing a very solid 
 kernel, so saturated with oil as to resemble refined 
 wax. It is in all raspects superior to the ordinary 
 cocoa-nut oil, and might be obtained in any desir- 
 able quantity, if means could be devised for separat- 
 ing the kernel from the shell. Tliis shell is thick, 
 hard, black, capable of receiving the minutest carv- 
 ing, and most brilliant polish, and is often worked 
 into ornaments by the Indians. 
 
 In the moist depressions, or valleys, near our 
 encampment, we also found another variety of 
 
166 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 palm, which often stands the traveler, under the 
 tropics, in good stead, as a substitute for other and 
 better vegetable food. I mean the Palmetto Royal, 
 
 or Mountain Cabbage (Are- 
 ca oleracea), which has 
 justly been called the 
 " Queen of the Forest/' It 
 grows to a great height, 
 frequently no thicker than 
 a man's thigh, yet rising 
 upward of a hundred and 
 fifty feet in the air. No 
 other tree in the world 
 equals it in height or 
 beauty. The trunk swells 
 moderately a short distance 
 above the root, whence it 
 tapers gently to its emerald 
 crown, sustaining through- 
 out the most elegant pro- 
 portions. 
 
 The edible part, or " cab- 
 bage" (as it is called, from 
 some fancied resemblance 
 in taste to that vegetable), 
 constitutes the upper part 
 of the trunk, whence the 
 foliage springs. It resem- 
 bles a tall Etruscan vase in shape, of the liveliest 
 green color, gently swelling from its pedestal, and 
 diminishing gradually to the top, where it expands 
 
 PALMETTO ROYAL. 
 
PALMETTO ROYAL. 167 
 
 in plume-like branches. From the very centre of 
 this natural vase rises a tall, yellowish spatha, or 
 sheath, terminating in a sharp point. At the 
 bottom of this, and inclosed in the natural vase 
 which I have described, is found a tender white 
 core, or heart, varying in size with the dimensions 
 of the tree, but usually eight or ten inches in cir- 
 cumference. This may be eaten raw, as a salad, 
 or, if preferred, fried or boiled. In taste it resem- 
 bles an artichoke, rather than a cabbage. 
 
 The Indians climb this palm, and, dexterously 
 inserting their knives, contrive to obtain the edible 
 part without destroying the tree itself. By means 
 of the same contrivance which he made use of in 
 obtaining the cocoa-nuts, on the island in Pearl 
 Cay Lagoon, Antonio kept us supplied with palm 
 cabbages, which were our chief reliance, in the vege- 
 table line. I found that they were most j)alatable 
 when properly seasoned, and baked in the ground, 
 with some strips of manitee fat, after the manner 
 which I have already described. 
 
 The fruits of this tree are small, oblong berries, 
 of a purplish blue, about the size of an olive, inclos- 
 ing a smooth, brittle nut, which, in turn, covers a 
 cartilaginous kernel. 
 
 The pine ridges were not deficient in animal life. 
 A few large cotton-trees grew on the edge of the 
 mangrove-swamp, which were the nightly resort of 
 parrots and jjaroquets, who came literally in clouds, 
 and then the callings, scoldings, frettings, and 
 screamings that took place would have drowned the 
 
168 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 confusion of the most vicious rookery extant. In 
 the evening and morning it was really difficult for 
 us to make each other hear, although our camp was 
 distant more than two hundred yards from the 
 roosts. The parrots are often eaten by the 
 natives, in default of other food, but they are 
 tough, hard, dry, and tasteless. Not so, however, 
 with tlie quails, which were not only numerous, 
 but so tame, or rather so unsuspecting, that we 
 could catch as many as we wanted, in the simplest 
 kind of traps. We adopted this method of pro- 
 curing such game as the Poyer boy did not kill 
 with his bow, instead of using my gun, the report 
 of which might betray us. 
 
 Day by day we extended our excursions farther 
 from the camp, every step revealing to me, at least, 
 something novel and interesting. I think it was 
 the third day after our arrival, when we came upon a 
 patch of low ground, or jungle, densely wooded, and 
 distant perhaps half a mile from our encampment. 
 Attracted by some bright flowers, I penetrated a 
 few yards into the bushes, where, to my surprise, I 
 came upon what appeared to be a well-beaten path, 
 which I followed for some distance, wondering over 
 the various queer tracks which I observed i^rinted, 
 here and there, on the moist ground. While thus 
 engaged, I was startled by the sound of some animal 
 approaching, with a dull and heavy, but rapid tread. 
 Looking up, I saw a lead-colored beast, about the 
 size of a large donkey, its head drooping between 
 its fore-legs, coming toward me at a swinging trot. 
 
TOUCHING THE TAPIE. 169 
 
 Thinking lie was cliarging upon me direct, I leaped 
 into the bushes, with the intention of climbing up a 
 tree. But before I could effect my object, the 
 monster lumbered past, taking not the slightest 
 notice of my presence. I breathed freer, when I 
 saw his broad buttocks and little pig-like tail disap- 
 pearing down the path, and I made my way out cf 
 the jungle, in a manner probably more expeditious 
 than either graceful or valorous. Antonio, who 
 was dodging after a fat currassow, had heard the 
 noise, and was witness of my retreat. He seemed 
 alarmed at first, but only smiled when I explained 
 what I had seen. In fact, he appeared to think it 
 rather a good joke, and hurried off to examine the 
 tracks. He came back in a few minutes, and re- 
 ported that my monster was onhj a dante, which I 
 took to be some kind of Indian lingo for at least a 
 hippopotamus, or rhinoceros. 
 
 " We shall have rare sport," he continued, " in 
 catching this dante. It will be equal to hunting 
 .the manitus." 
 
 ; I found, upon inquiry, that the dante is called, 
 in the Mosquito dialect, tilba or tapia, which names 
 at once suggested tapir, an animal of which I had 
 read, but of which I had very vague notions. 
 
 The Poycr boy seemed delighted with the news 
 that there was a ta2nr about, and in less than five 
 minutes after, both he and Antonio were sharpen- 
 ing their spears and lances, with palpable design on 
 my monster's life. They told me that the tapir 
 generally keeps quiet during the day, wandering 
 
170 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 out at niglit, usually in fixed haunts and by the 
 same paths, to take exercise and obtain his food. 
 I was not a little relieved when they added that he 
 never fights with man or beast, but owes his safety 
 to his speed, thick hide, and ability to take to the 
 water, where he is as much at home as on land, 
 swimming or sinking to the bottom at his pleasure. 
 He is, nevertheless, a headlong beast, and when 
 alarmed or pursued, stops at nothing — vines, 
 bushes, trees, rocks, are all the same to him ! 
 He would do well for a crest, with the motto, 
 " Neck or Nothing I" 
 
 In shape, the dante or tapir (sometimes called 
 mountain coiv) is something like a hog, but much 
 larger. He has a similar arched back ; his head, 
 however, is thicker, and comes to a sharp ridge at 
 the top. The male has a snout or sort of proboscis 
 hanging over the opening of the mouth, something 
 like the trunk of an elephant, which he uses in like 
 manner. This is wanting in the female. Its ears 
 are rounded, bordered with white, and can be drawn 
 forward at pleasure ; its legs are thick and stumpy ; 
 its fore-feet or hoofs are divided into three parts or 
 toes, with a sort of false hoof behind ; but the 
 hind feet have only three parts or divisions. Its 
 tail is short, and marked by a few stiff hairs ; the 
 sldn so hard and solid as generally to resist a mus- 
 ket-ball ; the hair thin and short, of a dusky 
 brown ; and along the top of the neck runs a bristly 
 mane, which extends over the head and down the 
 snout. He has ten cutting-teeth, and an equal 
 
HUNTING THE TAPIR. 171 
 
 number of grinders in each jaw ; features which 
 separate him entirely from the ox-kind, and from 
 all other jni minatin o ; a nimals. He lives upon plants 
 and roots, and, as I have said, is perfectly harmless 
 in disposition. The female produces but one young 
 at a birth, of which she is very tender, leading it, 
 at an early age, to the water, and instructing it to 
 swim. 
 
 This description finished, the reader is ready to 
 accompany us in our nocturnal expedition against 
 the tapir. Before it became dark, Antonio, accom- 
 panied by the boy, went to the thicket which I 
 have described, and felled several stout trees across 
 the path, in such a manner as to form a kind of 
 culde sac. The design of this was to arrest the 
 animal on his return, and enable us to spear him 
 before he could break through or disengage himself. 
 We went to the spot early in the evening, and, as 
 the moon did not rise until late, Antonio caught 
 his hat half-full of fire-flies, which served to guide 
 us in the bush. He then pulled off their wings and 
 scattered them among the fallen trees, where they 
 gave light enough to enable us to distinguish ob- 
 jects with considerable clearness. Notwithstanding 
 Antonio's assurances that the tapi?- was a member 
 of the Peace Society, I could not divest myself of 
 the alarm which he had given me in the morning, 
 and I was not at all sorry to find that my compan- 
 ions had selected a spot for their abattis, where an 
 overhanging tree enabled me to keep out of harm's 
 way, yet near enough to take a sly drive with my 
 
172 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 lance at the tapir, if lie should happen to come that 
 way. 
 
 Antonio and the Poyer boy took their stations 
 among the fallen trees ; I took mine, and we await- 
 ed the dante's pleasure. I strained my eyes in vain 
 endeavors to penetrate the gloom, and held my 
 breath full half the time to hear the expected tread. 
 But we peered, and listened, and waited in vain ; 
 the fire-flies crawled away in every direction, and 
 yet the tapir obstinately kept away. Finally, the 
 moon came up ; and by-and-by it rose above the 
 trees — and still no tapir ! 
 
 My seat on the tree became uncomfortable, and 
 I instituted a comparison between tapir and 
 manitus-hunting, largely to the advantage of the 
 latter ; and, finally, when Antonio whispered " He 
 is coming \" I felt a willful disposition to contradict 
 him. But my ear, meanwhile, caught the same 
 dull sound which had arrested my attention in the 
 morning ; and, a few moments afterward, I could 
 make out the beast, in the dim light, driving on at 
 the same swinging trot. Eight on he came, heed- 
 less and headlong. Crash ! crash ! There was a 
 plunge and struggle, and a crushing and trampling 
 of branches, then a dull sound of the heavy beast 
 striking against the unyielding trunks of the fallen 
 trees. He was now fairly stopped, and with a 
 shout my companions drove down upon him with 
 their lances, which rung out a sharp metallic sound 
 when they struck his thick, hard hide. It was an 
 exciting moment, and my eagerness overcoming my 
 
THE AMBUSCADE. 
 
 173 
 
 prudence, I slipped down the tree, and joined in the 
 attack. Blow upon blow of the lances, and I could 
 feel that mine struck deeply into the flesh, it seemed 
 to me into the very vitals of the animal. But the 
 strokes only appeared to give him new strength, 
 and gathering back, he drove again full upon the 
 opposing tree, bearing it down before him. I had 
 just leaped upon the trunk, the better to aim my 
 lance, and went down with it headlong, almost 
 under the feet of the struggling animal, one tramp 
 
 THE DEATH OP THE TAPIR. 
 
 of whose feet would have crushed me like a worm. 
 I could have touched him with my arm, he was so 
 near ! I heard the alarmed shriek of Antonio, 
 when he saw me fall ; but, in an instant, he leaped 
 
174 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 to 111}- side, and, shortening liis lance, drove it, with 
 desperate force, clean through the animal, bring- 
 ing him to his knees. This done, he gTajjpled me 
 as he might an infant, and before I was aware of 
 it, had dragged me clear of the follen timber. 
 The blow of Antonio proved fatal ; the tapir fell 
 over on his side, and in a few moments was quite 
 dead. 
 
 The Poyer boy was dispatched to the camp for 
 fii-e and pine splints, which, stuck in the ground 
 around the tapir, answered for torches. By their 
 light my companions proceeded to cut up the spoil, 
 a tedious operation, which occupied them until day- 
 light. I did not wait, but went back to my ham- 
 mock, leaving them to finish their work, undis- 
 turbed by my questions. 
 
 When I awoke in the morning, I found Antonio 
 had the tapir's head baking in the ground, from 
 whence rose a hot but fragrant steam. It proved to 
 be very good eating, as did also the feet and the 
 neck, but the flesh of the animal in general was 
 abominably coarse and insipid, although my com- 
 panions seemed to relish it greatly. I found it, like 
 that of the manitus, exceedingly laxative. 
 
 Some idea may be formed of the tapir's tenacity 
 of life, when I say that I counted upward of thirty 
 lance-thrusts in the body of the one we killed, none 
 of which were less than six inches deep, and nearly 
 all penetrating into the cavity of the body ! It 
 rarely happens, therefore, that the animal is killed 
 by the individual hunter. The hide is quite as 
 
ANTICS OF THE ANTS. 175 
 
 thick, and I think harder than that of the nianitus, 
 which, when dried, it closely resembles. 
 
 I should weary the reader were I to enter into all 
 the details of our life at the " Tapir Camp," as I 
 called it, in honor of the exploit I have just re- 
 counted. During the eight days which we spent 
 there, I learned more of nature and her works than 
 I had known before. I spent hours in watching the 
 paths of the black ants, tracing them to their nests 
 in the trees, which were dark masses, as large as a 
 barrel, made u]^ of fragments of leaves cemented 
 together. From these paths, which were from four 
 to six inches wide, all grass, leaves, sticks, and 
 other obstructions, had been removed, and along 
 them poured an unbroken column of ants, thousands 
 on thousands, those bound from the nest hurrying 
 down one side of the path, and those bound in, each 
 carrying aloft a piece of green leaf, perhaps half an 
 inch square — a mimic army with banners — hurry- 
 ing up the other. I amused myself, sometimes, by 
 putting obstructions across the path, and watching 
 the surging up of the interrupted columns. Then 
 could be seen fleet couriers hurrying off to the nest, 
 and directly the path would bo crowded with a 
 heavy reenforcement, invariably headed by eight or 
 ten ants of larger size, who appeared to be the en- 
 gineers of the establishment. These would climb 
 over and all around the obstruction, apparently cal- 
 culating the chances of effecting its removal. If 
 not too heavy, they disposed their regiments, and 
 dragged it away by a grand simultaneous effort. 
 
176 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 But if, on examination, tliey tiionglit its removal 
 impossible, tliey liurried to lay out a road around it, 
 clearing away tlie grass, leaves, twigs, and pebbles 
 with consummate skill, eacli column working toward 
 the other. The best drilled troops could not go 
 more systematically and intelligently to work, nor 
 have executed their task with greater alacrity and 
 energy. No sooner was it done, than, putting 
 themselves at the head of their workies, the ens;!- 
 neers hastened back as they came, ready to obey 
 the next requisition upon their strength and skill. 
 
 Here I may mention that there is no end of ants 
 under the tropics. They swarm every where, of un- 
 numbered varieties — from little creatures, of micro- 
 scopic proportions, to those of the size of our wasp. 
 It is always necessary, when on land, to hang one's 
 provisions by cords from the branches of trees, or 
 they would literally be eaten up in a single night. 
 There is one variety, called the liorinegas, by the 
 Spaniards, which has an insatiate appetite for 
 leather, especially boots, and will eat them full of 
 holes in a few hours. All the varieties of acacias 
 teem with a small red, or " fire ant," whoso bite is 
 like the prick of a red-hot needle. The unfortunate 
 traveler who gets them in any considerable numbers 
 on his j)erson, is driven to distraction for the time 
 being. It is difficult to imagine keener torment. 
 
 Thousands of small, light-colored bees gathered 
 round the fallen trunks of the coyol-palms, to col- 
 lect the honey-like liquid that exuded here and 
 there, as the juice began to ferment. I soon ascer- 
 
TAPIK CAMP. 177 
 
 tained that they were stingiess, and amused myself 
 in watching their industrious zeal. I gradually 
 came to observe that when each had gathered his 
 supply, he rose, by a succession of circuits, high in 
 the air, and then darted o& in a certain direction. 
 Carefully watching their course, I finally traced 
 them to a low, twisted tree, on the edge of the 
 swamp, in the hollow of which they had their de- 
 pository. Of course, I regarded this as a fortunate 
 discovery, and we were not slow to tm'u it to our 
 advantage. I had less scruples in cutting down the 
 tree, and turning the busy little dwellers out on the 
 world, since they had no winter to provide for, and 
 could easily take care of themselves. The supply 
 of honey proved to be very small, and seemed to 
 have been collected chiefly for the support of the 
 young bees. AVe obtained only four bottles full 
 from the tree. In taste it- proved to be very unlike 
 our northern honey, having a sharp, jDungent, half- 
 fermented flavor, causing, when eaten pure, a chok- 
 ing contraction of the muscles of the throat. An- 
 tonio mixed some of it with the " vino de coyol," 
 which, after fermentation, produced a very delicious, 
 but strong, and most intoxicating kind of liqueur. 
 
 On the afternoon of the eighth day, the moon 
 having reached her last quarter, we packed our 
 little boat, and just as the night fell, worked our 
 way slowly through the little, obstructed canal to 
 the lagoon, which now expanded to the north. We 
 paddled boldly through the middle, the better to 
 avoid observation from the shore. The night was 
 
178 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 dark, but wonderfully still, and I could hear dis- 
 tinctly the sound of drums and reAehy from the 
 villages on the eastern shore, although they must 
 have been fully three miles distant. 
 
 I left " Tapir Camp" with real regret. The days 
 had glided by traaquilly, and I had enjoyed a calm 
 content, to which I had before been a stranger. 
 For the first time, I was able to comprehend the 
 feeling, gathering strength with every day, which 
 induces men, sometimes the most brilliant and pros- 
 perous, to banish themselves from the world, and 
 seek, in utter retirement, the peace which only flows 
 from a direct converse with nature, and an earnest 
 self-communion. 
 
LONG the coast, from the Prinza- 
 ^p^=— ' pulka river northward, as I have 
 said, stretches a net-work of rivers 
 and lagoons, for a distance of at least one hundred 
 and fifty miles, terminating near Cape Gracias. 
 These lagoons are broad and shallow, and bordered 
 by extensive marshes. Wherever the dry ground 
 does appear, strange to say, it is generally as a 
 sandy savannah, undulating, and supporting few 
 trees except the red, or long-leaved pine. These 
 savannahs are only adapted for grazing, since the 
 soil is too light and poor for cultivation, and fails to 
 support any of the staple products, or any of the 
 many esculent vegetables of the tropics, except the 
 cassava. And although the few scattered inhabit- 
 
180 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 ants of the Mosquito Shore, above the Prinza- 
 pulka, live upon the borders of the lagoons, select- 
 ing generally the savannahs for their villages, it 
 is because they are essentially fishers, and derive 
 their principal supjDort from the sea. The islands 
 of the coast abound with turtle, and the rivers, 
 creeks, and lagoons teem with fish of nearly every 
 variety known under the tropics. The few vegeta- 
 bles which they require are obtained from the 
 banks of the rivers in the back country, where the 
 streams flow through their proper valleys, and be- 
 fore they are lost in the low grounds of the coast. 
 The plantations on these rivers belong to the In- 
 dians proper, whose numbers increase toward the 
 interior, and who supply the Sambos, or coast-men, 
 not only with vegetables, but also with the various 
 Idnds of boats which are used by them, receiving in 
 exchange a few cottons, axes, trinkets, and other 
 articles which are brought by the foreign traders. 
 The character and habits of these Indians are 
 widely different from those of the coast-men. The 
 latter are drunken, idle, and vicious, while the 
 former are mild, industrious, and temperate. The 
 differences which I have indicated between the In- 
 dian settlement on the Eio Grande and the Sambo 
 village of Wasswatla, hold equally true throughout, 
 except that the farther the traveler proceeds north- 
 ward from Bluefields, the more debased and brutal 
 the Sambos become. 
 
 In attempting to thread my way through the 
 maze of waters before us, I kept the facts which I 
 
LAGOON LIFE. 183 
 
 have recounted constantly in view, and sought 
 rather to penetrate inland, than diverge toward the 
 coast. So, whenever two or more channels j)rc- 
 sented themselves, I universally took the inside 
 one. Tliis frequently led us into the rivers flowin'^ 
 from the interior, but their current sjoeedily enabled 
 us to correct .these mistakes. 
 
 No incident relieved the monotony of our first 
 night, after leaving " TajDir Camp." Toward morn- 
 ing we paddled into the first opening in the man- 
 groves that held out promise of concealment. We 
 had the usual difficulties to encounter — fallen trees, 
 and overhanging Kmbs ; but when the morning 
 broke we had worked our way to a sj^ot where the 
 creek expanded into a kind of subordinate lagoon, 
 very shallow, and full of sandy islets, jDartly covered 
 with grass and water-plants. At one spot on the 
 shore the ground was elevated a few feet, support- 
 ing a number of large and ancient trees, heavily 
 draped with vines, under which we encamped. 
 
 After a very frugal meal, my hammock was sus- 
 pended between the trees, and I went to sleep. 
 About noon I awoke, and spent the rest of the day 
 in watching the various forms of animal life which 
 found support in these secluded wilds. It seemed 
 to me as if all the aquatic birds of the world were 
 congregated there, in harmonious conclave. Long- 
 shanked herons, with their necks drawn in, and 
 their yellow bills resting on their breasts, stood 
 meditatively on a single leg ; troops of the white and 
 scarlet ibis trotted actively along the open sands ; 
 
184 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 and round-tailed darters, with tlieir snaky necks 
 and quick eyes, alighted in the trees around us — 
 the only birds of all that assemblage which seemed 
 to notice our intrusion ! Then there were cranes, 
 and gaudy, awkward spoon-bills (clownish million- 
 aires !) and occasionally a little squadron of blue- 
 winged teal paddled gracefully by. 
 
 Overhead, a few noisy macaws sheltered them- 
 selves from the noon-day heats. Among these, I 
 saw, for the first time, the green variety, a more 
 modest, and, to my taste, a far more beautiful bird, 
 than his gaudier cousin. The large trees to which 
 I have alluded, were of the variety known as the 
 ceiha, or silk-cotton tree. They were now in their 
 bloom, and crowned with a profusion of flowers of 
 rich and variegated colors, but chiefly a bright car- 
 nation. It w^as a novel spectacle to see a gigantic 
 tree, five or six feet in diameter, and eighty or 
 ninety feet high, sending out long and massive 
 limbs, yet bearing flowers like a rose-bush — a sort 
 of man-milliner ! Viewed from beneath, the flow- 
 ers wer-e scarcely visible, but their fragrance was 
 overpowering, and the ground was carpeted with 
 their gay leaves and delicate petals. But seen 
 from a little distance, the ceiba-tree in bloom is one 
 of the most splendid productions of Nature — a gi- 
 gantic bouquet, Avhich requires a whole forest to sup- 
 ply the contrasting green ! The flowers are rapidly 
 succeeded by a multitude of pods, which grow to 
 the size and shape of a goose-egg. When ripe, they 
 burst open, revealing the interior filled with a very 
 
CEIBA-TREE AND RAIN-PLANT. 185 
 
 soft, light cotton or silky fibre, attached as floats to 
 diminutive seeds, which are thus wafted far and 
 wide by the winds. This process is repeated three 
 times a year. I am not aware that the cotton has 
 ever been manufactured, or applied to any more 
 useful purpose than that of stuffing pillows and 
 mattresses. 
 
 The trunk of the ceiba, however, is invaluable to 
 the natives. The wood is easily worked, and is, 
 moreover, light and buoyant, and not liable to split 
 by exposure to the sun. For these reasons, it is 
 principally used for dories, pitpans, and the differ- 
 ent varieties of boats required on the coast, al- 
 though, for the smaller canoes, the cedar and ma- 
 hogany are sometimes substituted. The mahogany 
 boats, however, are rather heavy, while the cedar is 
 liable to split in what is called " beaching.'' I have 
 seen dories hollowed from a sing;le trunk of the ce- 
 bia, in which a tall man might comfortably lie at 
 length across the bottom, and which were capable 
 of carrying fifty persons. 
 
 But the ceibas of our encampment supported, 
 besides their own verdure, a mass of lianes or 
 climbers, of many varieties, as also, numerous par- 
 asitic plants, and among them the wild-pine or rain- 
 plant, which served us a most useful purpose. Sev- 
 eral of these grew in the principal forks of the trees, 
 to the height of from four to six feet. Their leaves 
 are broad, and wrap round on themselves, like a 
 roll, forming reservoirs, in which the rain and dew 
 is collected and retained, safe from sun and wind. 
 
186 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 ^Eacli leaf will liold about a 'quart of water, wMch 
 looks clear and tempting in its green, translucent 
 goblet. Had it not been for the rain-plant, we 
 would have suffered very often from thirst, among 
 those brackish lagoons, where fresh water is ob- 
 tained with difficulty. 
 
 With the night, wc resumed our stealthy course 
 to the northward, guided by the familiar north star, 
 which here, however, circles so low in the horizon, 
 as hardly to be visible above the trees. The long 
 and narrow lagoon contracted more and more, until 
 it presented a single channel, perhaps a hundred 
 yards wide, closely lined with mangroves, which, 
 rising like a wall on both sides, prevented us from 
 making out the character of the back country. In 
 passing through some of the numerous bends, I 
 nevertheless caught star-light glimpses of distant 
 hills, and high grounds in the direction of the in- 
 terior. The channel soon began to trend to the 
 north-east, and there was a considerable current in 
 that direction. I was concerned lest, notwithstand- 
 ing all my caution, I had lost the clew to the la- 
 goons, and taken some one of the outlets into the 
 sea. We nevertheless kept on, steadily and rapidly, 
 discovering no signs of habitations on the banks, 
 until near morning, when my suspicions were con- 
 firmed by a monotonous sound, which I had no dif- 
 ficulty in recognizing as the beating of the sea. I 
 was therefore greatly relieved when the narrow 
 channel, which we were traversing, expanded sud- 
 denly into a beautiful lagoon, which I subsequently 
 
TONGLA LAGOON. 187 
 
 ascertained was called " Tongla Lagoon." It is 
 triangular in shape, extending off to the north- 
 west. 
 
 I was weary of dodging the Sambos, and deter- 
 mined, as the wind was blowing fresh, to put up 
 our sail, and standing boldly through the lagoon, 
 take the risk of recognition and pursuit. There 
 never was a brighter day on earth, and our little 
 boat seemed emulous to outstrip) the wind. Gather- 
 ing confidence from our speed, I got out my fishing- 
 line, and, attaching a bit of cotton cloth to the 
 hook, trailed it after the boat. It had hardly 
 touched the water before it was caught by a kind 
 of rock-fish, called sna'pjper by the English resi- 
 dents, and cowatiicker by the Mosquitos. It is only 
 from ten to twelve inches in length, but broad and 
 heavy. Antonio recognized it as one of the best of 
 the small fishes, and I continued the sport of catch- 
 ing them, until it would have been wanton waste to 
 have taken more. I found them to be of two 
 varieties, the red and black, of which the latter 
 proved to be the most delicate. I also caught two 
 fish of a larger kind, called haracouta, each about 
 twenty inches in length, resembling our blue-fish. 
 It is equally ravenous, and has a like firm and pal- 
 atable flesh. I am not sure that it is not the true 
 blue-fish, although I afterward caught some in the 
 Bay of Honduras which were between three and 
 four feet in length. 
 
 In order to get the full benefit of the land-breeze, 
 we kept well over to the seaward or eastern side 
 
188 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 of the lagoon. As the lagoon narrowed, our course 
 gradually brought us close in shore. I had observed 
 some palm-trees on the same side of the lagoon, but 
 the ground seemed so low, and tangled with ver- 
 dure, that I doubted if the trees indicated, as they 
 usually do, a village at their feet. I nevertheless 
 maintained a sharp look-out, and kept the boat as 
 near to the wind as possible, so as to slip by with- 
 out-observation. It was not until we were abreast 
 of the palms, that I saw signs of human habita- 
 tions. But then I made out a large number of 
 canoes drawn up in a little bay, and, through a nar- 
 row vista in the trees, saw distinctly a considerable 
 collection of huts. There were also several of the 
 inhabitants moving about among the canoes. 
 
 I observed also that our boat had attracted atten- 
 tion, and that a number of men were hurrying down 
 to the shore. I was in hopes that they would be 
 content with regarding us from a distance, and was 
 not a little annoyed when I saw two large boats 
 push from the landing. We did not stop to specu- 
 late upon their purposes, but shook out every thread 
 of our little sail, and each taking a paddle, we fell 
 to work with a determination of giving our pursuers 
 as pretty a chase as ever came oft' on the Mosquito 
 Shore. It was now three o'clock in the afternoon, 
 and I felt confident that we could not be overtaken, 
 if at all, before night, and then it would be com- 
 paratively easy to elude them. 
 
 Our pursuers had no sails, but their boats were 
 larger, and numerously manned by men more used 
 
THE chase! 
 
 189 
 
 to the paddle than either Antonio or myself. While 
 the wind lasted, we rather increased our distance, 
 but as the sun went down the breeze declined, and 
 our sail became useless. So we were obliged to 
 
 THE CHASE ON TONGLA LAGOON. 
 
 take it in, and trust to our paddles, alone. This 
 gave our pursuers new courage, and I could hear 
 their shouts echoed back from the shores. When 
 night fell they had shortened their distance to less 
 than half what it had been at the outset, and were 
 so near that we could almost make out their Avords ; 
 for, during quiet nights, on these lagoons, voices 
 can be distinguished at the distance of a mile. The 
 lagoon narrowed more and more, and was evidently 
 getting to be as contracted as the channel by which 
 we had entered. This was against us ; for, al- 
 though we had almost lost sight of our pursuers in 
 the gathering darkness, our safety depended entirely 
 upon our slipping, unobserved, into some nan'ow 
 creek. But we strained our eyes in vain, to discover 
 
190 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 such a retreat. The mangroves presented one darK, 
 unbroken front. 
 
 The conviction was now forced upon me that, in 
 spite of all our eJfforts to avoid it, we were to be 
 involved in a second fight. I laid aside mj paddle, 
 and got out my gun. And now I experienced again 
 the same ague-like sensations which I have de- 
 scribed as preceding our struggle on the Prinza- 
 pulka. It required the utmost effort to keep my 
 teeth from chattering audibly. I had a singular 
 and painful sensation of fullness about the heart. 
 So decided were all these phenomena, that, not- 
 withstanding our danger, I felt glad it was so dark 
 that my companions could not see my weakness. 
 But soon the veins in my temples began to swell 
 with blood, pulsating with tense sharpness, like the 
 vibration of a bow-string ; and then the muscles 
 became rigid, and firm as iron. I was ready for 
 blood ! Twice only have I experienced these terri- 
 ble sensations, and God grant that they may never 
 agonize my nerves again ! 
 
 Our enemies were now so near that I was on the 
 point of venturing a random long shot at them, 
 when, with a suppressed exclamation of joy, Anto- 
 nio suddenly turned our canoe into a narrow creek, 
 where the mangroves separated, like walls, on either 
 side. AVhere we enterefd, it was scarcely twenty 
 feet wide, and soon contracted to ten or twelve. 
 We glided in rapidly for perhaps two hundred 
 yards, when Antonio stopped to listen. I heard 
 nothing, and gave the word to proceed. But the 
 
SUCCESSFUL DEVICE. 191 
 
 crafty Indian said " No ;" and, carefully leaning 
 over the edge of the boat, plunged his head in the 
 water. He held it there a few seconds, then started 
 up, exclaiming, " They are coining !" Again we 
 bent to the paddles, and drove the boat up the 
 narrow creek with incredible velocity. 
 
 I was so eager to get a shot at our pursuers that 
 I scarcely comprehended what he meant, when, 
 stopping suddenly, Antonio pressed his paddle in 
 my hands, and, exchanging a few hurried words 
 with the Poyer boy, each took a machete in his 
 mouth, and leaped overboard. I felt a sudden 
 suspicion that they had deserted me, and remained 
 for the time motionless. A moment after, they 
 called to me from the shore, " Paddle ! paddle !" 
 and, at the same instant, I heard the blows of their 
 machetes ringing on the trunks of the mangroves. 
 I at once comprehended that they were felling trees 
 across the narrow creek, to obstruct the pursuit ; 
 and I threw aside the paddle, and took my gun 
 again, determined to protect my devoted friends, at 
 any hazard. I never forgave myself for my mo- 
 mentary but ungenerous distrust ! 
 
 Our pursuers heard the sound of the blows, and, 
 no doubt comprehending what was going on, raised 
 loud shouts, and redoubled their speed. Kling I 
 Ming I rang the machetes on the hard wood ! Oh, 
 how I longed to hear the crash of the falling trees ! 
 Soon one of them began to crackle — another blow, 
 and down it fell, the trunk splashing gloriously in 
 the water ! Another crackle, a rapid rustling of 
 
192 T.HE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 branches, and another splash in the water ! It was 
 our turn to shout now ! 
 
 . I gave Antonio and the Poyer boy each a hearty em- 
 brace, as, dripping with water, they clambered back 
 into our little boat. We now pushed a few yards up the 
 stream, stopped close to the slimy bank, and awaited 
 our pursuers. " Come on, now," I shouted, " and 
 not one of you shall pass that rude barrier alive !" 
 . The first boat ran boldly up to the fallen trees, 
 but the discharge of a single barrel of my gun sent 
 it back, precipitately, out of reach. We could 
 distinguish a hurried conversation between the 
 occupants of the first boat and of the second, Avhen 
 the latter came up. It did not last long, and when 
 it stopped, Antonio, in a manner evincing more 
 alarm than he had ever before exhibited, caught 
 me by the arm, and explained hurriedly that the 
 second boat was going back, and that the narrow 
 creek, in which we were, no doubt communicated 
 with the principal channel by a second mouth. 
 While one boat was thus blockading us in front, 
 the second was hastening to assail us in the rear ! 
 I comprehended the movement at once. Our delib- 
 eration was short, for our lives might depend upon 
 an improvement of the minutes. Stealthily, scarce 
 daring to breathe, yet with the utmost rapidity 
 possible, we pushed up the creek. As Antonio had 
 conjectured, it soon began to curve back toward 
 the estuary. We had pursued our course jDcrhaps 
 ten or fifteen minutes — they seemed hours ! — when 
 we overheard the approach of the second boat. 
 
