The farmer and mechanic., 1912-09-17
THE SWITZERI AND OF
CENTRAL, AMERICA
rank H. Carpenter Describes Beautiful Costa Rica As
Little Republic Without Revoutons-Its Big Busi-
ness IN Bananas and Coffee-Strikng Pictures of
Scenery and Life in Little Known Land


they can be cultivated almost to the
tops
Down at Port Limon it is hot. 1t
is SO tropical that the natives cannot
lapor on account of the climate and
Jamaican negroes have been brought
IN to do the hard work Higher up
we snail find the people cream white.
Ihey are the descendants of the
Gallclans, hardy and intelligent
race from north Spain, who are far
superior to the descendants Of the
Spanish Of other parts of Central
America, and also to those Of the
SCouth American continent. They
are an independent people, and the |
most or them are property owners,
ana liberty lovers. They do not be-
lleVe IN revolutions ard for more than
generation they have had continuous |
peace. This can be said Of no other |
Central American state
The Republic in Nutshell.
But before l take you on the trip |
up the mountains let me put this lit
Tie land in nutshell. You know
where it lies. Considering Panama as
the hinge which joins the North and
South American continents, Costa
1tica is the lowermost country Of our
grand division. 1t borders on Pana-
ma, and just a party of Ameri-
can scientists, headed by Mr. John
Bayford, the eminent geographer and
scientist, is mapping the boundaries
which are now in dispute. On the
north is Nicaragua, and San Jose
where l am writing, lies in the center
Of the highlands, just about half way
between. The country, all told, con-
tains little more than $4,000 square
miles. 1t is just twice the size Of
Vermont or New Hampshire. 1t is
twice as big as Maryland, more than
half as big as South Carolina, about
R.fh ha Of nd
more than two times that of Massa-
chusetts-
The most of Costa Rica, as 1 have
said. is made up Of these highlands.
They are SO broken that they remind
one of the illustration which one Of
gave to the king Of Spain to show
him the character of the Island Of
Haiti. That man took a sheet Of pa
per and crushed it up into ball in
his hand. He then pulled it apart
and threw it, allwrinkled and crum-
pied. on the table, saying,
Your majesty, Haiti is like that
!, Well, the same may be said of Costa
Rica. From one end to the other it
,, is mass of great wrinkles and folds
. but the soil which fills up the
wrinkles and covers the folds is COM
, posed Of volcanic ashes and mud. and
Is one OF the richest soils upon earth.
. The land will produce both temperate
, and tropical fruits. Most of the coun-
try Is SO high above the sea that the
, climat is perpetual spring. and as
, far as the weather goes it reminds
one of that inscription which was
, carved on the marble room in the
palace Of Delhi:
III there is paradise on earth ii
Is this! 1t is this! 1t is this!''
Climbing the Central American Andes
But we can see the country better
by taking a trip from the Atlantic
, seacoast up to this highland city Of
which is leased by the United Frui
5 Company, stands at Port Limon and
! climbs right over the mountains. Il
2 is about ninety miles to the top Of
i the pass and in that distance we as
/ cend almost 5000 feet. The roae
8 then goes down in the neighborhoo(
d of 1000 feet to the ca pital. leaving u:
, at about three quarters Of mile over
q sea level.
q There is now another road which
g has been continued down the western
9 side of the mountains to the Pacific
IL That was completed only last year
. and it has given the country a rail
road trunk line from ocean to ocean
. The fare on the Northern railway il
0 about cents a mile and freight rate
are comparatively high. The road i
narrow gauge, but the rOadbed j
9 we'll blasted. and as the locomotive
- and other rolling stock were made il
America, the trip is quite comfortable
= Leaving Port Limon, we go out in
3 to the jungle, and for some mile
o skirt the Atlantic, whose silvery wave
:, are rollong up on the shore. On ou
:. left are many cocoanut groves, tn
;. trees Of which are SO close to the car
= that the nuts might fall down an
crack the heads of the brakemen. Al
. ter awhile we come to the banan
- estates and ride for an hour or S
- through dense forest made up c
p these wide -leafed rustling gree
"a plants. They reach as high as tn
n cars and are so close that we can a
10 most pull the fruit from the stem
d We see them cutting the bananas an
.e laying them on beds Of leaves by tt
"a tracks. Later on they will be care
fill nd frax rs q enred q