The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-10-29

This is the business center@of F soou
costa l1ca, and the merchandise ia
.~A.,eu from mere up the rivers and
90 the settlements along, the coast.
Aaroor or Punta Arenas Is ex-
cellent, and when the canal is CON-
pieteo 1t IS believed that this port
VIII nave a considerable trade. The
own Is now on the boom. rne prices
~ real estate have already Increased
ABOUT 1000 per cent, and the peo-
pie eNpcct great things when the ,
steamers from the Atlantic SHAH cove
across the isthmus: to them.
hosy One Lives at the Seaside
but. let me tell you how one Il. ..s !
nero a. this Costa. Rican resort. Take |
the Hotel Europa, which, as / have |
said. is about h best mere. have |
described the bare wallis Of my. room.
and its outlook upon the Pacific. The
only furniture is an iron bed, a wash
stand and two Fickety chairs. l7pon
the Washstand is a. solitary. towel.
have a right to one towel every day
II !! so demand. but no change is
pitcher is: OF. about the size Of a lager
beer schooner 1t may. hold one liter,
but it is not. always full. ] am AL
4 napkin a. week, and this has
been changed only. upon my request.
There seems to. be a constant mix-up
OF PHI and I am now protecting
"S'CH Al SfC0L - On tIt
/ mot i'll which mine is tied at each
meal. - -
The eating here is awful The
| regular breakfast, which I take at Z
a. m, consists OF. q cup Of black COT.
fee n hot milk, with some crusts Of
dry bread. Butter is furnished, but
this is so u~nspeal5ably bad that=1- do
not eat. it. :. Legs: ARE. lan extra: md: l
| pay IL cents for each. one I-0r3er,:
They are OF the scrambllng. variety.
It is risky to try them soft boiled. 1
piece out my ~breakfast with some
jam which I .buy-at. the store.
La Europa serves luncheon. between
IL and IL. This consists of a soup.
q fish and a heefsteak,. with rice and
potatoes. or one. can have eggs with
out extra charge. Between s and I
O'Clock in h evening they have: "a
ond breakfast. It consists OF. a. soup,
Of fish, some meat and II dessert. The
dessert always, consists of preserves.
The country is full of ripe bananas,
furpe, andc-! by .shrdlu shrdlu D
pineapples and oranges. but no fresh
buy some In the. market and bring
my own fruit to the table.
The Ubiauitous Buzzard.
In fact, there Is about only one
hin which is free in Punta Arenas
This is on hand at all meals and 1
might say at all other times. I refer
to the ubiquitous buzZard or Vulture
which iS the scavenger Of Costa Rica.
l met him first in the capital, where
he walked into my room at the hotter
and necked at the sofa. ] have seen
him everywhere else. and here on
the sea coast his name Is legion. L
can see forty vultures rOOstinS on the
roof about me as I am writing this
letter. They>sit on the fence as I eat
my breakfast and tleir dead, sleepy
eyes seem to De weighing the meat
on my bones and wondering how 1T
would taste il served i'll true Vulture
fashion. a tlifle high.
buxzards here as there are people.
The great birds are protected by law
and they take the place Of the gar
bage wagons Of Panama, 90 not
like them. They carry me back to
Bombay. and the great white towers
OF silence, upon which the Parsees lay
t out their dead, whereupon uhese oiros
: pick the bones clean.
? Tho New TranScontincntal Railroad.
I came to Punta Arenas upon the
newest Of the anscontlnenta ralI-
roads. There are now lines connect
) Ing the oceans. all the way from the
1 Grand Trunk Pacific, IN Canada,
which ends at Prince Rupert. to that
which joins Buenos Aires to Val
? paraiso at he southern end OF ,ne
!homlSpneEe. Inc SHOI lCot
+ 49, rna az Panama. and next, per-
: hans. that at T~ehuantepec. This new
) road in Costa Rica, which was com.
pIeted last year, connects with the
{ Atlantic railway at San Jose: n runs 3
down here to the Gulf OF NicoSa-.
! mstes he line from ocean to ocean
: a little over one hundred and eighty
: miles long. and it is one OF the scenic
rontes OF tho world. I have already
: !described the tropical beauties OF the
: Atlantic slope between L'1non anu 4he
;. f1imaIava mountains and the jungle
on the western slope the land Is
q now a. dry almost as the Rockies
d The fields are parched ana nrow ~1
1890. and rktrts Thirsty Y
= scme Of which are q thousand Zee