The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

who inhabit the jungles az the base of the
ranges regard the flower with awe and SUI
perstition, and have been taught through
countless generations that to touch 1t in
tcntionally would bring an everlasting
curse upon the luck kss one who thus
tempted the fiends supp bsed TO dwell with
in the great mountains whence II springs
The Indians regard the crater of steaming
Fuego as the doorway Of hell, and this
wonderful flower grows near its mouth
mence strange legent which holds that u
Is only flower or ornan tent produced where
evil spirits revel in furious fire. The
superstition which ttributes the origin
of the flower to the demons of hades Is
hard to trace, but the Indians have known
the prodigy of natur for a long time. It
appears and have always associated It
with the fiery veng eance of the subter-
Tanean regions. They look upon the curl
Gus flower as the most deadly of poisons,
and experiments ma de by boiling the bark
and placing q small quantity of the fiuid
in water for animals to drink have proved
It to be such deaths resulting quicAly
and apparently wi thout pain.
A most PECULIAR characteristic of the
Rose of He'll Is that 1t grows only upon
The two mountains above mentioned and
only on the sides facing the town of An
tgua, which ranks as the fifth city in size
in the republic of Guatemala. Over a
years prospecting, by Gray and Ivcrs
among the mountains failed to reveal
single tree or flower of the strange species
anywhere else, and Il seems altogether
probable that not one could be found on
the face of the earth out of sign, of
Antigua, and even there they are ex-
tremely rare, there being probably not
more than fifty trees.
1t would seem that no more fitting place
Tor the revelation of such wonder could
be found for the town of Antigua is prob
ably more peculiarly situated than any
other in the world, being constantly
threatened with utter destruction by two
elements, fire and water On the one hand
is the Aqua, or water volcano. ~. 3sD
feet In hight, and on the other Fuego. or
fire" volcano. towering $500 feet above
sea level Each of these has laid the city
In ruins. Aqua has for centuries been ex-
tinct, and In i54i, after a season of I'M.
usually heavy rains, when it's vast crater
was flooded, the rim suddenly burst d.
rectly above Antigua, and the town was
doomed. A furious avalanche of water
rushed down the steep mountain side
sweeping everything before It, and bury
Ing Antigua deep beneath great heaps OF
mud and debris, where about every inhab-
liant found his grave. II Is related how
that but one tree remained. a magnificent
specimen, under the shade of which the
Spaniards had assembled before building
the city. The native legend holds that this
was Rose Of He'll tree, and that seems
sufiicient reason 20 them why the place
was buried by the demons. The volume
of water In the crater at that time Is estf-
mated to have been 100000 cubic feet
Antigua was rebuilt as the capital of
Guatemala. and then, in 1773 came Fuegos
turn. IL suddenly belched forth smoke and
flame, and frightful earthquakes overthrow
all the buildings in the city. Vapors have
been emitted from Fuego's crater. at in
tervals ever since. In 1888 Il was in a
state Of eruption. and the Indians hear