Explorations and adventures in Honduras, comprising sketches of travel in the gold regions of Olancho, and a review of the history ... of Central America. With ... maps, etc

Front matter

TITE OUAYAPE, BELOW JTTTEOAI.PA. EXPLORATIONS AND ADVENTURES IN HONDURAS, COMPRISING SKETCHES OF TRAVEL IN THE GOLD REGIONS OF OLANCHO, AND A REVIEW OF THE HISTORY AND GENERAL RESOURCES OF Central America. WITH ORIGINAL MAPS, AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. BY WILLIAM V. WELLS. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1857. Kntered, according to Act of Congress, i\^^^W^BjMi)6usand eight hundred HARPER & BROTHERS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. THE GUAYArE, BELOW JUTErATTA. EXPLORATIONS AND ADVENTURES IN HONDURAS, COMPRISING SKETCHES OF TRAVEL IN THE GOLD REGIONS OF OLANCHO, AND A REVIEW OF THE HISTORY AND GENERAL RESOURCES OF Central America. WITH ORIGINAL MAPS, AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. BY WILLIAM V. WELLS. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1857.

Entered, according to Act of CongressVwQfew^Srone thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, by HARPER & BROTHERS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. TO CORNELIUS K. GARRISON, ESQ.. TO WHOSE COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE IS DUE A LARGE SHARE OF THE PRESENT FACILITIES FOR OCEAN NAVIGATION BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC STATES, Æljis boltrme ig respcctfullji Jnscribeb. P EE F A C E • The journey of which the following pages form a diary, afterward somewhat elaborated by facts collected in Honduras, was conceived in California in 1853, and based upon reliable information, which since 1851 had been placed at my disposal, regarding the gold regions of Central America. Its principal object was a reconnoissance of that part of the republic of Hon duras known as Olancho, which in 1850 had been visited by a gentleman now residing in New York, and by him, on his return, represented to be "another California," equaling the new El Dorado in auriferous deposits, and excelling it in position and accessibility.

The advantages of this country had for some time been the theme of discussion. From the limited information that could be collected in San Francisco, and the papers in my possession, it appeared that on the head-waters of the streams taking their rise in the mountains of Honduras and falling into the Caribbean Sea — particularly the Guayape or Patook — there were deposits of gold (placers) in every way similar to those of California : that these were accessible by a navigable river, the mouth of which was within three days steaming of New Orleans and seven of New York ; that the climate of this region, although in the tropics, was equable and salubrious ; that the government had manifested a favorable disposition toward foreign enterprises ; and that, in addition to its mineral wealth, the country teemed with valuable woods and drugs, and produced spontaneously all the tropical staples.

Preface

. XII first instances with a success rivaling California itself. The era of gold that had apparently dawned upon the world, swell ing the amount produced from $50,000,000 to the startling sum of $200,000,000 annually, and coming from regions until then unknown to merchants and geographers, led to the reflection that similar deposits might exist in Honduras, which in past centuries had been known as gold-bearing, and was now the field of Indian labors, conducted with the rude implements of a semi-civilized race. Neither books nor maps relating to Honduras could at that time be found in California. The able work of Mr. E. G. Squier on Nicaragua, so admired for its delightful narrative style and valuable ethnological facts, had been with difficulty obtained; but that author had not then made his second visit to Central America, and consequently the valuable information he has since given to the world on Honduras had not been published.

The works and maps of English and other foreign writers on Central America had never reached the Pacific coast — even their names were unknown. But, had these been accessible, they would have proved useless as guides, owing to their authors' ignorance of the country I proposed to visit, particularly of Eastern Hon duras and the extensive section drained by the Guayape. This river, in some maps, even as late as 1S55, is made a tributary of the Roman or Aguan, discharging into the Caribbean Sea near Truxillo, when it is actually the Patook itself, but bearing in the interior a distinct name. The topography of the country seems to have been thrown in hap-hazard to fill up unsightly blanks in maps of which only the coast-lines, in some instances, were correct, a circumstance due to the accurate Admiralty sur veys.

In fact, as I afterward ascertained, Honduras was as much a terra incognita as the interior of Japan. The accompanying map of Eastern Honduras is the result of no little labor, and, though not embracing a very extended space of territory, corrects the absurd blunders appearing in all pre ceding ones of Olancho. The distances between the principal towns and haciendas and their location I generally ascertained from personal observation, assisted by the information readily accorded me by the most intelligent residents. No map from actual survey, to my knowledge, has ever been made of this se-

PREFACE.