FINAL ESCAPE. 193 
 
 "We at once drew ours close to the bank, in the 
 gloomiest covert we could find. On came the boat, 
 the paddlers, secure of the success of their device, 
 straining themselves to the utmost. There was a 
 moment of keen suspense, and, to our inexpressible 
 relief, the boat passed by us. We now resumed 
 our paddles, and hastened on our course. But before 
 we entered the principal channel, my companions 
 clambered into the overhanging mangroves, and in 
 an incredibly short space of time had fallen other 
 trees across the creek, so as completely to shut in 
 the boat which had attempted to surprise us. 
 
 The device was successful ; we soon emerged from 
 the creek, and the sea-breeze having now set in, 
 favorably to our course, we were able to put up our 
 sail, and defy pursuit. We saw nothing afterward 
 of our eager friends of Tongla Lagoon ! 
 
 Some time past midnight we came to another and 
 larger lagoon, called " Wava Lagoon," and, weary 
 and exhausted from nearly two days of wakefulness, 
 hard labor, and excitement, we ran our beat ashore 
 on a little island, whicli presented itself, and drag- 
 ged it up into the bushes. We kindled a fire, cook- 
 ed our fish, and then I lay down in the canoe, and 
 went to sleep. I had entire confidence that we 
 would not be pursued further, as Ave were now a 
 long way from the coast, and in the country of the 
 unmixed Indians, who, so far from recognizing the 
 assumptions of the Sambos, hold an attitude S( de- 
 cidedly hostile toward them that the latter sel iom 
 venture into their territory. 
 
 9 
 
194 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 I awoke near noon, but unrefreshed, with a dull 
 pain in my head, a sensation of chilliness, great las- 
 situde, and an entire absence of appetite. Had 
 our encanipm.eut been more favorable, I should not 
 have attempted to move ; but the island was small, 
 without water, and, moreover, too near the channel 
 leading to Tongia Lagoon to be a desirable resting- 
 place. So we embarked about middaj^, and stood 
 across the lagoon for its western shore, where the 
 ground appeared to rise rapidly, and high blue 
 mountains appeared in the distance. The sun 
 shone out clearly, and the day was sultry, but my 
 chilliness increased momentarily, and, in less than 
 an hour after leaving the island, I found myself 
 lying in the bottom of the canoe, wrapped in my 
 blanket, and for the first time in my life, suffering 
 from the ague. The attack lasted for full two 
 hours, and was followed by a bursting pain in my 
 head, and a high fever. I had also dull pains in 
 my back and limbs, which were more difficult to be 
 borne than others more acute. 
 
 At four o'clock in the afternoon, Antonio put 
 f,he boat in shore — for I was too ill to give direc- 
 tions — where a bluff point ran out into the lagoon, 
 forming a small bay, with a smooth, sandy beach. 
 A little savannah, similar to that which I have de- 
 scribed at Tapir Camp, extended back from the 
 bluff, near the centre of which, at its highest point, 
 which commanded a beautiful view of the lagoon, 
 rose a single clump of pines. Here my companions 
 
FEVER CAMP. 195 
 
 carried me in my hammocli, and here they hastily 
 arranged our camp. 
 
 When the sun went down, my fever subsided, 
 but was followed by a profuse and most debilitating 
 sweat. Meantime Antonio had collected a few nuts 
 of a kind Avhicli, I afterward ascertained, is called 
 by the English of the West Indies physic-nut 
 {jatropha), which grows on a low bush, on all parts 
 of the coast. These he rapidly prepared, and admin- 
 istered them to me. They operated powerfully, both 
 as an emetic and cathartic. When their effects had 
 ceased, I fell asleep, and slept until morning, when 
 I awoke weak, but free from pain, or any other symp- 
 tom of illness. I congratulated myself and An- 
 tonio, but he dampened my spirits sensibly by ex- 
 plaining that, however well I might feel for that 
 day, I would be j)retty sure to have a recurrence of 
 fever on the next. And to mitigate the severity of 
 this, if not entirely to prevent it, he presented to me 
 a calabash of reddish-looking liquid, which he called 
 cincJiona, and told me to drink deeply. Heavens ! I 
 shall never forget the bitter draught, which he com- 
 mended to my unwilling lips every two hours during 
 that black day in my calendar ! I know what it is 
 now, for my Mosquito experiences have entailed 
 upon me a sneaking fever and ague, wliich avails 
 itself of every pretext to remind me that we are in- 
 separable. Looking to my extensive consumption 
 of quinine, I have marveled, since my return, that 
 the price of the drug has not been doubled ! Others 
 may look at the stock quotations, but my principal 
 
196 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 interest in the commercial department of the morn- 
 ing paper, is the "ruling rate" of quinine! Not 
 having, as yet, discovered any considerable advance, 
 I begin to doubt the dogma of the economists, that 
 " the price is regulated by the demand." 
 
 Antonio was right. The next day came, and at 
 precisely twelve o'clock came also the chill, the 
 fever, the dull pains, and the perspiration, but all in 
 a more subdued form. I escaped the physic-nuts, 
 but the third day brought a new supply of the bit- 
 ter liquid, which Antonio told me was decocted 
 from bark taken from the roots of a species of 
 mangrove-troe. I have never seen it mentioned 
 that the cinchona is found in Central America, but, 
 nevertheless, it is there, or something so nearly like 
 it, in taste and effects, as to be undistinguishable. 
 Thin slips of the bark, put into a bottle of rum, 
 made a sort of cordial or bitters, of which I took 
 about a wine-glassful every morning and evening, 
 during the remainder of my stay on the coast, with 
 beneficial results. 
 
 I had three recurrences of the fever, but the sun 
 passed the meridian on the sixth day without bring- 
 ing with it an attack — thanks to the rude but effect- 
 ive " healing art " of my Indian companions. Ex- 
 perience had taught them about all, I think, that 
 has ever been learned in the way of treatment of 
 indigenous complaints. It is only exotic diseases, or 
 sweeping epidemics, that carry death and desolation 
 among the aborigines, whoge ignorance of their na- 
 ture and remedies invests them with a terror which 
 
P III 51 1 T I Y E PHYSIC. 1-97 
 
 enhances the mortality. Not only Avas the treat- 
 ment to which I was subjected thoroughly correct, 
 hut the dieting was perfect. The only food that 
 was given to me consisted of the seeds of the okra 
 (which is 'indigenous on the coast), flavored by 
 being boiled with the legs and wings of quails, and 
 small bits of dried manitee flesh. I only outraged 
 the notions of my rude physicians in one respect, 
 viz., in insisting on being allowed to wash myself. 
 The Indians seem to think that the effect of water 
 on the body, or any part of it, during the period of 
 a fever, is little less than mortal — a singular notion, 
 which may have some foundation in experience, if 
 not in reason. The Spaniards, wisely or foolishly, 
 entertain the same prejudice ; and, furthermore, 
 shut themselves up closely in dark rooms, when at- 
 tacked by fever. At such times they scarcely com- 
 mend themselves pleasantly to any of the senses. 
 
 From the open, airy elevation where our camp 
 was established, as I have abeady said, we had an 
 extensive and beautiful view of the lagoon. We 
 saw canoes, at various times, skirting the jwestern 
 shore, and, from the smoke Avhich rose ai«Mltervals, 
 we were satisfied that there were there several Indian 
 villages. As soon, therefore, as I thought myself re- 
 covered from my fever, whicli was precisely at one 
 o'clock past meridian, on the sixth day (the fever 
 due at noon not having " come to time"),. I was 
 ready to proceed to the Indian towns. .But bur de- 
 parture was delayed for two days more by an un- 
 fortunate occurrence, which came near depriving 
 
198 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 the Poyer Loy of his life, and me of a valuable as- 
 sistant ; for, while Antonio was supreme on land, 
 the Poyer boy was the leader on the water. I al- 
 ways called him — Mosquito fashion — " admiral/' 
 
 It seems that, while engaged in gathering dry 
 wood, he took hold of a fallen branch, under which 
 was coiled a venomous snake, known as the tama- 
 gasa (called by the English tommTj-gqff, and the 
 Mosquitos inuta-sura, or the poison snake). He 
 had scarcely put down his hand when it struck 
 him in the arm. He killed it, grasped it by the 
 tail, and hurried to our camp. I was much alarm- 
 ed, for his agitation was extreme, and his face and 
 whole body of an ashy color, Antonio was not at 
 hand, and I was at an utter loss what to do, beyond 
 tying a ligature tightly around the arm. The 
 Poyer, however, retained his presence of mind, and, 
 unrolling a mysterious little bundle, which con- 
 tained his scanty wardrobe, took out a nut of about 
 the size and much the appearance of a horse-chest- 
 nut, which he hastily crushed, and, mixing it with 
 water, drank it down. By this time Antonio had 
 returned, and, learning the state of the case, seized 
 his machete, and hastened away to the low grounds 
 on the edge of the savannah, whence he came back, 
 in the course of half an hour, with a quantity of 
 some kind of root, of which I have forgotten the 
 Indian name. It had a strong smell of musk, im- 
 possible to distinguish from that of the genuine 
 civet. This he crushed, and formed into a kind of 
 poultice, bound it on the wounded arm, and gave the 
 
ABOUT SNAKES, 199 
 
 boy to drink a strong infusion of the same. This 
 done, he led him down to the beach, dug a hole in 
 the moist sand, in which he buried his arm to the 
 shoulder, pressing the sand closely around it. I 
 thought this an emphatic kind of treatment, which 
 might be good for Indians, but which would be 
 pretty sure to kill white men. The boy remained 
 with his arm buried during the entire night, but, 
 next morning, barring being a little pale and weak 
 from the effects of these powerful remedies, he was 
 as well as ever, and resumed his usual occupations. 
 A light blue scratch alone indicated the place 
 where he had been bitten. 
 
 The tamagasa (a specimen of which I subse- 
 quently obtained, and which now occupies a distin- 
 guished place among the reptiles in the Philadel- 
 phia Academy), is about two feet long. It is of 
 the thickness of a man's thumb, with a large, flat 
 head, and a lump in the neck something like that of 
 the cobra, and is marked with alternate black and 
 dusky white rings. It is reputed one of the most 
 venomous serpents under the tropics, ranking next 
 to the beautiful, but deadly corral. 
 
iKOM our misfortunes, I named our 
 encampment, on Wava Lagoon, 
 " Fever Camp," altliougli so far 
 from contracting the fever there, I am sure it was 
 its open and elevated position which contributed to 
 my recovery. The fever was rather due to over-ex- 
 ertion, and exposure at night ; for the night-damps,, 
 on all low coasts under the tropics, are unquestion- 
 ably deadly, and the traveler cannot be too careful 
 in avoiding them. Early in the afternoon of the 
 day of our departure from " Fever Camp," we en- 
 tered a large stream, flowing into the lagoon from 
 the north-west, upon the banks of which, judging 
 from the direction of the smoke we had seen, the 
 Indian villages were situated. We were not mis- 
 taken. Before night we came to a village larger 
 
TOWKAS VILLAGE. 201 
 
 than that on the Rio Grande, but in other respects 
 much the same, except that it stood upon the edge 
 of an extensive savannah, instead of on the skirt of 
 an impenetrable forest. Around it were extensive 
 plantations of cassava, and other fruits and vege- 
 tables, growing in the greatest luxuriance, and indi- 
 cating that the soil of the inland savannahs does not 
 share the aridity of those nearer the coast. This 
 was further evinced by the scarcity of pines, 
 which were only to be seen on the ridges or gentle 
 elevations with which the surface of the savannah 
 was diversified. 
 
 Our appearance here created the same excite- 
 ment which it had occasioned at the other places we 
 had visited, and our reception was much the same 
 with that which we had experienced on the Rio 
 jQrande. Instead, however, of being met by men 
 with wands, we were welcomed by five old men, one 
 of whom vacated his own hut for our accommoda- 
 tion. None here could speak either English or 
 Spanish intelligibly, but the affinity between their 
 language and that of my Poyer enabled him to 
 make known our wants, and obtain all useful infor- 
 mation. We were treated hospitably, but with the 
 utmost reserve, and during my whole stay, but a 
 single incident relieved the monotony of the village. 
 This was a marriage — and a very ceremonious affair 
 it was. 
 
 These Indians, I should explain, arc called Tow- 
 kas, or Toacas, and have, I presume, all the general 
 characteristics and habits of the Cookras and Wool- 
 
 9* 
 
202 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 was. These do, in fact, constitute a single family, 
 although displaying dialectical differences in their 
 language. 
 
 TO"WK AS INDIANS. 
 
 Among all these Indians, polygamy is an excep- 
 tion, while among the Sambos it is the rule. The 
 instances are few in which a man has more than one 
 wife, and in these cases the eldest is not only the 
 head of the family, but exercises a strict supervision 
 over the others. The betrothals are made at a very 
 early age, by the parents, and the affianced children 
 are marked in a corresponding manner, so that one 
 acquainted with the practice can always j)oint out 
 the various mates. These marks consist of little 
 bands of colored cotton, worn either on the arm, 
 above the elbow, or on the leg, below the knee, 
 which are varied in color and number, so that no 
 two combinations in the village shall be the same. 
 The combinations are made by the old men, who take 
 
A TOWKA MARRIAGE. 203 
 
 care that there shall he no confusion. The bands 
 are replaced from time to time, as they become 
 worn and faded. Both boys and girls also wear a 
 necldace of variously-colored shells or beads, to 
 which one is added yearly. When the necldace of 
 the boy counts ten beads or shells, he is called 
 muhasal, a word signifying three things, viz., ten, 
 all the fingers, and Jialf-a-man. When they number 
 twenty, he is called 'all, a word which also signifies 
 three things, viz., twenty, both fingers and toes, 
 alid a man. And he is then effectively regarded as 
 a man. Should his affianced, by that time, have 
 reached the age cf fifteen, the marriage ceremony 
 takes place without delay. 
 
 As I have said, a sleek young Towka was called 
 upon to add the final bead to his string, and take 
 upon himself the obligations of manhood, during 
 my stay at the village. The event had been an- 
 ticipated by the preparation of a canoe full of 
 palm-wine, mixed with crushed plantains, and a 
 little honey, which had been fermenting, to the 
 utter disgust of my nostrils, from the date of my 
 arrival. The day was observed as a general holiday. 
 Early in the morning all the men of the village as- 
 sembled, and with their knives carefully removed 
 every blade of grass which had grown up inside of 
 a circle, perhaps a hundred feet in diameter, situ- 
 ated in the very centre of the village, and indicated 
 by a succession of stones sunk in the ground. The 
 earth was then trampled smooth and hard, after 
 which they proceeded to erect a little hut in the 
 
204 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 very centre of the circular area, above a large flat 
 stone whicli was permanently planted there. This 
 hut was made conical, and perfectly close, except 
 an opening at the top, and another at one side, 
 toward the east, which was temporarily closed with 
 a mat, woven of palm-barh. I looked in without 
 hinderance, and saw, piled up on the stone, a quan- 
 tity of the dry twigs of the copal-tree, covered with 
 the gum of the same. The canoe full of liquor was 
 dragged up to the edge of the circle, and literally 
 covered with small white calabashes, of the size of 
 an ordinary coftee-cup. 
 
 At noon, j)recisely, all the people of the village 
 hurried, without order, to the hut of the bride- 
 groom's father. I joined in the crowd. We found 
 the "happy swain" arrayed in his best, sitting de- 
 murely upon a bundle of articles, closely wrapped in 
 a mat. The old men, to whom I have referred, 
 formed in a line in front of him, and the eldest 
 made him a short address. When he had fin- 
 ished, the next followed, until each had had his 
 say. The youth then got up quietly, shouldered 
 his bundle, and, preceded by the old men, and 
 followed by his father, marched off to the hut 
 of the prospective bride. He init down his load 
 before the closed door, and seated himself upon it 
 in silence. The father then rapped at the door, 
 which was partly opened by an old woman, who 
 asked him what he wanted, to which he made some 
 reply which did not appear to be satisfactory, when 
 the door was shut in his face, and he took his seat 
 
PRESENTS PROPIATORY. 205 
 
 beside liis son. One of the old men then rapped, 
 with precisely the same result, then the next, and 
 so on. But the old women were obdurate. The 
 bridegroom's father tried it again, but the she- 
 dragons would not open the door. The old men 
 then seemed to hold a council, at the end of which 
 a couple of drums (made, as I have already ex- 
 plained, by stretching a raw skin over a section of a 
 hollow tree), and some rude flutes were sent for. 
 The latter were made of pieces of bamboo, and were 
 shaped somewhat like flageolets, each having a 
 mouth-piece, and four stops. The sound was dull 
 and monotonous, although not wholly unmusical. 
 
 Certain musicians now appeared, and at once 
 commenced playing on these instruments, breaking 
 out, at long intervals, in a kind of supplicatory 
 chant. After an hour or more of this soothinur and 
 rather sleepy kind of music, the inexorable door 
 opened a little, and one of the female inmates 
 glanced out with much affected timidity. Here- 
 upon the musicians redoubled their efforts, and the 
 bridegroom hastened to unroll his bundle. It con- 
 tained a variety of articles supposed to be accej^t- 
 able to the parents of the girl. There was, among 
 other things, a machete, no inconsiderable present, 
 when it is understood that the cost of one is gener- 
 ally a large dorT/, which it requires months of toil 
 to fashion from the rough trunk of the gigantic 
 ceiba. A string of gay glass beads was also pro- 
 duced from the bundle. All these articles were 
 handed in to the women one by one, by the father 
 
206 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 of the groom. With every present the door opened 
 wider and wider, until the mat was presented, when 
 it was tm*ned back to its utmost, reveahng the 
 bride arrayed in her " prettiest," seated on a 
 crickery, at the remotest corner of the hut. The 
 dragons affected to be absorbed in examining the 
 presents, when the bridegroom, watching his oppor- 
 tunity, dashed into the hut, to the apparent utter 
 horror and dismay of the women ; and, grasping the 
 girl by the waist, shouldered her like a sack, and 
 started off at a trot for the mystic circle, in the centre 
 of the village. The women pursued, as if to over- 
 take him and rescue the girl, uttering cries for help, 
 while all the crowd huddled after. But the youth 
 was too fast for them ; he reached the ring, and 
 lifting the vail of the hut, disappeared within it. 
 The women could not pass the circle, and all 
 stopped short at its edge, and set up a chorus of 
 despairing shrieks, while the men all gathered 
 within the charmed ring, where they squatted them- 
 selves, row on row, facing outward. The old men 
 alone remained standing, and a bit of lighted pine 
 having meanwhile been brought, one of them ap- 
 proached the hut, lifted the mat, and, handing in 
 the fire, made a brief speech to the inmates, A 
 few seconds after an aromatic smoke cui'led up from 
 the opening in the top of the little hut, from which 
 I infer that the copal had been set on fire. What 
 else happened, I am sure I do not know ! 
 
 When they saw the smoke, the old women grew 
 silent and expectant ; but, by-and-by, when it sub- 
 
MARKIAGE FESTIVAL. 207 
 
 sided, they became suddenly gay, and " went in 
 strong" for the festivities, which, up to this time, I 
 must confess, I had thought rather slow. But here 
 I may explain, that although the bridegroom has 
 no choice in the selection of his wife, yet if he have 
 reason for doing so, he may, while the copal is 
 burning, take her in his arms, and cast her outside 
 3f the circle, in the open day, before the entire peo- 
 ple, and thus rid himself of her forever. But in 
 this case, the matter is carefully investigated by the 
 old men, and woe betide the wretch who, by this 
 public act, has impeached a girl wrongfully ! Woe 
 equally betide the girl who is proved to have been 
 " put away" for good reasons. If, however, the copal 
 burns out quietly, the groom is supposed to be sat- 
 isfied, and the marriage is complete. 
 
 The copal, in this instance, burned out in the 
 most satisfactory manner, and then the drums and 
 flutes struck up a most energetic air, the music of 
 which consisted of about eight notes, repeated with 
 difl:erent degrees of rapidity, by way of giving va- 
 riety to the melody. The men all kept their 
 places, while I was installed in a seat of honor be- 
 side the old men. The women, who, as I have 
 said, could net come within the circle, now com- 
 menced filling the calabashes from the canoe, and 
 passing them to the squatting men, commencing 
 with the ancients and the " distinguished guests" — for 
 Antonio and my Poyer were included in our party. 
 There was nothing said, but the women displayed 
 the greatest activity in filling the emptied cala- 
 
208 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 bashes. I soon discovered that every body was de- 
 liberately and in cold blood getting up of what 
 Captain Drummer called the " big drunk !" That 
 was part of the performance of the day, and the 
 Indians went at it in the most orderly and expedi- 
 tious manner. They wasted no time in coyish pre- 
 liminaries — a practice which might be followed in 
 more civilized countries, to the great economy, not 
 only of time, but of the vinous. It was not from 
 the love of the drink that the Towkas imbibed, I 
 can well believe, for their cliidia was bad to look at, 
 and worse to taste. 
 
 With the fourth round of the calabashes, an oc- 
 casional shout betrayed the effects of the cMcha 
 upon some of the weaker heads. These shouts be- 
 came more and more frequent, and were sometimes 
 uttered with a savage emphasis, which was rather 
 startling. The musicians, too, became more ener- 
 getic, and as the sun declined, the excitement rose, 
 until, unable to keep quiet any longer, all hands 
 got \i]), and joined in a slow, swinging stej) around 
 the circle, beating with their knuckles on the empty 
 calabashes, and joining at intervals in a kind of re- 
 frain, at the end of which every man struck the 
 bottom of his calabash against that of his neigh- 
 bor. Then, as they came round by the canoe, each 
 one dipped his calabash full of the contents. The 
 liquid thus taken up was drunk at a single draught, 
 and then the dance went on, growing more rapid 
 with every dip of the calabash. It got to the stage 
 of a trot, and then a fast pace, and finally into 
 
DEAD DRUNK ! 209 
 
 something little short of a gallop, but still in -per- 
 fect time. The rattling of the calabashes had now 
 grown so rapid, as almost to be continuous, and the 
 motion so involved and quick, that, as I watched it, 
 I felt that kind of giddiness which one often expe- 
 riences in watching the gliding of a swift current 
 of water. This movement could not be ke23t up 
 lono", even with the aid of chicha, and whenever a 
 dancer became exhausted, he would wheel out of 
 line, and throw himself flat on his face on the 
 ground. Finally, every one gave in, except two 
 young follows, who seemed determined to do, in 
 their way, what other fast young men, in other 
 countries, sometimes undertake to accomplish, viz. : 
 drink each other down, or " under the table." They 
 danced and drunk, and were apj)lauded by the wo- 
 men, but were so closely matched that it was im- 
 possible to tell which had the best chance of keep- 
 ing it up longest. In fact, each seemed to despair 
 of the other, and, as if by a common impulse, both 
 threw aside their calabashes, and resolved the con- 
 test from a trial of endurance into one of strenalh. 
 leaping at each other's throats, and fastening their 
 teeth like tigers in each other's flesh. 
 
 There was instantly a great uproar, and those of 
 the men who had the ability to stand, clustered 
 around the combatants in a confused mass, shout- 
 ing at the stretch of their lungs, and evidently, as I 
 thought, regarding it as a " free fight." But there 
 was little damage done, for the old men, though 
 emphatically " tight," had discretion enough to send 
 
210 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 tlie women for thongs, with which the pugnacious 
 youths were incontinently bound hand and foot, and 
 dragged close to the hut in the centre, and there 
 left to cool themselves off as they were best able, no 
 one taking the slightest notice of them. " Verily," 
 I ejaculated to myself, "wisdom knoweth no 
 country," 
 
 The dance which I have described wag" resumed 
 from time to time, until it became quite dark, when 
 the women brought a large number of pine splinters, 
 of which the men each took one. These were lighted, 
 and then the dancers paced up to the little hut, and 
 each tore off one of the branches of which it was 
 
 built, finally disclosing the newly-married couple 
 sitting demurely side by side. As soon as the hut 
 was demolished, the groom quietly took his bride 
 on his back — literally " shouldering the responsibil- 
 ity !" — and marched off to the hut which had previ- 
 
A SWEET SAVANNAH. 211 
 
 ously been built for his accommodation, escorted by 
 the procession of men with torches. This was the 
 final ceremony of the night, although some of the 
 more dissipated youths returned to the canoe, and 
 kept up a drumming, and piping, and dancing, 
 until morning. Next day every body brought pres- 
 ents of some ]i;ind to the newly-married pair, so as 
 io give them a fair start in the world, and enable 
 them to commence life on equal terms with the best 
 in the village. 
 
 It would be difficult to find on earth any thing 
 more beautiful than the savannah which spread out, 
 almost as far as the eye could reach, behind the 
 Towkas village. Along the river's bank rose a tan- 
 gled wall of verdure ; giant ceibas, feathery palms, 
 and the snake-hke trunks of the mata-palo, all 
 bound together, and draped over with cable-like 
 lianes, (the tie-tie of the English,) and the tena- 
 cious tendrils of myriads of creeping and flowering 
 plants. Unlike the wearying, monotonous prairies 
 of the West, the savannah was relieved by clumps of 
 acacias — among them the delicate-leaved gum-ar- 
 abic — palmettos, and dark groups of pines, arranged 
 with such harmonious disorder, and admirable pic- 
 turesque effect, that I could scarcely believe the 
 hand of art had not lent its aid to heighten the ef- 
 forts of nature in her happiest mood. 
 
 Finding retreats in the dense coverts of the jun- 
 gles on the river's bank, or among the clustering 
 groups of bushes and trees, the antelope and deer, 
 the Indian rabbit and gibeonite, wandered securely 
 
212 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 over the savannah, nipping the young grass, or 
 chasing each other in mimic alarm. Here, too, 
 miffht be observed the crested curassow, with his 
 stately step, the plumptitudinous qualm, and the 
 crazy chachalca, (coquericot,) besides innumerable 
 quails — all fitting food for omnivorous man, but so 
 seldom disturbed as not to recognize him as their 
 most dangerous enemy. Then night and morning 
 the air was filled with deafening parrots, noisy ma- 
 caws, and quick-darting, chattering paroquets. 
 
 I rose early every day, and with my gun in my 
 hand, strayed far over the savannah, inhaling the 
 freshness of the morning air, and shooting such 
 game as looked fat, tender, and otherwise accept- 
 able to my now fastidious appetite. The curassow, 
 (called cossu by the Mosquitos,) is one of the finest 
 birds in the world. It is about the size of the tur- 
 key, but has stronger and longer legs. The plumage 
 is dark brown or black, ash-colored about the neck, 
 and of a reddish brown on the breast. On its head 
 it has a crest of white feathers tipped with black, 
 which it raises and depresses at pleasure. The flesh 
 is whiter than that of a turkey, but rather dry, re- 
 quiring a different mode of cooking than is practiced 
 in the woods, to bring out its qualities in j)erfection. 
 It is easily tamed, as are also the qualm and cha- 
 chalaca. The latter, when old, is tough, but when 
 young, its flesh cannot be surpassed for delicacy 
 and flavor. 
 
 The animal called the Indian ral 'ery 
 
 numerous, and is a variety of what, in Soul. 
 
EPISODE EPICURIAN. 213 
 
 ica, is called the agouti. It is about the size of a 
 rabbit : body plump ; snout long, and rather sliarp ; 
 nose divided at the tip, and upper jaw longer than 
 the lower ; hind legs longer than the anterior ones, 
 and furnished with but three toes ; tail short, and 
 scarcely visible, wliile its body is covered with a 
 hard, shining, reddish-brown hair, freckled Avith 
 dark spots. It lives upon vegetables, holds its food 
 in eating, like a squirrel, and has a vicious propen- 
 sity for biting and gnawing Avhatever it comes near. 
 For this reason it is a nuisance in the neighborhood 
 of plantations, and, as it multiplies rapidly, it is 
 about the only animal which is hunted systemati- 
 cally by the Indians. Its flesh is only passable. 
 
 The cfiheonite (cavia-paca), sometimes called 
 pig-rahhit, closely resenddes the guinea-pig, but is 
 something larger. The head is round ; the muzzle 
 short and black ; the upper jaw longer than the 
 lower ; the lip divided, like tliat of a hare ; the 
 nostrils large, and the whiskers long ; eyes brown, 
 large, and prominent ; cars short and naked ; neck 
 thick ; body very plump, larger behind than be- 
 fore, and covered with coarse, short hair, of a 
 dusky brown color, deepest on the back ; tlie 
 throat, breast, inside of the limbs, and belly dingy 
 white ; and on each side of the body are five rows 
 of dark spots, placed close to each other. The legs 
 are short, the feet have five toes, with strong nails, 
 and th' is a simple conic projection. Its flesh 
 
 is • jidcy and rich, and, baked iu the 
 
 tue animal makes a dish for an epicure. I 
 
214 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 believe I did not let a day pass without having a 
 baked gibeonite. 
 
 Among the Indians of the village, the eggs and 
 flesh of the river turtle were favorite articles of 
 food ; and in constantly using them, I thought they 
 evinced a proper appreciation of what is good. 
 There are two varieties of these turtles, one called 
 hocatoro (Mosquito choustvat), and the other heca- 
 tee. The latter is seldom more than eighteen inches 
 long, but its shell is very deep. We cooked them 
 by simply separating the lower shell, taking out the 
 entrails, and stuffing the cavity with cassava, 
 l^ieces of plantain, manitee fat, and various condi- 
 ments, then wrapping it in plantain leaves, as I 
 have described, and turning it back down, baking 
 it in the ground. It always required a good bed of 
 coals to cook it properly, but when rightly done, the 
 result was a meal preeminently savory and palata- 
 ble. The Indian boys brought, literally, bushels of 
 the eorss of these turtles from the bars and sand- 
 spits of the river and lagoon. These are very deli- 
 cate when entirely fresh. 
 
f^Hry.*V 
 
 E were not many days in exhausting 
 the resources of the Towkas village, 
 in the way of adventures ; and, one 
 sunny afternoon, packed our little 
 hoat, and, bidding our entertainers good-by, pad- 
 dled down the river, on our voyage to Sandy Bay — 
 next to Bluefields, the principal Sambo establish- 
 ment on the coast. Our course lay, a second time, 
 through Wava Lagoon, which connects, by a nar- 
 row and intricate channel or creek, mth a larger 
 lagoon to the northward, called Duckwarra. The 
 night was quiet and beautiful — the crescent moon 
 filling the air Avith a subdued and dreamy light, 
 soothing and slumbrous, and so blending the real 
 with the ideal that I sometimes imagine it might 
 all have been a dream ! My companions, if they 
 did not share the influences of the night, at least 
 respected my silence, and we glided on and on. 
 
216 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 without a sound save tlio steady dij) of the paddles, 
 and the gentle ripple of the water, which closed in 
 mimic whirlpools on our track. 
 
 When morning broke, we had already entered 
 Duckwarra Lagoon, the largest we had encountered 
 since leaving Pearl-Cay. It had the same appear- 
 ance with all the others, and, having nothing to de- 
 tain us, we steered directly across, only stopping 
 near noon on one of the numerous islets, to cook 
 our breakfast, and escape the midday heats. This 
 islet was, perhaps, two hundred yards across, and 
 elevated in the centre some fifteen or twenty feet 
 above the water. Near the apex were growing a 
 number of ancient palms, and, strolling up to them, 
 I found at their roots a small elevation, or tumu- 
 lus, perhaps fifteen feet in diameter at the base, 
 and five or six feet high. Its regularity arrested 
 my attention, and led me to believe that it was ar- 
 tificial. I called to Antonio, who at once pro- 
 nounced it a burying-place of the " Antiguos." I 
 proposed opening it, but my companions seemed 
 loth to disturb the resting-place of the dead. How- 
 ever, finding that I had commenced the work with- 
 out them, they joined me, and with our machetes 
 and paddles, we rapidly removed the earth. Near 
 the original surface of the ground, we came to some 
 bones, but they were so much decayed that they 
 crumbled beneath the fingers. Uncovering them 
 further, we found at the head of the skeleton a 
 rude vase, which was got out without much dam- 
 age. Carefully removing the earth from the interior 
 
ABORIGINAL RELICS. 217 
 
 I found that it contained a number of clialcedonic 
 pebbles, pierced as if for beads, a couple of arrow- 
 heads of similar material, and a small ornament of 
 thin, plate gold, rudely representing a human fig- 
 ure, as shown in the accompanying engraving, which 
 is of the size of the original. At the feet of the 
 skeleton we also discovered another small 
 vase of coarse pottery, which, however, con- 
 tained no relics. Antonio seemed much 
 interested in the little golden image, but 
 finally, after minute examination, returned 
 it to me, saying, that although his own 
 people in Yucatan often buried beneath 
 tumuli, and had golden idols which they 
 placed with the dead, yet, in workmanship, 
 they were unlike the one we had discovered, 
 
 " Ah !" ho continued, his eyes lighting 
 with unusual fire, " you should see the works of our 
 ancestors ! They wero gods, those ancient, holy 
 men ! Their temples were built for them hj Kabul, 
 the Lord of the Powerful Hand, Avho set the seal of 
 his bloody palm upon them all ! You shall go with 
 me to the sacred lake of the Itzaes, where our 
 people are gathered to receive the directions of the 
 Lord of Teaching, whose name is Votan Balam, who 
 led our fathers thither, and who has j)romised to 
 rescue them from their afilictions \" 
 
 He stopped suddenly, as if alarmed at what he 
 had said, kissed his talisman, and relapsed again 
 into the quiet, mild-eyed Indian boy, submissively 
 awaiting my orders. 
 
 10 
 
218 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 We left Duckworra Lagoon by a creek connecting 
 it with Sandy Bay Lagoon, and on the second after- 
 noon from Wava River, arrived at the Samho settle- 
 ment, which is on its southern shore, about eight 
 miles from the sea. It stands upon the edge cf a 
 savannah, that rises to the southward and east- 
 ward, forming, toward the sea, a series of bluiFs, 
 the principal of which is called Bragman's Bluff, 
 and is the most considerable land-mark on the 
 -coast. 
 
