St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1885-08-01

luou reversing ran up ABOUT the same
grade and distance in the other direc-
ton, presenting series of acute angles
like an enormous rail-fence. just as
Mr.. Whitehouse was turning one of
these corners, where the slope of the
mountain side was almost perpendicu-
lar, his horse stepped upon a rotten log,
which concluded to roll down the prcci-
pice. and he and his horse went too.
Nobody saw this decidedly novel aero.
batic adventure. 1t was too dark to see
your hand before your face; we were
creeping along. feeling our way step by
step, with arms outstretched to prevent
contact between the trees and our
heads.
After making what may be called a
cursory examination of the surround
ings, Mr.. Whitehouse clambered up the
bank. where a council of war was held.
and it was determined to postpone fur
ther operations on that line until day.
light. So we sat down around fire
and discussed things until the light
began to filter through the forest. Then
the climb was resumed and we got out
OF the woods Just in time to see the sun
rise out of what looked like world full
of soapsuds. The mountain rose like
an island in a shoreless sea of clouds.
great banks of foamy vapor rolling and
plunging in the wind that always rises
with the dawn, as the surf does on the
shoals. 1t was picture one does not
often see, and there are no words in my
vocabulary that will convey an adequate
idea of its appearance. If one could
fill the world with foam like that which
hovers over the foot of Niagara Falls it
would look something like it.
The wind was sb.tter cold, and it
swept over the volcano with fierceness
that penetrated our very bones. but the
suns rays were hot and piercing. and
soon burned out the clouds, in which
the wind assisted, and the picture
turned into scenic panorama which
has few equals in the world, Below us
was spread out all Costa Rica, and the
surf -fringed shore of two oceans. Sky,
sea and lands were one vast rainbow.
mingling tints of blue and green, and
and the most unpoetic eyes could not
behold it without awe and wonder
Mountains seemed to hang in the air
as the clouds surrounded them. long
lines of unbroken forests stretched
away into mirage which seemed to
show the earth inverted, the fields of
sugar-cane, a brilliant, livid green.
looked like strings of gigantic emeralds
on the earth's bosom, while the yellow
fields of corn, half harvested, resembled
sand hills. rolling and weltering under
the tropic sun. Here and there were
clusters of houses, with white churches
rising in their midst, and streams link
ing them together like silver bands.
Far off on the horizon, which sur
rounded the picture like a circular
frame, it was difficult to tell where the
sky and the ocean met, their colors
imperceptibly. We would not
have known the two seas were there
had not the expectation of a view of both
the Atlantic and the Pacific from the |
same point been one of the objects of !
the climb. this being the only spot in |
the world from which both oceans are
visible. The guide said he could dis
tinguish the sky from the water. but / |
could not, and only knew that the seas
were there because the lines where the |
dark green forests ended and the blue
began were broken and irregular.
Following the crest of ridge of
oumice stone and ashes, which had
been thrown out in ages past. and were
Is regularly piled as If the hands of men
lad dumped them there. we looked
lown on one side into a gorge three
housand feet deep, to the foot of which
! stone would roll without meeting an
and on the other into
'asin formed by the mountain side, and
he heaps of ashes that lay in regular
vinrow around it-a basin about five
undred feet deep and quarter of mile
cross from the top of one bank to the
op of the other. The bottom was
oney-combed with craters, where it
,oked as if the earth had broken through
a irregular circles. There were seven
r eight of these craters. some of them
old. the last and largest having
pened within the memory of living
len. The older ones were black and
alf filled with ashes cast from those of
tier origin, while 1.-THE new enc" as it
called-perhaps a quarter of a centu-
Y oid-was bottomless as far as we
ould see, and its walls were yellow with
llphur and white with half-burned
mestone 1t was dangerous to 60 near
le edge for the banks are concave,
nd thin crusts of earth reach over ]
lem; but we cast huge stones over and
card them strike the sides of the crater /;
J they went down into an abyss which /.
ian has never measured. How long
ley were in reaching the bottom and l
hat they found when they got there (
ould be interesting to know, but this !
,lcano has never been scientifically ex.
mined. and very few people have ever {
sen to the crater's edge. {
We were glad we went while we were
own there, but were sorry when we I
led to 90 back, for the walls at the {
asin are loose ashes, light and flinty,
1d our feet snnk into them almost to {
le knees. 1t was fun coming down. I
iding and leaping into the soft SUBJ t
ance, but going up it was task that
times seemed to be beyond endur- 7
nee. The ashes were fresh and crisp,
ad there was no sign of vegetation for q
distance of a thousand feet or more I
own the outside bank, against which
le wind was constantly blowing, ~
nd where one would think it would {
dge dust and seeds from the +
rests so near and so numerous. The U
all of ashes arose at least 500. and in &