. XIII eluded country, except a rude and incorrect one, sent, in 1851, to Senor Rugame, of Nacaome, by a native of Truxillo, who had formed a rough tracing of Olancho for the purpose of locating certain government grants of land on which to prosecute mahog any-cutting. The few interior towns introduced toward the line of the proposed inter-oceanic rail-road are according to the map of Mr. E. G. Squier. Should Olancho hereafter become the field of extended scientific surveys, there will be found, I think, but few errors in the present map, and such as an unaided and in experienced traveler could scarcely avoid committing. On leaving California, I had no other view than to report to ;i number of gentlemen in San Francisco, who had become inter ested in my proposed enterprise of procuring from the govern ment of Honduras the right to work gold placers, and to establish commercial stations for the export of hides, timber, dye woods, and other valuables, by the River Guayape or Patook. from the department of Olancho.

But, upon considering how little was then known of Honduras, I determined, after my arrival, in addition to the duties I had specified for myself, to de vote some part of every day to a diary or journal of passing events, embracing the peculiarities ot character and customs, and the general occurrences of travel among a primitive and se cluded people. With this view, during nearly a year's travel, extending over a thousand miles, mostly on mule-back, and visiting in that time thirty-eight Central American towns and settlements, I collected every thing that seemed likely to shed any light upon the his tory and natural resources of the country. Coins, portraits, botanical, mineralogical, and ornithological specimens ; pamphlets of every description, thrown off" during fifty years by the local presses ; old books, gacetas, diarios, and manuscripts, and a se ries of drawings executed by Senor Laso, of Tegucigalpa, who accompanied me into Olancho, enabled me, on my return, to throw together facts enough to warrant their embodiment in the form of a printed volume.

Some of my most interesting portraits. maps, and views of scenery, I have unfortunately mislaid, and these can not be accurately replaced. The historical and political part, p. 449-522, embodies some facts hitherto unpublished, and is presented simply as a brief

PREFACE.

. XIV sketch of this interesting portion of the continent from the discovery to the present day, without aspiring to the dignity of a history. The Spanish historians have been consulted in chap ter xxiii., as well as several more modern writers, in relation to the Spanish colonial government. As has been observed by an English author, " So little of the internal history of Hondu ras has been handed down to us through the dark ages of the Spanish dominion, that the few facts we can glean by the glim mering and suspicious light which the corsairs have afforded us serve rather as milestones of their existence than as details of events connected with their fate." The so-called mystery enveloping the kingdom of Guatemala after the establishment of the Spanish colonial system, extending uninterruptedly through the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, and into the 19th, has been partially dissipated by the historian of the country, Juarros, from whom I have made occasional ex tracts.

This work, originally published in Guatemala in 1811, in nine volumes, and subsequently abridged by its author, is but little known in the United States, where it seems to be con fined to the libraries of Spanish scholars. Probably less is known of the early history of Guatemala than of any other Spanish American country. The investing of that strange and wondrous overrunning of a nation by Alvarado and a handful of mailed followers with the graces of an Irving or Prescott has yet to be accomplished. The field, immense as it is, and open ing, through the dusty pages of the old Spanish authors tales of chivalric deeds long forgotten, is perhaps the most inviting left to the modern historian. The groundwork of the events detailed in chapters xxiv.-v. I have obtained from the brief historical sketch by Mr. R. G. Dunlop, in his " Travels in Central America," where he presents a political resume extending from 1821 to 1847.

The interesting chapters by Mr. E. G. Squier, apparently drawn from the same source, and Marure and Montufar, present these facts in a more significant and systematic form. The principal historical facts, however, I obtained in Honduras from manu scripts and official papers, most of which are still in my posses sion, and the verbal narrations of persons taking prominent parts in the revolutions. The historical sketch in " The Gos-

PREFACE.

. XV pel in Central America" has also been consulted. This, as its author, Mr. Crowe, states, is based upon Mr. Dunlop's chapters on that subject. There has been devoted, perhaps, unmerited space to the events connected with the history and death of Morazan. These pages, however, are but a small portion of the manu scripts placed in my hands by his son-in-law, Don Estevan Travieso, of Tegucigalpa ; and it is owing to my promise at that time to publish a brief summary of their contents that 1 was first induced to prepare the political sketch. The narrative of adventures, as I have observed, is simply a transcript of my diary, which was kept without a day's inter mission. This, in the solitudes through which the traveler must pass, served rather as an agreeable occupation than a task. Only desultory selections could be made from it in forming the present volume.

