armer can think of is employed to prevent their settling: sulphur is
burned, drums beaten, guns fired, and other noises made. Often, by such
means, a plantation is preserved from destruction; but when the columns
once alight, no device avails to save the plantation from speedy
desolation.

This locust or grasshopper is generally from two and a half to four
inches in length, but specimens sometimes appear five inches long; and
it may be conceived what an enormous amount of food such monsters must
consume.

PART TWO, CHAPTER THREE.

RUINS OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

In all parts of Central America are found numerous signs that the
country was, in bygone days, inhabited by a numerous population far more
advanced in civilisation than the tribes which peopled it when first
discovered by Columbus and his companions. In Yucatan and Chiapas,
especially, ruins of numerous houses exist, with elaborately carved
monuments and large buildings, bearing a remarkable resemblance to those
of Egypt and Babylon. Throughout Nicaragua and other districts many
remains--such as tombs, monuments, and edifices--are found, as well as
carved rocks, which were probably the work of a people of still greater
antiquity than those who inhabited the first mentioned region.

Dr Seeman describes some rocks near the town of David, in Chiriqui, on
which characters are engraved similar, or indeed absolutely identical,
with inscriptions which have been found in the northern parts of the
British Islands. The rock is fifteen feet high, nearly fifty feet in
circumference, and rather flat on the top. Every part--especially the
eastern portion--is covered with incised characters about an inch or
half an inch deep. The first figure on the left hand side represents
the radiant sun, followed by a series of heads with some variation.
These heads show a certain resemblance to one of the most curious
characters found on the British rocks. They are followed by
scorpion-like and other fantastic figures. The tops of the stones on
either side are covered with a number of concentric rings and ovals,
crossed with lines. He considers them to be symbols full of meaning,
and recording ideas held to be of vital importance to the people who
used them, and whose names have become a matter of doubt.

In the district of Chontales, a vast number of ancient tombs are met
with in almost every direction. They are found in plains having a good
drainage, such as was generall