 The town has something the appearance of Blue- 
 fields, and contains perhaps five hundred inhabit- 
 ants, who affect " English fashion" in dress and 
 modes of living. That is to say, many of them 
 wear English hats, even when destitute of every 
 other article of clothing, except the tournou, or 
 breech-cloth. These hats are of styles running 
 back for thirty years, and, moreover, crushed into a 
 variety of shapes which are infinitely ludicrous, 
 especially when the wearers affect gravity or dig- 
 nity. A naked man cannot make himself abso- 
 lutely ridiculous, for nature never exposes her crea- 
 tions to humiliation ; but the attempts at art, in 
 making up the man on the Mosquito Shore, I must 
 confess, were melancholy failures. 
 
 Before we got to the village, the beating of drums, 
 and the occasional firing cff of muskets, announced 
 that some kind of a feast or celebration was going 
 on. As we approached nearer I saw the English 
 flag displayed upon a tall bamboo, planted in the 
 centre of a group of huts. I saw also a couple of 
 
THE SAMBOS OF SANDY BAY. 219 
 
 boats, of European construction, drawn up on the 
 beach, from wbich I inferred that there must be a 
 trading vessel on the coast, and that I was just in 
 time to witness one of the orgies which always fol- 
 low upon such an event. I had had some misgiv- 
 ings as to the probable reception we should meet, in 
 case the news of our affair with the Quamwatlas 
 had reached here, and felt not a little reassured 
 when I saw indications of the presence of foreigners. 
 
 The people were all so absorbed with their fes- 
 tivities that our approach was not noticed ; but 
 when we got close to the shore, I fired off both bar- 
 rels of my gun by way of salute. An instant after, 
 a number of men came out from among the huts, 
 and hurried down to the beach. Meantime I had 
 got out my " King-paper," and leaped ashore. 
 
 The crowd that huddled around me would have 
 put FalstafPs tatterdemalion army to shame. The 
 most conspicuous character among them wore a 
 red check shirt, none of the cleanest, and a thread- 
 bare undress coat of a British general, but had 
 neither shoes nor breeches. Nor was he equally 
 favored with Captain Drummer in respect of a hat. 
 Instead of a venerable chapeau, like that worn by 
 the captain with so much dignity, he had an 
 ancient bell-crowned " tile," which had once been 
 white, but was now of^e^uiyocal color^and which, 
 apparently from having been repeatedly used as a 
 seat, was crushed up bellows' fashion, and cocked 
 forward in a most absurd manner. 
 
 The wearer of this imposing garb had already 
 
220 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 reached the stage of "big drunk," and his English, 
 none of the best at any time, was now of a very un- 
 certain character. He staggered up, as if to em- 
 brace me, slapping his breast with one hand, and 
 druling out " I General Slam — General Peter 
 Slam !" I avoided the intended honor by stepping 
 on one side, the consequence of which was, that if the 
 General had not been caught by Antonio, he cer- 
 tainly would have plunged into the lagoon. 
 
 I made a marked display of my " King-paper," 
 and commenced to read it to the General, but he 
 motioned me to put it up, saying, "All good ! very 
 great good ! I Peter Slam, General !" Meantime 
 the spectators were reinforced from the village, and 
 drums were sent for. They were of English make, 
 and of the biggest. General Slam then insisted on 
 escorting me up from the beach, " English gentle- 
 man fashion !" and taking my arm in his unsteady 
 grasp, he headed the procession, with a desperate 
 attempt at steadiness, but nevertheless swaying 
 from side to side, after the immemorial practice of 
 drunken men. ' ^^~ 
 
 The General was clearly the magnate of Sandy 
 Bay, (called by the Sambos Sanaby,) and when wc 
 reached the centre of the village, where the feast 
 was going on, we were saluted by a "hurrah!" 
 given " English fashion." Here I noticed a big ca- 
 noe full of mislila, around which the drinking and 
 dancing was uninterrupted. General Slam took me 
 at once to his own house or hut, where the traders 
 in whose honor the feast was got up, were quar- 
 
SCENES AT SANDY BAY. 223 
 
 tered. I found there the captain and clerk, and 
 two of the crew of the '"London Belle," a trading 
 vessel which had recently arrived at Cape Gracias, 
 from Jamaica. There Avas also an Englishman, 
 
 named H , who lived at the Cape, and who 
 
 seemed to hold here a corresponding position with 
 Mr. Bell in Bluefields. They were all reclining on 
 crickeries, or in hammocks, and appeared to be on 
 terms of easy familiarity with a number of very sleek 
 young girls, in whose laps they were resting their 
 heads, and whose principal occupation, in the inter- 
 vals of not over delicate dalliance, was that of pass- 
 ing round glasses of a Idnd of punch, compounded of 
 Jamaica rum, the juice of the sugar-cane, and a va- 
 riety of crushed fruits. 
 
 The whole party was what is technically called 
 " half-seas-over," and welcomed me with that large 
 liberality which is insej)arable from that condition. 
 The general was slapped on the back, and told to 
 " bring in more girls, you bloody rascal, no skulking 
 now \" Whereupon his hat was facetiously crushed 
 down over his eyes by each one of his guests in 
 succession, and he was kicked out of the door by 
 the English captain, a rough brute of a man, who 
 only meant to be playful. 
 
 I had barely time to observe that General Siam's 
 house was not entirely without evidences of civiliza- 
 tion. Upon one side was a folding table, and ship's 
 sideboard, or locker, both probably from some 
 wreck. In the latter were a quantity of tumblers, 
 decanters, plates, and other articles of Christian 
 
224 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 use ; and on the walls hung a few rude lithographs, 
 gaudily colored. Among them — strange juxtaposi- 
 tion ! — was a picture of Washington, 
 
 My survey was interrupted by a great tumult 
 near the hut, and a moment after, half a dozen 
 Sambos, reeking with their filthy 7nishla, staggered 
 in at the door, dragging after them a full-blooded 
 Indian, quite naked, and liis body bleeding in sev- 
 eral places, from blows and scratches received at 
 the hands of his savage assailants. The Sambos 
 pushed him toward the English captain, ejaculating, 
 " Him ! him !" while the Indian himself stood in 
 perfect silence, his thin lips compressed, and his 
 eyes fixed on the captain. The conduct of the 
 latter was in keeping with that of the drunken 
 wretches who had dragged the Indian to the hut, 
 and who, vociferating some unintelligible jargon, 
 were brandishing their clubs over his head, and 
 occasionally hitting viciously with them at his feet. 
 
 " That 's the bloody villain, is it !" said the 
 captain, leaping from his crickery, and striking the 
 Indian a terrible blow in the face, which felled him 
 to the ground. " I '11 learn him proper respect for 
 the King !" This act was followed by stamping 
 his foot heavily on the fallen and apparently insen- 
 sible Indian. 
 
 The entire proceeding was to me inexplicable ; 
 but this last brutality roused my indignation. I 
 grasped the captain by the collar of his coat, and 
 hurled him across the hut. " Do you pretend to be 
 an Englishman," I said, " and yet set such an 
 
SCENES AT SANDY BAY, 225 
 
 example to these savages ? What has this Indian 
 done ?" "I '11 let joii know what he has done," 
 he shrieked, rather than spoke, in a wild paroxysm 
 of rage ; and, grasping a knife from the table, ho 
 drove at me, with all his force. Maddened and 
 drunk as he was, I had only to step aside to avoid 
 the blow. Missing his mark, he stumbled over the 
 fallen Indian, and fell upon the knife, which pierced 
 through and through his left arm, just below the 
 shoulder. Quick as lightning the Indian leaped 
 forward, tore the knife from the wound, and in 
 another instant would have driven it to the cap- 
 tain's heart, had I not arrested his arm. He 
 glanced up in my face, dropped the knife, and 
 folding his arms, stood erect and silent. 
 
 The captain's companions, with the exception of 
 Mr. H., were much inclined to be belligerent, but 
 the revolver in my belt inspired them with a whole- 
 some discretion. 
 
 Meantime, the captain's wound had been bound 
 up, and the Indian had withdrawn. The Sambos 
 had retreated the instant I had interposed against 
 the violence of the trader. 
 
 The occasion of this brutal assault was simply 
 this. The Sambos, living on the coast, efiectually 
 cut off the Indians from the sea, and, availing them- 
 selves of their position, and the advantage of fire- 
 arms, make exactions of various kinds from them. 
 Thus, if the Indians go off to the cays for turtles, 
 they require from them a certain proportion of the 
 shells, which is called the " king's portion." But as 
 10* 
 
226 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 the Jamaica traders always keep the king and 
 chiefs in debt to them, the shells thus collected go 
 directly into their hands. In fact, it is only 
 through the means which they afford, and often by 
 their direct interference, that the nominal authority 
 of the so-called king is kept up. It was alleged 
 that the Indian whom the captain had abused, and 
 who was a very expert fisherman, had not made 
 a fair return ; and his want of ^'' proper respect for 
 the king," it turned out, consisted in not having a 
 sufficient quantity of shells to satisfy the cupidity 
 of the trader ! 
 
 After this occurrence at General Slam's house, I 
 did not find it agreeable to stay there longer, and, 
 accordingly, strolled off in the village. The festival 
 had now become uproarious. Around the mishla 
 canoe was a motley assemblage of men, women, and 
 children ; some with red caps and frocks, others 
 strutting about with half a shirt, and others entirely 
 naked. A number of men with pipes and drums 
 kept up an incessant noise, while others, with mus- 
 kets, which they filled with powder almost to the 
 muzzle, fired occasional volleys, when all joined in a 
 general Imrrah, " English fashion." 
 
 At a little distance was built up a rude fence of 
 palm-branches and pine-boughs, behind which there 
 was a crowd of men laughing and shouting in a 
 most convulsive manner. I walked forward, and 
 saw that only males were admitted behind the 
 screen of boughs. Here, in the midst of a large 
 circle of spectators, were two men, dressed in an ex- 
 
SCENES AT SANDY BAY. 227 
 
 traordiiiaiy manner, and performing the most absurd 
 antics. Around their necks each had a sort of 
 wooden collar, whence depended a fringe of palm- 
 leaves, hanging nearly to their feet. Their head- 
 dresses terminated in a tall, thin strip of wood, 
 painted in imitation of the beak of a saw-fish, while 
 their faces were daubed with various colors, so as 
 completely to change the expression of the features. 
 In each hand they had a gourd containing pebbles, 
 with which they marked time in their dances. 
 These were entirely peculiar, and certainly very 
 comical. First they approached each other, and 
 bent down their tall head-pieces with the utmost 
 gravity, by way of salute ; then sidled off like crabs, 
 singing a couplet which had both rhythm and 
 rhyme, but, so far as I could discover, no sense. As 
 
 interpreted to me, afterward, by Mr. H , it 
 
 ran thus : — 
 
 ''Shovel-nosed shark, 
 
 Grandmother, grandmother I 
 Shovel-nosed shark, 
 Grandmother.'" 
 
 When the performers got tired, their places were 
 taken by others, who exhausted their ingenuity in 
 devising grotesque and ludicrous variations. 
 
 When evening came, fires of pine wood were 
 lighted in all directions, and the drinking and 
 dancing went on, growing noisier and more outrage- 
 ous as the night advanced. Many got dead drunk, 
 ,and were carried off by the women. Others quar- 
 reled, but the women, with wise foresight, had car- 
 
228 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 ried off and hidden all their weapons, and thus obliged 
 them to settle their disputes with their fists, " En- 
 glish fashion." To me, these boxing bouts were 
 exceedingly amusing. Instead of parrying each 
 others' strokes, they literally exchanged them. First 
 one would deliver his blow, and then stand still and 
 take that of his opponent, blow for blow, until both 
 became satisfied. Then they would take a drink of 
 mishla together, " English fashion," and become 
 friends again. 
 
 During the whole of the evening I found myself 
 
 closely watched by 
 a hideous old wo- 
 man, who moved 
 around among the 
 revelers like a 
 ghoul. Everybody 
 made way for her 
 when she approach- 
 ed, and none ven- 
 tured to speak with 
 her. There was 
 something almost 
 fascinating in her 
 re]3ulsiveness. Her 
 hair was long and 
 matted, and her 
 shriveled skin ap- 
 peared to adhere 
 like that of a mummy to her bones ; for she was 
 emaciated to the last deo-ree. The nails of her 
 
 S U K I A OF SANDY BAY 
 
THE SUKIA OF SANDY BAT. 229 
 
 fingers were long and black, and caused her hands 
 to look like the claws of some unclean bh'd. Her 
 eyes were bloodshot, but bright and intense, and 
 were constantly fixed upon me, like those of some 
 wild beast on its prey. Y/herever I moved she fol- 
 lowed, even behind the screen concealing the 
 masked dancers, where no other woman was ad- 
 mitted. 
 
 I lingered among the revelers until their antics 
 ceased to be amusing, and became simply brutal. 
 Both sexes finally gave themselves up to the gross- 
 est and most shameless debauchery, such as I have 
 i>ever heard ascribed to the most bestial of savages. 
 
 Disgusted and sickened, I turned away, and went 
 down to the shore, preferring, after what had oc- 
 curred at Slam's house, to sleep in my boat, to 
 trusting myself in the power of the wounded trader. 
 So we pushed off a few hundred feet from the shore, 
 and anchored for the night. I wrapped myself in 
 my blanket, and, notwithstanding the noisy revels 
 in the village, savage laughter and angry shouts, 
 the beating of drums and firing of guns, I was soon 
 asleep. 
 
 It was past midnight ; the moon had gone down, 
 the fires of the ^'illage were burning low, and the 
 dancers, stupified and exhausted, only broke out in 
 occasional spasmodic shrieks, when I was awakened 
 by Antonio, who jilaced his finger on my lips in 
 token of silence. I nevertheless started up in some- 
 thing of alarm, for the image of the skinny old hag, 
 who had tracked me with her snaky eyes all the 
 
230 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 evening, had disturbed n)y dreams. To my surprise 
 I found the Indian, whom I had rescued from the 
 drunken violence of the trader, crouching in the 
 bottom of the boat. He had already explained to 
 Antonio, through the Poyer, that we were in great 
 danger : that the old woman who had haunted me 
 was a powerful Sukia, whose commands were always 
 implicitly obeyed by the superstitious Sambos. In- 
 stigated by the discomfited trader, she had de- 
 manded our death, and even now her followers were 
 planning the means to accomplish it. Our safety, 
 he urged, depended upon our immediate departure, 
 and then, as if relieved of a burden, he slipped 
 quietly overboard, and swam toward the shore. 
 
 I was nothing loth to leave Sandy Bay, and we 
 lost no time in getting up the large stone which 
 served us for an anchor, and taking our departure. 
 By morning we were clear of the lagoon, and in the 
 channel leading from it to Wano Sound, lying 
 about fifteen miles to the nortward of Sandy Bay, 
 and half that distance from Cape Gracias. We 
 reached the sound about ten o'clock in the morning, 
 and stopped for breakfast on a narrow sand-spit, 
 where a few trees on the shore gave shade and fuel. 
 The day was excessively hot, and we waited for the 
 evening before pursuing our voyage. During the 
 afternoon, however, we were joined by Mr. H., who 
 had got wind of the designs of the trader, and at- 
 tempted to warn us, but found that we had gone. 
 Indignant at his treachery, he had abandoned the 
 brutal captain, and determined to return to the Cape. 
 
POWER OF THE SUKIAS. 231 
 
 He explained to mc that our danger had heen 
 greater than we had supposed. The old Sukia wo- 
 man possessed more power over the Sambos than 
 king or chief, and her commands were never disput- 
 ed or neglected. The grandfather of the present 
 king, he said, had been killed by her order, as had 
 also his great aunt ; and although the immediate 
 perpetrators of the deed had been executed, yet the 
 king had not dared to bring the dreaded Sukia to 
 justice. She had, however, been obliged to leave 
 Cape Gracias, lest, during the visit of some English 
 vessel of war, she should be punished for complicity 
 in the murder of a couple of Englishmen, named 
 Collins and Pollard, who had been slaughtered 
 some years before, while turtling on the cays off the 
 coast. Another reason for her departure had been 
 th3 advent of a more powerful and less malignant 
 Sickia woman, who, he assured me, was gifted with 
 prophecy, and a knowledge of things past and to 
 come. He represented her as young, living in a 
 very mysterious manner, far up the Cape River, 
 among the mountains. None knew who she was, 
 nor whence she came, nor had he seen her more 
 than once, although he had consulted her by proxy 
 on several occasions. I was amused at the gravity 
 with which he recounted instances of her power 
 over disease and her knowledge of events, and 
 could not help thinking, that he had resided so 
 long on the coast as to get infected with the super- 
 " stitions of the people. . There was, however, no 
 mistaking his earnestness, and I consequently ab- 
 
232 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 stained from ridiculino; his stories. " You shall see 
 and hear for yourself," he added, " and then you 
 will be better able to judge if I am a child to be 
 deceived by the silly juggles of an Indian woman.. 
 These people have inherited from their ancestors 
 many mysterious and wonderful powers ; and even 
 the inferior order of Suktas can defy the poison of 
 snakes, and the effects of fire. Flames and the 
 bullets of guns are impotent against them." 
 
 I found H. a man of no inconsiderable intelli- 
 gence, and he gave me much information about the 
 coast and its inhabitants, and, altogether, before 
 embarking we had become fast friends, and I had 
 accepted an invitation to make his house my home 
 during my stay at the Cape. 
 
 I have several times alluded to the filthy miskla 
 drink, which is the universal appliance of the Sam- 
 bos for getting up the " big drunk." I never 
 witnessed the disgusting process of its preparation, 
 but it has been graphically described by Koberts, 
 who was a trader on the coast, and who, twenty 
 j'^ears before, had been a witness of the " rise and 
 progress" of a grand debauch at Sandy Bay. 
 
 " Preparations were going on for a grand feast 
 and mishla drink. For this purpose the whole 
 population was employed — most of them being en- 
 gaged in collecting pine-apples, plantains, and cas- 
 sava for their favorite liquor. The expressed juice 
 of the pine-apple alone is a pleasant and agreeable 
 beverage. The niishla from the plantain and ba- 
 nana, is also both pleasant and nutritive ; that 
 
MISHLA DRINK, 233 
 
 from tlie cassava and maize is more intoxicating, 
 Ijut its preparation is a process exceedingly disgust- 
 ing. The root of the cassava, after being peeled 
 and mashed, is boiled to the same consistence as 
 when it is used for food. It is then taken from the 
 fire, and allowed to cool. The pots are now sur- 
 rounded by all the women, old and young, who, 
 being provided with large calabashes, commence an 
 attack uj)on the cassava, which they chew to the 
 consistence of a thick paste, and then put their 
 mouthsful into the bowls, until the latter are 
 filled. These are then emptied into a canoe which 
 is drawn up for the purpose, until it is about one 
 third filled. Other cassava is then taken, bruised 
 in a kind of wooden mortar, until it is reduced to 
 the consistence of dough, when it is diluted with 
 cold water, to which is added a quantity of Indian 
 corn, partly boiled and masticated, and then all is 
 j-joured into the canoe, which is filled with water, 
 and the mixture afterward frequently stirred with 
 a paddle. In the course of a few hours it reaches a 
 hi^h and abominable state of fermentation. The 
 liquor, it may be observed, is more or less esteemed, 
 according to the health, age, and constitution of 
 the masticators. And when the chiefs give a pri- 
 vate inishla drink, they confine the mastication to 
 their own wives and young girls." 
 
 After fermentation, the mishla has a cream-like 
 appearance, and is to the highest degree intoxicat- 
 ing. The drinking never ceases, so long as a drop 
 can be squeezed from the festering dregs that re- 
 main, after the liquid is exhausted. 
 
^\ 
 
 mi i\\. 
 
 APE GRACIAS A DIOS, was so 
 called by Columbus, when, after a 
 weary voyage, he gave " Thanks to 
 God" for the happy discovery of 
 this, the extreme north-eastern angle of Central 
 America. Here the great Cape, or Wanks River, 
 iinds its way into the sea, forming a large, but 
 shallow harbor. It was a favorite resort of the buc- 
 caneers, in the olden time, when the Spanish Main 
 was associated with vague notions of exhaustless 
 wealth, tales of heavy galloons, laden with gold, 
 and the wild adventures of Drake, and Morgan, and 
 Llonois. Here, too, long ago, was wrecked a large 
 slaver, destined for Cuba, and crowded with ne- 
 groes. They escaped to the shore, mixed with the 
 natives, and, with subsequent additions to their 
 numbers from Jamaica, and from the interior, orig- 
 inated the people known as the " Mosquito In- 
 dians," Supported by the pirates, and by the 
 governors of Jamaica, as a means of annoyance to 
 
CAPE GRACIAS. 285 
 
 the Spaniards, they gradually extended southward 
 as far as Bluefields, and at one time carried on a 
 war against the Indians, whom they had displaced, 
 for the purpose of obtaining prisoners, to he sold in 
 the islands as slaves. 
 
 But -with the suppression of this traffic, and in 
 consequence of the encroachments of the semi- 
 civilized Caribs on the north, their settlement at 
 the Cape has gradually declined, until now it does 
 not contain more than two hundred inhabitants. 
 The village is situated on the south-western side of 
 ' the bay or harbor, not far from its entrance, on the 
 edge of an extensive, sandy savannah. 
 
 Between the shore and the village is a belt of 
 thick bush, three or four hundred yards broad, 
 through which are numerous narrow paths, difficult 
 to pass, since the natives are too lazy to cut away 
 the undergrowth and branches which obstruct them. 
 The village itself is mean, dirty, and infested with 
 hungry pigs, and snarling, mangy dogs. The huts 
 are of the rudest description, and most of them un- 
 fitted for shelter against the rain. The only houses 
 which had any pretensions to comfort, at the time of 
 my visit, were the " King's house," another belonging 
 to a German named Boucher, and that of my new 
 friend H. The latter was boarded and shingled, and 
 looked quite a palace after my experience of the j)re- 
 ceding two months, in Mosquito architecture, Mr, 
 H. made us very comfortable indeed. In addition 
 to the numerous native products of the country, he 
 had a liberal supply of foreign luxuries. As a 
 
236 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 trader he had, for many years, carried on quite a 
 traffic with the Wanks Kiver Indians, in deer skins, 
 sarsaparilla, and mahogany, and with the Sambos 
 themselves in turtle-shells. And whatever nominal 
 authority may have existed previously at the Cape, 
 it was obvious enough that he was now the de facto 
 governor. 
 
 Thoroughly domesticated in the country, he had 
 no ambitions beyond it, and had made several, 
 although not very successful, attempts to introduce 
 industry, and improve the condition of the natives. 
 At one time he had had a number of cattle on the 
 savannah — which, although its soil is too poor for 
 cultivation, nevertheless affords abundance of good 
 grass — but the Sambos killed so many for their 
 own use, that he sold the remainder to the trading- 
 vessels. He had now undertaken their introduction 
 again, with better success, and had, moreover, some 
 mules and horses. The latter were sorry-looking 
 beasts ; since, for want of j)roper care, the wood- 
 ticks had got in their ears, and caused them not 
 only to lop down, but also, in some instances, en- 
 tirely to drojD off. 
 
 The Sambos have a singular custom, unfavorable, 
 certainly, to the raising of cattle, which Mr. H. had 
 not yet entirely succeeded in suppressing. When- 
 ever a native is proved guilty of adultery, the in- 
 jured party immediately goes out in the savannah 
 and shoots a beeve, without regard to its ownership. 
 The duty of paying for it then devolves upon the 
 adulterer, and constitutes the penalty for his offence 1 
 
NEW WAY OF HUNTING. 237 
 
 Nearly all the Sambos at the Cape speak a little 
 Englisli, and I never passed then- huts without 
 being saluted " Mornin', sir ; give me grog \" In 
 fact their devotion to grog, and general improvi- 
 dent habits, are fast thinning their numbers, and 
 will soon work their utter extermination. Although 
 there are several places near the settlement where 
 all needful supplies might be raised, yet they are 
 chiefly dependent on the Indians of the river for 
 their vegetables. 
 
 There is httle game on the savannah, but on the 
 strip of land which separates the harbor from the 
 sea, and which is called the island of San Pio, deer 
 are found in abundance. This island is curiously 
 
 HUNTING DEER. 
 
 diversified with alternate j-atches of savannah, bush, 
 and marsh, and offers numerous coverts for wild 
 animals. The deer, however, are only hunted by 
 the few Avhites who live at the Cape, and they have 
 hit upon an easy and novel mode of jn-ocuring 
 their supply. The deer are not shy of cattle, and 
 will feed side by side with them in the savannahs. 
 So Mr. H. had trained a favorite cow to obey reins 
 
238 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 of cord attached to her horns, as a horse does his 
 bit. Starting out, and keeping the cow constantly 
 between himself and the deer, he never has 
 the slightest difficulty in approaching so close 
 to them as to shoot them with a pistol. If there 
 are more than one, the rest do not start off at the 
 discharge, but only prick up their ears in amaze- 
 ment, and thus afford an opportunity for another 
 shot, if desired. I witnessed this labor-saving mode 
 of hunting several times, and found that H. and his 
 cow never failed of their object. 
 
 While upon the subject of game, I may mention 
 that San Pio abounds with birds and water-fowl. 
 Among them are two varieties of snipe, beside 
 innumerable curlews, ducks, and teal. The blue 
 and green-winged teal were great favorites of mine, 
 being always in good condition. They were not 
 obtained, however, without the drawback of expo- 
 sure to the sandflies, which infest the island in 
 uncountable millions. The European residents 
 always have a supply of turtles, which are pur- 
 chased at prices of from four to eight yards of 
 Osnaberg, equal to from one to two dollars, accord- 
 ing to their size. Two kinds of oysters are also 
 obtained here, one called the " bank oyster," corres- 
 ponding with those which I obtained in Pearl Cay 
 Lagoon, and the little mangrove oysters. The 
 latter are about the size of half a dollar, and attach 
 themselves to the roots of the mangrove-trees. It 
 is a question whether a hungry man, having to 
 open them for himself, might not starve before 
 
THE 1 LAMES UAKTED TIIEIK FORKED TONGUES AS HIGH AS HER WAIST; THE 
 
 COALS BENEATH AND AROUND HER NAKED FEET BLACKENED 
 
 /• 23Q. 
 
A WITCH IN EBONY. 239 
 
 getting satisfied. A few hundreds, with a couple 
 of Indians to open them, make a good, but mode- 
 rate, lunch ! 
 
 The bay and river swarm with fish, of the varie- 
 ties which I have enumerated as common on the 
 coast. During still weather they are caught with 
 seines, in large quantities. These seines belong to 
 the foreigners, but are drawn by the natives (when 
 they happen to be hungry !), who receive half of 
 the spoil. 
 
 Mr. H. was not a little piqued at my incredulity 
 in the Stikias, and, faithful to his promise, per- 
 suaded one of them to give us an example of her 
 powers. The place was the enclosure in the rear 
 of his own house, and the time evening. The 
 Sulda made her appearance alone, carrying a long 
 thick wand of bamboo, and with no dress except 
 the ule tournou. She was only inferior to her sister 
 at Sandy Bay, in ugliness, and stalked into the 
 house like a spectre, without uttering a word. H, 
 cut off a piece of calico, and handed it to her as her 
 recompense. She received it in perfect silence, 
 walked into the yard, and folded it carefully on the 
 ground. Meanwhile a fire had been kindled of pine 
 splints and branches, which was now blazing high. 
 Without any hesitation the Suhia walked up to it, 
 and stepped in its very centre. The flames darted 
 tlieir forked tongues as high as her waist ; the coals 
 beneath and around her naked feet blackened, and 
 seemed to expire ; while the tournou which she 
 wore about her loins, cracked and shriveled with 
 
240 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 the heat. There she stood, immovable, and appa- 
 rently as insensible as a statue of iron, imtil the 
 blaze subsided, when she commenced to walk 
 around the smouldering embers, muttering rapidly 
 to herself, in an unintelligible manner. Suddenly 
 she stopped, and placing her foot on the bamboo 
 staff, broke it in the middle, shaking out, from the 
 section in her hand, a full-grown tamagasa snake, 
 which, on the instant coiled itself up, flattened its 
 head, and darted out its tongue, in an attitude of 
 defiance and attack. The SiiMa extended her 
 hand, and it fastened on her wrist with the quick- 
 ness of light, where it hung, dangling and writhing its 
 body in knots and coils, while she resumed her mum- 
 bling march around the embers. After a while, and 
 with the same abruptness which had marked all of 
 her previous movements, she shook off the serpent, 
 crushed its head in the ground with her heel, and 
 taking up the cloth which had been given t.o her, 
 stalked away, without having exchanged a word 
 with any one present, 
 
 Mr. H. gave me a triumphant look, and asked 
 what now I had to say, " Was there any i- r? • ', 
 in what I had seen ?" I only succeede 
 vincing him that I was a perversely obsti 
 by suggesting that the SuJcia was probably ac- 
 quainted with some antidote for the venom of the 
 serpent, and that her endurance of the fire was 
 nothing more remarkable than that of the jugglers, 
 "fire kings,^' and other vagrants at home, who 
 make no pretence of supernatural powers. 
 
MYSTERIES. 241 
 
 " Well/' he continued, in a tone of irritated dis- 
 ajDpointment, " can your jugglers and ' fire kings' 
 tell tlie past, and predict the future ? When you 
 have your inmost thoughts revealed to you, and 
 when the spirits of your dead friends recall to your 
 memory scenes and incidents known only to them, 
 yourself, and God — tell me," and his voice grew 
 deep and earnest, " on what hypothesis do you ac- 
 count for things like these ? Yet I can testify to 
 their truth. You may laugh at what you call the 
 vulgar trickery of the old hag who has just left us, 
 but I can take you where even your scoffing tongue 
 will cleave to its roof with awe ; where the inmost 
 secrets of your heart shall be unvailed, and where 
 you shall fed that you stand face to face with the 
 invisible dead !" 
 
 I have never felt it in my heart to ridicule opin- 
 ions, however absurd, if sincerely entertained ; and 
 there was that in the awed manner of my host 
 which convinced me that he was in earnest in what 
 he said. So I dropped the conversation, on his as- 
 surance that he would accompany me to visit the 
 strange woman to whom he assigned such mysteri- 
 ous power. 
 
 Antonio had been an attentive witness of the 
 tricks of the Suhia, and expressed to me the great- 
 est contempt for her pretensions. Such exhibitions, 
 he said, were only fit for idle children, and were not 
 to ])e confounded with the awful powers of the 
 oracles, through whom the " Lord of Teaching and 
 the spirits of the Holy Men" held communion 
 
 11 
 
242 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 with mortals. I spoke to him of the mysterious 
 woman, who was greater than all the Sukias, and 
 lived among the mountains. " She is of our peo- 
 ple/' he exclaimed, warmly, " and her name is 
 Hoxom-Bal, which means the Mother of the Tigers. 
 It was to seek her that I left the Holy City of the 
 Itzaes, with no guide but my Lord who never lies. 
 And now her soul shall enter into our brothers of 
 the mountains, and they shall be tigers on the 
 tracks of our oppressors !" 
 
 The form of the Indian boy had dilated as he 
 spoke ; his smooth limbs were knotted by the swell- 
 ing muscles ; his eyes burned, and his low voice be- 
 came firm, distinct, and ominous. But it was only 
 for an instant ; and while I listened to hear the 
 great secret which swelled in his bosom, he stopped 
 short, and, turning suddenly, walked away. But I 
 could see that he pressed his talisman closer to his 
 breast. 
 
 The Sukias of the coast are usually women, al- 
 though their powers and authority are sometimes 
 assumed by men. Their preparation for the office 
 involves mortifications as rigorous as the Church 
 ever required of her most abject devotees. For 
 months do the candidates seclude themselves in the 
 forests, avoiding the face of their fellows, and there, 
 without arms or means of defense, contend with 
 hunger, the elements, and wild beasts. It is thus 
 that they seal their compact with the mysterious 
 powers which rule over earth and water, air and 
 fire ; and they return to the villages of their peo- 
 
MOSQUITO HABITS. 243 
 
 pie, invested with all the terrors which superstition 
 has ever attached to those who seem to be exempt 
 from the operations of natural laws. 
 
 These Sulcias are the " medicine-men" of the 
 coast, and affect to cure disease ; but their direc- 
 tions are usually more extravagant than b.eneficial. 
 They sometimes order the victim of fever to go to 
 an open sand-beach by the sea, and there, exposed 
 to the burning heat of the vertical sun, await his 
 cure. They have also a savage taste for blood, and 
 the cutting and scarification of the body are 
 among their favorite remedies. 
 
 The Mosquitos, I may observe here, have no idea 
 of a supreme beneficent Being ; but stand in great 
 awe of an evil spirit which they call Wulasha, and 
 of a water-ghost, called Leunre. Wulasha is sup- 
 posed to share in all the rewards which the Sukias 
 obtain for their services. His half of the stipulated 
 price, however, is shrewdly exacted beforehand, 
 while the payment of the remainder depends very 
 much upon the Sukia's success. 
 
 Among the customs universal on the coast, is in- 
 fanticide, in all cases where the child is born with 
 any physical defect. As a consequence, natural de- 
 formity of person is unknown. Chastity, as I have 
 several times had occasion^ to intimate, is not con- 
 sidered a virtue ; and the number of a man's wives is 
 only determined by circumstances, polygamy being 
 universal. Physically, the Mosquitos have a large 
 predominance of negro blood ; and their habits and 
 superstitions are African rather than American. 
 
244 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 They are largely affected with syphilitic affections, 
 resulting from their unrestrained licentious inter- 
 course with the pirates in remote, and with traders 
 (in character hut one degree removed from the pi- 
 rates) in later times. These affections, under the 
 form of the hiilpis, red, white, and scabhed, have 
 come to he a radical taint, running through the 
 enthe pojDulation, and so impairing the general 
 constitution as to render it fatally susceptible to all 
 epidemic diseases. This is one of the powerful 
 causes which is contributing to the rapid decrease, 
 and which will soon result in the total extinction of 
 the Sambos. 
 