But few pages have been devoted to Nicaragua, as a country more familiar to the general reader, and Olancho (the object of my expedition) has been reached as quickly as possible. In speaking of this part of my journey, I can only repeat what has already been said in the articles arranged from my notes and recently published in Harper's Magazine. Imagine the vegetable and mineral wealth of New England and Virginia intensified tenfold ; the same genera of plants and trees, Amer ican in tint and physiognomy ; our own northern June greens and September browns alternating with the same familiar ever o-reen tints, but firmer, richer, and more varied and expanded in every way. It is the New World at its best — its summit of beauty and utility. The aphorism of Lord Bacon, that knowl edge is power, and by converse, that ignorance is weakness, ex emplifies itself in the ignorance of the American people regard ing the real character of the interior of tropical America.

Since my return, I have frequently noticed summer scenery in Massachusetts, particularly between Brighton and Cambridge, of which I remembered Olancho as the glowing counterpart, but far excelling the northern picture in softness and delicacy of outline. In relation to this, one feels a hesitation in describing scenes of such rare beauty, and is tempted not so much to give his picture the couleur de rose as to bare it of its legitimate beauty,

PREFACE.

. XVI lest the reader smile, incredulous of what goes so far beyond the experience of ordinary Use. As the multitude take the ex pression of something they have never felt for an absurdity, so the description of what they have never seen appears ridiculous and overdrawn, especially if it should be at all calculated to " stroke the prejudices the wrong way." The intimacy which steam navigation has established be tween the United States and Spanish America, and the increasing interest taken in those countries, which until recently have been comparatively excluded from the world, point out the American tropics as destined, at no distant time, to become a prominent field of enterprise. Until lately, the constantly-re produced quotations from gazetteers and encyclopædias have been the main sources of information regarding Honduras — a state, in all probability, to become a highway of nations across the continent and the source of great mineral wealth.

As yet, the country sits enthroned in silence and solitude, apparently only to be broken by the advance of foreign civilization and in dustry. New York, November 5, 1856. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Objects of the Journey to Olancho. — Departure from California. — San Juan del Sur. — New1 York Passengers. — The Road to Virgin Bay. — Scenery. — Climate. — Ometepe. — Storm on Lake Nicaragua. — New Acquaintances. — The War. — Departure for Rivas. — Lake Nicaragua. — Rio Lejas. — Crossing a Quick-sand. — Night in the Woods. — A tropical Thunder-storm. — Rivas. — A moonlight Ramble. — " Quicn vive ?" Page 25

Chapter II

Rivas. — Evidence of an older City. — Department Meridional. — Agriculture. — Country Houses. — Productions. — Dwelling-houses. — Hacienda of Santa Ursula. — Cacao Planting. — Scenery. — Boa Constrictor. — An Alarm. — Jose Bermudas. — Women. — Piety. — Bust of Washington. — Earthquakes. — Difficulties of Departure.— The Start. — Obraje. — Oracion. — Tropical Scenery. — Las Candelleras. — Right of Search. — The Camp. — Shooting Deer. — Valley of Naudyme. — Ochomogo. — Startling News. — The Retreat. — Hacienda de San Francisco. — Las Tortilleras. — A Night's March. — Rivas again 3'J CHAPTER HI. A Visit to the Commandante Militar. — Good-by to Rivas. — San Juan del Sur again. — The " Tres Amigos." — At Sea on the Coast of Nicaragua. — Fellowpassengers. — Morning. — Port of Realejo. — The Town. — Convent of San Francisco. — Hidden Treasures. — Ride to Chinandega.- — Arrival. — Reception a' house of Seiior Montealegre. — Novel method of Taxation. — Thunder-storm. — A Morning Bath.— Foreign Prejudices. — A Nicaraguan Elysium 58

