mostly furnished with gardens, which keep them about forty or fifty yards asunder. The fences are often of bamboo, but more frequently of the cylindrical cactus, which runs up to twenty feet.
The houses are generally built of the adobe, of one story, with an open court in the centre. The church is large, and a respectable building.
The produce is chiefly maize, sugar-cane, cotton, fruit, poultry, and hides, collected from the neighbourhood. Coffee has been grown and produces well, but none has yet been exported. An American gentleman, Mr. Higgins, has commenced the erection of a mill for dressing cotton, but I am perfectly satisfied that its principle of action will fail. One failure will put the natives out of conceit of machinery, and thus, instead of introducing any useful improvement, he will considerably injure the interests of others. Even if he succeeds, I can clearly foresee that before he realizes sufficient to cover his outlay, he will become disgusted with the country and—government, I was about to say,—but may add under present prospects,—government there is none—property insecure.
After dining at Chinandega, we remounted, and reached Realejo at three, and at half-past six I was once more safely lodged in my own cabin. One grievous annoyance attending travelling in this country is the garrapata, an insect of the tick species, which is so abundant that if you brush a bush it is sure to shed a host upon you. They rapidly
