Although the novelty of our ascent, (ninety miles in six days, think of that, ye voyagers on the Hudson or our western rivers!) had in some degree compensated for its tediousness, and we had “put in” the time rather agreeably than otherwise, yet it was with unqualified satisfaction that we learned that we had nearly passed the river. We were impatient to look upon the great lake, of which the world had heard so much but knew so little, and thought our progress, over the intervening five miles, unaccountably slow. At eleven o’clock, however, upon passing a large island, the river opened in a broad reach, and we saw before us the waters of the lake. A commanding eminence, cleared of trees, and surmounted by a few houses and a flag-staff, rose where the lake terminated and the river commenced. The men seemed hardly less pleased than ourselves; but after pulling with great energy for a few minutes, suddenly stopped, and simultaneously plunged overboard. We had become accustomed to all sorts of fantastic freaks, and contented ourselves with looking on without asking questions. After paddling about for a while, they clambered aboard, and then commenced a grand hunt for the clothes which had been so summarily laid aside when we left San Juan. These were dragged to light from all conceivable out-of-the-way nooks, and directly the whole crew was dressed in clean attire, which made us quite ashamed of our soiled garments. The economy, not to say the convenience, of going naked, for the purpose of keeping one’s clothes clean, was never more manifest. Pedro insisted on having the flag unfurled from the _pineta_, and before we had got within a mile from the fort, produced his conch-shell, and blew an awful blast upon it. A few figures appeared on the hill near the flag-staff, and directly the blue and white flag of Nicaragua, with an oval in the centre, containing three volcanoes and the rising sun, was run to its top. The roll of a drum, and the glancing of polished arms in the sun, showed us that we were recognized, and made us more than ever ashamed of our shabby exteriors. But what was to be done? Our trunks were wedged immovably beneath us, and if once dragged out, to our future eminent discomfort, where and how could we make our toilet? Besides we had no time for operations, the men were pulling with all their force, and we were rapidly nearing the fort. M——, with one foot wrapped in a napkin, (a nigua had unluckily escaped detection at San Juan,) proposed that we should throw our gutta percha ponchos over our garments, and decline going on shore, as the only feasible means of keeping up appearances. This was hardly agreed upon and done, before “La Granadina” dashed round the point, and up to the landing of San Carlos. The commandante and his subordinates, in full uniform, the officers of the Aduana or Custom-House, and a large deputation of the people, were all on the beach to receive us, which they did with a storm of vivas, and before we