The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-07-11
VOLUME XVI.

'he Wlnu assisted, and the picture
turned into scenic panorama which
has few equals in the world, Below us
was spread out all Costa Rca, 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 bang 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, lfvid 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 circular
frame, it was difficult to tell where the
sky and the ocean met, their colors
blending imperceptibly. We would not
have known the two seas were there
had not the expectation of 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
n a-l
began were broken and irregular.
Following the crest of ridge OF
pumice stone and ashes, which had
been thrown out in ages past, and were
as regularly piled as if the hands of men
had dumped them there, we looked
down on one side into a gorge three
thousand feet deep, to the foot of which
a stone would roll without meeting an
impeachment; and on the other into a
basin formed by the mountain side, and
the heaps of ashes that lay in a regular
wlnrow around it-a basin about five
hundred feet deep and quarter Of a mile
across from the top of one bank to the
top of the other. The bottom was
honey-combed with craters, where it
looked as if the earth had broken through
in irregular circles. There were seven
or eight OF these craters, some of them
centuries old, the last and largest having
opened within the memory of living
men. The older ones were black and
half filled with ashes cast from those of
later origin, while "the new one' as it
is perhaps quarter of a centu-
ry old-was bottomless as far as we
could see, and its walls were yellow with
sulphur and white with half-burned
limestone. 1t was dangerous to 90 near
the edge for the banks are concave,
and thin crusts of earth reach over
them; but we cast huge stones over and
heard them strike the sides of the crater
as they went down into an abyss which
man has never measured How long
they were in reaching the bottom and
what they found when they got there
would be interesting to know, but this
volcano has never been scientifically ex.
amined, and very few people have ever
been to the crater's edge.
We were glad we went while we were
down there, but were sorry when we
tried to 60 back, for the walls at the
basin are loose ashes, light and flinty.
and our feet snnk into them almost to
the knees. 1t was fun coming down,
sliding and leaping into the soft SUBJ
s.anoe' ou, gong up IL was task that
az e'ine ~ seelileo 10 De beyond endur-
an1e. me ashes were iresh ana crisp,
.'n 1;a .iele was no sign Oh vegetation Tor
q uraea nv VI d thousand leet or more
t uo" II .iie o'..siue oank, against which
ano ,, Minu was constantly blowing,
49, wnele one would thlnk 1t would
500 ous' anu seeds from the
, VII IS 81 o.h hear anu so numerous. Inc
"%m u snes Goa at s at least ooo and IN
S W. p , wv lee1' around the crater.
W., w. no ~ tt very marked odor OF sui
p p,ai ~ ."e oia'er WINE we were there,
a.. ,lna 9ul suiue, VINO craWiea close 10
. .he 800 reporteu vapor coming from
.ns oG.'o =. ~ NV lhe rest OF us couid not
rs peiooeo i'' mere were many evidences
~ ieoon. uiscnarges' however, one OF
a. -, IS ioss plosoun 1 peinS tne pres
, 49, =, naAes VI sulphur on the ground,
snoa 4h inu ~ nave oueh aeposlted there
''I 7, !; .ne Ia aaS' rainfall.
,oao ~ sne Preyailins tneory among
iooa, ailaleur scientists mat the live act
, nao.a aJ'o t u costa hlca are con-