The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-11-22
RIGA LETTER
Life and Death in the Amer
lean Tropics.
MANY SIGHTS IN SAN JOSE.
Gruesome Stories of the Plague in
Costa hica's Capital-Campo
De Marte-Etc, Etc

SAN JOSE, Costa RIGA, Novem beT 4th,
1888. Especial correspondence Of THE
HERALD Being sgain 10 this bright
little capital, probably for the last time,
let US devote day to looking up the
various attractions neglected in pre-
vious visits. Suppose We b gin with
the Campo de Marie, the most popular
resort of the Vicinage, which is to San
Jose what the Bots de Boulogne is to
Paris, Central Park to New York, or
Paramount to Philadelphia. 1t lies a
mile and a half from the city, reached
by a broad and well-paved avenue,
drained by deep trenches running
parallel with it, and shaded by lofty
hedges of cacti and eucalyptus, behind
which thousands of coffee trees faunt
their scarlet berries and breathe forth
fragrance.
The Campo itself is perfectly levsl
plain, several hundred acres in extent,
carpeted with the greenest. grass and
intersected Dy lines uf thrifty ny trees.
Its SURF ounded on all sides by wealthy
haciendas, with their orange groves,
parIiroes, and plantations Of pineapple
and sugar-cane. A little beyond the
white walls of Heredis glitter against
the bare, brown slopes of the Sierra
Barba; and behind that huge volcano
whose fires have long been extir-
guished in a lake of unknown depth
the azure peaks of Poaz sparkle in the
sun, Swallowed on the southern side by
the lottiest mountains of San Miguel.
Every afternoon, the Campo de
Marie is the resort of carriages and
the scene of fashionable equestrianism;
and here may be seen the beauty and
the chivalry of Costa Rican society IN
their best clothes and company man
ners." The annual f1oweI-snow is held
here; and occasionally some patriotic
celebration or religious fresta; and
twice every year it is the arena in which
military encampments and reviews
take place. These aforementioned &C
casions are most momentous, and Call
out the entire population of the city.
Then, the troops are handsomely uni
formed, the officers especially being
perfectly heart smashing in the BRAY
cry of blue frocks faced with red. their
sWalthy faces and flashing eyes well set
off by the red shakos topped with scar
let pompons. The remainder OF the
year, however, the only regulation in
force concerning the costuming of the
Costa Rlcan army seems to be the clean
shirt-on-Sunday ordinance.
Among the handsome villas close at
hand, one of the prettiest is called The
Labyrinth" and is open to the p bile.
The roomy casa is backed by a luxuri-
GUS garden, and in the garden q spark
ling fountain throws Its waters Tito
three reservoirs. Thest tanks-faced
with cemented brick-se Ya for baths,
the first mine feet deep being for the
use of gentlemen; the setold (seven
feet deep) for ladies and the third (only
three feet deep for children. Walls OF
decorous height surround them, and
there are shady corridors wherein the
baLhers may lay aside and resume their
habiliaments, and be served with cups
of coffee or chocolate. ..
Between this Labyrinth and the
Campo de Marie, lies the only Protes-
tant burial ground in Costa Rica. Its
consecrated qparter-acre is snugly
walled, and screwed to the WICKET of It's
iron barred gaze is metal plate, Dear
ing this inscription:
This CEMETERY
was granted by the government of Costa
RIGA, Ia February, A. D $780,
At the request of Senior Frederick Chatter
held, charge d'atfaiIs of Her Brittanic
| Majesty
For know that my Redeemer liveth, and
He shall stand in the latter day upon the
earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy my body, yet in my flesh shall see
God; whom l sh all see for myself, and mine
eyes shall behold, and not another, though
my veins be consumed within me-
Though nearly forty years old, the
little crmelery is not over-crowded, nor
is it likely to be within the present CEN
fury. Most of the grass-grown and
brambIe covered graves, being those of
wandering strangers, nave no head
stones, and though q record of all in
terments IS kept in the chapel, it is so
obscure that the most diligent search
failes 10 identify one of them.
Even sadder than those neglected
mounds since the dead do not need
our tears-are some of the carefully
tended plats which speak of buried
hopes and tender remembrances. One
in particular. in secluded corner,
hidden from the main pathway by in
tercepting trees, tells it's own story OF
love and grief The closely cut sod
above 1.-The low, green tint, whose cur
tain never outward swings" is friDged
with wide border of blue torger-me-
no,s, aud upon the srotless shaft ap-
pear these words:
NARY
and our infant son.
Though life and love make fearful inter
cession, Death conquerS after all"
Close by the Campo de Marie, On the
side opposite this Protestant God's
acre, Is. the old Catholic barial place
which for more than thirty years has