established. These steamers are built expressly for shallow rivers,
and are very different structures from anything we see in England.
The bottom is made quite flat, and divided into compartments; the
first deck being only about eighteen inches above the water, from
which it is divided by no bulwarks or other protection. Upon this
deck are placed the cargo and the driving machinery. A vertical
boiler is fixed at the bow, and two horizontal engines, driving a
large paddle-wheel, at the stern. The second deck is for
passengers, and is raised on light wooden pillars braced with iron
rods about seven feet above the first. Above this is another deck,
on which are the cabins of the officers and the steering apparatus.
The appearance of such a structure is more like that of a house
than a boat. The one we were in, the "Panaloya," drew only three
feet of water when laden with 400 passengers and twenty tons of
cargo.


CHAPTER 4.

The lake of Nicaragua.
Ometepec.
Becalmed on the lake.
White egrets.
Reach San Ubaldo.
Ride across the plains.
Vegetation of the plains.
Armadillo.
Savannahs.
Jicara trees.
Jicara bowls.