Chapter IV

Chinandega. — Churches. — Dwellings. — Female Beauty. — Dress. — Smoking Ci • garros. — Religion. — Ceremonies. — Amusements. — Evening Paseo. — Night. — The Tienda. — Trade. — Education. — Start for Leon. — The Road. — Chichigalpa. — Tiste. — Mr. Manning. — Posultega. — La Posada. — A Nicaraguan Belle. — Novel method of Begging. — El Aguacero. — Hacienda de Paciente. — Drunken Soldiers. — Las Tortilleras. — Rio Quisalhuague. — Approach to Leon. — Bells. — Religious Ceremony. — Dr. Livingston. — Independent Evening 72

Chapter V

Independent Day. — Leon. — Revolution of 1854. — A Texan's method of keeping his Men. — Leon and Granada a century and a half ago. — The Cathedral. — Churches. — A Visit to President Castellon. — Appearance of Government Officers. — Ex-President Ramierez. — "Chico Dias." — Society. — LaCasa del Gobierno. — A Proposition. — Patriotism. — Saddles. — Rain in Nicaragua. — De- CONTENTS. XVIII parture from Leon. — A Morning Gallop. — Superb Scenery. — Chinandega. — Tiste. — Fruit. — More Assessments. — An Alarm. — Cacherula. — Nicaraguan Women. — Preparations for Departure. — Separation of the Party. — Departure. — El Viejo. — Shooting a Monkey. — Zempisque.- — The "Horrors." — A Bongo del Golfo. — The Patron. — Embarkation. — Estero Real. — Scenery. — "Com fort." — La Playa Grande. — An Adventure. — Bay of Fonseca Page 90

Chapter VI

Bay of Fonseca. — Bongo Sailing. — Agua Dulce. — Volcano of Conchagua. — The Eruption of 1835. — Present Appearance. — A Chubasco. — Night in the Bay. — Morning. — Tigre Island. — Port Amapala. — Commercial Advantages. — Reception. — "La Calentura." — Future Prospects of the Island. — Honduras Inter-oceanic Rail-road. — Game. — Hunting Excursion. — Cerro. — The Buccaneers. — British Aggressions. — A Deer. — Playa Bravo. — Turtle Eggs. — The Urraca. — Juacamalla. — Sensonte. — Productions. — The Saw-mill. — President Cabanas. — Climate. — Trade of Amapala 118 CHAPTER VH. A Tiger-hunt on Sacate Grande. — Esposescion. — Oysters. — Fish.— Alligators. — A Swimming Escape. — Life in Amapala. — Arrival of Don Carlos and Family. — Grand Festivities. — Preparations for Departure. — " Hurrying up" a Bongo-man. — Another Night in the Bay. — La Brea. — Nocturnal Visitors. — A Night Ramble. — Resolutions for the future. — The Road to Nacaome. — Agua Caliente. — Iguanas. — Nacaome. — La Senora Caret. — Visiting. — A Review. — Climate. — An old Speculator. — Honduras Coal-mines. — Pastimes. — New method of expelling Dogs. — Demand for Medical Services. — A foreign " Medico. " — A Serenade 139

Chapter VIII

Crossing the Moromulca and Nacaome. — Sierra Traveling in Central America. — Advice to Travelers. — Mules. — Saddles. — Hiring Servants. — Pleasures of the Journey. — Bathing Places. — "Cubiertos." — How to please Don Fulano. — The Plain of Nacaome. — A Cascade. — A Look back. — Pespire. — An obliging Alcalde. — A Bevy of Beauties. — Oracion. — "No hay para vender .'" — Swimming Match with the Belles of Pespire. — " Adios .'" — Natural Productions. Some of the wild Birds 155

Chapter IX

Note-taking.— Sugar-loaf Mountain.— Cinnabar.— Foliage.— Mountain Scenery. — Mansanita.— A dizzy Precipice.— La Venta.— The Alcalde.— "El Ministro Americano!" — Famine among the Villagers. — Padre Ramierez's Ideas of Protestantism.— How to get a Dinner.— Plantains.— View from the Cordilleras.— Savanna Grande.— Padre Domingo.— Hacienda de Trinidad.— Wedding in the Mountains.— An Adventure.— Meeting a Bridal Party.— Lost in the Sierra.— A midnight Storm.— Nueva Arcadia.— Pine Forests.— Cerro de Ule -Another Adventure.— Fording el Rio Grande.— Ahorcadores.— Approach to Tegucigalpa.— The City.— First Impressions 165

