of this wilderness was therefore necessary, as a first step, before any project of a railroad through it could command the attention of capitalists; and attempts
were made by English and American
surveyors to cut a passage through it, in 1863 and 1865, but in both cases without success, the surveying parties being driven back by want of provisions before they could complete their work. The importance of ascertaining the nature of the country was, however, too great to allow of the scheme being readily let drop, and, in 1867, Captain Pim, a retired officer of the English Navy, having obtained a valuable railroad concession from Nicaragua, and money support from Mr. Webb and other New York capitalists, determined to make another attempt to accomplish the survey. The banks of the Rio Rama, which falls into the sea. about thirty-five miles north of Greytown, had been already surveyed for some distance, and it was believed that the distance between the upper part of the course and the shores of the lake could not exceed fifty miles, a survey of which, if no unforeseen obstacles existed, might be accomplished by a strong party in a few months. Mr. Collinson, an English engineer of high professional standing, who had been already employed on the survey of the Rama in 1863, undertook to cut a track from San Miguelito, on the shores of the lake, to the Rama; and the work was commenced at the former village, toward the end of February, 1867.
San Miguelito itself is a mere collection of Indian huts; but its proximity to San Carlos, the head of the San Juan, rendered it suitable for a provision station. The party was what would have been considered a strong one in another climate—consisting of about a dozen native laborers, besides the two engineers, Collinson and Deering, the latter of whom took charge of the actual work of surveying, while the former attend ed to the supplying of provisions and men, and exercised a general supervision. Nevertheless, it was subsequently found necessary to materially increase its numbers, in order to finish the work before the commencement of the rainy season, which there commences about the beginning of June, and which renders it almost impossible to continue any work in the woods during its continuance. About one-half of the natives employed were Caribs, from the Honduras Coast, who make excellent woodmen, and, in strength and activity, are fully equal to the best White lumbermen. Theyare the remnant of the formidable nation which once occupied most of the smaller West Indian Islands, and who, after long wars, were removed to this coast by the Spanish Government. They are entirely distinct from the Mosquitoes, who are a mixture of the Negroes brought there by the buccaneers and the native tribes. The rest of the party were the ordinary Indian or half-breed laborers, of Nicaragua—who, though inferior to the Caribs in physical strength, proved industrious and easily managed workmeh—with a black cook from Jamaica. The latter, after a short experience of the nature of his duties, was never weary of bemoaning his hard luck in having to serve a parcel of Indians; and the Caribs, it must be confessed, showed themselves decidedly fastidious in their culinary tastes: the most refined Parisian epicure could hardly criticise his cook's performances more severely than those half-naked children of the forest did theirs; and, in fact, they looked upon the style of eating of the White Men with a strong feeling of disgust. Moreover, their criticisms were not confined to words alone, but were occasionally enforced by the weight of their fists and sticks; and the leaders had more than once to rescue the unlucky chef from the merciless pommelings bestowed on him, in requital for his failure to please
