As soon as he is able to walk, the son of the Nicaraguan _mozo_ or _huléro_ takes as a plaything a piece of iron hoop or an old knife, and imitates his father with his _machéte_. As he gets older a broken or worn-down weapon is given him, and when he is able to handle it, a full size _machéte_ is entrusted to him and he then considers himself a man. From that day on, waking or sleeping, our Nicaraguan's _machéte_ is always at his side. With it he cuts his way through the woods; with it he builds his camp and his bed; with it he kills his game and fish; with it at a pinch he shaves himself, or extracts the thorns from his feet; with it he fights his duels, and with it, when he dies, his comrades dig his grave. When in the field the chief of a party, equipped with a pocket compass and an aneroid barometer, is always skirmishing ahead of the line with a _machétero_, or axeman, to cut a path for him. A pushing chief, however, speedily dispenses with the _machétero_ and slashes a way for himself much more rapidly. As soon as he decides where the line is to go the engineer calls to the _machéteros_ and the two best ones immediately begin cutting toward the sound of his voice. They soon slash a narrow path to him, drive a stake where he was standing and then turn back toward the other _machéteros_, who have been following them, cutting a wider path and clearing away all trees, vines and branches, so that the transit man can see the flag at the stake. The moment the leading _machéteros_ reach him the chief starts off again and by the time the main body of axemen have reached his former position the head _machéteros_ are cutting toward the sound of his voice in a new position. As soon as the line is cleared the transit man takes his sight and moves ahead to the stake, the chainmen follow and drive stakes every hundred feet, and the leveller follows putting in elevations and cross sections. In this way the work goes on from early morning until nearly dark, stopping about an hour for lunch. After the day's work comes the dinner, the table graced with wild hog, or turkey, or venison, or all. After dinner the smoke, then the day's notes are worked up and duplicated and all hands get into their nets. For a moment the countless nocturnal noises of the great forest, enlivened perhaps by the scream of a tiger, or the deep, muffled roar of a puma, fall upon drowsy ears, then follows the sleep that always accompanies hard work and good health, till the bull-voiced howling monkeys set the forest echoing with their announcement of the breaking dawn. In reconnoissance and preliminary work the experienced engineer, is able, in many cases, to avoid obstacles without vitiating the results of his work, but in the final location, in staking out absolute curves and driving tangents thousands of feet long across country, no dodging is possible.