Chapter X

interview with President Cabanas—Personal Appearance. -Opinion of Olancho.-Past and Present of Tegucigalpa. -Churches.- "La Paroquia."— A CONTENTS. XIX Serenade. — Sunday Scenes. — The Plaza Market. — Morning. — Bill of Fare. — Liquors. — Chocolate. — Bread. — Potatoes. — Manners at Table. — Servants. — Style of Building. — Courtesies of Visiting. — Flowers and Flower Gardens. — Birds. — Amalgamation. — Jealousies of the Blacks. — The Liberal Party. — Health of Natives. — Couriers. — Amusements. — Dullness of the City. .Page 182

Chapter XI

Traveling Preparations. — Mounted Caballeros. — The Bridge. — Scenes on the River. — Public Manners. — Gambling. — Begging. — Tailoring. — Cabanas on Horseback. — A Visit to the Cuartel. — Academia Literaria de Tegucigalpa. — An Examination. — A Ball in High Life. — Baptism. — Visit to the Mint. — A Honduras Guerrilla. — Fishing in the Rio Grande. — Meeting an American. — House Architecture. — Furniture. — Women of Honduras. — Passing Compliment s. — Public Amusements. — Cock-fighting 200

Chapter XII

Tardy Officials. — A Visit to a Hacienda de Cafia. — Flour-mill. — Buildings. — Distillery. — Sugar-mill. — Honduras Cane. — Fruit. — Cassava.- — Yuca. — Making Starch. — Sweet Potato. — Chili Peppers. — Contrayerba. — Productions of the Department. — A Dinner at El Sitio. — El Comojen. — El Diario de Marina. — An Evening Scene. — Las Tienderas. — Shops. — Trade. — Fashions. — Dresses. — Ladies of Honduras. — Female Beauty. — Equestrianism. — Lack of Education. — Children's Dresses. — Political Matters. — Jose Francisco Barrundia. — The Death Penalty. — Security in Traveling 217

Chapter XIII

The great Eruption of Consiguina. — Phenomena in the interior of Honduras. — Central American Volcanoes. — Eruption of "San Miguel." — "Minerales de Plata." — Preparations for Olancho. — The Guayape Gold Region: its Accessibility; Obscurity. — Fabulous Accounts. — Favorable Results with the Government. — Ho ! for the Guayape. — Leaving Town. — My Mule-train. — Catching Soldiers.— Rio Abajo. — Dr. Don Guillermo again. — Cofradilla. — The Road to Talanga. — A Feast in Talanga. — St. James intoxicated. — Las Cuevas. — An Allspice-tree 230

Chapter XIV

Night in the Sierra. — A Norther in the Vindel Mountains. — Perils of the Pass. — Guaymaca. — A Midnight Reception.— " Tired Nature's Sweet Restorer."— Preparing for the "Funcion." — Hunting for a Breakfast. — Squalid Misery. — A Mountain Scene. — Volcan de Guaymaca. — Salto. — El Rio Rodondo. — A Source of the Guayape. — Inaugural Ceremonies. — Campaniento. — Mary of the Holy Cross. — Midnight Musings. — An Earthquake. — Appearance of the Campamento Range. — Cold Weather. — Glowing Accounts by "las Lavaderas." — Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties. — Gold Washing in the Rio de Concordia. — Visions. — Rio Guayapita. — Rio Almendarez. — El Valle de Lepaguare. — Cattle. — Scenery of the Valley 251

Chapter XV

The Sensitive Plant. — Ferns. — Fleur de Lis. — Bay-trees. — Rio Almendarez. — La Lima. — Rio Guayape. — Hacienda de San Juan. — Valley of Lepaguare. — An Olancho Cattle Estate. — Lepaguare. — General Zelaya. — Our Reception. — CONTENTS. XX An Rlumination. — Conversations. — Political Condition of Olancho. — Topog raphy of the Department. — Map-making. — Equestrian Excursions. — The Cli mate. — Popular Bugbears. — A Landscape. — Route to the Guayape. — Aspect of the Country. — Valley of the Guayape. — "El Murcielego." — "Las Lavade ras." — Gold Washing. — Old Machinery. — Native Geography. — " LaMaquina." — Making a Gold-rocker. — The first Cradle in Olancho. — Rich Diggings. — Great Excitement among the Natives. — Evidences of old Mines and Aborig inal Worldngs. — The Buccaneers. — A Gallop to Barroza. — The five Brother: Zelaya.— Writing a History Page 26S

