"The best of all natural history journals which have ever been published."—Charles Darwin, 1874. Beautifully illustrated and a pleasure to read, this classic book describes the geography, geology, ecology, flora, fauna, and native inhabitants of Nicaragua in the nineteenth century. Many of Belt's detailed and accurate observations were not confirmed until decades later—for example, the fact that certain plants have "standing armies" of ants that defend them.

Thomas Belt (1832-1878) was an English mining engineer and naturalist. He traveled widely, publishing papers on his observations, and worked for several years in Australia, in Nicaragua, and in Colorado.