 Their arts are limited to the very narrow range 
 of their wants, and are exceedingly rude. The 
 greatest skill is displayed in their dories, canoes, 
 and pitpans, which are brought down by the In- 
 dians of the interior, rudely blocked out, so as to 
 give the purchaser an opportunity of exercising his 
 taste in the finish. Essentially fishers, they are at 
 home in the water, and manage their boats with 
 great dexterit}'. Their language has some slight 
 affinity with the Carib, but has degenerated into a 
 sort of jargon, in which Indian, English, Spanish, 
 and Jamaica- African are strangely jumbled. They 
 count by twenties, i. c, collective fingers and toes, 
 and make fearful work of it when they "get up in 
 the figures." Thus, to express thirty-seven, they say, 
 " Iivanaisha - kumi-pura - mataivalsip -pura-matlal- 
 kabe-pura-kumi," which literally means, one-twenty- 
 and- ten -and -six- and -one, i. c, 20+1+10 + 6 + 1. 
 
MOSQUITO CHARACTER. 245 
 
 They reckon their days by sleeps, their months by 
 moons, and their years by the complement of thir- 
 teen moons. 
 
 Altogether, the Mosquitos have little in their 
 character to commend. Their besetting vice is 
 drunkenness, which has obliterated all of their bet- 
 ter traits. Without religion, with no idea of gov- 
 ernment, they are capricious, indolent, improvident, 
 treacherous, and given to thieving. All attempts 
 to advance their condition have been melancholy 
 failures, and it is probable they would have disap- 
 peared from the earth without remark, had it not 
 suited the purposes of the English government to 
 put them forward as a mask to that encroaching 
 policy which is its always disclaimed, but insepar- 
 able and notorious characteristic. 
 
 There is a suburb of the village at the Cape, 
 near the river, which is called PuUen-town. Here 
 I was witness of a curious ceremony, a Seekroe or 
 Festival of the Dead. This festival occurs on the 
 first anniversary of the death of any important 
 member of a family, and is only participated in by 
 Iho relatives and friends of the deceased. The 
 prime element, as in every feast, is the cMcJia, of 
 which all hands drink profusely. Both males and 
 females were dressed in a species of cloak, of nle 
 bark, fantastically painted with black and white, 
 while their faces were correspondingly streaked 
 with red and yellow (anotto). The music was made 
 by two big droning pipes, played to a low, monoton- 
 ous vocal accompaniment. The dance consisted in 
 
246 THE MOSQUITO S PI ORE. 
 
 slowly stalking in a circle, for a certain length of 
 time, when the immediate relatives of the dead 
 threw themselves flat on their faces on the ground, 
 calling loudly on the departed, and tearing up the 
 earth with their hands. Then, rising, they re- 
 sumed their march, only to repeat their prostrations 
 and cries. I could obtain no satisfactory explana- 
 tion of the practice. " So did our ancestors," was 
 the only reason assigned for its continuance. 
 
 We had been at the Cape about a week, when 
 Mr. H. received information that the news of our 
 affair at Quamwatla had reached Sandy Bay, and 
 that the vindictive trader had dispatched a fast- 
 sailing dory by sea to Bluefields, to obtain orders 
 for our " arrest and punishment." This news was 
 brought in tho night, by the same Indian whom I 
 had protected from the trader's brutality, and who 
 took this means of evincing his gratitude. I had 
 already frankly explained to Mr. H. the circum- 
 stances of our fight, which, he conceded, fully justi- 
 fied all we had done. Still, as the trader might 
 make it a pretext for much annoyance, he approved 
 the plan which I had already formed, for other rea- 
 sons, to explore the Wanks Eiver, and accompany 
 my Poyer boy to the fastnesses of his tribe, in the 
 untracked wilderness lying between that river and 
 the Bay of Honduras. By taking this course, I 
 would be able again to reach the sea beyond the 
 Sambo jurisdiction, in the district occupied by the 
 Caribs, not far from the old Spanish port of Trux- 
 illo. Furthermore, the tame scenery of the lagoons 
 
THE RIVER WANKS. 
 
 24i 
 
 had become unattractive, and I longed for moun- 
 tains and the noise of rushing waters. The famous 
 Sukia woman also lived on one of the lower 
 branches of the river, and in accordance with this 
 plan we could visit her without going greatly out 
 
 of our way. 
 
 In fulfillment of his promise, Mr. H. prepared to 
 accompany us as far as the retreat of the mysterious 
 seeress, and two days aftei-ward, following the lead 
 of his pitpan, we embarked. The harbor connects 
 with the river by a creek at its northern extremity, 
 which is deep enough to admit the passage of 
 canoes. Emerging from this, we came into the 
 great Wanks Kiver, a broad and noble stream, with 
 a very slight current at its low stages, but pouring 
 forth a heavy flood of waters during the rainy sea- 
 son. It has ample capacity for navigation for 
 nearly a hundred miles of its length, but a bad and 
 variable bar at its mouth presents an insurmount- 
 able barrier to the entrance of vessels. Very little 
 is known of this river, except that it rises within 
 thirty or forty miles of the Pacific, and that, for 
 the upper half of its course, it flows among high 
 mountains, and is obstructed by falls and shallows. 
 
 We made rapid progress during the day, the 
 river more resembling an estuary than a running 
 stream. The banks, for a hundred yards or more 
 back from the water, were thickly lined with bush ; 
 but beyond this belt of jungle there was an unin- 
 terrupted succession of sandy savannahs. There 
 were no signs of inhabitants, except a few huts, at 
 
248 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 long intervals, at places where the soil happened to 
 he rich enough to admit of cultivation. We never- 
 theless met a few Indians coming down with canoes, 
 to he sold at the Cape, who regarded us curiously, 
 and in silence. 
 
 Near evening, we encamped at a point where a 
 ridge of the savannah, penetrating the bush, came 
 down boldly to the river, forming an e ddy , or cove, 
 which seemed specially intended for a halting-place. 
 Mr. H. had named the bluff " Iguana Point," from 
 the great number of iguanas found there. They 
 abound on the higher parts of the entire coast, but 
 I had seen none so large as those found at this 
 place. It is difficult to imagine uglier reptiles — 
 great, overgrown, corrugated lizards as they are, 
 with their bloated throats, and snaky eyes ! They 
 seemed to think us insolent intruders, and waddled 
 off with apparent sullen reluctance, when we 
 approached. '. But the, lawof cqmp)ensaJ:ions holds_ 
 good in respect to the iguanas, as in regard to 
 every thing else. If they are the ugliest reptiles in 
 the world, they are, at the same time, among the 
 best to eat. So our men slaughtered three or four 
 of the largest, selecting those which appeared to be 
 fullest of eggs. Up to this time I had not been 
 able to overcome my repugnance sufficiently to 
 taste them ; but now, encouraged by H., I made 
 the attempt. The first few mouthfuls went much 
 against the grain ; but I found the flesh really so 
 delicate, that before the meal was finished, I suc- 
 ceeded in forgetting my prejudices. The eggs are 
 
IGUANA POINT. 249 
 
 especially delicious, surpassing even those of the 
 turtle. It may be said, to the credit of the ugly 
 iguana, that in respect of his own food, he is as 
 delicate as the humming-bird, or the squirrel, living 
 chiefly upon flowers and blossoms of trees. He is 
 frecjuently to be seen en the branches of large 
 trees, overhanging the water, whence he looks down 
 with curious gravity upon the passing voyager. 
 His principal enemies are serpents, who, however, 
 frequently get worsted in their attacks, for the 
 iguana has sharp teeth, and powerful jaws. Of the 
 smaller varieties, there are some of the liveliest 
 green. Hundreds of these may be seen on the 
 snags and fallen trunks that line the shores of the 
 rivers. They will watch the canoe as it approaches, 
 then suddenly dart ofi' to the shore, literally walking 
 the water, so rapidly that they almost appear like a 
 green arrow skipping past. They are called, in the 
 language of the natives, by the generic name, Icaka- 
 muh. 
 
 In strolling a little distance from our camp, 
 before supper, I saw a waddling animal, which I 
 at first took for an iguana. A moment after, I per- 
 ceived my mistake. It appeared to be doing its 
 best to run away, but so clumsily that, instead of 
 shooting it, I hurried forward, and headed off its 
 course. In attempting to pass me, it came so near 
 that I stopped it with my foot. In an instant it 
 literally rolled itself up in a ball, looking for all the 
 world like a large sea-shell, or rather like one of 
 those curious, cheese-like, coralline productions, 
 
 11* 
 
250 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 known among sailors as sea-eggs. I then saw it 
 was an armadillo^ that little mailed adventurer of 
 the forest, who, like the opossum, shams death 
 when " cornered," or driven in " a tight place/' I 
 rolled him over, and grasping him by his stumpy 
 tail, carried him into camp. He proved to be of 
 the variety known as the " three-banded armadillo," 
 cream-colored, and covered with hexagonal scales. 
 I afterward saw several other larger varieties, with 
 eight and nine bands. The flesh of the armadillo 
 is white, juicy, and tender, and is esteemed one of 
 the greatest of luxuries. 
 
r 
 
 T noon, on the second day of our de- 
 parture from Cape Gracias, we came 
 to a considerable stream, named 
 Bocay, which, enters the river Wanks 
 from the south-west. It was on the banks of this 
 river, some ten or fifteen miles above its mouth, 
 that the famed 8ukia woman resided. We direct- 
 ed our boats up the stream, the water of which was 
 clear, and flowed with a rapid current. We were 
 not long in passing through the belt of savannah 
 which flanks the Cape River, on both sides, for fifty 
 miles above its mouth. Beyond this came dense 
 primitive forests of gigantic trees, among which the 
 mahogany was conspicuous. The banks, too, be- 
 came high and firm, occasionally presenting rocky 
 promontories, around which the water swept in dark 
 eddies. Altogether, it was evident that we had en- 
 tered the mountain region of the continent, and 
 
252 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 were at the foot of one of the great dependent 
 ranges of the primitive chain of the Cordilleras. 
 
 In places, the river was compressed among 
 high hills, with scarpe d, rocky faces, where the 
 current was rapid and powerful, and only over- 
 come by vigorous efforts at the paddles. These 
 were succeeded by beautiful intervals of level 
 ground, inviting localities for the establishments of 
 man. We passed two or three sweet and sheltered 
 nooks, in which were small clearings, and th-e pic- 
 turesque huts of the Indians. Excepting an occa- 
 sional palm-tree, or isolated cluster of plantains, 
 clinging to the shore where their germs had been 
 lodged by the water, there was nothing tropical 
 in the aspect of nature, unless, perhaps, the great- 
 er size of the forest-trees, and the variety of para- 
 sitic plants which they supported. 
 
 Our progress against the current was compara- 
 tively slow and laborious, and it was late in the 
 evening when the glittering of fires on the bank, 
 and the barking of dogs, announced to us the prox- 
 imity of the Indian callage of Bocay, to which we 
 were bound. We reached it in due time, and were 
 received quite ceremoniously by the old men of the 
 place, who seemed to be perfectly aware of our com- 
 ing. This struck me at the time as due to the fore- 
 sight of Mr. H., but I afterward learned that he 
 had given the Indians no intimation of our pro- 
 posed visit. 
 
 A vacant hut was assigned to us, and we com- 
 menced to arrange our hammocks and prepare our 
 
THE MESSE^TGEK. 253 
 
 supper. Our meal was scarcely finislied, when there 
 was a sudden movement among the Indians, who 
 clustered like bees around our door, and a passage 
 for some one approaching was rapidly opened, A 
 moment afterward, an old woman came forward, 
 and, stopping in the low doorway, regarded us in 
 silence. In bearing and dress she differed much 
 from the rest of the people. Around her forehead 
 she wore a broad band of cotton, in which Avere 
 braided the most brilliant feathers of birds. This 
 band confined her hair, which hung down her back, 
 like a vail, nearly to the ground. From her waist 
 depended a kilt of tiger-skins, and she wore sandals 
 of the same on her feet. Around each wrist and 
 ankle she had broad feather bands, like that which 
 encircled her forehead. 
 
 Her eyes soon rested upon Antonio, who, on the 
 instant of her approach, had discontinued his work, 
 and advanced to the door. They exchanged a 
 glance as if of recognition, and spoke a few hurried 
 and, to us, unintelligible words, when the old wo- 
 man turned suddenly, and walked away. I looked 
 inquiringly at the youthful Indian, whose eyes 
 glowed again with that mysterious intelligence 
 which I had so often remarked. 
 
 He came hastily to my side, and whispered in 
 Spanish, " The Mother of the Tigers is waiting \" 
 Then, with nervous steps, he moved toward the 
 door. I beckoned to H., and followed. The In- 
 dians opened to the right and left, and we passed 
 out, scarcely able to keep pace with the rapid 
 
254 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 steps of the Indian boy. On tie went, as if familiar 
 with the place, past the open huts, and into the 
 dark forest. I now saw that he followed a light, 
 not like that of a flame, but of a burning coal, 
 which looked close at one moment, and distant 
 ±he next. The path, though narrow, was smooth, 
 and ascended rapidly. For half an hour we kept 
 on at the same quick pace, when the ti'ees began to 
 separate, and I could see that we were emerging 
 from the dark forest into a comparatively open 
 space, in which the graceful plumes of the palm- 
 trees appeared, traced lightly a,gainst the starry sky. 
 Here the guiding fire seemed to halt, and, coming 
 up, we found the same old woman who had visited 
 us in the village, and who now carried a burning 
 brand as a direction to our steps. She made a sign 
 of silence, and moved on slowly, and with apparent 
 caution. A few minutes' walk brought us to what, 
 in the dim light, appeared to be a building of stone, 
 and soon after to another and larger one. I saw 
 that they were partly ruined, for the stars in the hori- 
 zon were visible through the open doorways. Our 
 guide passed these without stopping, and led us to 
 the threshold of a small cane-built hut, which stood 
 beyond the ruin. The door was open, and the light 
 from within shone out on the smoothly beaten 
 ground in front, in a broad unwavering column. 
 We entered ; but for the moment I was almost 
 blinded by a blaze of light proceeding from torches 
 of pine-wood, planted in each corner. I was 
 startled also by an angry growl, and the sudden 
 
SANCTUARY OF THE SUKIA. 255 
 
 apparition of some wild animal at our feet. I 
 shrank back with a feeling of alarm, which was not 
 diminished when, upon recovering my powers of 
 vision, I saw directly in front of us, as if guardian 
 of the dwelling, a large tiger, its fierce eyes fixed 
 upon us, and slowly sweeping the ground with its 
 long tail, as if preparing to spring at our throats. 
 
 It, however, stopped the way only for a moment. 
 A single word and gesture from the old woman 
 drove it into a corner of the hut, where it crouched 
 down in quiet. I glanced around, but excepting a 
 single rude Indian drum, placed in the centre of 
 the smooth, earthen floor, and a few blocks of stone 
 planted along the walls for seats, there were no 
 other articles, either of use or ornament, in the hut. 
 But at one extremity of the low apartment, seated 
 upon an outspread tiger-sldn, was a woman, whose 
 figure and manner at once marked her out as the 
 extraordinary Sukia whom we had come so far to 
 visit. She was young, certainly not over twenty, 
 tall, and perfectly formed, and wore a tiger-skin in 
 the same manner as the old woman who had acted 
 as her messenger, but the band around her fore- 
 head, and her armlets and anklets, were of gold. 
 
 She rose when we entered, and, with a fiiint smile 
 of recognition to H., spoke a few words of welcome. 
 I had expected to see a bold pretender to su]3ernat- 
 ural powers, whose first efforts would be directed to 
 work upon the imaginations of her visitors, and was 
 surprised to find that the " Mother of the Tigers" 
 was after all only a shy and timid Indian girl. Her 
 
25G 
 
 THE JIOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 looks, at iirst, were troubled, and she glanced into 
 our eyes inquiringly ; but suddenly turning her gaze 
 
 toward the open door, 
 she uttered an excla- 
 mation of mingled 
 surprise and joy, and 
 in an instant after 
 she stood by the side 
 of Antonio. They 
 gazed at each other 
 in silence, then ex- 
 changed a rapid sig- 
 nal, and a single 
 word, when she turn- 
 ed away, and Anto- 
 nio retired into a 
 corner, where he re- 
 mained fixed as a 
 statue, regarding ev- 
 ery movement with 
 the closest attention. 
 No sooner had the Sukia resumed her seat, than 
 she clasped her forehead in her open palms, and 
 gazed intently upon the ground before her. Never 
 have I seen the face of a human being which wore a 
 more earnest expression. For five minutes, per- 
 haps, the silence was unbroken, when a sudden 
 sound, as of the snapping of the string of a violin, 
 directed our attention to the rude drum that stood 
 in the centre of the hut. This sound was followed 
 by a series of crackling noises, like the discharges of 
 
 "the mother of the tigers. 
 
SANCTUARY OF THE SUKIA. 257 
 
 electric sparks. They seemed to occur irregularly 
 at first, but as I listened, I discovered that they 
 had a harmonious relationship, as if in accompani- 
 ment to some simple melody. The vibrations of the 
 drum were distinctly visible, and they seemed to 
 give it a circular motion over the ground, from left 
 to right. The sounds stopped as suddenly as they 
 had commenced, and the SiiMa, lifting her head, 
 said solemnly, " The spirits of your fathers have 
 come to the mountain ! I know them not ; you 
 must speak to them." 
 
 I hesitate to recount what I that night witnessed 
 in the rude hut of the Suhia, lest my testimony 
 should expose both my narrative and myself to ridi- 
 cule, and unjust imputations. Were it my purpose 
 to elaborate an impressive story, it would be easy 
 to call in the aid of an imposing machinery, and 
 invest the communications which were that night 
 made to us with a portentous significance. But 
 this would be as foreign to truth as repugnant to 
 my own feelings ; for whatever tone of lightness 
 may run through this account of my adventures in 
 the wilderness, those who know me will bear witness 
 to my respect for those things which are in their 
 nature sacred, or connected with the more mysteri- 
 ous elements of our existence. I can only say, that 
 except the somewhat melo-dramatic manner in 
 which we had been conducted up the mountain by 
 the messenger of the Suhia, and the incident of the 
 tamed tiger, nothing occurred during our visit 
 
258 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 whicli appeared to have been designed for effect, or 
 which was visibly out of the ordinary course of 
 things. It is true, I was somewhat puzzled, I will 
 not say impressed, with the perfect understanding, 
 or relationship, which seemed to exist between the 
 Sukia and Antonio. This relationship, however, 
 was fully explained in the sequel. Among the 
 ruling and the priestly classes of the semi-civilized 
 nations of America, there has always existed a mys- 
 terious bond, or secret organization, which all the 
 disasters to which they have been subjected, have 
 not destroyed. It is to its present existence that 
 we may attribute those simultaneous movements of 
 the aborigines of Mexico, Central America, and 
 Peru, which have, more than once, tlireatened the 
 complg-to^^byersion of the Spanish power. 
 
 It was past midnight when, with a new and 
 deeper insight into the mysteries of our present and 
 future existence, and a fuller and loftier apprecia- 
 tion of the great realities which are to follow upon 
 the advent of every soul into the universe, and of 
 which earth is scarcely the initiation, that H. and 
 myself left the sanctuary of the Suhia. The moon 
 had risen, and now silvered every object with its 
 steady light, revealing to us that we stood upon a 
 narrow terrace of the mountain, facing the east, and 
 commanding a vast panorama of forest and savan- 
 nah, bounded only by the distant sea. Immediately 
 in front of the hut from which we had emerged, 
 stood one of the ruined structures to which I have 
 
SANCTUARY OF THE SUKIA. 
 
 259 
 
 already alluded. By the clear light of the moon I 
 could perceive that it was built of large stones, laid 
 with the greatest regularity, and sculptured all over 
 with strange figures, having a close resemblance, if 
 not an absolute identity, with those which have be- 
 come familiarized to us by the pencil of Catherwood. 
 
 THE SANCTUARY OP THE SUKIA. 
 
 It appeared originally to have been of two stories, 
 but the upper walls had fallen, and the ground was 
 encumbered with the rubbish, over which vines were 
 trailing, as if to vail the crumbling ruins from the 
 gaze cf men. As we moved away, and at a con- 
 siderable distance from the ruins, we observed a 
 large erect stone, rudely sculptured in the outline 
 
260 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 of a human figure. Its face was turned to the 
 East, as if to catch the first rays of the morning, 
 and the light of the moon fell full upon it. To my 
 surprise, its features were the exact counterparts of 
 those which appeared on Antonio's talisman. There 
 was no mistaking the rigid yet not ungentle ex- 
 pression of the " Lord who never lies." 
 
 Silently we followed the guide, who had con- 
 . ducted U3 uj) the mountain, into the narrow path 
 which led to the village. She indicated to us the 
 direction we were to pursue with her hand, and left 
 us without a word. I was so absorbed in my own 
 reflections that it was not until we had reached our 
 temporary quarters that I missed Antonio. He had 
 remained behind. But when I awoke next morn- 
 ing he had returned, and was busily preparing for 
 our departure, " It is well with our brothers of the 
 mountains I" Avas his prompt response to my look 
 of inquiry. From that day forward his absorbing 
 idea seemed to be to return as speedily as posible to 
 his people. It was long afterward that I discovered 
 the deep significance of the visit of the youthful 
 chieftain of the Itzaes to the Indian seeress of the 
 Eiver Bocay. Since then the Spaniard, though 
 fenced round with bayonets, has often shuddered 
 when he has heard the cry of the tiger in the still- 
 ness of the night, betraying the approach of those 
 injured men, whose relentless arms, nerved by the 
 recollections of three centuries of oppression, now 
 threaten the utter extermination of the race of the 
 conquerors ! 
 
NUEVA SEGOVIA. 261 
 
 Our passage down the Bocay was rapid compared 
 with the ascent, and at noon we had reached the 
 great river. My course now Lay in one direction, 
 and that of Mr. H. in another, but we were loth to 
 separate, and he finally agreed to accompany us to 
 our first stopping-place, and, passing the night with 
 us there, return next day to the Cape. It was 
 scarcely four o'clock when we reached the desig- 
 nated point, chiefly remarkable as marking the 
 termination of the savannahs. Beyond here the 
 banks of the river became elevated, rising in hills 
 and high mountains, densely covered with a gigan- 
 tic primeval forest. Our Indian companions speed- 
 ily supplied us with an abundance of fish, with 
 which the river seemed to swarm. And as for vege- 
 tables — wherever the banks of the river are low there 
 is a profusion of bananas and plantains, growing 
 from bulbs, which have been brought down from the 
 interior, and deposited by the river in its overflows. 
 
 Mr. H. had once ascended the river to its source, 
 in the elevated mining district of New Segovia, the 
 extreme north-western department of Nicaragua. 
 The ascent had occupied him twenty days. In 
 many places, he said, the channel is completely in- 
 terrupted by falls and impassable rapids, around 
 which it was necessary to drag the canoes. In 
 other places the river is compressed between verti- 
 cal walls of rock, and the water runs with such 
 force that it required many attempts and the most 
 vigorous exertions to get the boats through. 
 
 He represented that New Segovia has a consider- 
 
262 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 able population of civilized Indians, wliosc princi- 
 pal occupation is the washing of gold, which is 
 found in all of the upper waters. Their mode of 
 life he described as affording a curious illustration of 
 the influence of the Catholic joriests, who are scat- 
 tered here and there, and who exercise almost un- 
 bounded influence over the simple natives. The 
 nature of their relationship, as well as their own 
 manners, were so well illustrated by an incident 
 which befell him during his visit there, that I shall 
 attempt to relate it, as nearly as possible in his own 
 words. The reader must bear in mind that the re- 
 cital was made in a fragmentary manner, in the in- 
 tervals of vigorous puffing at a huge cigar, and that 
 I have taken the liberty of commencing at the be- 
 ginning of the story, and not at the end. 
 
 §, tale jcrf Mtaiilis gikr. 
 
 "On our nineteenth evening from the Caj)e," 
 said H., "after a fatiguing day of alternate jDoling 
 and paddling, we reached Pantasma, the extreme 
 frontier Segovian settlement on the river. As we 
 drew up to the bank, thankful for the prospect of 
 shelter and rest which the village held out, we were 
 surprised to hear the music of drums and jDipes, 
 and, for a moment, were under the pleasing im- 
 pression that the people had, in some way, got in- 
 formation of our approach, and liad taken this 
 mode of giving us a welcome. However, we soon 
 saw that the musicians were in attendance on a 
 
A TALE OF WANKS RIVER. 263 
 
 white man, whose garb had a strange mixture of 
 civilized and savage fashions. He regarded us curi- 
 ously for a few moments, and then, giving the near- 
 est musicians each a vigorous kick, he ran down to 
 the water, and bestowed upon all of us an equally 
 hearty embrace ! Propounding a dozen inquiries 
 in a breath, he announced himself an Englishman 
 'in a d — 1 of a fix,' whose immediate and over- 
 shadowing ambition was, that all hands should go 
 straight to his hut and have something to drink ! 
 Our fii'st impression was decidedly that the man 
 was mad ; but we were undeceived when we got to 
 his house, which we found profusely supplied with 
 food, and where we were not long in making our- 
 selves thoroughly at home. Perhaps what we drank 
 had something to do with it, but certainly we near- 
 ly died with laughter in listening to our host's re- 
 cital of his adventures in Central America, and 
 especially of the way in which he had got to Pan- 
 tasma, and came to have an escort of musicians, 
 
 " His name, he said, was Harry F . He 
 
 was the son of a London merchant, who was well 
 to do in the world. As usual with sons of such 
 pajjas, he had gone to school when younger, and 
 entered his father's establishment when old enough, 
 where, as the probable successor of the principal, 
 he was, in his own estimation at least, an important 
 personage, and, altogether, above work. He never- 
 theless affected a great liking for the packing de- 
 partment, for the reason that it connected with a 
 vault, in which he had established a smoking-room, 
 
264 THE MOSQUITO SHORE 
 
 where he spent the day in devising plans of amuse- 
 ment for the night, in company with chosen spirits 
 and choice Havanas. 
 
 " When he had reached his majority, his father 
 thought it prudent to detach him from his associa- 
 tions, by giving him a little experience in the sever- 
 ities of the world. Having several friends in Belize, 
 he fitted him out with an adventure, costing some 
 twenty-five hundred dollars, and consisting of 
 nearly every useless article that could be found, 
 which, by its glitter and gaud, it was supposed, 
 would attract the easily-dazzled eyes of the people 
 of the tropics. He duly arrived at Belize, full of 
 bright anticipations. One of his cherished schemes 
 was to sell his jewelry in the towns of the interior, 
 at four hundred per cent, profit, and after paying 
 expenses and losses, to return at once to London, 
 with five thousand dollars clear profit ! So he went 
 to Guatemala, and spread out his tempting wares. 
 But he met with poor success, and at the end of 
 two years, having gone on from bad to worse, he at 
 last found himself in the Indian town where we 
 discovered him — a Catholic Mission, under a Rev- 
 erend Padre, who had been educated at Leon, and 
 had passed most of his simple life, being now over 
 threescore and ten, among the simple Indians, 
 whom he governed. When Harry first arrived, he 
 proceeded to the nearest hut, where the usual hospi- 
 tality of room to hang his hammock was accorded 
 him, while his valise was installed in a corner — said 
 valise containinu: the remnants of the venture from 
 
A TALE OF WANKS RIVER. 265 
 
 London, now dwindled down to a very small 
 compass indeed. Of his success in trading, Harry 
 spoke very frankly: 'The hardest lot of worthless 
 articles I ever saw ; some that I could not even 
 give away ; and those which I sold, I had to trust to 
 people so poor that they never paid me ! So I let 
 one man pick out all he had a mind to, for one 
 thousand dollars in cash ; and that paid my expen- 
 ses in Guatemala, until I got tired of the place, and 
 started off down here.' 
 
 " After swinging his hammock in his ncvv' quar- 
 ters, Harry made the tour of the village, and called 
 on the padre, who was delighted to sec him, as 
 padres always are, took him to his church, which 
 was as large as a city parlor, and then gave him a 
 good dinner of fish and turtle. Harry had not had 
 so sumptuous a meal for many a day ; and when 
 the good father brought forth a joint of bamboo, 
 which held nearly a gallon, and drew from it a 
 supply of tolerable rum, he felt that he had fallen 
 into the hands of a good Samaritan. So long as 
 this hospitality lasted, he sought no change. In 
 the fullness of his gratitude, he made visits to all 
 the huts in the village, and overwhelmed the 
 inmates with presents of articles which he had not 
 been able to give away in other places. In return, 
 they gave him part of a morning's fishing, or part 
 of a turtle, and thus kept him in provisions. But 
 times changed after a few days ; his friend the 
 padre ceased to bring forth the bamboo joint, and 
 at the same time commenced to exhort him to 
 
 12 
 
266 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 repentance, and to the acceptance of the true 
 church. His host, too, declined to catch any more 
 fish than were consumed by his interesting wife and 
 three naked children. 
 
 " Harry smoked long and intensely over the sub- 
 ject. He might make a ' raise ' on a pair of panta- 
 loons, but then, ' when that was gone ?' It was 
 the first time in his life that he had been obliged 
 seriously to reflect how he should be able to get his 
 next meal. He tried oranges, bananas, and pine- 
 apples, but still ho was hungry. As to fishing, he 
 had never cauo-ht a fish in his life, and a turtle 
 would be perfectly safe under his feet. His case 
 became desperate. Such cases require desperate 
 remedies, and Harry went to the padre, to consult 
 Avith him as to the best mode of reaching Leon, dis- 
 tant some two hundred miles, beyond the mountains. 
 
 " It was a lucky moment for a visit to the reverend 
 father, since, in return for some hides, sarsaparilla, 
 and balsam, sent by him to his correspondent, the 
 padre at Choluteca, a large town on the Pacific, he 
 had received, among other luxuries, a reenforcement 
 of bamboo joints. These had already added to his 
 good humor, and given to his fat corporation and 
 ruddy face an unusual glow. He gave Harry a 
 warm greeting, and pointing to the broached joint, 
 told him to help himself, which he did without re- 
 servo. Harry, in his best, though very bad Span- 
 ish, stated his case, and the holy father listened 
 and replied. The next morning our hero awoke, 
 and was rather surprised to find himself yet at the 
 
A TALE OF WANKS RIVER. 267 
 
 padre's house, where he had slept in a hammock. 
 An empty bamboo joint was beside him, and ho 
 had a glimmering idea of a compact with the 
 padre, through which he was to be extricated from 
 his present uncomfortable position, and reach Leon 
 in a most acceptable manner. But how this was to 
 be done had escaped him ; he had only a faint rec- 
 ollection that the padre had insisted upon initiating 
 him into some mystery or other, and that in the 
 fullness of heart he had assented, to the great joy of 
 the priest, who, on the spot had given him a hearty 
 embrace, and commenced learning him how to 
 make the sign of the cross. The worthy padre 
 awoke with rather different sensations, for he felt 
 exalted with the thought that he, a poor priest over 
 a miserable Indian community for forty years, 
 should finally be able to rescue the soul of a heretic 
 from the arch ^ nemy. He was thankful that his 
 eloquence had enabled him to attach an immortal 
 being to the true church — a white one at that, who 
 was of more value than a whole community of sav- 
 ages. It was a miracle, he was satisfied, of his 
 patron saint, Leocadia ! So without loss of time 
 he proceeded with the work of redemption. Harry 
 proved an apt disciple ; and after making up a lot 
 of cigars from the tobacco-pouch of the padre, the 
 latter proceeded to explain to him what he required 
 in the prernises^__JIarry's mouth opened, and his 
 cigar fell unheeded to the ground, when the padre 
 announced his intention to administer to him the 
 rite of baptism without delay. 
 
268 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 " By the time he had finished his explanation, 
 Harry's mind was made up ; as there were no look- 
 ers on whom he cared for, he would let the padre 
 have his way, or, as he afterward expressed it, 
 ' put him through.' 
 
 " For several days the padre and himself worked 
 hard. He went carefully over the various responses 
 and prayers, as they were dictated to him, made 
 the sign of the cross in due form and proper place, 
 and, by the assistance of the bamboo joint, was, on 
 the second day pronounced in a hopeful state, and 
 told that the afternoon following should witness the 
 final act of his salvation. The sun was declining, 
 when Harry, habited in his best, proceeded to the 
 padre's house. He was rather surprised at meeting 
 so many people, for he had not been consulted in 
 any of the arrangements, and was not aware that 
 every native in the vicinity had been notified of the 
 ceremony in which he was to take so important a 
 part. All had come, men, women, and children, 
 dressed in very scanty, but very clean white cotton 
 garments. They opened a passage for him to enter 
 the padre's house, whom he found arrayed in his 
 priestly vestments. lie was informed that all were 
 about proceeding to his house to escort him to the 
 church, but that, being on the spot, the procession 
 would form at once. Harry submitted without 
 question to the padre's directions, had a quiet in- 
 terview with the bamboo joint, and was ready. 
 The procession was headed by four alcaldes, of dif- 
 ferent villages, each with his official baton, a tall, 
 
A TALE OF WANKS RIVER. 269 
 
 gold-heatled. staff. Next came the music, consisting 
 of three performers on rude clarionets, made of long 
 joints of cane, and three performers on drums, each 
 made of a large calabash with a monkey-skin drawn 
 over it. Next came Harry and the worthy padre, 
 and then the people of the village, and the ' invited 
 guests,' six deep, and a hundred all told. When 
 our hero took his place in the procession, the padre 
 threw over his shoulders a poncho, six feet long, 
 gaudily decorated with the tails of macaws, bright 
 feathers from strange birds, and strings of small 
 river-shells, which rattled at every step ; and thus 
 they started. First they went to Harry's own hut, 
 and, as they doubled that, and took their route 
 toward the church, he could see the last of the pro- 
 cession leaving the vicinity of the padre's house. 
 After the manner of their processions on high relig- 
 ious festivals, they came singing and dancing, and 
 altogether appearing very happy. Harry was glad 
 in his heart that no white man was looking on, and 
 had to laugh inwardly at the fuss that was made 
 over him. In due time they arrived at the church, 
 and the usual ceremonies of baptism were gone 
 through with, succeeded by a dance, on the grass, 
 to say nothing of a liberal dispensation from the 
 padre's bamboo joints. The padre dismissed the 
 assembly very early, and retired, never having had 
 so glorious or so fatiguing a day within his memory, 
 and he was the oldest inhabitant ! 
 
