The farmer and mechanic., 1912-09-17

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reach the valley Of the Reyentazon
IL er, an emerald green stream which
l1oWs down the Wild valley which
ioFms NE greater part Of the route
70 the highlands. This river winds
IN and out. now passing through
SorSes between great walls af bright
green. one bend IS known a. the
DeFll Elbow. and above this are
preGipitious green walls. a thousand
feet high. The track winds along the
SIDES Of them and as YOU look up
your View Is bordered with emerald
cilfts and rooted by the sky Except
Tor its green tint the water Of the
river is beautifully clear. save where
Il rolls over the stones foaning and
uaSnlhs, Transforming its emeralds to
silver
\ Botanical Garden.
And then the Vegetation our way
up the mountains is through 4 botani-
cal garden more gorgeous and more
beautiful than the famed creations Of
Java. HongkOng 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 a. big around as
hour barrel and 100 or 200 feet
high. The limbs Of some are covered
with vines and their trunks are wrap
ped around with long hamas or vese-
ia bic ropes which extend to the
ground and root themselves in the
earth. In places these liamas have
vines connected with them and the
trunks of the trees seem to be dra pc d
IN clOakS or mantles with great hobble
skirts of bright green
| wish l could picture the orchids.
They cover the dead branches and
hang from the live ones. They are of
several hundred varieties and now
and then We see one in flower There
are other air plants Of every descrip-
| ton, and, in short, such a dense mass
| Of strange, luxuriant and beautiful
vegetation, including flowers, trees and
vines, that the eye alone can compre-
hend it's great beauty. 1t is impossi
BILE for the pen to describe it.
The Andes of Costa Rica.
The splendor Of the mountains cor
responds with the vegetation. / have
I travelled along the Andes from Pana.
ma to the Straits Of Magellan. The
| slopes Of the west coast from Ecuador
| to Valparaiso are ragged and rocky
and as bare as the most arid part:
Of the Sierra Nevades. They ars
bordered by the great desert which
beginning at the south end Of Ecuador
skirts the western coast Of the South
American continent for 1000 mile
and they are as dry as its sands
The Andes OF Costa Rica are covere'
with green and the green ends alOn
!; in the clouds. The air is full Q
moisture, and there are clouds every
. where. They chase themselves alon
the green canyons. They nestle i
ha 10 Of ho foi
their tops. They blow up to the rail
road cars and envelop US in mist, an
a moment later the locomotive an
, train shoot out into the pure air be
/ yond.
l. wish I could show you the wind
, ings Of this Northern railway track a
, it goes up the hills. 1t has not We
: been discovered by the tourist VIII
! flies off every summer to Europe t
see the Swiss Alps, but in many re
. spects it is equally grand with the raj
ways Of Switzerland and the more ir
a ter resting because it is almost ur
: known. The road winds about lik
q corkscrew as it climbs up the Ger
. trail American mountains. 1t ha
= horseshoe curves more wonderft
than those of the Pennsylvania raj
; road-curves which are sharper an
rounder and are more like FhOrseshO De
in fact. Moreover, the hills rise abov
,. these curves for hundreds of feet, an
we wind our way about what seen
= | to be a mighty cul-e-sac OF the dense
I Of green. At times we are half va
!, up the sides Of a gorge and by lool
!, ing down and following the lines
y the horseshoe we can see the Revel
: tazon river splashing its sifvery foa
L as it rolls over the bolders In or
}, place the eye can follow the silver
streak for many miles.
: Among the Coffee Plantations.
r There are but few towns on II
road up the mountains. They a
. mostly shacks of one story with Il
= = roofs overhanging so as to cover
= porch in front and behind. Outsi
: the porches the average house is II
: more than twelve feet square and I!
whole family lives in one room.
!. some places we see villages OF SUI
: houses, and rising higher we find I
- comforta BILE little country homes
s the coffee planters. The plantato
IS deN oted to coffee are 1000 or 80
oh ho