El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-14

which Joins the North and South
American continents. Costa Rica is the
lowermost country of our grand di-
vision. It borders on Panama, and lust
nov a marty of American Scientists.
headed bv Mr. John Hayford. the emit
nent geographer and scientist, is map
ming the boundaries which are now in
dis5ute ON the north is Nicaragua
and San lose where I am writing lies
in the center of the highlands lust
about half way between The coun-
try. all told. contains little more than
| & mn SQUARE miles. 1t is Just twice
the size of Vermont or New Hamp-
shire II is twice as big as Maryland.
more than half as big as South Caro-
lima. about one third the area OF Hin
OILS ana more than two times that OF
Massa chusetts.
Thu most of Costa Rica, as I have
ssid is made up of these highlands.
Tbe1 are so broken that they remind
one of the illustration which one of
the explorers of the days OF Columbus
gave to the king OF SPAN 10 show
Hsfi that man took a sheet of paper
and crushed it. up into a naIl IN mis-
hand He then pulled II apart and
threw it. all wrinkled ana crumpled,
On .ev S1,1 MAJESTY. Haiti is like that"
well. the same may be said of Costa
Rica From one end to the otner II is
a mass of great wrinkles and 1olds,
but the soil Wnlcn 1llls ny I-4o :" ltHAiSs
and covers the folds is composed of
volcanic ashes and mud, and is one OF
the richest soils upon eartn- the
land will produce both temperate ana
tropical fruits. Most OF the country
is SO high above the sea that the
climate is perpetual spring, and as far
as the weather goes, II REMINDS one
of that inscription which was carved
on the marble room in the palace OF
Delhi: ;. .
tbisI II is this. It is this"
Climbing Central American AndeS.
But we can see the country better by
taking a trip from the Atlanuc sea
coast up to this highland city OF San
Jose. The northern railway, which is
leased by the United Fruit company,
starts At Port Limon and climbs right
over the mountains It IS almost ~
miles to the top Of the pass ana n
that distance we ascend almost 5000
feet The road then goes down IN the
neizhborhood of 1000 feet to the CAPT
tai. leaving US at about three quarters
of a mile over sea level
There is now another road which mas
been continued down the western side
of the mountains TO the PaclIlc- mat
was completed only last year, and II
has given the country railroad trunk
line from ocean to ocean The Iare
on the Northern railway is about
cents a mile and freight rates are
comparatively high. The road is
narrow gage. but the roadbed is well
baIIasted, and as the locomotives and
other rolling stock were made IN
America. the trip is quite comfortable
Leaving Port Limon,-we &c out into
the jungle, and for some miles skirt
the Atlantic, whose silvery waves are
rolling up on the shore On our left
are many cocoanut groves, the trees OF
which are so close TO the cars that
the nuts might fall down and crack
the heads of the brakemen- After
awhile We come to the banana estates
and ride for an hour or so through
a dense forest made up Of these wide
leafed rustling green plants They
reach as high as the cars and are so
close that we can almost pull the
fruit from the stems We see them on
on they viii be carefully corded up
and transferred to the cars
AS we go on the land rises We
stop at Madre de Dios. and a little
later reach the valley Of the Reventa-
zon river, an emerald green stream
which flows down the wild valley
which forms the greater part of the
route to the highlands This river
winds in and out. now passing through
gorges between great walls of bright
green One bend is known as the
DEVILS Elbow, and above this are pre-
cipitous green walls a thousand feet
high The track winds along the
sides OF them. and as you look up your
and rooted by the sky. Except for
its green tint the water of the river
is beautifully clear, save where II rolls
over the stones. foaming and dashing.
Transforming its emeralds to silver.
a Botanical Garden.
And then the vegetation. Our way
up the mountains is through botani-
cal garden more gorgeous and more
beautiful than the famed creations of
Java, Honskong or Ceylon. The
plants change as we rise and we have
hundreds of flowers and trees the
names Of which we have never heard
and which few Americans have ever
seen
The first part of the journey is
through palm trees Further on we
find tropical giants Of other arboreal
varieties with trunks as big around as
a flour barrel and 100 or 200 feet
high. The limbs of some are covered
with vines and their trunks are
wrapped with long Iiamas or vege-
table ropes which extend TO the gvound
and root themselves to the earth In
places these IiSuas have vines con-
aected with then, and the trunks of
the trees seem to be draped in cloaks
or mantels 18th great hobble skirts
of bright green.
I wish I could picture the orchids.
They cover to dead branches and
hang from the live ones They are of
several hundred varieties and now ana
then we see one in flower. There are
other air plants of every description,
and, in short. such a dense mass OF
strange luxuriant and beautiful vege-
tation including flowers, trees and
vines, that the eye alone can compre-
bend its great beauty. It is impos-
sible for the pen to describe it.
The andes of Costa Fica.
The splendor of the mountains cor
responds with the vegetation. I have