The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-01-15
UP THE AWFUL j I. j: LIRIE,,A VI.
A COSTA RIGA VOLCANO WITH
AN EVILsRECORD. IA
Days Ride Muleback.-Crater of This Non
ster is $4,000 Feet Above the Sea-Exper
perience of Some Americans Who Spont
Night There. ~

cloVen forehead, or when he wells himself
In feecy mist, or dons a gorgeous sunset robe
OF rosy purple. You are told how, in the
year 1923, from the middle OF February to the
middle of March, Izaru never ceased roaring
and rumbling, as with, the rush of subter-
ranean rivers, at intervals opening his jaws
and rolling forth pillows Of smoke; how peo-
pie on the slopes and in the valleys far below
We're sti1ed by the sulphurous' exhalations;
and how at night balls Of fire were whirled
aloft from the crater, sheeting the sky with
flames, until it became for miles around moro
dercely bright than was ever known in the
hottest day at noon. All this, and much
more, you may read in the quaint official re-
port OF the royal Governor of that day, Senior
Don Diego de la Haya Of Carriage. He relates
now, at one time during that dreadful month,
vapor rose out Of the crater, white as cot
Ton and shaped like q Bonded bow; until, at
the height OF two lances, 1t grew into the
form OF an enormous palm leaf, which re-
manned suspended in mid air while one might
say an Ave Maria; then, resuming its former
shape OF Bonded bow, 1t slowly descended
and disappeared again within the boiling
gulf. How the rumblings Of the volcano grew
louder and louder until they struck the bewil-
dersd ear with the force Of ten thousand
1orges all at work at once, while red hot
powders and scoriae, multiplied in volume,
gushed forth upon doomed Carriage.
The Monster Has Four Mouths.
How at last all the lakes and streams were
turned to seething mud, the afflicted city was
buried under burning dust, and all its splen-
did churches and casas, uprooted from the
palsied earth, lay scorched and blackened in
utter ruin. Nor was this the first or last erup-
ton Of Irazu The monster has four mouths,
or craters, one of them so old that enormous
oaks grow in it, and Humboldt and other sci
entists say that more than two thousand
years must have elapsed since it was first
opened. Another of these craters forms a
lake which gives rise to the River Reventa-
zon, the embrochure of which, according to
Thomas Gage, was commercial resort as
early as 1926.
The earthquakes caused by this ill-tempered
volcano have been frequent and severe. There
was one in 1855, and another in 1922, both Of
which overthrow Carriage. The last of serious
consequences occurred in the autumn of 1912,
when, according to the official account of
Senior Telesfaro Peralta, Governor of the
province, fully one-third of the city's pop.lla-
ton, at that time estimated to be about Is 0OO;
lay buried for hours beneath the ruins Of their
homes. ."But, wonderful to relate" adds
Governor Peralta, "only sixteen were killed"
Wonderful indeed, but not incredible, when
we reflect that the one stored casas are most
ly of adobes, which easily resolve themselves
into the parent dust. Every house in the town
was demolished in that general shaking up,
except one, which deserves to stand forever.
1t is the old casa in whose courtyard Padre
Valvordi planted the first coffee-tree in Costa
Rican soil, in 1919. The venerable tree by the
way, is yet alive, though long past it's useful
ness, and continues to put forth few snow
white blossoms in their season. .-. -
In a Days Journey.
Now and then, to this day, the grim cyclops,
frowning overhead, grumbles and sends up
Nc ne poo1yo In
his is by no means a pipe Of peace. One
would think that the Cartagoans would heed
his threatenings and choose some safer site,
but, as Don Telesfaro Peralta writes: "Such
Is the love which the people of Carriage feel
for their native soil that they bear with pa
thence all these evils, and as often as their be-
loved city Is thrown down, they rebuild their
homes out Of its ruins" This remarkable
spirit OF stick-to "a tiveness seems to be
strangely true of the jewellers near all VOL
canoes. Think of the towns and villages on
the slopes of Vesuvius! Leigh Hunt, writing
OF Tore gel Greco, says that the Inhabitants
thereof have always persisted in constructing
their houses, over and over again, on top of
those that have been buried, thus keeping
up an obstinate but unavailing struggle with
one of the most fearful powers of nature. 1t
may be wise provision of Providence which
thus keeps the most forbidding spots on earth
Inhabited but with the good people Of Carriage
I believe it Is more matter Of laziness, they
being constitutionally too inert to strike out
and take root elsewhere.
You may easily ascend Irazu by long
lays journey on muleback, starting before
daybreak. l have several times gone up the
mountain as far as the highest hut in q few
hours pleasant climbing; but, not satisfied
with that, party was made up last week to
visit the crater, 10000 feet above the sea
While Carriage was yet sound asleep, we clat-
tered past the central plaza and up the slop-
ing street, for the ascent begins with the
suburbs of the city. ... -.-. .........
Harvests Without Labor.
A cobble- paved road, used chiefly by ma.
tives living on the mountain side runs
considerable distance, and then you strike
into devious paths, among thickly strewr
powders vomited from lrazu's throat in some
prehstc C day. Half an hour takes you ou
OF the torrid zone of oranges, aloes, pine.
apples, and bananas, to temperate regior
Of peaches, pears, blackberries, wheat, corn
and potatoes; and in the upper attitudes
away up in the land of the sky, the Their.
moneter SON etimes falls bellows 30 degrees
Fahrenheit. Nowhere else in tropical Amer.
lea can such contrasts in climate and flors
be found as in an hours ride from Carriage
up -1razu. The slopes Of the volcano are
particularly favorable for cattle grazing and
q strangely enough, while the plains below are
comparatively unappropriated, these steer
pasture grounds are carefully divided into
patches, each with its hut occupied by the
herGer's family. Quick, bright streams are
passed, hurrying to their work of watering
the valley, and .ucious fruits, growing by the
wayside. invite you to fill your saddle bags
HALFWAY up the mountain you see corn an,
barley growing with as much vigor as il
Illinois or Ohio. although It's cultivators ar
still scratching up the earth with Z woodel
pillow of the same pattern as those used il
Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs. The seet
once scattered broadcast receives no car
until ready for the harvest, which comes will
the following dry season. In gathering tn
corn, the ear is picked from the stalk ant
hauled to the adobe house, where it is spreat
cut to dry in the sunny patio, and then storet
away in the corners of the kitchen and unde
the cowhide beds for future use in the making
, of tortillas-the unleavened cakes that TAX
the place Of bread among the poorer classes
n all these countries. The field is now fire.
and the dry stalks and weeds are burned, tn
ashes forming the only fertilizer known il
the country
The possibilities of this incompatible ION
throughout the whole Of Central Americs
where the climate is absolute perfection fron
year to year, are yet in the cradle Of deyel
Opment. All the fruits Of the temperate zone
to say nothing of the cereals and vegetables
might be successfully grown with little ourla
and less trouble. and find ready market her
BIS luxuries. Apples command better uric