rotect
the establishment and, in case of necessity, enforce the payment of the
dues. The ruins of an old Spanish castle still exist here, but they are
hidden among the trees and shrubs with which they are overgrown.

The view from this elevation has a peculiar character of grandeur. At
the foot of the hill a broad sheet of water is spread, studded, in
the immediate neighborhood, with some green islands of diminutive
dimensions, and extending, in a northwesterly direction, as far as the
eye can reach. To the left, a low wooded shore begins at the outlet
of the lake, and continues in that direction till it is lost in the
distance of the western horizon. A chain of high mountains, cast in a
shroud of dark forests, rises in the rear, covering an unknown region
of Costa Rica. It comprises several active volcanoes, which on late
occasions have illumined the surface of the lake by their flames and
red-hot streams of lava. To the right, the view does not extend beyond
the nearest hills; but at a short distance from the lake it ranges over
a long line of broken eminences, with the mountain-chain of Chontales in
the rear, bordering like a wall the table-land of Upper Mosquitia. Hill
and dale, forests and savannas, appear in endless variety in this
direction. On the distant horizon in the centre of the view the two
cones of the island of Ometepe are seen, faintly traced, and as their
forms are lifted upward by refraction, they seem to swim over the water.

At the very spot where the San Juan River leaves the lake the Rio Frio
enters it. This is a river coming down from the mountains of Costa Rica,
through an absolute wilderness which, it is asserted, has never been
trodden by the foot of a civilized man. The dense forests of this region
are inhabited by a warlike tribe of Indians who refuse to have any
intercourse with the rest of the world. They are said to be of very fair
complexion, a statement which has caused the appellation of _Indios
blancos_ or _Guatusos_,--the latter name being that of an animal of
reddish-brown color, and intended to designate the color of their hair.
It is stated that not only do they not allow a foreigner to enter their
territory, but that they are even in the habit of killing those of
their own people who again fall into their hands after having been away
among the civilized inhabitants of the neighboring settlements....

While in California, I heard of a young German, living in the
neighborhood of