The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-06-26


days later, we reached Puntarenas-the
only Pacific seaport of Costa Rica
Puntarenas is pretty little town III
GROVE of cocoanut trees. The streets
ore wastes of deep sand, bordered Win
orange trees loaded with yellow iruit'
mo bouses are white and most OF them
aro only one story high. The one hotel
oe tho Mace is by no means palace, the
or,v accommodation / could obtain De-
inc a bedstead with no mattress III
room whose walls reached only halt way
nm To the ceiling-no, there was no cen
~. ahove me was the tiled roof through
whose cracks / watched the stars uh.il
fell asleep. At o'clock | was awaken
oil nv the growing of roosters-appaIen0
~ hundreds of them. Central America
swarms with the most energetlc rooslcl'
- tbo world. and cock fighting IS MI
tional sport even more popular than pu'l
syht;nc revolutions and other bloody
A. II o'clock l left Puntarenas IN a
snecial train. as the guest OF MI. TereA-
yeladon. a Costa Rican official, VINO WIS
TorroerIv Minister in Washington. Inc
scenery along the way was eXceeulhsiS
tronical and picturesque, the natlVe nuts
of ham-hoo. matched with palm leaves,
ho;no esnecially interesting. Most OF the
GARDENS instead of being surrounded
Nth fences. were bordered with huge
cacti-many of them fifteen feet high.
A. Esparta we were most Hospitality
entertained for several hours by Mr..
NIatamoros. the superintendent of the
railway. who has the reputation OF beiils
= stounch friend of the United States.
Indeed | found the Costa Ricans gen.
orally well disposed towards us, though
everywhere else in Central America pun
lie opinion seems to be at present bitterly
Snanish-the Monroe doctrine beng 10
those people very much like slice OF PIE
To a small boy, something to be enjoyed,
but hardly worth being grateful lot
Costa Rica is the best governed, the
most progressive and the wost prosper
ouS of the Central American republics.
At length the mules were brought be-
fore the door. Mr. Zeledon's black, mine
chestnut. and the guides gray. Ihen
followed the hustle of strapping on SAD
dlebags, tightening spurs, looking TOE
forgotten pieces of baggage, shaking OF
hands-and away we went, the chestnut
mule appearing to its inexperienced rlder
terribly volcanic in its movements. Pdss-
ing through the struggling village we
trotted through beautiful, rolling coun-
try. exceedingly fertile and much OF II
cultivated Large fruit trees bordereu
the roads in many places manages Win
dense foliage, orange trees beautlfui WIN
their dark green leaves and golden Daiis'
and many other trees and bushes pear
ing fruits luscious in appearance, but
insipid in taste. Strange to say, the
natives care little for their oranges which
nTnfpT
mangoes which have strong taste of
turpentine and are so juicy that the only
place where they can eaten with COM
fort is in a bath tub.
Tn this more elevated part Of the
country the cactus is rarely seen, its
Mace as a garden borderer being taken
by a species of the pineapple plant known
as the pinnela.
After riding about ten miles we sud
denly entered the path of rain storm
from the mountains which caused us
with considerable enthusiasm to seek
refuge in a native hut. The house con-
sisted of one room and shed, for botn
.. which Mother Earth supplied the
Aoor. Without dismounting we hurried
into the shed, causing great commotion
among the chickens and pigs when ned
IN terror into the inner room.
In one corner of the shed-room stood
q modest bedstead, in another anroX cart
whose spolxeIess wheels each conslsteu
of single circular slab of wood. 4
rough bench completed the furniture OF
the apartment. From the door OF the al
Joining room two extremely lightly
clad children peeped at us, while their
harefooted mother and sisters BUSTED
ahout preparing a modest dinner OF san
cocho a sort of thick vegetable SOUP
and fried bananas.
When at length the rain ceased we
hurried on until we reached San Mateo
where we stopped for the nightsd the
vt,age inn. The inns in Central America
ara NOT. as / have already intimated, as
GOOD as they might be, and that night at
San Mateo think / shall never forget
In the first place the heat was almost
Sitting and. as several guests We're
crowded into one room, sleep was I'M
possible. although we were exhausted 10y
our rough ride. Accordingly at O'CLOCK
we were ready for our coffee and shortly
afterwards we were again on the road
moving cautiously through Egyptian
darkness and trusting blindly to the
sagacity of the mules We were among
the mountains, and our journey soon be
came a scramble up rocky hills and down
into deep ravines through which noun
tain torrents rushed and roared in q
manner doubly terrifying owing to then
being hidden in the darkness. At one
place on approaching a narrow bridge
| heard the rumble of an OK cart and
attempted to force my mule to the right
to avoid possible collision but in spite
Of a liberal application of the left spur
the animal took stand as firm as that
of Fitz James in his defiance of Roder-
lex Dhu. Becoming convinced that there
might be- some reason in his obstinacy
! gaZed down into the darkness until
my eyes became somewhat accustomed
to il. Then my hair showed an inclina-
ton to rise on end, for / found that the
mules feet were within twelve inches
of a precipice at the bottom of which 2
mountain stream was churning itself t.
foam on the rocks. From that moment
have regarded the much maligned mule
as a embodiment of sdgacity and various
other virtues, and / at once took off my
spurs.
Up, mp, up we went by zig-zags until
when the sun rose. we were at the sum