 " Harry wended his way to his hammock, made 
 a cigar, thought over the events of the day, and 
 
270 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 wondered whether the church was now bound to 
 find him fish and the et ceteras ; but, before any 
 conclusion could be come at in his mind, he fell 
 asleep. Awaking in the morning, he was accosted 
 at his door by several neighbors, who asked him to 
 accept the presents they had brought, which he did 
 of course, without knowing that it is always the 
 custom to send something to every villager when- 
 ever he happens to have a christening, a marriage, 
 or a death in his family. This being a very great 
 occasion, every body had been liberal and generous 
 withal, and in a short space he found himself sup- 
 plied with provisions for a long time, more fish than 
 he could eat in months, turtles, chickens, pigs, 
 eggs, piles of fruit of all kinds, yams, wild animals, 
 in fact every thing that was edible. Sending a 
 large part of his presents as an offering to the 
 church, Harry returned to his hammock and cigar, 
 while his hostess commenced cooking with an agree- 
 able alacrity. 
 
 " Late in the afternoon he started for the padre's 
 house, but had hardly emerged from his hut when 
 he was somewhat surprised to find himself joined 
 by the musicians of the village, the clarionet taking 
 precedence, and the drum filing in, both playing 
 the usual no-tune to the best of their ability. And 
 thus it happened for weeks afterward, for thus did 
 the padre seek to do honor to the new disciple of 
 the faith. 
 
 " It was on one of these formal promenades,'' 
 continued H., "that we made our appearance at 
 
A TALE OF WANKS RIVER, 
 
 271 
 
 Pantasma, to Harry's exceeding astonishment, and 
 great joy. We ridiculed him for his emphatic dis- 
 missal of his musical friends, but he was too much 
 delighted to ha captious, and sent straightway for 
 the padre, who brought with him a bamboo-joint, 
 wherewith we made merry, even to the going down 
 of the sun. We all went to sleep while the worthy 
 priest was reading to us the certificate of Harr/s 
 baptism, which ho had carefully engrossed on five 
 closely-written pages." 
 
 And what, I inquired, became of the convert ? 
 
 " Oh ! he returned with us ; and that old Port 
 which you tasted at the Cape is one of the many 
 evidences which I have received of his grateful 
 recollection, since he has returned to London to 
 the inheritance of his fathers." 
 
/ 
 
 
 .-^^^^ 
 
 FOR three days after our parting 
 with H.J we kept on our course up 
 the Great Cape river. The cur- 
 rent increased as we advanced, and 
 large rocks of quartz and granite began to appear 
 in the channel. The valley of the river also con- 
 tracted to such a degree as to deserve no better 
 name than that of a gorge. Sometimes we found 
 ourselves, for miles together, shut in between high 
 mountains, whose rugged and verdureless tops rose 
 to mid-heaven, interposing impassable barriers to 
 the vapor-charged clouds which the north-east trade- 
 winds pile wp against their eastern declivities, where 
 
TROPICAL THUNDEE-STORMS. 273 
 
 they are precipitated in almost unceasing rains. 
 Night and storm overtook us in one of these gigan- 
 tic mountain clefts. The thunder rolled along the 
 granite peaks, and the lightning burned adown 
 their riven sides, and were flashed back by the 
 dark waters of the angry river. The dweller in 
 northern latitudes can poorly comprehend any de- 
 scription which may be given of a tropical storm. 
 To say that the thunder is incessant, does not ade- 
 quately convey to the mind the terror of these pro- 
 longed peals which seem to originate in the horizon, 
 roll upward to the zenith, louder and louder, until, 
 silent for a moment, they burst upon the earth in 
 blinding flame, and a concentrated crash, which 
 makes the very mountains reel to their foundations. 
 Not from one direction alone, but from every quar- 
 ter of the compass, the elements seem to gather to 
 the fierce encounter, and the thunder booms, and 
 the lightning blazes from a hundred rifts in the 
 inky sky. So intense and searing is the electric 
 flame, that for hours after heavy storms I have had 
 spasmodic attacks of blindness, accompanied with 
 intense pain of the eyeballs. I found that my In- 
 dian companions were equally affected, and that to 
 avoid evil consequences they always bound their 
 handkerchiefs, dipped in water, over their eyes, 
 while the storm continued. The Indians, I may 
 here mention, have many prejudices on the subject 
 of electricity, as well as in regard to the eff'ect of the 
 rays of the moon. They will not sleep with their faces 
 exposed to its light, nor catch fish on the nights when 
 
 12* 
 
274 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 it is above tlio liorizon. My companions, at such 
 times, always selected the densest shade for our en- 
 campment. They affirmed that the effect of expos- 
 ure would he the distortion of the features, and the 
 immediate mortification of such wounds and bruises 
 as might be reached by the moonlight. I after- 
 ward found that the mahogany -cutters on the 
 north coast never felled their tr:es at certain periods 
 of the moon, for the reason, as they asserted, that 
 the timber was then not only more liable to check 
 or split, but also more exposed to rot. They have 
 the same notion with the Indians as to the effect of 
 the moonlight on men and animals, and support it 
 by the fact that animals, left to themselves, al- 
 ways seek shelter from the moon, when selecting 
 their nightly resting-places. 
 
 "We had now ascended the river, five full days 
 from the Cape, having, according to my computa- 
 tion, advanced one hundred and twenty miles. The 
 Poycr was perfectly acquainted with the stream, 
 which he had several times descended with the peo- 
 l^le of his village, in their semi-annual visits to the 
 coast. In these visits, he told me, they took down 
 liquid amber, a few deer-skins, a little anotto, and 
 sarsaparilla, bringing back iron barbs for their ar- 
 rows, knives, machetes, and a fovr articles of orna- 
 ment. 
 
 On the night of the fifth day, we encamped at 
 the mouth of the Tirolas, a considerable stream, 
 which enters the Wanks from the north, and up 
 which we, next morning, took our course. Our ad- 
 
RIVER TIROLAS. 275 
 
 vance was now slow and laborious, owing to the 
 rapidity of the current, and the numerous rocks 
 and fallen trees which obstructed the channel. 
 The river wound among hills, which increased in 
 altitude as we penetrated farther inland, until I 
 discovered that we were approaching the great 
 mountain range, which traverses the country from 
 south-west to north-east, constituting the " divide," 
 or water-shed, as I afterward found, between the 
 valley of the Cape Kiver and the streams which 
 flow northward into the Bay of Honduras. Hour 
 by hour we came nearer to this great barrier, which 
 presented to us a steep and apparently inaccessible 
 front. I was rather appalled when my Poyer told 
 me that the village of his people lay beyond this 
 range, over which we would be obliged to climb in 
 order to reach it. However, there was now no al- 
 ternative left but to go ahead, so I gave myself no 
 further concern, although I could not help wonder- 
 ing how we were to clamber up the dizzy steeps 
 which appeared more and more abrupt as we ap- 
 proached them. 
 
 It was on the second evenino; after leavino; the 
 great river, that we reached the head of canoe navi- 
 gation on the Tirolas, at a point where two bright 
 streams, tumbling over their rocky beds, united in 
 a placid pool of clear water, at the very feet of the 
 mountains. It was a spot of surpassing beauty. 
 The pool was, perhaps, a hundred yards broad, and, 
 in places, twenty or thirty feet deep, yet so clear 
 that every pebble at the bottom, and every fish 
 
276 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 Avhich sported in its crystal depths, wcro distinctly 
 visible to the eye. Upon one side rose huge gray 
 rocks of granite, draped over with vines, and shad- 
 owed by large and wide-spreading trees, whose 
 branches, crowded with the wax-like leaves and 
 
 
 EMBARCADERO ON THE TIROLAS. 
 
 flowers of innumerable air-plants, cast dark, broad 
 shadows on the water. Upon the other side was a 
 smooth, sandy beach, completely sheltered from the 
 sun by large trees, beneath which were drawn up a 
 number of canoes, carefully protected from the 
 weather by rude sheds of cahoon leaves. These 
 
TIROLAS EMBAKCADERO, 277 
 
 canoes belonged to the Poyer Indians, and arc 
 used hj them in their voyages to the Cape. A 
 little lower down the stream were clusters of palm- 
 trees, and large patches of bananas and plantains, 
 which seemed to have been carefully nurtured by 
 the Indians in their visits to this picturesque " em- 
 barcadero." 
 
 The slant rays of the evening sun feU upon one 
 half of the pool, where the little ripples chased 
 each other sparkling to the shore, wliile upon the 
 other part, the rocks and forest cast their cool, dark 
 shadows. And as our canoe shot in upon its trans- 
 parent bosom, I could not help joining in my 
 Poyer boy's shout of joy. Even "El Moro" flut- 
 tered his bright wings, a-nd screamed in sympathetic 
 glee. A few vigorous strokes of the paddles, and 
 our canoe drove up half its length on the sandy 
 shore, the sharp pebbles grating pleasantly beneath 
 its keel. For the present, at least, I had done with 
 lagoons and rivers, and a new excitement awaited 
 me among the giddy steeps and untracked solitudes 
 of the mountains. Farewell now to the cramped 
 canoe, and the eternal succession of low and tan- 
 gled banks ; and ho, for the free limb and the ex- 
 panding chest of the son of the forest ! 
 
 With glad alacrity, my companions and myself 
 set to work to form our encampment, on the clean 
 dry sand. Then came Antonio, laden with the 
 golden clusters of the plantain, while the spear of 
 the Poyer darted down in the clear waters of the 
 jjool with unfailing skill. The rousing fire, the 
 
278 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 murmur of the mountain-torrents^ and the distant 
 cry of the fierce black tiger, the satisfied sense of 
 having safely accomplished an arduous undertaking, 
 high anticipations of new adventures, and the con- 
 sciousness of being the first white man who had 
 ever trusted himself in these unknown fastnesses — 
 all these, joined to the contagious joy of my faith- 
 ful companions, combined to give the keenest edge 
 and zest to that night's enjoyment. In my darkest 
 hours, its recollection comes over my soul like a 
 beam of simKght through the rifts of a clouded 
 sky — " a joy forever." Blessed memory, which en- 
 ables us to live over again the delights of the past, 
 and gives an eternal solace to the cheerful mind ! 
 
 That night I made a formal present of the canoe 
 and its appurtenances to my Poyer boy, and we se- 
 lected such articles as were indispensable to us, 
 leaving the rest to be sent for by the Indians when 
 we should reach the village. My purpose was to 
 commence our march at dawn on the following day. 
 But in the morning I arose with one of my feet so 
 swollen and painful that I could neither put on my 
 boot nor walk, except with great difficulty. The 
 cause was, outwardly, very trifling. During the 
 previous day the water in the Tirolas had been so 
 shallow that it frequently became necessary to get 
 out of the canoe and lighten it, in order to pass the 
 various rapids. I had therefore taken off my boots, 
 and gone into the water with my naked feet. I re- 
 member stepping on a rolling stone, slipping off, 
 and bruising my ankle. The hurt was, however, so 
 
AN ACCIDENT. 279 
 
 slight, that I did not give it a second thought. 
 But, from this trifling cause, my foot and ankle 
 were now swollen to nearly double their natural 
 size, and the prosecution of my journey, for the time 
 being, was rendered impossible. Under the tropics, 
 serious consequences often follow from these slight 
 causes. I have known tetanus to result from a lit- 
 tle wound, of the size of a pea, made by extracting 
 the bag of a nigua or chigoe, which had burrowed 
 in the foot ! 
 
 The skill of my companions was at once put in 
 requisition. They made a poultice of ripe plan- 
 tains baked in the ashes, and mixed with cocoa-nut 
 oil, which was apphed hot to the affected parts. This 
 done, our canoe was hauled up, and an extempore 
 roof built over it, to protect me from the weather, 
 in case it should happen to change for the worse. 
 I passed a fretful night, the pain being very great, 
 and the swelling extending higher and higher, until 
 it had reached the knee. The applications had no 
 perceptible effect. Under these circumstances, I 
 determined to send my Poyer to his village for as- 
 sistance. He represented it as distant five days, 
 but that it could be reached, by forced marches, in 
 four. He objected to leave me, but on the second 
 day, my foot being no better, he obeyed my positive 
 orders, and started, taking with him only a little 
 dried meat, his spear, and his bow. 
 
 Antonio now redoubled his attentions, and I cer- 
 tainly stood in need of them. The pain kept me 
 from slumber, ai^ I became irritable and feverish. 
 
280 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 But no mother could have been more constant, 
 inoro patient, or more wakeful to every want than 
 that faithful Indian boy. He exhausted his simple 
 remedies, and still the limb became worse, and the 
 unwiRino; conviction ceemed to bo forced on his 
 mind, that the case was beyond his reach. When, 
 in the intervals of the j)ain, ho thought me slumber- 
 ing, I often saw him consult his talisman with un- 
 disguised anxiety. He however, always seemed to 
 feel reassured by it, and to become more cheerful. 
 
 On the third day a suppuration appeared at 
 the ankle, and the pain and swelling diminished ; 
 and on the succeeding morning I probed the wound, 
 and, to my surprise, removed a small sphnter of 
 stone, which had been the cause of all my affliction. 
 From that moment my improvement was rapid, and 
 I was soon able to move about without difficulty. 
 
 I amused myself much with fishing in the pool, 
 in which there were large numbers of an active kind 
 of fish, varying from ten to sixteen inches in length, 
 of reddish color, and voracious appetites. Toward 
 evening, when the flies settled down near the sur- 
 face, they rose like the trout, and kept the pool 
 boiling with their swift leaping after their prey. I 
 improved my limited experience in fly-fishing at 
 home, to devise impromptu insects, and astonished 
 Antonio with that, to him, novel device in the pis- 
 catory art. These fish, with an occasional wild tur- 
 key, the latter generally tough and insipid, consti- 
 tuted about our only food. Ducks, curlews, and 
 snipe, so common in the vicinity of the lagoons, 
 
A STRANGE ADVENTURE. 281 
 
 were lierc unknown, and we listened in vain for the 
 cry of the chachalaca. There were, however, numer- 
 ous birds of song, and of bright plumage, but not 
 fit for food. I saw some owls ; and uow and then 
 a large hawk would settle down sullenly on the trees 
 which overhung the pool. Gray-squirrels also occa- 
 sionally rustled the branches above our heads, but 
 the foliage was so dense that I was only successful 
 in obtaining a single specimen. Once a squadron 
 of monkeys came trooping through the tree-tops to 
 rob the plantain-grove, but a charge of buckshot, 
 which brought two of them to the ground, was ef- 
 fectual in deterring them from a second visit. They 
 were of a small variety, body black, face white, and 
 " whiskered like a pard." Antonio cooked one of 
 them in the sand, but he looked so much like a 
 singed baby which I once saw taken out of the ruins 
 of a fire in Ann-street, that I could not bring my- 
 self to taste him. So my Indian had an undisputed 
 monopoly of the monkey. 
 
 But the most exciting incident, connected with 
 our stay on the banks of the Tirolas, was one which 
 I can never recall without going into a fit of laugh- 
 ter — although, at the time, I did not regard it as re- 
 markably amusing. Among the wild animals most 
 common in Central America, is the peccary, some- 
 times called " Mexican hog," but best known by 
 the Spanish name of Savalino. There is another 
 animal, something similar to the peccary, supposed 
 to be the common hog run wild, called Javalino by 
 the Spaniards, and Waree by the Mosquitos. If not 
 
282 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 indigenous, the latter certainly have multiplied to 
 an enormous extent, since they swarm all over the 
 more thickly- wooded portions of the country. They 
 closely resemble the wild-boar of Europe, and, al- 
 though less in size, seem to be eo[ually ferocious. 
 They go in droves, and are not at all particular as 
 to their food, eating ravenously snakes and reptiles 
 of all kinds. They have also a rational relish for 
 fruits, and especially for plantains and bananas, 
 and would prove a real scourge to the plantations, 
 were they always able to break down the stalks sup- 
 porting the fruit. Unable to do this, they never- 
 theless pay regular visits to the plantations, in the 
 hope of finding a tree blown down, and of feasting 
 on the fallen clusters. 
 
 With these intimations as to their character and 
 habits, the reader will be better qualified to appre- 
 ciate the incident alluded to. It was a pleasant 
 afternoon, and I had strolled off with my gun, in 
 the direction of the plantain-patch, stopping occasion- 
 ally to listen to the clear, flute-lilvc notes of some 
 unseen bird, or to watch a brilliant lizard, as it flashed 
 across the gray stones. Thus. sauntering carelessly 
 along, my attention was suddenly arrested by a pe- 
 culiar noise, as if of some animal, or rather of many 
 animals engaged in eating. I stopped, and peered 
 in every direction to discover the cause, when finally 
 my eyes rested upon what I at once took to be a 
 pig of most tempting proportions. He was moving 
 slowly, with his nose to the ground, as if in search 
 of food. Without withdrawing my gaze, I carefully 
 
BATTLE OF THE PIGS! 283 
 
 raised my gun, and fired. It was loaded with buck- 
 shot, and although the animal fell, he rose again 
 immediately, and began to make off. Of course I 
 hurried after him, with the view of finishing my 
 work with my knife — but I had not taken ten steps, 
 when it appeared to me as if every stick, stone, and 
 bush had been converted into a pig ! Hogs rose on 
 all sides, with bristling backs, and tusks of appall- 
 ing length. I comprehended my danger in an 
 instant, and had barely time to leap into the forks 
 of a low, scraggy tree, before they were at its foot. 
 I shall never forget the malicious look of their little 
 bead-like eyes, as they raved around my roosting- 
 place, and snapped ineffectually at my heels. Al- 
 though I felt pretty se- 
 cure, I discreetly clam- 
 bered higher, and, fixing 
 myself firmly in my seat, 
 revenged myself by firing 
 a charge of bird-shot in 
 the face of the savagest of 
 
 O THEWAREE. 
 
 my assailants. This insult 
 
 only excited the brutes the more, and they ground 
 their teeth, and frothed around the tree in a perfect 
 paroxysm of porcine rage. 
 
 I next loaded both barrels of my gun with ball, 
 and deliberately shot two others through their 
 heads, killing them on the spot, vainly imagining 
 that thei;eby I should disperse the herd. But never 
 was man more mistaken. The survivors nosed 
 around their dead companions for a moment, and 
 
284 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 then ranewed their vicious contemplations of my 
 position. Some squatted themselves upon their 
 hams, as much as to say that they intended to 
 wait for me, and were nowise in a hurry ! So I 
 loaded up again, and slaughtered two more of the 
 largest and most spiteful. But, even then, there 
 were no signs of retreat ; on the contrary, it seemed 
 to me as if reenforcements sprang out of the ground, 
 and that my besiegers grew every moment more nu- 
 merous ! 
 
 How long this might liave lasted, I am unpre- 
 pared to say, had not Antouio, alarmed at my 
 rapid firing, hastened to my rescue. No sooner did 
 my assailants catch sight of his swarthy figure than 
 they made after him with a vehement rush. He 
 avoided them by leaping upon a rock, and then com- 
 menced a most extraordinary and murderous contest. 
 Never did a battalion of veteran soldiers charge 
 upon an enemy, with more steadiness than those 
 wild pigs upon the Indian. He was armed with 
 only a lance, but every blow brought down a porker. 
 Half alarmed lest they should finally overmatch 
 him, I cheered his exploits, and kept up a brisk 
 fire by way of a diversion in his favor. I am 
 ashamed to say how many of those pigs we killed ; 
 it is, perhaps, enough to add, that it was long after 
 dark before the beasts made up their minds to leave 
 us uneaten. And it was with a decided sensation 
 of relief that we heard them moving off, until their 
 loAv OTunt was lost in the distance. 
 
 At one time, the odds were certainly against us, 
 
DEPARTURE FROM THE TIROLAS, 285 
 
 and it seemed not improbable that the artist and 
 his adventures might both come to a pitiful and far 
 from a poetical end. But fortune favored, and mj 
 faithful gun now hangs over my tabic in boar-tusk 
 brackets, triumphal trophies from that bloodj 
 field ! Instead of being eaten, avc ate, vv-herein 
 consists a difierence ; but I was ever after wary of 
 the loaree I 
 
 True to his promise, on the evening of the tenth 
 day, my Poyer boy bounded into our encampment, 
 with a loud shout of joy. His friends were behind, 
 and he said would reach us in the following after- 
 noon. There were five of them, sober, silent men, 
 who made their encampment apart from us, and 
 whom I vainly endeavored to engage in conversa- 
 tion. They displayed great aptness in packing our 
 various articles in net-work sacks, which they car- 
 ried on their backs, supported by bands passing 
 around their foreheads. They wore no clothc] ex- 
 cept the tournou, unless sandals of tapir-hide, end 
 a narrow-brimmed hat, braided of palm-bark, fall 
 within that denomination. Besides his sack, each 
 man carried a peculiar kind of machete, short and 
 curved like a pruning-hook ; only one or two had 
 bows. 
 
 It was with real regret that I left our encamp- 
 ment beside the bright pool, and abandoned my old 
 and now familiar canoe, in the sides of which, like 
 a true Yankee, I had carved my name, and the 
 dates of my adventures. I turned to look back 
 more than once, as we filed away, beneath the 
 
286 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE. 
 
 trees, in the trail leading to the mountains. The 
 Indians led the way, while Antonio and myself 
 brought up the rear. *' El Mcro," perched upon the 
 tallest pack, shrieked and fluttered his wings, occa- 
 sionally scrambling down to take a mischievous bite 
 at the ear of his Indian carrier. Whenever he was 
 successful in accomplishing this feat, he became 
 superlatively happy and gleeful. In default of 
 o.ther amusement, he sometimes suspended himself 
 from the netting by a single claw, like a dead bird, 
 with drooping wings and dangling head, and then 
 suddenly scrambled back again to his perch, with 
 triumphant screams. He was a rare rollicking bird, 
 that same.Moro \ 
 
 For the first day our course followed a line nearly 
 parallel with the base of the mountains, through a 
 thick and tangled forest. We crossed innumerable 
 small and rapid streams of the clearest water, spark- 
 ling over beds of variously-colored quartz pebbles — 
 for we were now skirting one of the great ranges of 
 primitive rocks, which form the nucleus of the con- 
 tinent. My long confinement in the canoe had con- 
 tributed to disqualify me for active exertions, and 
 long before night I became much fagged, and would 
 fain have gone into camjj. But the Indians trav- 
 eled so tranquilly under their loads, that I was loth 
 to discover to them my lack of endurance, and so 
 kept on without complaint. In the afternoon our 
 path began to ascend, and we gradually emerged 
 from the thick and tangled woods into a compara- 
 tively open forest, which^ in turn, gave jjlace to 
 
THE MOUNTAIN SIDE. 287 
 
 groves of scattered jjines and oaks, among which we 
 encamped for the night. 
 
 From our elevated position I could overlook the 
 wilderness which w^e had traversed during the day. 
 It was at that season of the year when the erythrina 
 puts on its scarlet rohe of blossoms, and the ceiba 
 clothes itself in flames, in splendid relief to the pre- 
 vailing green. It seemed as if Nature held high 
 holiday among these primeval solitudes, and arrayed 
 herself only to _g: ^ton m the sense of her own 
 beauty. But while vegetation was thus lavishly 
 luxuriant in the valley, behind us the mountains 
 rose, stern, steep, and bare. Vainly the dark pines, 
 clinging to their sides, sought to vail their flinty 
 frown. Wherever a little shelf of the rocks sup- 
 ported a scanty bed of soil, there the mountain 
 grasses, and the sensitive-plant with its amaranth- 
 ine flower, took root, like kindly thoughts in the 
 heart of the hard and worldly man. From the 
 gnarled oaks, and even from the unfading pines, 
 hung long festoons of gray moss, which swayed 
 sadly in the wind. And when the night came on, 
 and I lay down beside the fire, beneath their shade, 
 they seemed to murmur in a low and mournful 
 voice to the passing breeze, which, laden with the 
 perfume of the valley, rose with downy wings to 
 bear its tributary incense to the skies. 
 
 Morning broke, but dark and gloomily, and al- 
 though we resumed our march, directing our course 
 diagonally u}) the fece of the mountain, we were 
 obliged to stop before noon, and seek shelter under 
 
288 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 a mass of projecting rocks, from a cold, drizzly rain, 
 which now began to fall steadily, with every prom- 
 ise of merging in a protracted temporal. The 
 clouds ran low, and drifted around and below us, in 
 heavy, cheerless volumes, shutting from view every 
 object except the pines and stunted oaks, in their 
 gray, monastic robes, now saturated and heavy from 
 the damp. Stowing our few valuables securely un- 
 der the rocks, we lighted a fire, now acceptable not 
 less for its heat than its companionship. Its cheer- 
 ful flame, and the sparkle of its embers, revived 
 my drooping sphits, and helped to reconcile me to 
 the imprisonment which the temporal would be 
 sure to entail, I can readily understand how fire 
 commended itself to the primitive man as an em- 
 blem of purity and power, and became the symbol 
 of spirit and those invisible essences which pervade 
 the universe, God robed himself in flame on Si- 
 nai ; in tongues of flame the Spirit descended upon 
 the disciples at Jerusalem ; an eternal fire burned 
 upon the altars of the virginal Vesta, and in the 
 Persian Pyi-othea ; to fire was committed the sacri- 
 fice of propitiation, and by its ordeal was innocence 
 and purity made manifest. Among the American 
 Indians it was held in especial reverence. The 
 Dela wares and the Iroquois had festivals in its 
 honor, and regarded it as the first parent of the In- 
 dian nations. The Cherokees paid their devotions 
 to the " great, beneficent, supreme, holy Spirit of 
 Fire,'' whose home was in the heavens, but who 
 dwelt also on earth, in the hearts of " the unpol- 
 
ANOTHER TEMPORAL. 289 
 
 luted people." And even the rude Indians who 
 huddled with me beneath the protecting rocks in 
 the heart of the wilderness, never commenced their 
 simple meals without first throwing a small portion 
 of their food in the fire, as an ofiering to the pro- 
 tecting Spirit of Life, of which it is the genial 
 symbol. 
 
 The temporal lasted for three days, during which 
 time it rained almost incessantly, and it was withal 
 so cold, that a large and constant fire was necessary 
 to our comfort. At the end of that time the clouds 
 began to lift, and the sun broke through the rifts, 
 and speedily dispersed the watery legions. But the 
 rocks were slippery with the wet, and the earth, 
 wherever it was found among the rocks, was sodden 
 and unstable, rendering our advance alike disagree- 
 able and dangerous. We remained, therefore, until 
 the morning of the fourth day, when we resumed 
 
 our march. 
 
 13 
 

 }h'<[-M. 
 
 OR a day and a half we continued 
 to ascend, now skirting dizzy pre- 
 cipices, and next stealing along 
 cautiously beneath beetling rocks, 
 which hung heavily on the brow of the mountain. 
 The features of the great valley which we had left 
 were no longer distinguishable. What we had re- 
 garded as mountains there, now shrunk into simple 
 undulations, lilce folds in some silken robe, thrown 
 loosely on the ground. There was no longer a foot- 
 hold for the pines, and their places were supplied 
 by low bushes, thrusting their roots deeji in the 
 clefts, and clinging like vines to the faces of the 
 rocks. 
 
 Finally, to my great joy, we reached the crest of 
 the mountain. Upon the north, however, it fell 
 
MOUNTAIN SCENERY. 291 
 
 away in a series of broad steps or terraces, lower 
 and lower, until, in the dim distance, it subsided in 
 the vast alluvial plains bordering en the Bay of 
 Honduras, the waters of which could be distin- 
 guished, like a silver rim, on the edge of the hori- 
 zon. 
 
 The air, on these high plateaus, was chill, and 
 only the hardy mountain-grasses and the various 
 forms of cactus found root in their thin and sterile 
 soil. The latter were numerous and singular. 
 Some appeared above the earth, simple, fluted 
 globes, radiating with sjjines, and having in their 
 centre a little tuft of crimson flowers. Others were 
 mere articulated prisms, t anoled in clumjis, and 
 also bristlmg with j)rickles. But the variety, known 
 in Mexico as the nopal, was most abundant, and 
 grew of tree-like proportions. 
 
 Few as were these forms of vegetable life, ani- 
 mals and birds were fewer still. An occasional deer 
 contemplated us at a distance, and a little animal, 
 similar to the prairie-dog of the West, tumbled 
 hurriedly into his hole as we approached his soli- 
 tary _coyert^__^ In places, the disintegi^^ed quartz 
 rock appeared above the surface for wide distances, 
 reflecting back the rays of the sun, which seemed 
 to pour down with unwonted and blinding bril- 
 liancy, from a cloudless sky, I could scarcely com- 
 prehend the sudden change from the region of the 
 lagoons, where the overladen earth sweltered be- 
 neath forests teeming with life, and the air was op- 
 pressed with the cloying o dors of myriads of flowers, 
 
292 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 and this stern region, ribbed with rock, where Na- 
 ture herself seemed paralyzed, and silence held an 
 eternal reign. 
 
 It was a singular spectacle, that little troop of 
 ours, as it hurried rapidly across these mountain 
 wastes, or huddled closely together, when night 
 came on, around a scanty fire, made of wood which 
 the Poyer boy, with wise prexigionj. ^^^ deposited 
 there, on his return to the Tirolas. As we descended 
 from terrace to terrace, we came again into the region 
 of pines and oaks, which, in their turn, gave place 
 to forests of other varieties of trees, interrupted by 
 strips of open or savannah lands. We early struck 
 a little stream, which, I observed, we followed con- 
 stantly. It proved to be the branch of the great 
 river Patuca, upon which the Poyer village is sit- 
 uated, and bore the musical name of Guallambre. 
 At night, when we encamped, the Poyer boy took a 
 calabash, and, motioning to me to follow, led the 
 way down the stream to a little sand-bar. Scoop- 
 ing up some of the sand in his bowl, and then fill- 
 ing it with water, he whirled it rapidly, so that a 
 feathery stream of mingled sand and water flew 
 constantly over its edge. He continued this opera- 
 tion until the sand was nearly exhausted, and then 
 filled the bowl again. After repeating this process 
 several times, he grew more careful, balancing the 
 bowl skillfully, and stopping occasionally to pick 
 out the pebbles, which, owing to their weight, had 
 not been carried over by the water. 
 
 I understood at once that this was the primitive 
 
WASHlISrG GOLD 293 
 
 mode of washing gold, and was, therefore, not 
 greatly" surprised when, after the process was com- 
 plete, the Poyer showed me a little deposit of gold, 
 in grains, at the bottom of the calabash, equal to 
 about a fourth of an ouDce in weight. He then 
 told me that all the streams, flowing down the 
 mountains toward the north, carried gold in their 
 sands, and that the latter were frequently washed 
 by his people, to obtain the means of purchasing 
 such articles of civilized manufacture as they might 
 need from the Spaniards of Olancho, and the trad- 
 ers who visited the coast.* 
 
 On the eighth day from our encampment on the 
 Tirolas, after a laborious march among heavily- 
 wooded hills, following, for most of the distance, 
 the bed of the Guallambre, now swollen to a con- 
 siderable stream, we reached the Poyer village. I 
 say village, for such it was, in fact, although com- 
 posed of but a single house ! This was a substan- 
 tial structure, forty paces in length, and ten broad, 
 supported on stout posts, and heavily thatched with 
 palm-leaves. The front and ends were open, but 
 
 * The whole district of country lying on the north flank of the 
 mountains which bound the valley of the Rio Vv anks, in the same 
 direction, enjoys a wide celebrity for its rich deposits of gold. There 
 is hardly a stream of which the sands do not jaeld a liberal propor- 
 tion of that precious metal. Yet, strange to say, the washing is 
 confined almost exclusively to the Indians, who seek to obtain no 
 more than is just sufficient to supply their limited wants. Among 
 the reduced, or, as they are called, christianized Indians, in the 
 valley of Olancho, the women only wash the gold for a few hours on 
 Sunday morning. With the supply thus obtained, they proceed to 
 the towns, attend mass, and make their petty purchases, devoting 
 the rest of the week to the fullest enjoyment of the dolcefar niente. 
 
294 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 along the back extended a series of little aj)art- 
 ments, separated from eacli other by partitions of 
 the outer shells of the cabbage-palm, which, when 
 split and pressed flat, make good substitutes for 
 boards. These were the dormitories, or private 
 apartments of the mated or married occupants, and 
 of the girls. The places for the boys were on ele- 
 vated platforms, beneath the roof. A row of stones, 
 set firmly in the ground, defined the outline of the 
 building. Within them the earth was elevated a 
 foot or more, to preserve it dry and unafiected by 
 the rains. The position was admirably chosen, on 
 a kind of step or shelf of a considerable hill, which 
 rose behind, clothed with dense verdure, while in 
 front it subsided rapidly to the stream, here tum- 
 bling noisily among the rocks, and yonder circling, 
 bubble-sprinkled, in dark pools, beneath the trees. 
 The ground around was beaten smooth and hard, 
 and numbers of tamed curassows stalked to and fro, 
 gravely elevating and depressing their crests ; while 
 within the building, and on its roof, numerous 
 parrots and macaws waddled after each other, or 
 exercised their voices in loud and discordant cries. 
 There were also a few pigs and ducks, all appearing 
 to be as much at home beneath the roof, as were 
 the naked Indian babies, with whom they mingled 
 on terms of perfect equality. 
 
 My boy had gone ahead, and had returned to 
 meet us in company with two old men, who were 
 the lawgivers of the establishment, and who rever- 
 entially touched my knee with their foreheads, by 
 
THE POYEK VILLAGE. 297 
 
 way of salutation. They said but a single word, 
 which I suppose was one of welcome, and then led 
 the way silently to the house. At one end a space 
 had been recently fenced off, containing two new 
 crickeries, within which my various articles were 
 deposited, and which were at once indicated to me 
 as my special apartment. 
 
