Golden Dreams and Leaden Realities 53

Golden Dreams and Leaden Realities 53

and I am persuaded that the longer

he remained, the more eager he would be to depart. On the hill above

the town stands the important fortress of San Carlos, as I have since

seen it denominated by some of our sage political writers at home.

This important fortress consists of an almost obliterated rampart,

defended by a single rusty cannon, which would be far more dangerous

to its friends than its enemies.

 

However, in a military point of view, this place may, for aught I

know, be of the utmost importance; but to the travelling tourist,

whether he goes in search of the picturesque, or only seeks to gratify

his curiosity or appetite, it is of all the most uninviting. It is,

in fact, a cross between barbarism and civilization, and the worst

features of both the parents are plainly discernible in this mongrel

offspring.

 

We were naturally desirous to leave a place of which we had formed so

ill an opinion as soon as possible, but we were not allowed to govern

our own movements. We were left to the mercy of a race of men to whom

procrastination is a virtue, and haste a crime, if not a folly. Having

cooked and eaten their breakfast--a mess of beef and plantains boiled

together in a huge iron kettle--they were now busy--not busy either,

but employed, though even that is too strong a word--in preparing the

boats that were to carry us down the river. These were rude canoes or

dugouts, very long and narrow, and capable in smooth water of carrying

ten men apiece with tolerable comfort and security. As we had one more

than that number of passengers in the canoe that fell to our lot, and

five native boatmen besides, we contemplated with no little uneasiness

the prospect of a voyage of a hundred and fifty miles down a rapid

river.

 

About ten o'clock all was in readiness, and we proceeded with the

utmost caution and calculation to stow ourselves in the canoe. Four of

the Indians, who were to act as rowers, sat in the head of the boat.

Next to them was an equal number of our fellow-passengers, with whom

we had no further acquaintance; the patron or pilot sat in the stern

with an American who was residing in the country, and our own party

occupied the middle. It was necessary to sit perfectly still, as the

slightest motion caused the boat to roll, bringing the oars on one

side down into the water, and calling forth an impatient exclamation

from all the boatmen at once of "para bota," "trim boat." When this

state of things was no longer tolerable, we all moved in concert the

arm or leg that gave us the most uneasiness, and again settling into

our places sat like breathing statues for another hour.

 

We moved slowly up the lake a short distance, and then rounding a

narrow point of land found ourselves in the San Juan. Our boatmen

rowed a few hundred yards till the canoe fairly felt the force of the

rapid current, and then, raising their oars from the water, and fixing

them in that position by fastening the ends to the opposite side,

they produced a stock of plantains that was perfectly alarming, and

began to eat as if they had not tasted anything for a week. As it was

only two or three hours since they had devoured a hearty breakfast,

and no one could see their naked bellies without thinking of Prince

Hal's question, "How long is it, Jack, since thou hast seen thine

own knees?" we naturally felt some impatience at this delay, but our

remonstrances might as well have been addressed to the trees on the

bank.

 

Having eaten enough for a dozen men, and being at length obliged to

stop from sheer repletion, instead of returning to their duty, as we

had fondly imagined, they simply varied their performances in a manner

highly suggestive of the renowned Sancho Panza, from whom they were

perhaps lineally descended. After an hour spent in these alternations

they resumed their oars; our canoe, which had been drifting broadside

to the current, was once more headed down the stream, and we glided

along under these combined influences at a speed varying from five

to eight miles an hour. Having by this time arranged ourselves in as

comfortable a position as was attainable under the circumstances,

we were at leisure to take note of what was passing. On either side

a tangled and matted forest crowded close down to the river's brim.

Vines of the utmost vigour and luxuriance hung in graceful folds

from the tallest trees, or presented an almost solid wall of verdure

as even as if it had been trained over an artificial trellise. The

monotony of the banks was interrupted only by shady coves or inlets,

just wide enough to admit a canoe, and, by their mysterious windings,

offering a strange temptation to the curious imagination.

 

We met also one or two parties of natives slowly toiling up the

stream, keeping close to the shore to avoid the current that swept

us prosperously onward, and now and then resting from their labour

by mooring their canoe to the overhanging branches. With these our

boatmen never failed to exchange greetings and inquiries, somewhat in

the fashion of two ships speaking each other at sea; and the novelty

of their accent and intonation was nowhere else so striking.

 

Let the reader pronounce the word banana, placing very little stress

on the first and last syllables, and commencing the second with a

sudden expiration--then dying gradually away through all the notes

of the gamut, from the highest to the lowest, and he will obtain a

very correct idea of a Spanish hail or halloo. When three or four on

each side were thus joining their voices in anything but concert, the

effect, if not harmonious, was in the highest degree amusing.

