Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-10-27
RAMBLES In COSTA RIGA.
THE OLDEST CITY IN CENTR4L
AMERICA.

Life in Spook-Haunted Abode
Dreadful Doings OF II.azu,
the Great Volcano.
lspecial Correspondence of the NEoozD. UNION. |
CARTAGo Costa Rica), Oct. II, 1888.
In his quaint book, Mikrokosmos,"
Peter Heylin tells us that the Spaniards OF
the conquest called Nicaragua the Para
disc of Mohammed;" and, with equal
right, later wanierer has named Costa
Rica The Arcadia CT the Poets" Rat
Ting down into the Czrtago valley on top
of rickety diligepoia, one no longer won
ders that those early adventures forget
their native land, The cold black and
white of ink and paper can give you lit
tie idea Of the grandeur of les mountains
and the gorgeousness Of tropical coloring
at their base of the emerald meadows
serried with sparkling streams; the wave
! ike, wooded hills scanned with red cart
roads; the immense vermiIlIon-
farm houses, buried in rich foliage; lus-
cious fruits growing wild by the wayside,
blossonliEg vines rioting everywhere, and
liluitsess stretches OF those delicate floral
fayorites which require careful culture in
Northern greenhouses, here fourishing
spontaneously; while environing ali and
disso}ving in the mellow light, tower the
leaeseMe peaks of the Central Range
In the middle Of the valley a broad la
econ glitterS in sunshine, and along its
reedy margin tall white cranes stalk cem-
posedly, and scarlet-breasted famingoes
lazily pursue their fishing. Beyond this
shallow lake are the oblong pasture
grounds called portreros, into which the
remainder of the valley is divided, each
marked off with hedges of coral-bean, cacti
and pineapple.
Beyond the portreros are the low mount
aims of Aqua Cahente (warm water), and
overlooking the latter are the Candellaria
groups, while far beyond the Candellarias
rise the sapphire nights of the Andean
chain-shadowy at this distance, but
grandly asserting their sovereignty. The
Aqua Caliente hills derive their name
from the tepid springs that bubble at their
base from a creyice of quartz and oxyhy-
drate of iron. Being situated within two
miles of the ancient capital, from time
out of mind these springs have been fire.
. quented by Costa Rica's distempered aris-
tocracy, the bitter waters having been
, found eficacious for gout and rheumatism
Though now dismal wreck, the old
9 city of Cartago must once have been
> charming Founded nearly four centuries
. ago, it became royal capital under the
Spanish crown, second to none in the new
! world Musty records are still preserved
in its archives, which prove it to have
q been tlourishing in great splendor as early
E as 1850. That redoubtable Briton, Thoma;
. Gage, who visited these parts in 1886, and
declared himself to be the first Protestant
: who ever came here, says in his queer
n "Book of Travels" that in his time the op
ulent Cartagoans traded directly with thC
~ | Peninsula.
c But if ever a place was swarHed with
4 ghosts Of vanished greatness, it is the Car
. tago Of to-day. Its once magnifcen
: streets-wider than those of San Jose-arC
n now cold, drowsy and deserted. Scarcely
), a soul is to be seen in them, except when
. at rare intervals, some Egyptian-like figure
Y glides slowly along amid the sepulchra
Il silence, carrying an overiiowing tinGia bal
Il anced upon its head Monstrous masses o
lava stone, hurled about in every direction
q heighten the forlorn aspect and testify t.
4 the terrible temper OF Irazu, the great vol
"a cano which overshadows the town.
g Before the traveller has fairly set his foo
&c on Costa Rican soil he hears d great dea
" about this awe-inspiring volcano, at who's
= base Cartago is builded, and of the mis-
o. chief and terror it has caused. He hear
10 how, in 1773, for more than two months, i
l 4,
70 with the rush of subterranean river, open
= ing its fearful jaws now and then to rol
forth pillows of smoke how dwellers OF
a. the nearby slopes and in the valleys IA
I, below were stihed to death by its sulphur
NJ Gus exhalations and how, at dead G
= night, it sheeted the skies with flame an,
Il hurled balls of fire aloft, till for mile
~ around it grew more fiercely bright tha1
~ ever in the hottest day at noon; how 4
one time a vapor rose out of the seethin
~ gulf, white as cotton and shaped like
=, bended bow, till at the hight of two lance
to above the crater it assumed the form of a
fe enormous palm-leaf, remaining suspende
n in the air while one might say an IA
nt Marie, then slowly returned to the shap
: of bow and sank into the witches caul
dron beneath. Had this phenomenon oc
70 Cured OF Palm Sunday, what a fund c
3G tradition it would have afforded. As
~ was, however, the good priesthood OF tn
ss vicinage did not misimproye the opportu
- ;, nifty to point moral and adorn a tale 70
70 the benefit of the superstitious.
- They tell us that the rumb!ings OF til
"a volcano grew louder and louder, till the
~ ~ struck the bewildered ear with the force {
- - ten thousand forges all at work. Then red
i, hot bowlders-scori@, multiplied in vol
-, ume-gushed from the fiery furnace, turn
- - ing all the lakes and rivers to seethin
> mud uprootng trees and buildings fror
the palsied earth, and burying almost con
y pletely the scorched and backened city be
80 meath burning dust. If one wishes to rea
I. - the minute particulars of these dreadfr
a, happenings, they may be found in the off
.9 -,1 cial report Clearing date March a. 172s
- made by the Royal Governor, Senor Do
! Diego de la Haya.
- The earthquakes caused by this vor;
10 cious monster, Irazu, have been frequer
~ and severe There was one in 1855 an
~ ne another in 1922, both of which overture
H. H. Cartago. The last of consequence was
-, 1S41, when $50 testified Senior Telesfal
~ Peralta, Governor of the Proyince) full
~ one-third of the population of the city
which at that time was computed at IL, ,5C
lay buried for hours beneath the wreck
>, their homes. Astonishing to relate, onl
L. sixteen persons were killed outright
o. statement not SO incredible, when we r.
:. member that the one-storied cases, made
" adobe, easily resolve themselves into ii
r. parent dust At that time every house
er the town but one was demolished. Th
c. one that was left deserves to stand 70
I'd ever, for in its courtyard is still tfou
;H ishing, green and beautiful in its old ag
- the parent coffee tree of Costa Ric
" planted there in 1878 by Padre Valvord
r. Irazu has four distinct mouths. In oil
u of them sturdy oaks are growing, so gnarlt
ie and lofty as TO lead TO the conclusion TIL
to not less than two thousand years hay
elapsed since this crater first opened
least, that is Baron Won Humboldfs opil
ion, given in his account of the volcan
o., phenomena of Central America. Anoth'
- of the mouths now forms considerab
~ lake, the source of the river Reomlazo
"a the e,bouchure Of which, according
al Thomas Gage, was a resort of great con
~ mercial innortaucc rs far back as 1886