 All the proceedings had been conducted so rapid- 
 ly, that I was fairly installed in my novel quarters 
 before I was aware of it. Our arrival had evidently 
 been anticipated, for almost immediately the women 
 brought us hot rolls of a species of bread made of 
 ground cassava, baked in the ashes, with the addi- 
 tion of some stewed flesh of the loaree, so tender 
 and savory that it would have commended itself to 
 a far more fastidious appetite than mine. I made 
 a prodigious meal, to the palpable satisfaction of 
 my faithful Poyer, who kept every calabash heaped 
 up with food. 
 
 As I have said, the Indians of Central America 
 differ widely from their fiercer brethren of our coun- 
 try, not less in their modes of life than in all their 
 social and civil relations. This Poyer community 
 afforded an example of a purely patriarchal organi- 
 zation, in which the authority of paternity and of 
 age was recognized in the fullest degree. Every 
 evening the old men, each taking a lighted brand, 
 gathered within a small circle of stones, at one 
 corner of the house, and there deliberated upon the 
 affairs of the community, and settled its proceedings 
 for the following day. In these conferences neither 
 
 13* 
 
298 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 the women nor young men were permitted to take 
 part. All the labor of the community was per- 
 formed in common, and all shared equally in the 
 results. In one or two of the recesses which I have 
 described, were some ancient and helpless crones, 
 who were treated with all the care and tenderness 
 of children. The whole establishment, according to 
 the best of my count, consisted of about one hun- 
 dred and forty persons, young and old, of whom 
 thirty-five were full-grown men. 
 
 In figure the Foyers or Payas are identical 
 with the Towkas and Woolwas, except more mus- 
 cular — the consequence, probably, of their cooler 
 climate and severer labor. The women were less 
 shy, perhaps from their more social mode of living. 
 In common with those of the coast, they go naked 
 to the waist, whence depends a skirt of striped 
 cotton cloth, reaching to the knees. Their hair is 
 invariably parted in front, and held in place by a 
 cotton band, bound tightly around the forehead. 
 They were always occupied. Some, squatting on 
 the ground, spun the native cotton, of which all 
 the Indians raise small quantities, while others 
 wove it into cloth. Both processes were rude but 
 ingenious. The spindle consists of a small ball of 
 heavy wood, through which passes a thin shaft, the 
 whole resembling an overgrown top, the lower end 
 resting in a calabash, to prevent it from toppling 
 over. Some of the cotton is attached to this spin- 
 dle, which is twirled between the thumb and fore- 
 finger. While it is in motion the thread is care- 
 
POYER PRACTICES. 299 
 
 fully drawn out from a pile of cotton in the lap of 
 the spinner. When it stops the thread is "wound on 
 the spindle, and the same process repeated. The 
 process of Aveaving was certainly a simple one, but 
 after several unsatisfactory attempts to describe it, 
 I am obliged to confess my inability to do so, in an 
 intelligible manner. 
 
 But a principal occupation of the women was the 
 grinding of maize for tortillas, and of preparing the 
 cassava. For these purposes there were a luimber 
 of flat stones elevated on blocks, which were called 
 by the Mexican name of metlafl. These were some- 
 what concave on the upper surface, in which fitted 
 a stone roller, worked by hand. With this the 
 maize was" speedily ground to a fine consistence ; 
 the paste was then made into small cakes, which 
 were baked rajjidly on broad earthen platters, sup- 
 ported over brisk fires. The cakes require to be 
 eaten when crisp and hot, in order to be relished ; 
 for when cold they become heavy and tasteless. 
 Upon these stones they also crushed the stalks cf 
 the indigenous sugar-cane to extract the juice, 
 which, mixed with powdered wild-cacao, is allowed 
 to ferment, constituting an agreeable and exhili- 
 rating beverage, called ulung. 
 
 Every morning all the girls went down to the 
 stream to bathe, which they did without any over- 
 strained aftectation of modesty ; but the mothers 
 and old women always sought a spot secluded from 
 the general gaze. It was only when thus engaged 
 that the girls were at all playful. They dashed the 
 
300 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 water in each others' faces, and sought to drag each 
 other under the surface, in the deep pools, Avhere 
 they swam about as mermaids are supposed to do, 
 and as if the water' was their native element. At 
 all other times they were as distant and demure as 
 the daintiest damsels in all New Enoiand. 
 
 The Povers are certainly a provident people. 
 Although there were no signs of plantations in the 
 vicinity of their establishments, yet, at various 
 points in the neighborhood, where there occurred 
 patches of rich interval land, were small fields of 
 sugar-cane, plantains, squashes, maize, yucas, and 
 cassava, all protected by fences, and attended with 
 the utmost care. From every beam of the house 
 depended bunches of plantains and bananas, huge 
 yams, and dried flesh of various kinds, but chiefly 
 that of the luaree, while closely packed, on plat- 
 forms under the roof, were a few bales of sarsapa- 
 rilla, which I found they were accustomed to carry 
 down to the coast for pm-poses of barter. 
 
 The Foyers or Fayas, as I have intimated, are 
 eminentlv as2;riculturists, and although thev some- 
 times follow the chase, it is not as a principal 
 means of support, ISTor is it followed from any fan- 
 tastic notion of excitement or adventure, but in a 
 direct and doAvnright manner, which is the very 
 reverse of what is called " sport." I had an exam- 
 ple of this in their mode of fishing, which quite 
 astonished all my previous notions on that subject, 
 and which evinced to me furthermore, that fishes, 
 although cold-blooded, are not exempt from having 
 
NEW MODE OF FISHING. 301 
 
 their heads turned, provided they are aiDproached in 
 a proper manner. 
 
 My Poyer boy, who was unwearying in his devices 
 to entertain and interest me, one day conceived a 
 brilliant idea, which he hastened to communicate to 
 the old men, who held a sober monexico, or council 
 upon it, and resolved that there should be made a 
 grand demonstration upon the fish, for the double 
 purpose of amusing the stranger, and of replenish- 
 ing the supplies. The resolution, taken at night, 
 was carried into execution in the mornins;. While 
 a portion of the men proceeded down the stream to 
 construct a temporary wier of boughs, others col- 
 lected a large quantity of a species of vine called 
 hequipe, which is common in the woods, has a rank 
 growth, is full of juice, and emits a pungent odor. 
 These vines were cut in sections, crushed between 
 stones, and placed in large earthen pots, left to 
 steep, over a slow fire. 
 
 I watched all the operations with curious interest. 
 About the middle of the afternoon they were com- 
 pleted ; the pots containing the decoctions were 
 duly shouldered, and we all started up the stream. 
 At the distance of perhaps a quarter of a mile, we 
 met a number of men wading down the channel, 
 and beating the water with long poles, by way of 
 concentrating the fish in the direction of the wiers. 
 Here the pots were simultaneously emptied in the 
 stream, which the contents tinged of a brownish 
 hue. Up to this moment, the various preparations 
 had greatly puzzled me, but now I discovered that 
 
302 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 the purpose of the decoction was to poison, or rather 
 to intoxicate the fish, which it did effectively ; for, 
 as we proceeded down the stream, numbers rose 
 struggling to the surface, vainly endeavoring to stem 
 the current, which swept them toward the wiers. 
 
 At every step they became more numerous, until 
 the whole stream was thronged with them. Some 
 were quite stupefied, and drifted along helplessly, 
 while others made spasmodic efforts to resist the 
 potent influence of the bequipe. But, sooner or 
 later, they too drifted down, with a faint wagging 
 of their tails, which seemed to express that they 
 fairly " gave it up." 
 
 The wier had been built at the foot of a consid- 
 erable pool, which was literally covered with the 
 stupefied fishes. There were many varieties of 
 them, and the Indians stationed at that point were 
 already engaged in picking out the largest and 
 best, tossing the others over the wier, to recover 
 their senses at their leisure, in the clear water be- 
 low. As soon as the fish were thrown ashore, they 
 were taken charge of by the women, who cleaned 
 them on the spot, and with wonderful dexterity. 
 They were afterward taken to the house, rubbed 
 with salt, and smoke-dried over fires, after the man- 
 ner which I have already described, as practiced by 
 the Sambos at Pearl Cay Lagoon. 
 
 It would naturally be supposed that a decoction 
 so powerful as to affect the water of a large stream, 
 would also damage the fish, and unfit them for 
 food. But such is not the case. The effect seems 
 
GROWING FANCIES. 303 
 
 to be j)recisely tliat of temporary intoxication, and 
 the fish, if left in the water, would soon recover 
 from its influence. 
 
 Time passed pleasantly among the hospitable 
 Poyers, and I was treated with such ceremonious 
 deference and respect, that I began to think that a 
 far worse fortune might befall me, than that of be- 
 coming a member of this peaceful and prosperous 
 community, on the banks of the Guallambre, In 
 fact, I finally detected myself speculating upon the 
 possibility of promoting one of the dark Naiads, 
 whom I every morning watched sporting in the 
 river, to the occupancy of the vacant crickery in 
 my apartment. And then the fact that there were 
 two crickeries — was not that intended as a delicate 
 suggestion on the part of the Poyers, whose ideas 
 of hospitality might be less circumscribed than my 
 own ? The thought that they might imagine me 
 dull of apprehension, and slow to improve upon a 
 hint, grew uj^on me with every new and nearer con- 
 templation of the Naiads, and I began seriously to 
 think of submitting a formal proj^osition on the 
 subject, to the monexico. But men's fates often 
 hinge upon trifling circumstances, and had I not 
 detected a deepening shadow of anxiety on the face 
 of Antonio, I might have become a patriarch in 
 Poyerdom ! Who knows ? 
 
 Early after our arrival at the Poyer village, I was 
 surprised to observe Antonio in close consultation 
 with the old men, in the nightly monexico. They 
 seemed to be deeply interested in his communica- 
 
304 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 tions, and I imagined that they became daily more 
 thoughtful. But now, whatever purpose Antonio 
 might have had in view, it appeared to have been 
 accomplished. 
 
 So, one evening, I called him aside, and an- 
 nounced that I was ready to depart. He grasped 
 my hand, pressed it to his heart, and said, in a tone 
 of emotion — " The voice of the tiger is loud in the 
 mountain, and the sons of the Holy Men are wait- 
 ing by the lake of the Itzaes \" 
 
 I comprehended the latent meaning of these 
 poetical words, for I had already seen enough of 
 Antonio to discover that his absence from Yucatan 
 was in some way connected with a concerted move- 
 ment of the aborigines, and that now some crisis 
 was approaching Avhich drew him irresistibly to- 
 Avard his native land. Eesolved not to be instru- 
 mental in delaying him for an hour unnecessarily, 
 and half repenting that I had detained him so 
 long — for his attachment and gratitude were too 
 real to permit him to abandon me in the wilder- 
 ness — I at once communicated my intention of 
 leaving to the old men. They took it under serious 
 deliberation, which resulted in their dispatching 
 some men before daybreak, on the following morn- 
 ing, to prepare a canoe for our descent of the 
 Patuca. The canoes, I found, were not kept on the 
 Guallambre, for two reasons : first, that its course is 
 circuitous, and second, and principally, because it 
 runs through the settlements of the Spaniards of 
 Olancho, with whom the Indians avoid all relations 
 
DEPARTURE FOR THE COAST. 305 
 
 whicli are not absolutely necessary. Their boats 
 were therefore kept half a day's journey distant, be- 
 yond a chain of high hills, on a large tributary of 
 the Patuca, called Amacwass. 
 
 I verily believe I would have been a welcome 
 guest among my Poyer friends, so long as I might 
 have chosen to remain ; yet they did not urge me to 
 stay, but hastened to help me off, as if my intima- 
 tions were to be regarded as commands. 
 
 During the day a large quantity of provisions 
 were disj)atched to the boat, and at night the 
 monexico selected two men, and my old companion 
 the Poyer boy, to accompany us to the coast. We 
 took our departure early in the morning, while it was 
 yet dark, without creating the slightest disturbance 
 in the establishment. Only the old men, who had 
 come out to meet us two weeks before, now went 
 ahead with large brands of fire, to light the way ; 
 but, when the day broke, they again touched their 
 foreheads to my knee, and returned, leaving us to 
 prosecute our journey alone. 
 
 We reached the Amacwass in the afternoon, and 
 found a boat, twice as large as the canoe in which 
 we had navigated the lagoons, all prej^ared for in- 
 stant departure. A space near the middle was cov- 
 ered with a thatch of palm branches, to protect me 
 from the sun, and altogether it promised a degree 
 of comfort and convenience to which I had been a 
 stranger, in my previous voyagings. 
 
 We embarked at once, and dropped rapidly down 
 with the current, the Indians only using their pad- 
 
306 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 dies to direct the boat, and keep it clear of the 
 rocks which obstructed the channel. The water 
 was wonderfully cleai-, every where revealing the 
 bottom with the greatest distinctness. The banks 
 were covered with a heavy forest, in which the eye 
 was often arrested by the stately forms of the ma- 
 hogany-tree, with its massive foliage, rising high 
 above the general level ; or by the still taller and 
 more graceful plumes of the palmetto-royal. Vege- 
 tation seemed to have a more vigorous, but less re- 
 dundant life, than on the Mosquito Shore ; that is 
 to say, it assumed more compact and more decided 
 forms, occasioned, probably, by the comparative ab- 
 sence of jungle, not less than by peculiarities of soil. 
 
 There was sometliing exhilarating in our rapid 
 course ; and the voice of the waters, here murmur- 
 ing over a pebbly bottom, and yonder breaking 
 hoarsely over the obstructing rocks, reminded me of 
 my distant New England home, and recalled the 
 happy hours which I had spent in the sole compan- 
 ionship of its merry mountain streams. It was, 
 after all, by the standard of my youthful experi< 
 ences, that I measured my present enjoyments ; 
 and it was rare indeed, even in my most cheeiful 
 moods, that the comparison was favorable to the 
 latter. The senses blunted by years, and the mem- 
 ory crowded with events, fails to appreciate so keenly 
 or record so deeply, the experiences of middle life, 
 and pure happiness, after all, dwells chiefly in the 
 remembrance of the distant past. 
 
 As soon as the shadows of evening began to settle 
 
"the gateway of hell." 307 
 
 over the narrow valley of the Amacwass, we halted, 
 and made our camp, maintaining throughout the 
 night a great fire, not less for its cheerful influences 
 than for protection against the fierce hlack tigers, or 
 pumas, which abound on this flank of the moun- 
 tains. We heard their screams, now near, now 
 distant, to which the monkeys responded with 
 alarmed and anxious cries, so like those of human 
 beings in distress, as more than once to startle me 
 from my slumbers. These caricatures on humanity 
 seemed to be more numerous hero than further 
 down the coast, and we often saw large troops of 
 them in the overhanging trees, where they gravely 
 contemplated us as we drifted by. Occasionally 
 one, more adventurous than the rest, would slide 
 down a dependent limb or vine, scold at us vehe- 
 mently for a moment, and then scramble back again 
 hurriedly, as if alarmed at his own audacity. 
 
 On the second day the current of the Amacwass 
 became more gentle, and just before night we shot 
 out of its waters into the large and comparatively 
 majestic Patuca. Our course down this stream was 
 not so rapid. In places the current was so slight 
 that it became necessary to use our paddles ; while 
 elsewhere the greatest caution was requisite to guide 
 our boat safely over the numerous chifioncs or rapids 
 by which it was interrupted. But these, though 
 difficult, and in some instances dangerous, sunk into 
 insignificance when compared with what is called 
 El PoHal del Injierno, or the " Gateway of Hell." 
 My Poyer boy had several times alluded to it, as 
 
308 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 infinitely more to be dreaded than any of the passes 
 which we had yet encountered, and as one which 
 would be likely to excite my alarm. 
 
 We reached it on the day after we had entered 
 the Patuca. As we advanced, the hills began to 
 approach each other, and high rocks shut in the 
 river upon both sides. Huge detached masses also 
 rose in the middle of the stream, around which the 
 water whirled and eddied in deep, dark gulfs, suck- 
 ing down the frayed and shattered trunks of trees, 
 from which the branches had long before been torn 
 by rude contact with the rocks, only to reject them 
 again from their depths, far below. The velocity 
 of our boat increased, and I became apprehensive in 
 view of the rushing current and rocky shores ; nor 
 was the feehng diminished, when the men com- 
 menced to lash the various articles contained in the 
 boat by thongs to its sides, since that precaution 
 implied a possibility of our being overset. Antonio 
 urged me to strip, which I did, in preparation for the 
 worst contingency. Meanwhile the stream narrowed 
 more and more, and the rocks towered higher and 
 higher above our heads. The water no longer dashed 
 and chafed against the shores, but, dark and glassy, 
 shot through the narrow gorge with a low hissing 
 sound, more fearful than its previous turbulence. I 
 involuntarily held my breath, grasping firmly the 
 sides of the boat, and watching anxiously the dark 
 forms of the Indians, as, silently, and with impas- 
 sible features, they guided the frail slab upon which 
 om- lives depended. On, on we swept, between 
 
"portal del infierno." 
 
 309 
 
 cliffs so lofty and beetling as to shut out the sun, 
 and involve us in twilight obscurity. I looked up, 
 and, at a dizzy height, 
 could only trace a nar- 
 row strip of sky, like the 
 cleft in the roof of some 
 deep cavern, A shudder 
 ran through every limb, 
 and I could well under- 
 stand why this terrible 
 pass had been named 
 the " Mouth of Hell !" 
 He must have been a 
 bold man who ventured 
 first within its horrid 
 jaws ! 
 
 I drew a long breath 
 of relief when the chasm 
 began to widen, and the 
 current to diminish in 
 violence. But it was 
 probably then that we 
 were in the greatest dan- 
 ger, for the bed of the 
 stream was full of angu- 
 lar rocks which had been 
 
 swept out from tlie canon, to be heaped up here in 
 wild disorder. A misdirected stroke of a single 
 paddle would have thrown our frail boat upon 
 •them, and dashed it into a thousand pieces. 
 
 Before night, however, we had entirely passed 
 
 Cf A T E \V A Y OF HELL. 
 
310 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 the rapids, and were drifting quietly over the 
 smooth, deep reaches of the river — the bubbles on 
 its surface, and the flecks of white foam clinging to 
 its banks, alone indicating the commotion which 
 raged above. 
 
 There are many legends connected with the 
 " Portal del Iniierno." Within it the Indians im- 
 agine there dwells a powerful spirit, who is some- 
 times seen darting through its gloomiest recess, in 
 the form of a large bird. That night, each of the 
 Foyers poured a portion of his allowance of cJncJia 
 in the stream, as a thank-oftering to the spirit of 
 the river. This, and the offerings made to fire, 
 were the only religious rites which I witnessed 
 while in their country ; but it is not thence to be 
 inferred that they are without religious forms, for 
 it is precisely tliese that they are most careful to 
 conceal from the observation of the stranger. 
 
 As we proceeded down the river, and entered the 
 alluvions of the coast, both the stream and its 
 banks underwent an entire change. The latter be- 
 came comparatively low, and frequently, for long 
 distances, were wholly covered with feathery palms, 
 unrelieved by any other varieties of trees. Snags 
 and stranded logs obstructed the channel, and sand- 
 bars appeared here and there, upon which the hid- 
 eous alligators stretched themselves in the sun, in 
 conscious security. Occasionally, we observed 
 swells or ridges of savannah land, like those on the 
 Mosquito Shore, supporting pines and acacias. 
 But the general character of the country was that 
 
KIO PATUCA. 311 
 
 of a broad alluvion, in places so low as to be over- 
 flowed during floods — rich in soil, and adapted to 
 the cultivation of all the tropical staples. 
 
 On the seventh day from the Poyer village, wc 
 reached a point where the river divides, forming a 
 delta, the principal channel leading off to the sea 
 direct, and the other conducting to a large lagoon, 
 called Brus by the Spaniards, where the Caribs of 
 the coast have their establishments. We took the 
 latter, and the Indians plied their paddles with in- 
 creased energy, as if anxious to bring our tedioua 
 voyage to a close. 
 
LTHOUGH we had previously 
 moored our boat with the ap- 
 J^l proach of darkness, yet this night 
 the Indians kept on their course. 
 The river was now wide and still, and the banks 
 low and tropical. With the fading hght of day, 
 the sea-breeze set in, fresh and pungent, from the 
 ocean. Fire-flies sparkled like stars along the 
 shore, and only the night-hawk, swooping down 
 after its prey, startled the ear of night with its 
 rushing pinions. 
 
 The night advanced, and the steady dip of the 
 paddles soothed me into a slumber, from which I 
 was only roused by the noise of drums and the 
 sound of revelry. I leaped up suddenly, with some 
 vague recollections of the orgies at Sandy Bay, 
 
ARKIVAL AT BRUS LAGOON 
 
 813 
 
 wWcli, however, were soon dispelled, and I found 
 that we had already passed Brus Lagoon, and were 
 now close to its northern shore, where the Carib 
 town is situated. There were many lights and 
 fires, and shouts and laughter rang out from the 
 various groups which were gathered around them. 
 I perceived at once that some kind of a festival 
 was going on, and had some hesitation in ventur- 
 ing on shore. But I was reassured by the conduct 
 of°the Indians, who paddled the boat up to the 
 beach, with the utmost confidence. Before it 
 touched the sand, however, we were hailed by some 
 one on the shore, in a language which I did not un- 
 derstand. A moment after, the hail was repeated 
 in another dialect, to which my Poyer boy re- 
 plied, with some kind of explanation. '"' Advance, 
 friend!" was the prompt response of the chal- 
 lenger, who stepped into the water, and lent a 
 hand to drag up the canoe. 
 
 I scrambled forward, and leaped ashore, when I 
 was immediately addressed by the same voice which 
 had hailed us, with, " Very welcome to Brus !" 
 My first impression was, that I had fallen in with 
 Europeans, but I soon saw that my new friend was 
 a pure Indian. He was dressed in white panta- 
 loons and jacket, and wore a sash around his waist, 
 and, altogether, looked like a good fellow. He at 
 once invited me to his house, explaining, as we 
 went along, that the village was in the midst of a 
 festival, held annually, on the occasion of the^ re- 
 turn of the mahogany-cutters from the various 
 
 U 
 
314 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 works, both on this coast and in the vicinity of Be- 
 lize, The next day, he said, they expected a large 
 reenforcement of their numbers, and that then the 
 festivities would be at their height. 
 
 Meantime, we had reached the house of our new 
 friend, whose impromptu hospitality I made no 
 hesitation in accepting. It was empty ; for all 
 hands were occupied with the festival. Our host 
 stirred uj) the embers of a fire, which were smoul- 
 dering beneath a little roof in front of the hut, 
 and hastened away to call his family. 
 
 While I awaited his return, I smiled to think 
 what a free and easy way I had contracted since 
 leaving Jamaica, of making myself at home under 
 all circumstances, and with all sorts of people. No 
 letters of introduction, given with hesitation, and 
 received with doubt. And then, the happy excite- 
 ment of an even chance whether one's welcome may 
 come in the form of a bullet or a breakfast ! These 
 things will do to tell my friend Sly, I soliloquized, 
 and feU into a revery, which was only broken by the 
 return of my host, accompanied by one of his wives 
 — a very pretty and well-dressed Carib woman, her 
 hair neatly braided on the top of her head, and stuck 
 full of flowers. Although it was now past mid- 
 night, she insisted on preparing something for us to 
 eat, and then returned to participate in the dances 
 and rejoicings which were going on in the centre of 
 the village. 
 
 I would have accompanied my host there also, 
 had it not been for an incident which, for that night 
 
AN ABRUPT PARTING. 315 
 
 at least, banished my idle curiosity. While occu- 
 pied in arranging my personal baggage in our new 
 quarters, I had observed my Poyer companion 
 standing apart, and regarding me with an earnest 
 and thoughtful expression. I was several times on 
 the point of speaking to him, and as often had my 
 attention diverted by other circumstances. Finally, 
 however, I turned to seek him, but he was gone. I 
 inquired of Antonio what had become of him, but 
 he could give me no information ; and, a little con- 
 cerned himself, he started for the scene of the rev- 
 elry, under the impression that he might have been 
 attracted thither. He returned with a hasty step, 
 and reported that neither the Poyer or his compan- 
 ions were to be found. We hurried to the shore, 
 where we had left the boat, but that also Avas gone. 
 The reader may, perhaps, smile when I say that I 
 strained my eyes to penetrate the darkness, if only 
 to catch one glimpse of my Poyer boy ; and that I 
 wept when I turned back to the village. And 
 when, on the following day, as I unrolled my scanty 
 wardrobe, a section of bamboo-cane, heavy with 
 gold-dust, rolled upon the floor, I felt not only 
 that I had lost a friend, but that beneath the 
 swarthy breast of that untutored Indian boy there 
 beat a heart capable of the most delicate generos- 
 ity. Be sure, my faithful friend, far away in your 
 mountain home, that your present shall never be 
 dishonored ! Washed from the virginal sands, and 
 wi'ought into the symbol of our holy faith, it rests 
 above a heart as constant as thine own ; and, in- 
 
316 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 scribed with the single word " Fidelity," it shall 
 descend to my children, as an evidence that Faith 
 and Friendship are heavenly flowers, perennial in 
 every clime ! 
 
 The Caribs (who pronounce their OAvn name Ca- 
 ribees), those Dyacks of the Antilles, had always 
 been associated in my mind with every thing that 
 was savage in character and habits, and I was as- 
 tonished to find that they had really considerable 
 pretensions to civilization. It should be observed, 
 however, that they are here an intruded people, and 
 that, first and last, they have had a large associa- 
 tion with the whites. They now occupy the coast 
 from the neighborhood of the port of Truxillo to 
 Carataska Lagoon, whence they have gradually ex- 
 pelled the Sambos or Mosquitos. Their original 
 seat was San Vincent, one of what are called the 
 Leeward Islands, whence they were deported in a 
 body, by the English, in 1798, and landed upon the 
 then unoccupied island of Eoatan, in the Bay of 
 Honduras. Their position there was an unsatisfac- 
 tory one, and they eagerly accepted the invitation 
 of the Spanish authorities to remove to the main- 
 land. 
 
 Positions were assigned them in the vicinity of 
 Truxillo, whence they have spread rapidly to the 
 eastward. All along the coast, generally near the 
 mouths of the various rivers with which it is 
 frino-ed, they have their establishments or towns. 
 These are never large, but always neat, and well 
 supplied with provisions, especially vegetables, 
 
CARIB CHARACTER. 317 
 
 which are cultivated with great care, and of the 
 highest perfection. They grow rice, cassava, sugar- 
 cane, a little cotton, plantains, squashes, oranges, 
 mangoes, and every variety of indigenous fruits, 
 besides an abundance of hogs, ducks, turkeys, and 
 fowls, of all of which they export considerable 
 quantities to Truxillo, and even to Belize, a dis- 
 tance of several hundred miles. 
 
 The physical differences which existed among 
 them at San Vincent arc still marked. Most are 
 pure Indians, not large, but muscular, with a ruddy 
 skin, and long, straight hair. These Avere called 
 the Eed or Yellow Caribs. Another portion are 
 very dark, with curly hair, and betraying unmistak- 
 ably a large infusion of negro blood, and are called 
 the Black Caribs. They are taller than the Eed 
 Caribs, and well-proportioned. They contrast with 
 the latter, also, in respect of character, being more 
 vehement and mercurial. The pure Caribs are con- 
 stant, industrious, quiet, and orderly. They all 
 profess the Catholic religion, although observing 
 very few of its rites, except during their visits to 
 the Spanish towns, where all their children are scru- 
 pulously taken to be baptized. 
 
 I was agreeably astonished when I awoke on the 
 morning after our arrival at Brus, to find a cup of 
 coffee, well served in a china cup, awaiting my at- 
 tentions. And when I got up, I was still further 
 surprised to observe a table sj)read Avith a snow- 
 white cloth, in tlic principal apartment of the 
 house, where my host welcomed me, Avilh a genuine 
 
318 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 " good morning," I expressed my surprise at his 
 acquaintance with the English, which seemed to 
 flatter him, and he ran through the same salutation 
 in Spanish, Creole-French, Carib, and Mosquito. 
 Whereupon I told him he was a " perambulating^ 
 vjwlyglot," which he did n't understand, although 
 he affected to laugh at the remark. 
 
 I had now an opj)ortunity to make my observa- 
 tions on the village of Brus and its people. The 
 town is situated on a narrow, sandy tongue of land, 
 lying between the sea and the lagoon. This strip 
 of land supports a magnificent forest of cocoa-palms, 
 relieved only by a few trees of gigantic size and 
 dense foliage, which, I suppose, must be akin to 
 the banyan-tree of India, inasmuch as they send 
 down numerous stems or trunks, which take root 
 in the ground, and support the widely-spreading 
 branches. The establishment of my host, includ- 
 ing his house and the huts of his various wives, 
 were all built beneath a single tree, which had 
 thirty-five distinct trunks, besides the central or pa- 
 rent stem. A belt of miscellaneous trees is also 
 left seaward, to break the force of the north wind, 
 which would otherwise be sure to destroy the palms. 
 But the underbrush had all been carefully removed, 
 so that both the sea and the lagoon were visible 
 from all parts of the village. The design of their 
 removal was the excellent one of affording a free 
 circulation of air ; a piece of sanitary wisdom 
 which was supported by the additional precaution 
 of building the huts open only to the sea-breeze, 
 
A PAllAGRAPH ON PALMS. 319 
 
 and closed against the miasmatic winds which blow 
 occasionally from the land side. 
 
 Nothing could he more beautiful than the palm- 
 grove, with its graceful natural columns and ever- 
 green arches, beneath which rose the picturesque 
 huts of the village. These were all well-built, 
 walled, floored, and partitioned, with cabbage-palm 
 boards, and roofed with the branches of the same 
 tree. Episodically, I may repeat what has probably 
 often been observed before, that the palm, in its 
 varieties, is a marvel of economic usefulness to 
 dwellers under the tropics. Not only does it present 
 him with forms of enchanting beauty, but it affords 
 him food, drink, and shelter. One variety yields 
 him excellent substitutes for bread and yeast ; an- 
 other sugar and wine ; a third oil and vinegar ; a 
 fourth milk and wax ; a fifth resin and fruit ; a 
 sixth medicines and utensils ; a seventh weapons, 
 cordage, hats, and clothing ; and an eighth habita- 
 tions and furniture ! 
 
 The plantations of the village, except a few clus- 
 ters of banana-trees and sugar-canes, on the edge 
 of the lagoon, were situated on the islands of the 
 latter, or on its southern shore. Those on the 
 islands were most luxuriant, for the principal reason 
 that they arc fully protected from the wild beasts, 
 which occasionally commit extensive depredations 
 on the maize, rice, and cassava fields. One of the 
 islands nearest the village, on which my hostesses 
 had their plantations, I visited frequently during my 
 stay. It was a delicious spot, covered with a most 
 
320 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 luxuriant growth of fruits and vegetables. I could 
 well understand why it had been selected hy the 
 English for their settlement, when they sought to 
 establish themselves on the coast, during the great 
 war with Spain. A partially-obliterated trench and 
 breast-work, a few iron guns half-buried in the soil, 
 at the most elevated portion of the island, and one 
 or two large iron cauldrons, probably designed to be 
 used in sugar-works, were now the only traces of 
 their ancient establishments. 
 
 The lagoon abounds in fish and water-fowl, and 
 there are some savannahs, at a considerable distance 
 up the Patuca, and on other streams flowing into 
 the lagoon, which are thronged with deer. But it 
 Avould seem that these are only occasionally hunted 
 by the Caribs, and then chiefly for their skins, of 
 which large numbers are exported. 
 
 As I have said, we arrived in Brus during the 
 annual carnival, which follows on the return of 
 those members of the community who have been 
 absent in the mahogany-works. It is in these 
 works that the able-bodied Caribs find their princi- 
 pal employment. They hire for from ten to twelve 
 dollars per month, and rations, receiving one half of 
 their pay in goods, and the other half in money. 
 As a consequence, they have among them a great 
 variety of articles of European manufacture, selected ' 
 with a most fantastic taste. A Carib dandy de- 
 lights in a closely-fitting pantaloons, supported 
 by a scarlet sash, a jaunty hat, encircled by a broad 
 band of gold lace, a profuse neck-cloth, and a sword, 
 
A CARIB DANDY. 321 
 
 or purple umbrella. It is in some such garb that 
 he returns from the mahogany-works, to delight the 
 eyes and affect the sensibihties of the Carib girls ; 
 nor does he fail to stuff his pockets with gay beads, 
 and ear-rings and bracelets of hoop-like dimensions, 
 richly gilt and glowing with colored glass, where- 
 Avith to follow up any favorable impression which 
 may be produced by his own resplendent person. 
 He then affects to have forgotten his Carib tongue, 
 and finds himself constantly running into more fa- 
 miliar English, after the immemorial practice of 
 great and finished travelers. He scorns the native 
 cJiicha for the first day, but overcomes his prejudice, 
 and gets glorious upon it the next. In fact, he 
 enacts an unconscious satire upon the follies of a 
 class, whose vanity would never enable them to dis- 
 cover the remotest possible parallelism between 
 themselves and the Caribs of Honduras ! 
 
 During the day several large boats arrived at 
 Brus from Limas and Eoman, both of which are 
 mahogany stations. They all carried the Honduras 
 flag at the topmast, and bore down on the shore 
 with their utmost speed, only striking their sails 
 when on the edge of the breakers, when the occupants 
 would all leap overboard, and thus float their boats 
 to the shore. Here, under the shade of the trees, 
 all the inhabitants of the village were gathered. 
 They shouted and beat drums, and fired muskets, 
 by way of welcome to their friends, who responded 
 with the whole power of their lungs. Here, too, 
 expectant wives, affectionate sisters, and anxious 
 
 M* 
 
322 THE MOSQUITO GHORE. 
 
 motliers, spread out tables, loaded witli food, iruits, 
 bottles of rum, and jars of chicha, wherewitb to re- 
 gale husband, brother, or son, on the instant of his 
 arrival. It was amusing to witness the rivalry of 
 the various wives of the same anxiously-expected 
 husband, in their efforts to outvie each other in the 
 arrangement of their respective tables, and the vari- 
 ety of eatables and drinkables which they supported. 
 They were all particularly ambitious in their display 
 of glass-ware, and some of them had a profusion of 
 gay, and, in some instances, costly decanters and 
 tumblers. One yellow dame, with her shoulders 
 loaded with beads and but half-concealed by a 
 silken scarf of brightest crimson, was complacent 
 and happy in the exclusive possession of a plated 
 wine-server, which supported three delicately-cut 
 bottles of as many different colors, and filled with 
 an equal variety of liquors. 
 
