Page:The National geographic magazine, volume 1.djvu/405

 Under these circumstances the most observant engineer and expert woodsman may pass within a hundred feet of the base of a considerable hill and not have a suspicion of its existence, or he may be entirely unaware of the proximity of a stream until he is on the point of stepping over the edge of its precipitous banks.

The topography of the country has to be laboriously felt out, much as a blind man familiarizes himself with his surroundings. In doing this work the indispensable instrument, without which the transit, the level, and indeed the engineer himself is of no use, is the national weapon of Nicaragua, the machéte, a short, heavy sword.

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 cut- ting 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