built in the uniform Moresque style, and dedicated to San Jorge. It is quite large, and contains twelve or thirteen altars, exclusive of the main one, covering the back part entire. It has few relics, nor is it richly ornamented, but answers that for which it was intended-a house of God. The padre I met acted as my cicerone; and after showing me the church and village, invited me to his house, where he regaled me with a good cigar, some good wine, and his blessing. I sprang into the stirrup, and after promising to deliver certain letters for him, as well as to call again, returned to the main road, and pushed forward to Rivas. The road verges greatly-its length, probably about three miles, though one may think it five or six. Scattered along the route are ranchos hidden in orange and lemon groves, while, lining the path, the mango, to me the handsomest tree. in the world, woos the weary traveler to a siesta. He is tempted to rest; the cocoa-nut hangs bewitchingly from its eyrie above, while the rattle of its milk within, appeals strongly to his tastes. He seizes a full one, leaps from his mule, and for a time forgets absence from those beloved in a distant clime. CHAPTER III. COUNTRY-COUNTRY RIVAS-THE PLAZA-MARKET-SENORITAS-EARLY HISTORY-GIL GONZALES OUR way is over a rolling country, well covered with fruits, where are numerous sites for beautiful homes. Rivas, the capital of the district, is entered by a broad road leading to the plaza, found in every Spanish settlement. Upon it is located the Cathedral, Government Houses, and shops, while the ground itself is occupied daily by the country people, who here sell their marketing-corn, beans, onions, oranges, lemons, pine-apples, jocotes, coffee, tobacco, sugar, cheesein fine, everything from the haciendas to tempt the appetite and appease it. The señorita, with her dark olive skin well washed for the occasion, in her nice camisa, not reaching to her waist, and with a skirt independent of any contact above, smokes her cigarita, and laughs with the bargainer, while her sparkling eye entices the unwary foreigner to purchase at an exorbitant rate. The dark-eyed daughters of Seville, and the nut-brown lasses of Nicaragua, have the same origin; their language, mayhap, is partially changed, yet their spirits, their souls, are identical, and he who stays his steps beside the little saleswoman, will purchase. Smiles have a common origin, and sweet ones wreathe the pouting lips of Nicaragua's daughters, sufficient to bewilder any poor devil who, for the first time, dallies by their side. The city of Rivas occupies the site of the aboriginal town. The first Spaniard who visited it was Gil Gonzales de Avila, who sailed from Panama in 1522. This noble landed upon the shores of the Gulf of Nicoya, with four horses and one hundred men. After experiencing many hardships, he entered the domain of the chief, Nicoya, who gave the Spaniards valuable presents, and in turn received from them glass toys and other pretty articles. Gonzales, learning that many miles northward, another chief had his territory, pushed forward, and reached the old town of Nicaragua, now Rivas, the subject of our present chapter. After some difficulties, battles ensued between them. The Spanish horse, an object of terror to HISTORY OF RIVAS-ITS PRODUCTIONS. 35 these Indians, as well as to the early Mexicans and Peruvians, saved the utter destruction of the Spanish party; and they returned to Panama, with mighty accounts of the country, its resources, and its people. Pedro de Arias thereupon determined to found a colony there, and dispatched Francisco Hernandez de Cordova for that purpose. Leon and Granada were built; but Pedro de Arias dying, his son-in-law, Rodrigo de Contreras, succeeded him. The orders of the crown, denying him, or any of the officers, holding the Indians as property, were disregarded. Provoked by petty and private jealousies, assassinations occurred. Rodrigo sought Spain to vindicate himself; and in his absence, Hernandez openly revolted, took possession of the country, and then embarked for Panama, which he captured; met with various mishaps, and finally sickened and died. In time it became a province in the Captain-generalcy of Guatemala, and so remained until 1823, when a spirit of republicanism drove monarchy from the country. Such is the history of Rivas. The country immediately around, is just such as might be rendered all that man could desire. Three good crops may be raised annually. Corn will average fifty to seventy bushels to the acre. Indigo grows luxuriantly; fine woods; and the best-flavored and strongest coffee I ever drank to my taste, superior to the Mocha. At one time Rivas occupied the prominent position for commerce; its port, San Jorge, being forty-five miles nearer the Rio San Juan than Granada, and the immediate lands about San Jorge being well cultivated and high; but the connection now fully established through from the Pacific, has deprived it of all importance, and Granada must become at some time the favorite locality in the State. Prior to the connection above-mentioned, passengers touching at Realejo, on the Pacific, traveled on mules across the country, and arriving at Granada, would there take bungoes, at whatever rates could be agreed on, for Greytown. This of itself has aided Granada greatly. Impressed with its delightful situation, its bathing, its fine fruits, and the high order of intellect of its inhabitants, many remained there for months. Some intermarried, and thus business connections were formed, which eventuated in Granada becoming the favorite among all classes of foreigners. To me, however, Rivas is a grand old place. There is something in the ruined cathedral on its plaza, the marks of devastation everywhere to be found, the remnants of antique statues seen in old rubbish, and in the songs of the people, which remind one of some old legend, read in the palmy days of youth. I passed hours sitting on a broken wall, endeavoring to image fully to myself the primal condition of this edifice, of this statue, or of that cathedral. Amid so |