Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-10-13


try that ride. am accustomed to the sad
die and usually make an aggregate Of
thousand or fifteen hundred miles every
winter over the bride paths about Wash
ington or in the mountains Of Virginia.
They are the smoothest of polo grounds
compared to our scramble up this volcano.
The ride by daylight was even worse than
that in the dark, for here we could see the
dangers before Us and the trail was far
rougher. 1t was right through the mighty
woods, and the greater part Of it consisted
Of steps cut out Of the precipitous hills, so
slippery and muddy that the ponies at times
put their feet together and slid down them.
No American horse would have risked it,
but these Costa Rican ponies are like goats
and they seem to use their heads in their
climbing. verify believe, with the aid OF
Bedouin guides. that they could easily make
their way up the pyramids. and Floeckher,
who has never ridden before, says that he
will bet money he could ride his horse up
the steps inside the Washington monument
or go on the trot down those of the national
capitol doubt not he could. In some
places the steps up and down are Of the
height of table and often they equaled
that of a chair. aa.
At the Crater.
Nevertheless, the only time the horses
held back was when we came near the era
ter. The air there was full of birthstone and
they objected to the sulphurous fumes.
Many people do not ride near the crater for
that reason, but we kept on the edge OF the
abyss and made our way along it over path
covered with white volcanic ASH At the
same time strong wind was blowing from
the lake of sulphur below. 1t sent the
birthstone into our faces, and it was only our
raincoats that kept us from being drenched
by it.
Indeed, we did not have the best view OF
the crater, and there was no eruption during
our stay. The crater is about 1000 feet
deep as we could see when the clouds lifted.
Its walls are steep, ragged and scanned. At
our first coming it was one great bed OF
clouds little later we could see the
gorges in the sides covered with pumice and
volcanic ash, and could make out the lake OF
sulphurous acid lying below. This lake is
yellow at the edges and yellowish green
scum covers the center. There is always
some smoke coming out OF its surface, and
in an eruption from near the middle the
whole lake seems to burst into the air. The
noise is accompanied by rumbling, and as
have said the volume Of vapor often carriel
with it mud and stones. The vapor often
assumes the shape of an umbrella, and the
ashes have been carried far out in the Paci-
fic ocean. On fine days it is possible to get
=, 1oko hit not
SO during our stay.
Leaving the active volcanic lake, we
climbed thousand feet further up the
mountain to the Laguna Fria or cold lake,
and there stopped for our lunch of jam,
crackers. canned tongue and biscuits. The
upper lake is of about the same size as the
acid crater below, put the water is as pure
as that Of the Adirondacks, and without a
sour taste The water Of the first crater
tastes like strong vinegar.
In the Tropical Mountains.
wish could show you the vegetation
through which we rode on our way over
Poas. The mountain is covered with mag
nificent trees, some Of which are as big
around as a hogshead and $50 feet high.
They are mostly hardwoods, and are knotty
and 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 thick, and great boards
Of frostel silver moss hang from the
branches. When the sun shines upon these
they seem incrusted with diamonds.
And then the bamboos, the ferns and
palms! There were ferns Of hundred va
rieties. some As fine as the niaidenhair and