Chapter XVI

A Ride in the Valley of Lepaguare. — A " bueno Jinete" of Olancho. — The Vanilla Vine : how it grows. — Susceptible of Cultivation. — The Vanilla Trade. — Productions of Olancho. — Wild Berries. — Another Excursion. — Hacienda dc- Galeras. — Wild Horses. — Mounted Vaqueros. — The Road to El Rio Moran. — Falls of the Moran. — Deer and Antelope.- — The Temperature. — Coast Fevers. — Ho ! for Jutecalpa. — Galeras again. — A Birth-day Dinner. — Mammoth Table-top. — Sheep and Wolves. — The Vale of Paradise. — Dissolving Views. — — Golden Rhapsodies. — A Bath with the Mocking-birds. — Leaving Galeras. — Kindness of the Zelayas. — The Start for Jutecalpa 291 CHAPTER XVH. Gold Washings on the Rio de Jutecalpa. — The Road. — Lignum Vitæ-trees. — Monte de Aguacate. — Dry Gulches. — Mamaisaca. — More Lavaderas. — Buying Gold Dust. — Monte Eucaitado. — The Campanilla. — Scenery on the Road. — Feathered Horticulturists. — Jutecalpa. — View from the Mountain. — First Impressions. — The Church. — Introductions. — Don Francisco Garay. — One of the Hidalgos of Olancho. — The Padres Cubas and Buenaventura. — Liberal Offers. — Map-making. — The Climate. — Jutecalpa in the Olden Time.- — Don Opolonio Ocampo. — An Adventure with the Warees. — More Gold-washing. — The Liquid Amber-tree. — Preparations for the Funcion.— Applicants for Pocket-money. — An Olancho Patriarch. — The "Plaza de Toros." 306

Chapter XVIII

The Streets. — A Visit to the Church. — Scene in the Plaza. — Feather Robes. — Population of Jutecalpa. — Merry Spectacle. — The Bolero and Fandango. — Olancho Poetry. — A Feu de Joie. — Dinner with the Padre. — Arrival of Visitors. — Orange Marmalade. — Tamarind Ambrosia. — First Day of the Funcion. — How the Girls and Gallants ride. — Corraling the Bulls. — A crazy Race. — Church Ceremonies. — Processions. — Bull-fighting. — Riding a horned Steed. — A golden Chispa. — Pure Air. — Gold and Silver Bells. — A social Party. — " Poco a poco." — Dona Ysabel. — Buying Gold Dust. — The Valley of Concepcion. — More "Rainbow Scenery." — Racing with a Priest. — Site for an American Town 324

Chapter XIX

Trecious Woods of Olancho.— The " Cortes." — El Retire. — A Gold Mill.— An Olancho Machinist. — Monte Rosa. — Boxwood. — Valley of the Guayape. San Francisco. — Rio Jalan. — A Forest Scene. — The Mahogany Trade. — Corte Sara.— Preparing for the Cutting. — Las Tortilleras.— Location of the Cortes. — Roads.— Cutting. — Sawing. — Dragging. — Rafting. — Pipantes. — Navigating CONTENTS. XXI the Patook. — Rio Jalan. — Its Gold Placers. — Americans in Olancho. — The Guayape Gold Region. — Red Plumiria. — Wild Silk. — AraTta dc Seda. — Route along the Jalan. — Quebracha. — A Fandango. — Lake of Quebraeha. — Don Gabriel. — Hard Fare. — Baked Armadillo. — A Golden Legend. — Hunting. — Toucan. — Tapir. — Blue-winged Teal. — Wild Turkey.— Birds of Olancho. — Tapiscuinte. — Familiar Animals Page 311

Chapter XX

Fishing at Quebracha. — Plants and Flowers. — Cayamuela. — Cinnamon-tree. — Lobelia. — Sassafras. — Wild Indigo. — Sarsaparilla. — Manner of Collecting.— Flaxseed. — Plans for the Future. — A Trip to Palo Verde. — Silver and Copper Mines. — Marble. — Loadstone. — Cinnabar. — Preparations for Catacamas. — Mountains of Jutequile. — Solitude. — A Trout Stream. — India-rubber-tree. — Trade. — The Jippa. — Ornithological Music. — Clarionet-bird. — Telica. — Conception Flower. — San Roque. — Mules and Horses. — Breaking a Colt. — Palms. — I7«o de Coyol. — Hacienda of Herradura. — Gold Legends. — Gold Net-sinkers and Horseshoes. — A curious Will. — "The good old Colony Times." — Olancho Viejo. — Separation of the Party. — El Boqueron 362