 Every body drank with every body on the occasion 
 of every body's arrival, a process which, it may be 
 suspected, might, by frequent repetition, come to 
 develop a large liberality of feeling. At noon, it 
 exhibited itself in a profuse and energetic shaking 
 of hands, and toward night in embraces more pro- 
 longed and unctious than pleasant or endurable to 
 one receiving his initiation in the practice. So I 
 was fain to retire early from the shore, although 
 enjoying highly the excitement, in which I could not 
 fail to have that kind of sympathy which every 
 manifestation of genuine feeling is sure to inspire. 
 Even Antonio, whose impassible brow had latterly 
 
SINGULAR rKACTICES. 323 
 
 "become anxious and thoughtful, jmrtook of the gen- 
 eral exhilaration, and wore a smiling face. 
 
 I was treated with great consideration by the 
 entire population, who all seemed alike consequen- 
 tial and happy, when an opportunity was afforded 
 to them of shaking me by the hand, and inquiring, 
 " How do you do ?" 
 
 As I have intimated, the Caribs, like the Mos- 
 quitos, practice polygamy ; but the wives have each 
 a distinct establishment, and require a fair and 
 equal participation in all of the favors of their hus- 
 band. If he make one a present, he is obliged to 
 honor all the others in like manner ; and they are 
 all equally ready to make common cause against 
 him, in case of infidelity, or too wide an exhibition 
 of gallantry. The division of duties and responsi- 
 bilities is rather extraordinary. When a Carib 
 takes a wife, he is obliged to build her a house and 
 clear her a plantation. But, this done, she must 
 thenceforth take care of herself and her offspring ; 
 and if she desire the assistance of her husband in 
 planting, she is obliged to pay him, at the rate of 
 two dollars per week, for his services. And al- 
 though the husband generally accompanies his 
 wives in their trading excursions to Truxillo and 
 elsewhere, he carries no loads, and takes no part in 
 the barter. As a consequence, nearly all the labor 
 of the villages is performed by the women ; the 
 men thinking it rather beneath them, and far from 
 manly, to engage in other occupation than maho^"- 
 anv-cuttin<x and the building of boats, in which art 
 
.'^24 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 tliey are very expert, using the axe, saw, aDcl adze 
 with great skill. Altogether, the Caribs are kind, 
 industrious, provident, honest, and faithful, and 
 must ultimately constitute one of the most import- 
 ant aids to the development of the country. They 
 are brave, and some companies, which have been in 
 the service of the government, have distinguished 
 themselves in the field, not less for their subordina- 
 tion than for their valor and powers of endurance. 
 They are usually temperate, and it is rare to see 
 one of them drunk, except during the continuance 
 of some festival, of which they have several in the 
 course of the year. 
 
 I remained but a few days at Brus, and availed 
 myself of the departure of a large creer, or Carib 
 boat, bound for Eoatan, to take passage for that 
 island. I could not prevail upon my host to accept 
 any thing in return for his hospitality, except " El 
 Moro," for whom one of his children had conceived 
 a strong liking, which the bird was far from recip- 
 rocating. Mischievous Moro ! The last I saw of 
 him was while waddling stealthily across the floor, 
 to get a bite at the toes of his admirer ! 
 
 Our course from Brus lay, first, to the island of 
 Gunaja, distinguished historically as the one whence 
 Columbus first descried the mainland of America. 
 Our sole purpose there was to carry a demijohn of 
 brandy to a solitary Scotchman, living upon one 
 of the cays which surround it, to whom it had 
 been sent by some friend in Belize. It had been 
 intrusted to the Carib owner of the boat, who went 
 
APPROACH TO GUANAJA. 
 
 325 
 
 thus out of his way to fulfill his commission, with- 
 out recompense or the hope of reward. One would 
 suppose that a demijohn of brandy was a danger- 
 ous article to intrust to the exclusive custody of 
 Indians ; but those who know the Caribs best have 
 most faith in their integrity. 
 
 The Bay of Honduras is remarkable for its gen- 
 eral placidity, and the extreme purity of its waters. 
 It has a large number of coral cays and reefs on its 
 western border, which almost encircle the penin- 
 sula of Yucatan, as with a belt. The fine islands 
 of Koatan and Guanaja are belted in like manner, 
 but there are several openings in the rocky barriers 
 which surround them, through which vessels may 
 enter the protected waters within. 
 
 APPROACH TO GUANAJA. 
 
 The wind was fresh and fair, the sky serene, and 
 the sea was bright and sparkling in the sunlight. 
 We swept on swiftly and gayly, the pine-clad 
 mountains of Gruanaja rising slowly and smilingly 
 above the horizon. By-and-by the palm-trees on 
 the surrounding cays became visible, their i)lumes 
 appearing to spring from the clear waters, and to 
 rise and fall with the motion of our boat. As we 
 
326 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 approaclied nearer to them, we could make out tlie 
 cays themselves, supporting masses of emerald ver- 
 dure, within a silvery ring of sand. Between them 
 and the island, with its wealth of forest, the sea 
 was of the loveliest blue, and placid as a " painted 
 ocean." But, before we reached their fairy-like 
 shores, the wind died away, and our sail drooped 
 from the mast. We were partly under the lee of 
 the land, and the surface of the sea soon became 
 
 -cliarmecl iu a calm so still 
 
 That not a ripple ruffled its smooth face." 
 
 And as we drifted on, our boat yielding to the gen- 
 tle swells, I amused myself in looking over the 
 side, and contemplating the forms of marine life 
 which the transparent water revealed to our gaze. 
 The bottom was distinctly visible, studded with 
 the wonderful products of the coral polypus, here 
 spreading out like fans, there taking the forms of 
 flattened globes radiating with spines, and yonder 
 shooting up in branching, antler-hke stems. Dark 
 patches of jelly-like sponge, the white shells of 
 myriads of conchs, and occasionally a large fish, 
 whose pulsating gills alone gave sign of life — all 
 these contributed to lend variety and interest to 
 those glimpses of the bottom of the sea. It was to 
 me a new revelation of Nature, and as I gazed, and 
 gazed, the musical song of the " dainty Ariel " 
 rang its bell-like cadences in my ears ; 
 
 " Full fathoms live thy father lies ; 
 Of his bones arc corals made ; 
 
MOONLIGHT MUSINGS. 327 
 
 Those are pearls that were his eyes ; 
 
 Nothing of him that doth fade, 
 But doth sutler a sea-chango 
 
 luto something rich and strange 1" 
 
 Our men stretched themselves m the bottom of 
 the boat, waiting, as they said, for the evening 
 breeze. But the evening breeze came not, and they 
 were finally obliged to paddle the boat to the near- 
 est cay — a coral gem indeed, with its clustering 
 palms, drooping gracefully over the sea, as if, Nar- 
 cissus-like, contemplating their own beauty in its 
 mirror-like surface. 
 
 The moon was in her first quarter, and as she 
 rose above the placid sea, revealing the island in its 
 isolation and beauty, jeweled round with cays, I 
 seated myself apart, on the sand of the shore, and 
 drank in the beauty of the scene. Gradually my 
 thoughts recurred to the past, and I could hardly 
 realize that but little more than five months had 
 elapsed since I had held an unwitting conference 
 with the demon, in my little studio in White-street. 
 And yet what an age of excitement and adventure 
 had been crowded in that brief space ! I felt that 
 I had entered upon a new Avorld of ideas and im- 
 pressions, and wondered to think that I had lived 
 so long immured in the dull, unsymj)athizing heart 
 of the crowded city. It was with a pang of regret 
 that I now found myself drifting upon civilization 
 again. A few days would bring me to Belize, 
 where I knev/ Antonio would leave me, to return to 
 the fastnesses of his people. Where then should I go ? 
 
328 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 These reflections saddened me, and the unwillino- 
 conviction was forced upon my mind that I must 
 soon he roused from my long, dehcious dream, per- 
 haps never again to court its enchantments with 
 success. I gazed upon the moonlit waters, and lis- 
 tened to the gentle chime of the waves upon the 
 sand, and almost regretted that I had been admit- 
 ted within the grand arcanum of Nature, to adore 
 her unvailed beauties, since they were now to be 
 shut out from me forever, by the restraints, the un- 
 meaning forms, the follies and vices of artificial 
 life ! A heavy weight of melancholy settled on my 
 heart, and I bowed my head on my knees, and — 
 shall I own it .^ — wept ! 
 
 It was then that Antonio approached me, silent- 
 ly as when he stole to my side on the fearful night 
 of our shipwreck, and quietly laid his hand on my 
 shoulder. I knew who it was, but I said nothing, 
 for I hesitated to betray my emotion. 
 
 He respected my silence, and waited until my 
 momentary weakness had passed away, when I 
 raised my head, and met his full and earnest gaze. 
 His face again glowed with that mysterious intelli- 
 gence which I had remarked on several previous oc- 
 casions ; but now his lips were unsealed, and he 
 said : — 
 
 " This is a good place, my brother, to tell you 
 the secret of my heart ; for on that dark island 
 slumber the bones of our fathers. It was there 
 that my powerful ancestor, Baalam Votan, led the 
 white-robed holy men, when they fled from the re- 
 
BAALAM VOTAN. 329 
 
 gions of the rising sun. It was there that our peo- 
 ple raised a temple to the Imperial Tiger, whose 
 descendant I am — for am I not Baalam,* and is not 
 this the Heart of the People ?" 
 
 This exclamation was made with energy, and, for 
 a moment, he was silent^ and gazed earnestly upon 
 his cherished talisman. 
 
 When he resumed, it was in a less exalted strain. 
 He told me of the ancient greatness of his peoj)le, 
 when the race of Baalam Votan reigned over the 
 Peninsula of Yucatan, and sent the missionaries of 
 their religion to redeem the savage nations which 
 surrounded them, even to the country of the Huas- 
 tecas, on the river of Panuco. It was then, he 
 said, that the Lord of Life smiled on the earth ; 
 then the ears of maize were many times larger than 
 now, the trees were loaded with unfailing supplies 
 of fruit, and bloomed with perennial flowers ; the 
 cotton grew of many colors ; and, although men 
 died, their spirits walked the earth, and held famil- 
 iar converse with the children of the Itzaes. 
 
 Never have I heard a voice more intense and fer° 
 vid than that of the Indian boy, as he described the 
 traditionary golden age of his people, I listened 
 with breatliless interest, and thought it was thus 
 that the prophets of old must have spoken, when 
 
 * Baalam, in the languaKO of Yucatan, signifies Tiger, and Votan 
 is understood to denote neart. Tlie Maya tradition is, that Baalam 
 "Votan, the Tiger-Heart, led the fathers of the Mayas to Yucatan, 
 from a distant country. He is conspicuously figured in the ruined 
 temples around the Lake of Itza, as well as at Chichen and Pa- 
 lenquc. 
 
330 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 tlie people deemed tliem inspii-ed of heaven. But 
 when he came to recount the wrongs of his nation, 
 and the destruction of the kingdom of his fathers, 
 I could scarcely believe that the hoarse voice, and 
 words but half-articulated from excess of passion, 
 proceeded from the same lips. It was a fearful 
 sight to witness the convulsive energy of that In- 
 dian boy, whose knotted muscles, and the veins 
 swelling almost to bursting on his forehead, half-in- 
 duced mo to fear that he had been stricken with 
 madness. 
 
 But soon he became calm again, and told me 
 how the slumbering spirit of his people had become 
 roused, and how wide-spread and terrible was the 
 revenge which they were meditating upon their op- 
 pressors. A few years before, his father had gath- 
 ered the descendants of the ancient Caziques amid 
 the ruins at Chichen-Itza, and there they had 
 sworn, by the Heart of Baalam Yotan, to restore the 
 rule of the Holy Mod, and expel the Spaniards from 
 the Peninsula. It was then, that the sacred relic 
 which he wore on his breast had been dug up from 
 the hiding-place where it had lain for centuries, to 
 lend the sanctity and power of the traditionary 
 Votan to his chosen successor. But the movement 
 had been jjremature ; and although the excited, but 
 poorly-armed Indians performed prodigies of valor, 
 and carried their victories to the very walls of Mc- 
 rida, yet there they received a sudden, and, as it 
 seemed, a final check, in the death of Chichen-Pat, 
 their cherished leader. He fell at the head of his 
 
THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 331 
 
 followers, who rescued only the talisman of Votan, 
 called the " Heart of the People," and then tied in 
 dismay to their fastnesses in the wilderness. But 
 the spirit which had been evoked was not subdued. 
 Another convocation was held, and the only son of 
 their late leader was invested with the symbol of 
 authority. A scheme of insurrection was devised, 
 which was intended to include, not only the Indians 
 of Yucatan and of Central America, but even those 
 of Mexico and Peru, in one grand and terrible up- 
 rising against the Spanish dominion. 
 
 To this end messengers were sent in every direc- 
 tion ; and the proud cavalier at Bogota or Mexico, 
 spurring his horse, with arrogant mien, past the 
 strange Indian, Avho shrank aside at his approach, or 
 stood with head uncovered in his presence, little 
 thought what torrents of hate were dammed up in 
 that swarthy breast, or what wide-laid schemes of 
 vengeance were revolving beneath that impassi- 
 ble brow ! The emissaries toiled through wilder- 
 nesses and deep marshes, over high mountains and 
 dangerous rivers, enduring hunger and fatigue, and 
 the extremes of heat and cold, to fulfill their re- 
 spective missions. Even the daughtcre of the Holy 
 Men, like the seeress of the river Bocay, ventured 
 afar from the homes of their people, and among dis- 
 tant and alien tribes, became the propagandists of 
 the meditated Revenge ! 
 
 The night had worn on, and the crescent moon 
 rested on the versre of the horizon, I had heard the 
 
332 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 great secret of the Indian boy ; his bitter recital of 
 past wrongs and failures, and his hopes of future 
 triumph. I now know that the angel of blood was 
 indeed abroad, and that, in his own figurative lan- 
 guage, " The voice of the Tiger was loud in the 
 mountain I" 
 
 FAREWELL TO THE MOSQUITO SHORe! 
 
 I was silent and thoughtful when he had fin- 
 ished ; but when, after a long pause, he asked, 
 " Will my brother go Avith me to the lake of the 
 Itzaes ?" I grasped his hand and swore, by a name 
 holier than that of Votan, to justify a friendship so 
 unwavering by a f\iith as boundless as his own. 
 And when I left the outposts of civiliz^^'ion, and 
 plunged into the untracked wilderness, with no 
 other friend or guide, never did a suspicion or a 
 doubt darken for an instant my confidence, or im- 
 pair my faith in the loyal heart of Antonio Chul — 
 once the mild-eyed Indian boy, but now the dreaded 
 chieftain and victorious leader of the unrelenting 
 Itzaes of Yucatan ! 
 
THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 33-" 
 
 Time only can determine what will be the final re- 
 sult of the contest which is now waging upon the soil 
 of that beautiful, but already half-desolated penin- 
 sula. Almost every arrival brings us the news of in- 
 creased boldness, and new successes on the part of 
 the Indians ; and, it now seems, as if the great 
 drama of the conquest were to be closed by the de- 
 struction of the race of the conquerors ! Terribly 
 the frown darkens on the front of Nemesis ! 
 
 " The voice of the Tiger is loud in the moun- 
 tain !" 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 A. 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 The general physical cliaraeteristies, and tlie climate and 
 productions of the Mosquito Shore, have probably been suffi- 
 ciently indicated in the foregoing rapid narrative. Never- 
 theless, to supply any deficiencies which may exist in these 
 respects, as Avell as to illustrate the liistory of this coast, to 
 Avhich recent political events have given some degree of in- 
 terest, I have here brought together a variety of facts derived 
 from original sources, or such as are not easily accessible to 
 the general reader. 
 
 The designation " Mosquito Shore" can only properly be 
 understood in a geographical sense, as applying to that por- 
 tion of the eastern coast of Central America lying between 
 Cape Gracias a, Dios and Bluefields Lagoon, or between the 
 twelfth and fifteenth degrees of north latitude, a distance ot 
 about two hundred miles. The attempts Avliich have been 
 made to apply this name to a greater extent of shore, liave 
 had their origin in strictly political considerations. 
 
 This coast was discovered by Columbus, in his fourth voy- 
 age, in 1502. He sailed along its entire lengtli, stopping at 
 
 J 
 
336 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 various points, to investigate the country, and ascertain the 
 character of its inhabitants. He gave it the name Cariay^ 
 and it was accurately characterized by one of his compan- 
 ions, Porras, as " una tierra muy baja,^'' a very low land. 
 Columbus himself, in his letter to the Spanish sovereigns, 
 describes the inhabitants as fishers, and "as great sorcereis, 
 very terrible." His son, Fernando Columbus, is more expli- 
 cit. He says, they were " almost negroes in color, bestial, 
 going naked ; in all respects very rude, eating human flesh, 
 and devouring their fish raw, as they happened to catch 
 them." The language of the chroniclers warrant us in be- 
 lieving that these descriptions applied only to the Indians of 
 the sea-coast, and that those of the interior, whose language 
 then was different, were a distinct people. 
 
 The great incentive to Spanish enterprise in America, and 
 which led to the rapid conquest and settlement of the conti- 
 nent, was the acquisition of the precious metals. But little 
 of these was to be found on the Mosquito Shore, and, as a 
 consequence, the tide of Spanish adventure swept by, heed- 
 less of the miserable savages who sought a precarious sub- 
 sistence among its lagoons and forests. It is true, a grant of 
 the entire coast, from Cape Gracias to the Gulf of Darien, 
 was made to Diego de Mcuessa, for purposes of colonization, 
 within ten years after its discovery, but the expedition which 
 he fitted out to carry it into effect, Avas wrecked at the mouth 
 of the Cape, or Wanks river, which, in consequence bore, for 
 many years, the name of Rio de los Perdidos. 
 
 From that time forward, the attention of Spain was too 
 much absorbed with the other parts of her immense empire 
 in America, to enable her to devote much care to this com- 
 paratively imattractive shore. Her missionaries, inspired 
 with religious zeal, nevertheless penetrated among its people, 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 337 
 
 and feeble attempts were made to found establisliments at 
 Cape Gracias, and probably at other points on the coast. 
 But the resources of the countiy were too few to sustain the 
 latter, and the Indians themselves too debased and savage to 
 comprehend the instructions of the former. 
 
 The coast, therefore, remained in its primitive condition, 
 until the adv'ent of the buccaneers in the sea of the Antilles, 
 which was about the middle of the seventeenth century. Its 
 intricate bays and unknown rivers, furnished admirable 
 places of refuge and concealment, for the small and swift ves- 
 sels in which they roved the seas. They made permanent 
 stations at Cape Gracias and Bluefields, from which they 
 darted out like hawks on the galleons that sailed from Nom- 
 bre de Dios and Carthagena, laden with the riches of Peru. 
 Indeed Bluefields, the present seat of Mosquito royalty, de- 
 rives its name from Bleevelt, a noted Dutch pirate, who had 
 his rendezvous in the bay of the same name. 
 
 The establishment at Cape Gracias, however, seems to 
 have been not only the principal one on this coast, but in 
 the whole Caribbean Sea. It is mentioned in nearly every 
 chapter of the narratives, which the pirates have left us, of 
 their wild and bloody adventures. Here they met to divide 
 their spoil, and to decide upon new expeditions. The rela- 
 tions which they maintained with the natives are w-ell de- 
 scribed by old Jo. Esquemeling, a Dutch pirate, who wrote 
 about 1670:— 
 
 " We directed our course toward Gracias a Dios, for thither 
 resort many pirates who have friendly correspondence with the In- 
 dians there. The custom is, that when any pirates arrive, every one 
 has the Hberty to buy himself an Indian woman, at the price of a 
 knife, an old axe, wood-bill or hatchet. By this contract the woman 
 is obliged to stay with the pirate all the time he remains there. She 
 serves him, meanwhile, with victuals of all sorts that the country af- 
 
 15 
 
838 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 fords. The pirate has also hberty to go and hunt and fish where he 
 pleases. Through this frequent converse with the pirates, the In- 
 dians sometimes go to sea with them for whole years, so that many 
 of them can speak English." (Buccaneers of America, London, 1704, 
 p. 165.) 
 
 He alao adds that they Avere extremely indolent, " wander- 
 ing up and down, without knowing- or caring so much as to 
 keep tlieir bodies from the rain, except by a few palm- 
 leaves," with "no other clothes than an apron tied around 
 their middle," and armed with spears "pointed v\-ith the 
 te<jth of crocodiles," and living chiefly on bananas, wild fruits 
 and fish. 
 
 We have a later account of them by De Lussan, another 
 member of the fraternity of freebooters : 
 
 " The Capo has long been inhabited by mulasters [mulattos] and 
 negroes, both men and women, who have greatly multiplied since a 
 Spanish ship, bound from Guinea, freighted with theu- fathers, waa 
 lost here. Those who escaped from the wreck were courteously re- 
 ceived by the Mousticks [Spanish Moscos, English Mosquitosl who live 
 hereabout. These Indians assigned their guests a place to grub up, 
 and intermixed with them. 
 
 " The ancient Mousticks live ten or a dozen leagues to the wind- 
 ward, at a place called Sanihey [Sandy Bay]. They are very sloth- 
 ful, and neither plant or sow but very little ; their wives performing 
 all the labor. As for their clothing, it is neither larger or more 
 sumptuous than that of the mulasters of the Cape. There are but few 
 among them who have a fixed abode, mcst of them being vagabonds, 
 and wandering along the river side, with no other shelter than the 
 latarien-leaf [palm-leaf], which they manage so that when the "wind 
 drives the rain on one side, they turn their leaf against it, behind 
 which thej^ lie. When they are inclined to sleep, they dig a hole in 
 the sand, in which they put themselves." {De Lussaii's Narrative, 
 London, 1704, p. 177.) 
 
 The negroes wrecked from the Spanish slave-ship were 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 339 
 
 augmented in number by the cimarones, or runaway slaves 
 of the Spanish settlements in the interior ; and, intermingling 
 with the Indians, originated the mongrel race which now 
 predominates on the Mosquito Shore. Still later, when 
 the English planters from Jamaica attempted to establish 
 themselves on the coast, they brought their slaves with 
 them, who also contributed to increase the negro element. 
 What are called Mosquito Indians, therefore, are a mixed 
 race, combining the blood of negroes, Indians, pirates, and 
 Jamaica traders. 
 
 Many of the pirates were Englishmen, and all had rela- 
 tions more or less intimate with the early governors of 
 Jamaica, who often shared their profits, in return for such 
 indulgences as they were able to aflbrd. Indeed, it is al- 
 leged that they were often partners in the enterprises of the 
 buccaneers. But when the j^rotracted wars with Spain, 
 which favored this state of things, were brought to a close, it 
 became no longer prudent to connive at freebooting ; and, as 
 a kind of intelligence had sprung up with the Mosquito 
 Shore, they conceived the idea of obtaining possession of it, 
 on behalf of the British crown. Various plans to this end, 
 drawn u]) by various individuals, were at this period pre' 
 sented to the royal government, and by them, it would seem, 
 referred to the governors of Jamaica. 
 
 But the governors of that island had already taken the in- 
 itiative. As early as 1687 one of the Mosquito chiefs had 
 been taken to Jamaica, for the pui'pose of having him place 
 his countiy under the protection of England. Sir Hans Sloane 
 has left an account of how, having escaped from his keepers. 
 " he pulled off the European clothes his friends had put on, 
 and climbed to the top of a tree !" 
 
 It seems, nevertheless, that he received " a cocked hat, and 
 
'340 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 a ridiculous piece of writing," which, according to Jeffreys, 
 was a commission as king, " given by his Grace, the Duke of 
 Albemarle, under the seal of the island !" 
 
 It was not, however, until 1740, that an attempt was 
 made to obtain a cession of the coast, from the extraordinary 
 monarcli thus created by the Duke of Albemarle. In that 
 year Governor Trelawney wrote to the Duke of Newcastle, 
 suggesting the expediency of rousing the Mosquito Indians 
 against the Spaniards, with whom th.e English were at war, 
 and purposing an absolute occupation of their country. He 
 represented that there were about one hundred Englishmen 
 there, " mostly such as could live nowhere else,'''' who might 
 be brought together, reenforced, and, by the help of the 
 Mosquitos, finally induce the other Indians to revolt, " and 
 thus spread the insurrection from one part to another, till it 
 should become general over the Indies, and drive the Span- 
 iards entirely out." 
 
 In pursuance of this scheme, Governor Trelawney commis- 
 sioned one Robert Hodgson, to proceed to the Mosquito 
 Shore, fully provided with every thing necessary to enable 
 him to tamper with the Indians. The manner in which he 
 executed his instructions is naively told by Hodgson himself, 
 in a letter addressed to the Governor. The following ex- 
 tracts are from the original letter, now in the possession or 
 Colonel Peter Force, of Washington. 
 
 Sandy Bay, April 8th, lUO. 
 "May it please Your Excellency, — 
 
 " I arrived at St. Andrews on the 4th of March, and sailed for 
 Sandy Bay on the 8th, where I arrived on the 11th, but was pre- 
 vented by a Norther from going ashore till the 13th. 
 
 " King Edward being informed of my arrival, sent me word that 
 he would see me next day, which he did, attended by several of his 
 captains. I read to him Tour Excellency's letter, and my own com- 
 
HISTORICAL ;i KETCH. 341 
 
 mission, and when I liad explained them by an interpreter, I told 
 them my errand, and recommended to them to seek all opportunities 
 of cultivating friendship and union with the neighboring Indian na- 
 tions, and especially such as were under subjection to the Spaniards, 
 and of lielping them to recover their freedom. They approved every 
 thing I said, and appointed the 16th to meet the Governor, John Brit- 
 on, and his captains at the same place, to hear what I had further 
 to say. 
 
 "On the 16th they all came, except Admiral Dilly and Colonel 
 Morgan, who were, Hke General Hobby and his' captains, at too great 
 a distance to be sent for, but their presence not being material, I pro- 
 ceeded to explain to them that, as they had long acknowledged 
 themselves subjects of Great Britain, the Governor of Jamaica had 
 sent me to take possession of their country in His ilajesty's name — 
 then asked if they had any thing to object. They answered, they had 
 nothing to say against it, but were very glad I had come for that pur- 
 pose ; so I immediately set up the standard, and reducing what I had 
 said into articles, I asked them both jointly and separately, if they 
 approved, and would abide by them. They unanimously declared 
 they would. I had them then read over again, in solemn manner, 
 under the colors, and, at the end of every article fired a gun, and 
 concluded by cutting up aturfj and promising to defend their country, 
 and procure for them all assistance from England in my power. 
 
 "The formality with which all this was done seems to have had a 
 good effect upon them. 
 
 " The articles I enclose, and hope Your Excellency will excuse so 
 much ceremony ; for, as I had no certain information whether the 
 country was ever taken possession of before, or over claimed other- 
 wise than by sending them down commissions, I thought the more 
 voluntary and clear the cession was the better, * * * The king 
 is very young, I believe not twenty, and is not much observed ; but 
 were ho to be in England or Jamaica a while, His thought fie would 
 make a hopeful monarch enough. 
 
 "On the 18th the king, with his captains, camo of their own ac- 
 cord to consult about a proper plan to attack [the Spaniards], but 
 hearing that Captain Jumper was expected from the other side of the 
 Cape, and neither the Governor, Admiral Dilly, nor Colonel Morgan 
 
342 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 being present, I thought it best to defer it till they were summoned. 
 The king brought his mother, and the captains their wives. I enter- 
 tained tliem as usual, but there always comes such a train that I 
 should have had three or four, instead of one puncheon, of rum." * * * 
 
 Hodgson tlien goes on to describe tlie appearance of one 
 Andrew Stewart, a pirate, to wliom the Indians had made a 
 promise of assistance, from which he endeavored to dissuade 
 them, in order to accompany him ; hut the Indians finally 
 agreed to attack the river Oocelijo to oblige Stewart, and 
 San Juan de Veragua to oblige Hodgson. He continues : — 
 
 * * * "They intoxicate themselves with a liquor made of 
 honey, pine-apple, and cassava, and, if they avoid quarrels, which 
 often happen, they are sure to have fine promiscuous doings among 
 the girls. The old women, I am told, have the liberty of chewing the 
 cassava, before it is put in, that they may have a chance in the gen- 
 eral rape as well as the young ones. 
 
 "I fell into one of their drunken-bouts by accident yesterday, 
 when I found Admiral Dilly and Colonel Morgan retailing my advice 
 to them to little effect, for most of them were too drunk to mind it, 
 and so hideously painted that I quickly left them to avoid being 
 daubed all over, which is the compliment they usually pay visitors 
 on such occasions. 
 
 * * * " Their resentment of adultery has lost its edge too much 
 among them, which I have no doubt they are obliged to us for, as 
 also for the breach of promise in their bargains. * * * They will 
 loll in their hammocks until they aro almost starved, then start up, 
 and go a turtling in a pot ; and if they have not immediate success, 
 and their happens to be many boats together, they form a design 
 upon some Spanish or Indian town. * .* * * 
 
 "The country is fine, and produces good cotton, better than Ja- 
 maica. * * * Those Indians, on this side, do not appear so 
 averse to government as I supposed, and those on the other are 
 tractable enough. * * * i don't take their numl:)er to be so 
 many as the author of the project makes them out. 
 
 (Signed) "Robert Hodgson." 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 343 
 
 In a subspquent letter, from Chiriqui Lagoon, dated Juno 
 21, 1740, Hodgson gives a further account of liis expedi- 
 tion, and asks for some blank commissions for Mosquito 
 admirals and generals, and also implores the Governor to 
 send him out some men as a guard ; for, he says, " my life 
 is in more danger from these Indians than from the Span- 
 iards." 
 
 Previously to this mission of Hodgson, viz., on the 28th of 
 October, the Spanish Embassador in London had made com- 
 plaints that the incursions of the Zambos and Indians of the 
 Mosquito Shore, on the adjacent Spanish settlements, were 
 " at the instigation and under the protection of the English 
 of Jamaica, who have a commerce with them, and give them 
 in exchange for the captive Indians whom they purchase for 
 slaves, fireanns, powder, shot, and other goods, contrary to 
 the natural rights of these people," 
 
 The " cession" of the Mosquito Shore, thus procured by 
 Hodg-son, was followed up by occupation. Several Jamaica 
 planters established themselves there, and Hodgson shortly 
 afterward reeei\'ed the appointment of " Superintendent of 
 the Mosquito Shore." 
 
 In 1Y44 an order was issued in Council, dispatching a cer- 
 t lin number of troops from Jamaica to the Mosquito Shore, 
 and in 1748 another order for sending a supply of ordnance 
 to the " new settlements" established there. In fact, every- 
 thing indicated the purpose of a permanent occupation of 
 the country. Tlie Spaniards remonstrated, and in 1 750-51 
 threatened a forcible expulsion of the English, whereupon 
 Trelawney instructed Hodgson to represent to them, that 
 " the object of keeping a superintendent among the Indians 
 was to restrain them in their hostilities against the Span- 
 iards !" For a time the Spaniards were deceived, and even 
 
344 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 vrent so far as to confer on Hodgson the title of Colonel, for 
 the services which he professed to render to them. They, 
 however, finally discovered his duplicity, and made arrange- 
 ments to carry out their threat. 
 
 This not only alarmed the settlers, but also Governor 
 Knowles, who had succeeded Trelawney in Jamaica. He 
 opened a correspondence with the Captain-General of Guate- 
 mala for the cessation of hostilities, till he could hear from 
 England, whither he wrote that the whole Mosquito affair was 
 " a job" and that if Hodgson were not checked or recalled, "he 
 would involve the nation in difficulties," and that the " In- 
 dians were so perplexed that they did not tnow what part to 
 take." A little later the Indians themselves took up arms 
 against the English, being discontented with the treatment 
 which they had received. 
 
 These things did not escape the notice of Spain, and had 
 their influence in bringing about the troubles which were 
 ended by the treaty of Paris, in 1763, by which Great Britain 
 agreed to demolish all the fortifications which she had erect- 
 ed, not only on the Mosquito Shore, but in all " other places 
 in the territory of Spain, in that part of the world." This 
 treaty, nevertheless, did not have the efiect of entirely term- 
 inating English intrigue and aggression on the Mosquito 
 Shore and elsewhere, and its provisions were consequently 
 revived, and made more explicit and stringent by the subse- 
 quent treaty of 1783. This treaty provided that all the 
 " English settlements on the Spanish continent" should be 
 abandoned ; but, on the pretext that " tho Mosquito Shore 
 was not part of the SpanisJi continent, but of the American 
 continent," the English managed to evade its provisions, and 
 to keep up their connection with that coast, as before. This 
 piece of duplicity led to severe reclamations on the part oi 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 345 
 
 Spain, wliicli were only settled by the supplementary treaty 
 of 1786, which stipulated that 
 
 "His Britannic Majesty's subjects, and other colonists who have en- 
 joyed the protection of England, shall evacuate the country of the 
 Mosquitos, as well as the continent in general, and the islands adja- 
 cent without exception," etc. And that " If there should still remain 
 any persons so daring as to presume, by entering into the interior 
 country, to obstruct the evacuation agreed upon, His Britannic Majes- 
 ty, so far from affording them any succor or protection, will disavow 
 them in the most solemn manner," etc., etc. 
 