 

It was long after sunset when we arrived at the upper rapids; and,

as our pilot was unwilling to venture through them in the dark, we

were obliged to lie to until morning. The place selected for this

purpose had formerly been occupied as a trading establishment--the

skeletons of two small buildings still stood near the bank in the

middle of a narrow clearing, and half-a-dozen barrels scattered about

plainly showed what had been the nature of the traffic. The ground was

thoroughly soaked with the rain that was still falling, and every drop

as it touched the earth seemed to hatch into a monstrous mosquito,

and every mosquito seemed to say or sing, with true Spanish accent,

that she did not get such a chance every day in the year, and meant

to make the most of it. The woods crowded around us as close as they

dared, and like a pack of wolves seemed only waiting till they could

muster courage to make a sudden dash. At no great distance we heard

the roaring of wild beasts, and could easily imagine we saw their

eyes glaring at us out of the thick damp darkness. Never apparently

had we been in such evil plight, at least on land; but in a short

time we succeeded in effecting a wonderful transformation. After

exhausting entreaty, we prevailed upon one of the natives by a bribe

of half-a-dollar to strike a fire by means of the flint and tinder

which they commonly carry about them. There was no want of fuel--a

scrap of paper first received the divine fire, and communicated it

in turn to splinters of the palm leaf that formed the thatch. We

gently nursed the infant blaze with withered twigs till it had gained

strength and confidence to grapple with the staves of the barrels,

and lock them in its mortal embrace. A thick log, big enough to keep

it burning all night, was then placed upon the top--the smoke soon

banished the mosquitoes, and the most cheerful and benign light put to

flight all our gloomy fancies. Bringing in huge armfuls of palm leaves

from the fallen roof of one of the houses, we spread them thickly over

the floor of that which was still standing; and with our feet to the

fire, spikewise, as Eothen has it, one by one fell off to sleep.

 

Waking in the grey of the morning, we combed quantities of slimy

snails out of our hair with our fingers, and again taking our stations

in the canoe, were directly sucked into the rapids. Clinging nervously

to the sides of the canoe, and peering out into the dim twilight, we

saw nothing but whirling eddies, sunken rocks starting up to meet us,

and waves white with foam. Suddenly a huge billow, that seemed to have

been lurking in ambush near the shore, darted out directly upon our

beam. For a moment my heart, as the saying is, was in my mouth,--the

rowers also seemed paralyzed and stopped rowing. I thought of the

weight I carried about me, and calculated how long I should probably

be in getting to the bottom. But all was over in less time than it

has taken to write a single line--nobody stirred, and the wave, after

emptying a few pailfuls of water over the gunwale, sunk suddenly

beneath the surface, and the next moment we entered the comparatively

smooth water below.

 

The remaining rapids had nothing to excite any apprehensions, and we

passed them with contemptuous indifference. All day long we slid down

the glassy river. About nine in the evening our canoe drew up into a

little stream, tributary to the San Juan, at a spot which had been

selected by a German emigrant as suitable for a sugar plantation. He

had been here only a short time, and every thing was yet in a rude,

uncivilized state; but he gave us a most glowing account of the wealth

of the soil and the favourable nature of the climate. His plantation

consisted of several thousand acres, a very small proportion of which

was under cultivation, but enough to show that no land in the world is

better adapted to that purpose.

 

He gave us for supper a cup of tea and two slices of salt pork perhaps

twice as big as a dollar; and as we furnished our own bread, he

charged us only half-a-dollar apiece. The mosquitoes were as thick

as, what shall I say? as thick as molasses; and as we crowded into

the smoke of the fire under the shed that served him for a kitchen,

to avoid their extortion, I made a rapid calculation of the probable

number on his whole plantation, and came to the conclusion that if

these creatures possessed any appreciable value, however small, our

host must be by all odds the wealthiest proprietor in the whole world.

 

After resting here an hour, we were glad to return to the canoe, where

they did not venture to follow us. A sip of brandy and the coolness

of the night gave our boatmen fresh energy--their oars fell with more

regular cadence, and early Sunday morning we entered the harbour of

San Juan, two weeks after leaving the shores of the Pacific. The

harbour is very shallow, and our boatmen were several times obliged

to jump into the water to push us over the bars; but our canoe was at

length drawn up safely on the beach, in the midst of a large number of

others, all pointing to the town. Many of our companions had already

arrived, and the rest made their appearance the next day, except the

party already mentioned, who had been the first to leave Granada.

Day after day passed without bringing any tidings, and we began to

fear that they had been lost on the lake, when the following Sunday,

a week after our arrival, they landed on the shore like a party of

shipwrecked mariners--squalid, filthy, and attenuated. For thirteen

days, and nearly as many nights, they had been crowded together in

that open boat--the sun, and the rain, and the dew, had had full sway

over them, and if it had not been for the constant effort required to

keep the canoe from upsetting, they would certainly have run together

like so many sticks of molasses candy.

 

They had carried sail across the lake, and owing to the tipsy nature

of their craft, they had been obliged to preserve the centre of

gravity by constantly shifting their position. When the wind blew

freshly, they sat on the weather side of the boat to keep her steady;

and when the wind lulled, they transferred their weight more to the

centre. If the wind had been aft, they would have made the passage in

twenty-four hours, or even less; but as it was directly contrary, and

they could beat to windward but little better than a tub, they were

more than a week in getting to San Carlos, having in that time sailed

over nearly every square foot in the whole surface of the lake.

 

San Juan, where we passed a miserable week, is, even after seeing San

Carlos, one of the most uninteresting places that can be imagined.

The land is even flatter than the sea. It is a low sandy plain, just

rising above the water, agreeably diversified with stagnant marshes,

and hemmed in by unwholesome-looking forests. A few mushroom houses

seem to have sprung up out of the sand, and among them three or four

hotels, of the same board and shingle pattern that is so odious even in its native New England.