Chapter XXI

The Legend of Olancho Viejo. — La Corona de Cuero. — A Golden Statue. — Destruction of the Town. — Desolation. — Appearance of the Ruins. — Hacienda of Penuare. — Chichilaca. — Bees . — Honey. — El Real. — Padre Morillo. — Skeleton Cattle. — An Olanchano at Home. — A Touch of the Ca/entura. — La Iligadera. — English Enterprises. — A Marriage Story. — Alligators. — The Road to Catacamas. — Scene at Sunrise. — Adventure with a Cougar. — The Ferine Animals of Olancho. — Catacamas. — Appearance of the Town. — Trade. — Indian Inhabitants. — A Ride to the Guayape. — A Macaw Convention. — Feather Robes. — Scene on the River. — Santa Clara. — Deer Stalking. — Quebrantehuesos. — Vegetable Ivory. — A Death Scene 379 CHAPTER XXH. The Platinal. — Plantains : their Cultivation. — Ancient Ideas respecting. — The Route home. — Pita. — Deer-skins. — Burning the Bolpochi. — Description of venomous Snakes. — Antidotes. — After the Ceremonies. — A nocturnal Prowler. — Peruvian Bark. — Rice. — The Olancho Air-gun. — Tobacco. — Return to Jutecalpa. — Gold Stories. — Musical Reunion. — Commissions. — The Departure. — Lepaguare again. — A Visit to the Espumoso. — Mining Adventures. — Making a Contract. — " Kissing the Widow." — Cold Weather. — Hail. — Jotejiagua. — The Gold of El Panal. — El Retiro. — Gold at Alajagua. — Rio de Espana. — A novel Method of Fishing. — Jutecalpa again. — Bad News. — Musty Documents. — Early Settlers. — A Morning Ride. — Good-by to Olancho... 400

Chapter XXIII

Guaymaca. — La Nina Alvina. — Talanga. — Anight in the House of Don Gregorio Moncada. — Cofradilla. — DoiiaTomasa. — Tegucigalpa. — Hospitable Reception. — Silver. — The Minerales of Tegucigalpa. — A trip to Santa Lucia. — La Mina Grande. — Silver Mill. — The Road. — Descent into la Mina de San Martin. — Method of extracting the Ores. — La Mina de Gatal. — Want of Machinery and Knowledge. — Former Productiveness. — Present Yields. — Speculations on the Origin of Silver. — A Taladro. — A Campana. — Wandering Miners. — Ascent of CONTENTS. XXII el Monte de Santa Lncia.— Villa Nueva. — La Mina de Pena. — La Mina de Zopilote. — Primitive Smelting process. — Copper-hill of El Chimbo. — Captain Moore. — Legends of the Mines. — La Mina de Guayabillas. — Story of its Discovery. — The Arjenal Family. — English Enterprise. — "LaFatalidad clelPais." — Last Days of the Guayabilla Mine. — Departure for Home. — Amapala again. : — The War. — " The Walker Contract." — Bay of Fonseca by Moonlight. — At Sea in a Launch. — Realejo. — San Juan. — An American Steam-ship. — Home Page 421

Chapter XXIV. Hiseorical Sketch Of Central America

1502 — 1821. Aboriginal Inhabitants of Honduras.— Columbus first lands on the American Continent. — Early Settlement of the Coast. — Exploration and Settlement of the Interior. — Cortez at Truxillo. — Expeditions into Olancho. — Subjugation of the Indians. — Missionary Expeditions into Olancho and Segovia. — Establishment of Spanish Sovereignty. — The Colonial System of Spain. — Causes of the Central American Revolution. — Declaration of Independence 449

Chapter XXV. Historical Sketch Of Central America

1821 — 1843. The Central American Republic. — The Serviles and Liberals. — Francisco Morazan. — The Republic in Prosperity. — Rafael Carrera. — Dissolution of the Union. — Morazan a Fugitive. — Triumph of the Serviles. — Return of Morazan. — His Betrayal and Death 467