El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-14

middle the whole lake seems to burst
into the air. The noise is accompanied
by rumbling, and as L nave said the
volume Of vapOr often carries with IL
mud ana stones. The vapOr often as
sumes the shape Of an umbrella, and
the ashes have been carried far out IN
the Pacific ocean. On fine days 1t IS
possible to get down into the crater
lake. but this was not so during our
stay.
Leaving the active volcano lake, We
climbed a thousand feet further up the
mountain to the Laguna Fria or cola
lake. and there stopped for our lunch
of Jam crackers, canned tongue ana
biscuits The upper lake is Of about
the same size as the acid crater below
but the water is as pure Is that OF the
AdirOndacks, and without sour taste.
The water of the first crater tastes
like strong vinegar.
In the Tropical Mountains.
I wish 1 could show you the veseta-
ton through which we rode on our
way over POas. The mountain IS COW
cred with magnificent trees, some OF
which are as big around as nO8s-
head. and $50 feet high. They are
mostly hardWoOds, and are knotty ana
gnarled. with limbs twisting about IN
every direction. The air is so moist
that the trunks are covered with moss
of bright green an inch or so timex,
and great boards Of frosted silver
moss hang from some Of the branches.
When the sun shines upon these they
seem incrusted with diamonds
AND then the bambOOs, the ferns and
the Dalmsl There were ferns of
hundred varieties. some as fine as the
maidenhair and others tree ferns, each
a single stalk as big around as
mans arm at the biceps, rising TO a
height Of fifteen or twenty feet and
bursting out into lacelike green fronds
at the top. There were gorgeous tloW-
ers the names of which I know not
One made me think of a cross be-
tween our gOldenrod and the sun
flower. The blossom Of this on its
long stalk was even with my eyes as
I sat on my pony. I pulled some now
and then. The scent was delicious
Among the floral beauties were the
orchids and other air plants. There
were tens Of thousands of bushels of
these aristocrats OF the plant world to
be had for the taking. They covered
the dead limbs and nestled in the
joints of the live ones. Many OF the
trees were entirely covered by them,
and in some places the orchids were III
flower. forming a mass OF purple yer
low or white blossoms Of the most eE-
duisite shapes. There were also Ianas
which fell straight from the branches
hundreds of feet and rooted themselves
in the earth. There were thick vines
which wrapped themselves around the
huge trunks as the snakes wrap the
LAGOON in the famed statue at Rome
Some of the vines had vanished leaves
like the holly and some bore flowers
The mist added to the beauty Of the
woods, and the perpetual tripping
from the trees reminded me OF the
wonderful rain forest of the Victoria
falls on THE Zambezi, the African Nj
agara. There were also open places
during the ride and at these the sun
came behind us and painted little rain
bows on the mist Some Of the rain
bows were not more than 200 feet
long and I felt like whipping up my
pony TO find the bags of gold at their
ends.
At a Costa Riean Dairy.
Coming down the mountains we
stopped at the Lecheria, outside which
we had expected to sleep in our bags,
or, in case Of rain, to have taken
bed on the boards within. 1t is lucky
that we chose san Pedro. The rooms
were filled with dirty cows and the
floors were unspeakable. A sucking
calf was tied on the porch of the shed,
and near it a razOrbacked hog slipped
Stop while we slipped our coffee. The
milk was scarcely sanitary and the
shed was not as good nor as clean as
the ordinary pigpen OF our country.
We made our way from here down
to san Pedro, and there had a fairly
good dinner. 1t consisted Of soup, an
omelet roast chicken, a custard and
q cup of hot coffee. The soup was OF
cheese, macaroni, rice and eggs all
mixed up together. and the omelet was
somewhat flat and a bit leathery. The
meal was sauced with hunger. how
ever, and it was not at all bad after our
long. long day in the saddle. We slept
there that night, the boards in some
magic way changed by the fatigue Of
the ride into comfortable beds, and in
the early morning rode back to Ala
Juela, where we now are.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.