 The English, nevertheless, under authority of another arti- 
 cle of this treaty, were allowed to cut logwood, within a 
 certain accurately-defined territory on the coast of Yucatan, 
 now known as " BeHze," o? " British Honduras." But they 
 were strictly forbidden to make permanent establishments, 
 erect fortifications, or organize any form of government ; nor 
 was the permission thus accorded to be construed as in any 
 v.- ay derogating from the "sovereign territorial rights of the 
 King of Spain." Yet from this simple permission to cut 
 wood, thus hedged round with solemn treaty stipulations, 
 Great Britain, by a series of encroachments and aggressions 
 has come to arrogate absolute sovereignty, not only over Be- 
 lize and a wide expanse of adjacent territory, but also over 
 the large islands of Roatan, Guanaja, etc., in the Bay of Hon- 
 duras, which have been organized as colonies of the British 
 crown ! 
 
 From 1786 forward. Great Britain ceased to hold any 
 open relations with the Mosquito Indians, until the decline 
 of the power of Spain, and the loss of her Amerittan posses- 
 sions. In the interval, the governors of the provinces of Cen- 
 tral America had made various establishments en the Mos- 
 
 15-- 
 
346 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 quito Shore, at Cape Gracias, and at Bluefields, and had 
 erected a fort for the protection of the harbor of San Juan, 
 at the mouth of the river of the same name. 
 
 But when the country passed into the hands of the com- 
 paratively feeble states of Central America, whom it was sup- 
 posed could offer no effectual resistance to aggression, th«r 
 English revived their schemes of aggrandisement on the Mot. 
 quito Shore. And while these states were occupied with the 
 questions incident to their new political organization, agents 
 were dispatched to the coast, from Jamaica and Belize, to 
 tamper again with the Indians, and to induce them to reject 
 the authority of the republics which had succeeded to the 
 rights of Spain. In this they seem to have been, to a certain 
 degree, successful. Neither rum, nor commissions as kings, 
 admirals, generals, and governors, were wanting, to operate 
 upon the weakness of the savages. " A regalia," says Mac- 
 gregor, " consisting of a silver-gilt crown, a sword, and scep- 
 tre of moderate value," were sent out to lend dignity and 
 grandeur to the restored dynasty of Mosquito ! A savage 
 chief, or head-man, who suited the purposes of the Jamaican 
 Warwicks, was pitched upon, taken to Belize, and formally 
 " crowned." But he turned out badly. In the language of 
 Macgregor, in his Report to the British Parliament, " he 
 combined the bad qualities of the European and Creole, with 
 the ^dcious propensities of the Sambo, and the capriciousness 
 of the Indian." He was killed in a drunken brawl, in 1824, 
 and was succeeded by his half-brother, Eobert. But it was 
 soon found that Robert was in the Spanish interest, and he 
 was accordingly set aside, by the British agents, who took 
 into favor a Sambo, named " George Frederick." But he, 
 too, proved to be an indifferent tool, and either died, or was 
 dropped, for another Sambo, who was called by the high- 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 347 
 
 sounding name of " Robert Charlea Frederick,^'' and who 
 promised to answer every purpose. 
 
 His " coronation" was effected at Belize, on the 23d of 
 April, 1825, upon which solemn occasion a number of so- 
 called chiefs were got together, under the seductive promise 
 of a " big drunk." The ceremonies which took j)lace have 
 been described by a British subject, who was an eye-witness 
 of the proceedings. His picture needs no heightening to 
 make it irresistibly ludicrous ! 
 
 " On the previous evening cards of invitation were sent to the dif- 
 ferent merchants, requesting their attendance at the court-house 
 early in the morning. At this place the king, dressed in a British 
 major's uniform, made his appearance; and his chiefs similarly 
 clothed, but with sailors' trowsers, were ranged around the room. A 
 more motley group can hardly be imagined. Here an epaulette 
 decorated a herculean shoulder, tempting its dignified owner to view 
 his less favored neighbor with triumphant glances. There a want- 
 ing button displayed a greasy olive skin under the uniform of a cap- 
 tain of infantry. Atone side a cautious noble might be seen, carefully 
 braced up to the chin, like a modern dandj^, defying the most pene- 
 tratinrj eye to prove him sliirtless ; while the mathematical movements 
 of a fourth, panting under such tight habiliments, expressed the fear 
 and trembUng with which he awaited some awful accident. 
 
 " The order of procession being arranged, the cavalcade moved to- 
 ward the church ; his Mosquito Majesty on horseback, supported on 
 the right and left by the two senior British officers of the settlement, 
 and his chiefs following on foot two by two. On its arrival his 
 Majesty was placed in a chair, near the altar, and the English coro- 
 nation service was read by the chaplain to tlie colony, who, on this 
 occasion, performed the part of the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 When he arrived at this part, ' And all the people said, let the King 
 iivo forever, long live the King, God save the King !' the vessels of 
 the port, according to a previous signal, fired a salute, and the chiefs 
 rising, cried out, 'Long live King Robert!' 
 
 " His Majesty .seemed chiefly occui)icd in admiring his finery, and, 
 
348 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE. 
 
 after his anointing, expressed his gratification by repeatedly thrust- 
 ing his hands through his thick, bushy hair, and applying his finger, 
 to his nose — in this expressive manner indicating his delight at this 
 part of the sei-vice. 
 
 " Before, however, his chiefs could swear allegiance to their mon- 
 arch, it was necessary that they should profess Christianity ; and, ac- 
 cordingly, with shame be it recorded, they were baptized ' in the 
 name of the Father, Son, and Holy G-hostl' They displayed total ig- 
 norance of the meaning of this ceremony; and when asked to give 
 their names, took the titles of Lord Eodney, Lord Nelson, or some 
 other celebrated officer, and seemed grievously disappointed when 
 told that they could only be baptized by simple Christian names. 
 
 " After this solemn mockery was concluded, the whole assembly 
 adjourned to a large school-room to eat the coronation dinner, when 
 these poor creatures all got intoxicated with ram 1 A suitable con- 
 clusion to a farce, as blasphemous and wicked as ever disgraced a 
 Christian country." (Dunnes Central America, pp. 26, 27. — 1828.) 
 
 After having been tlms invested with the Mosquito purple, 
 " King Robert Charles Frederick" was conducted back to the 
 Mosquito Shore, and turned loose to await the further devel- 
 opment of British designs. After the unctious ceremcnies at 
 Belize, he seems to have taken the proceeding in earnest, 
 and to have deluded himself with the belief that he was really 
 a king ! In this character, and moved thereto by the sug- 
 gestions of divers scheming traders, and the powerful incen- 
 tives of gay cottons and rum, he proceeded, of his sovereign 
 Avill and pleasure, to make grants to the aforesaid traders, of 
 large portions of his alleged dominions. These grants were 
 not only so extensive as to cover the entire shore, but con- 
 veyed the absolute sovereignty over them to the various 
 grantees — Rennick, Shepherd, Haly, and others. 
 
 When these proceedings came to the ears of the Governor 
 of Jamaica, and the Superintendent of Belize, who had cre- 
 ated " His Mosquito Majesty" for their own use and purposes. 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 349 
 
 they created great alarm. Says Macgregor, "it appears that 
 these grants Averc made without the knowledge of the British 
 agent, who had usually been residing on the coast, to keep 
 up the connection with England.'''' He adds that " upon their 
 coming to tli£ knowledge of the British government, they 
 were very properly disallowed." 
 
 Not only were they disallowed, but a vessel of war was 
 sent to the coast to catch " Robert Charles Frederick," and 
 take him to Belize, where he would be unable to do more 
 mischief. This was done, but " His Majesty" could not 
 endure the restraints of civilization — he pined away, and 
 died. But before this lamentable catastrophe took place, he 
 was induced to affix " his mark" to a document styled " a 
 Will," in which it was provided that the affairs of his king- 
 dom should be administered by Colonel McDonald, the Su- 
 perintendent of BeHze, as Regent, during the minority of his 
 heir ; that McDonald should be guardian of his children ; 
 and, with reference to the spiritual wants of his beloved sub- 
 jects, " the United Church of England and Ireland should be 
 the established religion of the Mosquito nation forever !" 
 Sainted Robert ! 
 
 Upon the death of " Robert Charles Frederick," his son, 
 " George William Clarence," the present incumbent of the 
 Mosquito throne, was duly proclaimed " King" by the Re- 
 gent McDonald, and his colleagues. His first act, under their 
 direction, was the revocation of all the grants which his fa- 
 ther had made to the traders, on the ground that the royal 
 Robert Charles was drunk when he made them, and that 
 they had been given without a consideration. An agent was 
 then appointed to take charge of this tender scion of royal- 
 ty, at Bluefields, where the latter still remains, in complete 
 subjection to his masters, who direct all his acts, or rather 
 
350 THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 
 
 compel liis endorsement of their own. From 1841 up to 1848 
 the proceedings of the EngUsh agents, in developing their 
 policy in respect to the Mosquito Shore, and in preparing the 
 ivay for its final aggregation to the British crown, rise be- 
 yond the scop)e of sober history or serious recital, and could 
 only be properly illustrated by the appropriate pens of Chari- 
 vari, or of Punch. 
 
 All these proceedings w^ere firmly and earnestly protested 
 against by the Central American States, who, however, re- 
 ceived no satisfactory replies to their remonstrances. They 
 were, furthermore, too much occupied with their own interior 
 dissensions to undertake any efiectual resistance to the aggres- 
 sions of the English agents. In this emergency they addressed 
 an appeal to the civihzed nations of Europe, and a particular 
 and fervent one to the United States, for its interference 
 in behalf of their clear territorial rights and sovereignty. 
 
 Before time was afibrded for action on these appeals, the 
 termination of the war with Mexico, and the purchase of 
 California by the United S'ates, precipitated the course of 
 English intrigue and encroachment on the Mosquito Shore. 
 The British govermnent was not slow to perceive that the 
 acquisition of California would give to the long-cherished 
 project of establishing a ship-canal between the Atlantic and 
 Pacific Oceans, a new, practical, and immediate importance, 
 and rightly foresaw that it would soon come to attract a 
 large share of public attention in the United States. Orders 
 were at once issued for the seizure of the Port of San Juan 
 de Nicaragua, the only possible eastern terminus for a canal 
 by way of the river San Juan, and the Nicaraguan lakes. 
 This port had always been in the undisputed occupation both 
 of Spain and Nicaragua ; not a single Mosquito Indian had 
 ever dwelt there, or within fifty miles of it, in any direction, 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH, 351 
 
 }-et, under pretext that it constituted " part of the proper do- 
 minions of his Mosquito Majesty, of whom Great Britain was 
 the la^\^ul protector," two British vessels-of-war entered the 
 harbor in the month of January, 1848, tore down the Nicara- 
 guan flag, raised that of " Mosquito," turned out the Nicara- 
 guan officers, and filled their places Avith Englishmen. This 
 done, they sailed away ; but no sooner did the intelligene«? 
 of the event reach the interior, than the Nicaraguan govern- 
 ment sent down a small force, expelled the intruders, and 
 resumed possession. The British forces, considerably aug- 
 mented, thereupon returned. The Nicaraguans, unable to 
 oppose them, retired up the river, and erected some rude 
 fortifications on its banks. They were followed by an Eng- 
 lish detachment, and finally routed, Avith great loss. Hostil- 
 ities were further prosecuted, until the Nicaraguans, power- 
 less against the forces of Great Britain, consented to an ar- 
 mistice, which provided that they should not disturb San 
 Juan, or attempt to reoccupy the port, pending the negotia- 
 tions which, it was foreseen, would follow upon the seizure. 
 x\ll attempts to induce them to relinquish their claims of 
 sovereignty over the port, were, however, imsuccessful. 
 
 By this high-handed act, committed in time of profound 
 peace. Lord Palmerston, who had directed it, fondly hoped 
 to secure for Great Britain the control of the then-supposed 
 only feasible means of commimication between the seas. He 
 had grasped, as he thought, the key of the Central American 
 Isthmus. English officers were at once installed in San 
 Juan, and a " Consul General" appointed to reside there, 
 with the most absolute dictatorial powers, supported by what 
 was called a " police force," from Jamaica, and the almost 
 constant presence of a British vessel of war in the harbor. 
 
 This act was shortly followed by the attempted seizure of 
 
352 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 the Island of Tigre, and the Gulf of Fonseca, the supposed 
 western terminus of the proposed canal, on the Pacific. This 
 attempt was thwarted by American diplomacy in that quarter. 
 The results of American interference are too recent and 
 well-known to need recapitulation. An American company 
 obtained the privileges of a transit through Nicaragua, and 
 it was not long before American steamers began to run to 
 San Juan. A large number of American citizens established 
 themselves at the port, where they soon succeeded in sufib- 
 cating British influence. They took the direction of affairs 
 in their own hands, adopted a constitution, and organized a 
 regular and stable government, pending the final settlement 
 of the various questions concerning Central America, then in 
 course of negotiation between the United States and Great 
 Britain. In this condition the place remained, well-ordered, 
 and affording the fullest protection to person and property, 
 until the month of June of last year, when, under a misrepre- 
 sentation of facts, and the grossest perversions of truth, in- 
 spired by unscrupulous personal hostility, the United States 
 government was induced to issue such orders in respect to it, 
 to a naval officer of more zeal and ambition of notoriety 
 than either wisdom or discretion, as resulted in its bombard- 
 ment and total destruction. Since this act, which has met 
 the unanimous reprehension of the country, the town has 
 been partly rebuilt and re-occupied, and now maintains an 
 extraordinary and most anomalous condition, which can not 
 long endure without resulting in serious complications. The 
 United States insists, and justly, that it pertains to Nicara- 
 gua, and that all authority which may be exercised there, 
 not derived from that State, is an usurpation ; while, on the 
 other hand, without insisting on the sovereignty of Mosquito, 
 Great Britain denies it to Nicaragua, and prohibits her from 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 353 
 
 attempting to exercise jurisdiction over it. Meantime San 
 Juan and its people are left helplessly in a political Limbo, 
 suflering witnesses of their inability to serve two masters. 
 The obvious, and probably the only peaceable solution of this 
 complication, is the voluntary estabhshment of San Juan as 
 a free port by Nicaragua, under the joint protection of Eng- 
 land and the United States. 
 
 Since 1849, nearly the whoLa interest of the "Mosquito 
 question" has been centered in San Juan. It is true, Messrs. 
 Webster and Crampton agreed upon a prcyet, defining the 
 limits of Mosquito jurisdiction, and estabhshing a de fcxto 
 Sambo monarchy on the coast, recognized, if not guaranteed, 
 both by the United States and Great Britain. But the prqjet 
 found no favor m this country, and was, moreover, indig- 
 nantly rejected by Nicaragua. How far subsequent nego- 
 tiations have tended to bring affairs to a settlement, remains 
 to be disclosed. 
 
 It is nevertheless certain that, while Nicaragua has fretted, 
 the United Staies blustered, and Great Britain silently and 
 sullenly relaxed her gripe, as circumstances have rendered it 
 necessary, the " Kingdom of Mosquito" has undergone no 
 change, but has kept on the even tenor of its way — a happy 
 illustration of the conservative and peaceful tendencies of 
 well-established monarchical institutions ! Under all the 
 complications of the modern time, the royal Clarence, the 
 hospitable Drummer, and the bibulous Slam, ignorant of the 
 exalted place which they occupy in the instructions, and dis- 
 patches, and notes of conference, wherewith the Slams and 
 Drummers of other lands do gravely amuse themselves, still 
 cherish the well-being of their beloved and fellow-subjects, 
 who, in turn, hunt, and fish, and cultivate the " big drunk" 
 as of yore ! & 
 
B. 
 
 VARIOUS NOTES ON THE TOPOGRAPHY, SOIL, CLIMATE, 
 AND NATIVES OP THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 The subjoined extracts, from various publisted works and 
 memoirs of acknowledged authenticity, and from original 
 documents, exhibit the condition of the people of the Mos- 
 quito Shore, their habits and modes of hfe, from the year 
 1700 up to the present time. It will be seen that few if 
 any changes have taken place for the better, in this long 
 period of a hundred and fifcy years. 
 
 1710. 
 
 Pi-om Dampier's ^'■Voyage around the World,''^ London, 1717, p. 7-11. 
 " The Mosquito Indians are but a small nation or family, 
 and not a bundled men of them in number, inhabiting on 
 the main, on the north side, near Cape Gracias a Dios. * * 
 They are coveted by the privateers as hunters. * * They 
 h;ive no form of government among them, but take the Gov- 
 ernor of Jamaica to be one of the gi'eatest princes in the 
 world." 
 
 1757. 
 
 Ejctracts from " Some acamni of (he Mosquito Territory, wriiien in 
 1757, ivMle that country was in the possession of the British, by Col. 
 Robert Hodgson, formei'ly His Majesty'' s Gommander-in- Chief Super- 
 intendent, and Agent on the Mosquito Shore. 
 
 This Colonel Hodgson was son of the Captain Hodg- 
 son who was sent to the Mosquito Coast, in 1740, by 
 
NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 355 
 
 Governor Trelawney. He states that the population of the 
 shore, at the time of his writing (175 7), exclusive of abor- 
 igines -was: "Whites 154, Mestizoes and Mulattoes 170, In- 
 dian and Negro slaves 800 — total 1124." He observes that 
 the " whites are without laws," but, nevertheless, living with 
 great regularity ; and that, if the number of white children 
 is small, " it may be imputed to most of the women having 
 lived with so much freedom formerly." He then proceeds to 
 give a very clear and accurate account of the country, its 
 products, and people, as follows : — 
 
 " The face of the country is various. The sea-coast, from 
 Cape Cameron to Bluefields, is low and level, but the land 
 rises gradually up any of the large, fair rivers with which it 
 abounds, and whose regular flowery banks form beautiful 
 avenues, and about twenty miles up is high enough for any 
 purpose. But the lowland is full of swamps. Near the 
 coast are several large lagoons, whose length, for the most 
 part, is parallel thereto, and are so joined to each other by 
 narrow necks of water, that half this distance may be gone 
 inland, upon smooth water ; in the flood times this may be 
 called a range of islands, lying close in with the main, but 
 the land is not much overflowed. To the westward and 
 southward of the above capes, the land is high, almost to the 
 sea-side, the hills rising gently like the swell of the sea. The 
 greater part of the higher land is covered with large woods ; 
 but the lowland consists chiefly of large, level lawns, or savan- 
 nahs, as they are called, with scarce a tree, and some of them 
 very extensive. The whole country is remarkably well watered 
 by many fine rivers, which have a long course ; by innumer- 
 able smaller ones, and by creeks and lagoons ; but all the 
 rivers have the inconvenience of shoal bars at their mouths. 
 The soil of the high woody land is the best, and is every 
 
356 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 where excellent ; being either a deep black mould, or rich 
 brick clay. AVhat low woody ground is interspersed among 
 the lawns is not so good ; but the inhabitants who hitherto 
 have chosen it for their plantations, have foimd that it will 
 produce what they want very well. The savannah lands are 
 the worst; the soil is light sand mixed with some rich mould, 
 but might be greatly improved and made very useful. At 
 present they are used for pasturage. The swamps or 
 marshes are very rich soil ; and if the wood which grows on 
 them were cut down, they would either dry up, or, with a 
 little more pains, might be drained." — P. 21. 
 
 " Indigo grows all about the country, of the same kind 
 with that of the province of Guatemala, which is esteemed 
 the best in the world. 
 
 " Cotton grows every where, in the worst land ; the staple 
 is remarkably good. There are three species of that kind 
 which is manufactured, one of which is a light reddish 
 brown, and looks like silk." — P. 23. 
 
 " Sugar, of which the little that is planted grows remarka- 
 bly well in this country, which is much better adapted for it 
 than any of the islands, on account of the great convenience 
 of streams of water for such works and for carriage ; the 
 country not being subject to severe droughts, and free from 
 hurricanes."- --P. 29. 
 
 " The climate is very sensibly cooler than that of Jamaica, 
 and very healthy, on which account people from that island 
 sometimes come hither. Indeed, the disorders in both are 
 of the same nature ; but here they are not near so frequent 
 or so violent as in that island. During the north winds the 
 season may, with propriety, be called winter. 
 
 " The wind most common is the sea-breeze, or trade-wind. 
 Tt blows fresh in June and July,' but very moderate in April, 
 
NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 357 
 
 May, August, and September, particularly in April, and from 
 the middle of August to the latter part of September. But 
 from tliat time to tbe end of October, a westerly wind pre- 
 vails along the coast to the westward of Cape Gracias, and a 
 southerly one along the coast to the south of it ; after which, 
 to the end of February, at the full and change of the moon, 
 strong north winds may be expected, veering round from east 
 to west, and continuing about a week, yet is scarce ever so 
 strong as to prevent vessels from beating to windward, and, 
 if they choose it, getting in to Bonacca. * '•• * The land 
 wind blows seven leagues off to sea, although sometimes 
 very weak. * * * The month of March is very uncer- 
 tain. The seasons are much the same as in other parts of 
 the continent. In the rainy season, scarce a day passes 
 without a heavy shower ; the first commonly begins in June, 
 and lasts about six weeks, in which time the rivers rise con- 
 siderably, and are very rapid. The second begins about the 
 middle of October, and lasts about two months. When they 
 are over, the vegetation is surj^risingly quick, and there is 
 the further advantage of frequent, intermediate, gentle 
 showers. * * * The harbors on this coast do not an- 
 swer the occasion there would be for them. On the bar of 
 Brewer's Lagoon there is seven feet water ; often more on 
 that of Black River. On those of Carataska and Warina 
 Sound, nine feet; Great River and Pearl Cay, eight 
 feet. * * * 
 
 "The natives or Mosquito people are of two breeds, one 
 the original Indians, and the other a mixture of those and 
 negroes, called Sambos. The latter orig-inated from the 
 cargoes of two Dutch ships filled with negroes, which were 
 cast away on the coast, where, after several battles, the ne- 
 groes had wives and ground given to them ; since which they 
 
358 THE MOSQUITO SHOEE, 
 
 have greatly multiplied, and there is now no distinction be- 
 tween them in their rights and customs." — ^P. 40. 
 
 " Though they are to all intents and purposes one people, 
 yet they are not so properly a single state as three united, 
 each of which is independent of the others. 
 
 " I. Those who inhabit the southern extremity till Brag- 
 maa's, and are mostly the original Indians ; their head-man 
 is called Governor. 
 
 " II. Those who extend to about Little Black River, and 
 are mostly Sambos ; their chief is called King. 
 
 "III. Those westward, who are Indians and Sambos 
 mixed ; their head-man is called General. 
 
 " The power of these three head-men is nearly equal, with 
 a small difierence in favor of the Mng^ who is a little sup- 
 ported by the whites for the sake of his name. But none 
 of these chiefs have much more than a negative voice, and 
 never do any thing without consulting a council of old men. 
 
 " * * * The king has his commission or patent for 
 being called so from the Governor of Jamaica. And all the 
 other chief people have commissions (admirals and captains) 
 from His Majesty's Superintendent ; and, uj)on the strength 
 of these, always assume much more authority than they could 
 without. However, it is at best such that it may be more 
 properly said, that their directions are followed, than their 
 orders obeyed ; for even the young men are above serving 
 the king, and will tell him that they are as free as he is, so 
 that if he had not a few slaves of other Indians, he would be 
 obliged to do all his own work." — P. 49. 
 
 Hodgson next speaks of the ravages of small-pox and 
 drunkenness among them, and concludes : 
 
 " * * * Hence, the number of Mosquito people, in their 
 present way of life, probably never exceeded ten or eleven 
 
NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 359 
 
 thousand. * * * From tlie best computation, they are not 
 above seven thousand soicls" 
 
 1181. 
 
 George Chalmers, Secretary of Board of Trade. From USS. Notes 
 for use of Board. 
 
 " The present number of the Mosquito Indians is un- 
 known. It happened among them, probably, as among the 
 North American Indians, that they decKned in numbers and 
 degenerated in spirit in proportion nearly as the white peo- 
 ple settled among them. The Mosquitos, like the Caribs 
 of San Domingo, consist of three distinct races : the abo- 
 rigines, the descendants of certain African negroes who were 
 formerly wrecked on the coast, and a generation containing 
 the blood of both. If the Spaniards earnestly desired to 
 destroy them, they could not, I think, make a very vigor- 
 ous resistance. They are chiefly defended by the rivers, 
 morasses, and woods of the country, and, perhaps, still more 
 by the diseases incident to the climate." 
 
 1818. 
 
 From Roherts'' Narrative of Voyages and Excursions on (he East 
 Coast of Central America. 
 
 " In the Mosquito Shore, a plurality of mistresses is con- 
 sidered no disgrace. It is no uncommon circumstance for a 
 British subject to have one or more of these native women 
 at ditierent parts of the coast. They have acquired great 
 influence through them. 
 
 " I have never known a marriage celebrated among them ; 
 these engagements are mere tacit agreements, sometimes 
 broken by mutual consent. The children here and at Blue- 
 fields are in general baptized by the captains of trading ves- 
 
360 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 •sels from Jamaica, who, on their aumial visit to the coast, 
 perform this ceremony, with any thing- but reverence, on all 
 who have been born during their absence ; and many of 
 them are indebted to these men for more than baptism. In 
 proof of this, I could enumerate more than a dozen ac- 
 knowledged children of two of these captains, who seem to 
 have adopted, without scruple, the Indian idea of polygamy 
 to its fullest extent. By this licentious and immoral con- 
 duct, they have, however, so identified themselves with the 
 natives, as to obtain a sort of monopoly of the sale of goods. 
 They have also insinuated themselves into the good graces 
 of some of the leading men, so that their arrival is hailed 
 with joy by all classes, as the season of festivity, revelry, 
 christening, and licentiousness !" 
 
 1828. 
 
 From " Bepart of the Commissioners of Legal Inquiry in the case of 
 the Indiaris of Hbnduras,^^ ordered by the House of Commons " to be 
 printed," July 10, 1828. 
 
 " The Mosquito Indians are a barbarous and cruel people, 
 in the lowest state of civilization, and under the most abject 
 subjection to their kings or chiefs. They are hostile to all the 
 other Indian nations, who are a mild, timid, and peaceful 
 race, and who appear to live under patriarchal governments. 
 * * * Ditferenees so striking between nations of the same 
 continent, and divided by no inaccessible barriers, have 
 given rise to a conjecture, confirmed by concurrent tradition, 
 that the Mosquitos had a distinct origin. This tradition 
 states, that a ship loaded with negro men from Africa was. 
 at a very remote period, wrecked on the Mosquito shore ; 
 that these negroes seized upon the male inhabitants of the 
 sea-coasts, massacred them, and then, by intermixture with 
 
NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 361 
 
 the Indian women, altered the race and liabits of the nation. 
 This tradition is confirmed by the physical appearance of the 
 Mosquitos, who indicate this mixture between the Indian 
 and negro." 
 
 1836. 
 James Woods, for some time a resident on the Mosquito Shore. 
 
 In the year 1836, one James Woods, a native of Ipswich, 
 England, went out to Central America, under the auspices of 
 a " Colonization Company." On his return, he published an 
 account of his adventures, to serve as a warning against 
 other companies. He resided awhile at Cape Gracias, in 
 charge of a store of provisions, rum, etc. He says : 
 
 " Tlie rum was a dangerous thing in the store, for the In- 
 dians Avill kill a man for a glass of rum ; and there were 
 only five Europeans at the Cape. I had a demijohn of 
 brandy for the Indian king, but ho was gone up the river. 
 He and his brother were taken from the Mosquito shore 
 when young, and carried to the island of Jamaica, where 
 they were taught to read and write the English language. 
 After staying there a number of years, they were brought 
 back to the shore. One Avas made king, the other a gen- 
 eral, and although brought up in a civilized state, yet they 
 returned to the wild and savage condition in Avhich their 
 people live, getting drunk, and giving themselves up to the 
 most disgusting habits. No sooner had the king heard that 
 I had a demijohn of brandy for him, than he set out to re- 
 turn home. He went to the house of a Frenchman, named 
 Bouchet, who came down to the beach and told me his 
 majesty wanted to see me. I Avent to the house, Avhere the 
 king was lying on a bed, rather unwell. I made my com- 
 pliments to him, and asked him Iioav he did. He told me 
 
 16 
 
3'62 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 he was very poorly, and wanted a gallon of brandy, whicli I 
 accordingly got for him. He asked me to drink, and stay 
 and dine with him, which I did. He told me that he loved 
 me. I replied, ' You love the brandy better ;' but I turned 
 it off with a laugh, or he would have been offended with me. 
 He staid for two or three days, and then left for Bluefields. 
 Av * * These Indians far exceed all the Indians I have ever 
 met with in lying, thieving, and every thing that is disgust- 
 ing. They are given up to idolatry, and lead an indolent 
 life." After giving details of their ignorance and barbarism, 
 he adds : " They are also great drunkards, and are never 
 easy except when they are drunk." And of the English 
 settlers and traders, he says : " They are almost as bad as 
 the natives, and live in almost as disgusting a manner." 
 
c. 
 
 BRIEF VOCABULARY OF THE MOSQUITO LANGUAGE. 
 
 In language, the Mosquitos differ wholly from the neigh- 
 boring Indians, so that they are unable to communicate with 
 them, except through interpreters. This fact, not less than 
 their different character and habits of life, go to show that 
 they are of a radically different stock. From their long in- 
 tercourse with the English, they have adopted many English 
 words, which are nevertheless pronounced in a manner which 
 renders them nearly unintelligible. Their own language, 
 however, is not deficient in euphony, although defective in 
 grammatical powers. It has no article, definite or indefinite ; 
 but the numeral adjective kumi (one), is used whenever 
 the idea of number is prominent. The adjectives follow the 
 noun, as do also the numerals. All nouns are understood to 
 be masculine, unless quahfied by the word mairen (woman 
 or female). The pronouns are twelve in number, but have 
 neither gender nor number, both of Avhich must be inferred 
 from the connections in Avhich they are used. The verbs 
 have mood, tense, and person, but are wanting in number. 
 
 English. Mosquito. 
 
 Man, waikna. 
 
 Woman, mairen. 
 
 Father, aize. 
 
864 
 
 THE MOSQUITO SHOKE, 
 
 Mother, 
 
 yapte. 
 
 Boy, 
 
 tukta. 
 
 Gill, 
 
 kiki. 
 
 Husband, 
 
 maia. 
 
 Wife, 
 
 maia-maireii. 
 
 Head, 
 
 lei. 
 
 Hand, 
 
 luita. 
 
 Mouth, 
 
 bila. 
 
 Foot, 
 
 mena. 
 
 Blood, 
 
 tala. 
 
 House, 
 
 watla. 
 
 Thing, 
 
 dera. 
 
 Dory, 
 
 duerka-taira. 
 
 Paddle, 
 
 kuahi. 
 
 Arrow, 
 
 trisba. 
 
 Harpoon, 
 
 waisku, silak. 
 
 Gun, 
 
 rokbus. 
 
 Sea, 
 
 kabo. 
 
 River, 
 
 awala. 
 
 Water, 
 
 li. 
 
 Food, 
 
 plun. 
 
 Cassava, 
 
 yaura. 
 
 Bread, 
 
 tane. 
 
 Maize, 
 
 aya. 
 
 Fish, 
 
 inska. 
 
 Iffuana, 
 
 kakamuk 
 
 Stone, 
 
 walpa. 
 
 Sky, 
 
 kasbrika. 
 
 Sun, 
 
 lapta. 
 
 Moon, 
 
 kati. 
 
 Star, 
 
 silma. 
 
 Wind, 
 
 pasa. 
 
VOCABULARY. 
 
 Thunder, 
 
 alwane. 
 
 Earthquake, 
 
 niknik. 
 
 Island, 
 
 daukwara. 
 
 Chief, 
 
 wita. 
 
 Paint, 
 
 orowa. 
 
 Curassow, 
 
 kusu. 
 
 Dog, 
 
 yul. 
 
 Monkey, 
 
 ruskika, waklin. 
 
 Ox, 
 
 bip, (beef?) 
 
 Deer, 
 
 sula. 
 
 Alligator, 
 
 tura. 
 
 Manitus, 
 
 palpa. 
 
 Forest, 
 
 untara. 
 
 Savannah, 
 
 twi. 
 
 Cotton, 
 
 wamuk. 
 
 Palm-tree, 
 
 hatak. 
 
 Mahogany, 
 
 yulu. 
 
 Cocoas, 
 
 duswa. 
 
 I, 
 
 yung. 
 
 Thou, 
 
 man. 
 
 He, 
 
 wetin. 
 
 This, 
 
 baha. 
 
 That, 
 
 naha. 
 
 Other, 
 
 wala. 
 
 To drink, 
 
 diaia. 
 
 To eat, 
 
 piaia. 
 
 To run. 
 
 plapia. 
 
 To paddle, 
 
 kaubia. 
 
 To laugh, 
 
 kikia. 
 
 To speak, 
 
 aisaia. 
 
 To hear. 
 
 walaia. 
 
 T'o sleep, 
 
 yapaia. 
 
 dbo 
 
366 THE MOSQUITO SHORE. 
 
 1, 
 
 kumi. 
 
 2, 
 
 wal. 
 
 3, 
 
 niupa. 
 
 4(2 + 2,) 
 
 wal wal. 
 
 5, 
 
 matasip. 
 
 6, 
 
 matlalkabe. 
 
 7(6 + 1), 
 
 matlalkabe puri kumi. 
 
 8(6 + 2), 
 
 matlalkabe puri wal. 
 
 9 (6 + 3), 
 
 matlalkabe puri niupa. 
 
 10 (5X2), 
 
 matawalsip. 
 
 11 (5X2 + 1), 
 
 matawalsip pura kumi. 
 
 20(20X1), 
 
 iwanaiska kumi. 
 
 21 (20X1+1), 
 
 iwanaiska kumi pura kumi. 
 
 
 j iwanaiska kumi pura mata- 
 ( walsip. 
 
 30 (20x1 + 10), 
 
 
 r iwanaiska kumi pura matawal- 
 
 37 (20x1+10+6 + 1), 
 
 < sip pura matlalkabe pura 
 
 
 ( kumi. 
 
 40 (20X2), 
 
 iwanaiska wal. 
 
 100 (20X5), 
 
 iwanaiska matsip. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 AM 
 
 -0 '^^ 
 
 / ,,n