El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-26

always full I am allowed a napkin
a week, and this has been changed
only uDon my request. There seems
to be a constant mixup of napkins,
and I am now protecting myself By
writing a great c on the knot IN
which mine is tied at each meal.
The eating here is awful The reg
ular breakfast, which 1 take at a. m.
consists of a cup Of black coffee and
hot milk, with some crusts Of dry
bread. Butter is furnished, but this
is so unspeakably bad that 90 not
eat it. Eggs are an extra and pay
u cents for each one order. They
are Of the scrambling variety. 1t IS
risky TO try them soft boiled. piece
out my breakfast with some jam which
1 buy at the store.
La Europa serves luncheon between
II and u. This consists Of a soup,
fish and a beefsteak, with rice and
potatoes, or one can have eggs with
out extra charge Between and.
o'clock in the evening they have
dinner which is much like the second
breakfast. It consists Of a soup, OF
fish, some meat and q dessert. me
dessert always consists Of preserves
The country is fun Of ripe bananas.
pineapples and oranges, but no fresh
fruit is served. except upon order /
buy some in the market and bring
my own fruit to the table
The ObiquitOus BuzEard.
which is free in Puuta Arenas. This
is on hand at all meals and 1 might
say at all order times. I refer to the
ubiquitous buZzard or Vulture which is
the scayenger Of Costa Rica- I met
him first in the capital where he
walked into my room at the hotel and
pecked at the sofa. I have seen him
everywhere else, and here on the sea
coast his name is legion can see
40 vuitures rOOsting on the roof about
me as I am writing this letter. They
sit on the fence as eat my breakfast
and their dead, sleepy eyes seem to
be Weighing the meat on my bones and
wondering how il would taste If
served in true vulture fashion, a trifle
high.
I verify believe there are as many
buZzards here as there are people. The
great birds are protected by law and
wagons Of Panama. I do not like
them. They carry me back to Bonn
bay, and the great white towers Of
silence, upon which the Parsees lay
out their dead, where upon these birds
pick the bones clean.
New TranseontinenfaI Railroad
I came to Punta Arenas upon the
newest Of the transcOntinental rail-
roads. There are now lines connect
ing the oceans, all the way from the
ends at Prince Rupert, to that which
joins BuenOs Aires to Valparaiso at
the southern end Of the hemisphere.
The shortest railroad is our line at
Panama and next perhaps, that at
Tehuantepec. This new road in Costa
Rica, which was completed last year,
connects with the Atlantic railway,
at San jose, and runs down here to the
Gulf of NicOya- It makes the line
from ocean to ocean a little over $50
miles long, and it is one Of the scenic
routes OF the world. L have already
described the tropical beauties Of the
Atlantic slope between Limon and San
Jose. They compare with the Hlma-
lava mountains and the jungle is
quite as luxuriant. Z
On the western slope the land IS
now as dry almost as the Rockies The
fields are ParChe1 and brown, and the
railway winds about over dry gorges
and skirts thirsty canyons, some Of
which are a thousand feet deep. APP
preaching the Pdcil5c the rainfall in
credses and within a short time the
land is jungle again. The trees are
magnificent, and among them are ma
hOGanies, which are being cut for our
furniture markets. Now and then we
pass an orchard Of oranges or a field
Of bananas. The fruit is brought to
the stations and we can buy seven
oranges for 2 cents of our money.
This road to the Pacific belongs to
the Costa Rican government and it IS
operated at considerable loss. 1t
is poorly run and the cars are un-
comfortable. They were pprobably
made in Costa Rica, for they look as
though they were cut out with
Ratchet. The distance from San Jose
to Punta Arenas is So miles. but the
train was six hours on the way, max
ing an average of less than u miles
an hour.
Indeed, the transportation methods
all over the country are exceedingly
primitive. The most common means
of travel is on horseback, and much
of the merchandise is carried on pack
trains. The country is wild and noun
famous, and the soil is such that 1t
washes easily and falls off in flakes.
During the dry season the roads are
filled with clouds CT dust and at the
time Of the rains they are rivers of
mud They are very much the same
as the roads OF northern China, con-
sisting Of bitches, cut by the wheels
to a certain depth of IS OF 20 feet,
with high side walls OF dry, soft earth
on each side.
On the Coffee Plantations.
7 am told that there are excellent
coffee lands in this part of Costa
Rica. They lie about 1000 feet above
the sea, some distance back from the
coast, and will probably be opened up
TO settlement when the canal is COM
pleted. I have already written some
thing Of Costa Rica coffee. The coun-