The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-01-15
UP THE AWFULIRAZU
A COSTA RIGA VOLCANO WITH
AN EVIL RECORD.
Days Ride Mulebsck-Crater'o of This Mon
ster is $4,000 Feet Above he5sea-Exper
fence of Some Americans Who Spent q
Night T here


1
yielding SAND, which makes every step 6
mighty effort, partly from difficulty of brsath i.
Ing at so great an altitude But all YOUR mi
Is amply repaid when at last you stand uoor
1razu's bald head, Il, 900 feet above the ocean
with clouds rolling and tumbling $50 fea
below on every side. completely hiding the
earth.
Night in the Crater.
| The blue vault above looks verv near anf
you feel an overpowering, awful sense @:
standing alone in the universe face 20 face
| with the Infinite.
On clear day you may see both the At
lant1c and the Pacific at one glance. This is
the GROWING recompense of the ascent n.
| 1razu, but it is not vouchsafed to everybody,
John L. Stephens attained it and described III
1erVld' words how he stood on the bleak ridge
ABOVE lrazu's crater and looked out wide over
| the remote world. The main crater is an
Ampnltneater, 1900 feet In circumference and
6oO feet deep, with ragged, broken walls, the
descent OF which is rarely attempted. Goina
down Is easy enough, like falling from grace
! IN moral sense, but to get up again is more
olmcult matter, by reason of loosened rocks
and sliding lava sands. A couple of young
men from Cleveland, Ohio, with a native
guide, spent a night in this crater about
three years ago. They built roaring fire OF
cedar brush away down in the bottom, which
LII up the great, gloomy cavity-a faint re-
m'nder OF days OF long ago, when volcanic
nres shot heavenward and streams Of molten
lava coursed down Its sides. With their boots
for pillows, they lay down in their blankets
and long before morning realized that Jack
frost visits even in the torrid zone, If you
CHIMP nigh enough to find him. Irazu ap-
pears 10 be possessed Of those excellent traits
which We admire in men-a warm heart and
clear cold head. One of the Clevelanders
relates his morning experience as follows
TIMING win
as we climbed out Of the crater, revealed to
us another panoramic view, grand and i'm
posing, but not so infinitely beautiful as that
OF the evening before, when the golden light
OF the setting sun, behind the rolling bill
lows OF clouds, made fit carpeting for angels
to walk on, sea of crimson and gold, bound
less as the blue vault Of heaven"
Living Betwixt the Sky and Sea.
Toward the east, rosy in the morning light
the dim outline Of the Atlantic Law along tbs
horizon, and to the west a silver InreaI
marked the waters Of the Pacific. To the
south, in the valley far below, lay dozen
towns; to the north, valleys and noun tain
ranges stretched away far as the eye could
reach, and beneath our feet little pu!fs OF
smoke curling up here and there from VOL
canic assures plainly betokened subterranean
unrest Climbing back into the heart of Irazu
we spent the hours until noon photographine
the smaller craters and rolling rocks into
their yawning depths, black as midnight
Crashing like artillery when first started, in
q moment they would be lost forever.
Our experience on the summit Of Irazu was
far less satisfying We had only few min
utes to stay, in order to give us time to get
down to the haunts Of man before nightfall,
and from the cold, silent, desolate height on
which we stood nothing was to be seen but
wilderness of whitest clouds. an illimita BILE,
frozen sea. Now and then the f1eecy masses
shifted and some isolated peak or surging
ridge OF another mountain chain suddenly rose
up and glittered, like an island newly dis
covered; then sank again into the ocean Of
cloud that obscured the world.
We spent that night in herders hut. half
way down the mountain side, but quite mar
enough to the sky to keep ones teeth chatter
ing with cold In spite of blankets and brush
fires. The mud howell Of our hos: clings like
birds nest to deep ravine. It has no OPEL.
Ing but the door, no furniture in its one zig
room but rude table, bench, picture c!
the blessed Virgin. and some oxhide stretci-
ers, which serve the rather numerous family
Tor beds. Yet happy husband and wife live
here, and with them abides Love, the heaven
~ guest. Their children play contentedly
near the brink Of the precipice, and wee baby
creeps to the door and gives you a smiling
welcome. FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD