TIIE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: OCTOBER- 13, 1912.
5-B
Co&a
Ricas
Famous
Volcano
and Its Vinegar Lake
ill
ass
ft
I
(CopyrlKh, 1912, by Frank G. Carpenter.)
HAVE just returned from the
hardest volcsnlc trip of m
life. As a toy, before the
cog railroad was built, 1
climbed up through the lava
ash of Vesuvius and came
thin an ace of being killed by a rhango
the winds which threw some ot th
red-hot stones at my feet. I know thb
volcanic mountains of the Hawaiian Is
lands, and have climbed up the famous
Tenger, ' the largest volcano ' In f Java,
which has the Bromo, another live vol
cano, lii Its crater. I have seen Strom
boll and Etna In eruption and have made
something of a study of seism'c condi
tions In the earthquake land of Japan.
My other experiences, however. wen
nothing like the climb up the Poas vol
cano, which Included a ride of more than
vfifteen miles in the saddle of a Costa
.Rican pony over what I believe U one
of the wildest and hardest mountain
trails of the world. ,
. Foas anil Its Kyer.'
4 I doubt is many of you have ever heard
of old Poes.' Nevertheless, it is one of
the most wonderful volcanoes of- Centra!
Ameiica. It belongs to the volcanic belt
of Costa R!ca, which Includes Turrlabla,
over two miles in the atr; Orosl, at the
extreme north end of the country, and
- Irazu, which is more than eleven thou
sand feet high and has had over a half
dozen eruptions, accompanied by earth
'quakes, which have been felt in the city
of Panama. . (.. '
The Poas volcano has two or more
!, craters, and each is over a mile In clr
. cumference. ' It has one which is on the
, very top of the mountain filled with a
nfe0o nf Mna pnM wsitpr.and fturrnunded
j . by, semi-tropical vegetation. It has
ti another, which is as ragged and bare as
tho shores of the Dead sea and down
w hlch' you look Into a lake of acid, from
'wh'ch shoots up the greatest geyser on
V Vtti tit. a i muca mio bcjoci ojvuw cui j
'few minutes. At other tlmesr it is quiet
, y (for a long period and again it will throw
' a column of sulphurous steam thousands
I of feet into the air. About two years
ago it shot up a great volume of mud,
vapor and rock to a height above Us sur
faces of more than two and one-half
. , 'miles. The distance to which the column
r i reached was estimated at over 13,000
,.. feet. At the top the steam spread out
, like a mighty umbrella over the mountain
and stones as big as cannon balls fell,
-. breaking trees and limbs and going deep
J into the ground. At that time there was
" ,an earthquake which threw down many
1 of the buildings in San Jose, and this
was followed by a second earthquake sev
eral months later by which the city of
'Cartago was brought to the ground, and
about 600 human beings killed In the ruins
A Right at San PcUro.
Tbe Jfirst part of our journey' was not
extraordinary for Costa Rica, but it
jwould have been worth a description had
It been made farther north. The party
consisted of myself and stenographer,
Mr. Carlisle Floeckher; my interpreter,
!mx. be Soto, and a guide whom we picked(
up at San Pedro. We came from the
'capital, San Jose, to Alajuela on. the rail-
i road, a distance of about twenty miles,
'and there packed our. outfit, on horse
back. We ad raincoats blankets and
' sleeping bags, for we were expecting to
JTlV out in the open with the winds of the
'Andes howling about us. We wore heavy
i clothing and had on our pajamas over
our underwear and also chamois1 jackets
1 ' (inside- our coats. Our blood la thin from
our stay in the tropics, and we needed
, all we had on when on top of old Poas
to keep us from freezing."!
. Very ' fortunately, however, we were
,t 'able to dispense 'with our sleeping bags
'by staying at a little inn at San Pedro,
.about two hours' rtde from this point, and
'starting from there at 2 o'clcnk In the
i morning. I shall not soon '.irget that
night at San Pedro. My flesh is soft from
Jthe spring mattresses which Uncle Sara
furnishes at Panama, and the San Pedro
bed was a board. There was no light but
a candle, and so we lay down at about 8
' o'clock. I counted the hours rung by the
church-bell " until midnight, and" then
'dropped off by taking the covers and lay
ing them under hie to soften the boards.
The IS tarn of Costa Btcn.
It was Just 2 o'clock in the morning
when the guide called us, and half an
I hour later we had had a cup of hot cof
fee and were on our way up the moun
tain. 'We rode at first through' the star
light We could see the Great Bear turned
(upside down as It-seems to be here, at
ithts hour, and also the Southern Cross
at the other end of the heavens. The stars
" iwere wonderfully clear. . The milky way
shone" brighter than at home, and the
wnoie ' vault or tne Buy wim its mynaa
points of diamond-light fitted .close. down
over the' mountains. :.' Indeed, the" night
was so beautiful that it reminded me of
What line where in Marlow'a Dr. Faustus
he - speaks of the charms of his lady
llove- ; , . ',. s '. ...
iOh thou art fairer than the evening air,
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars!"
.But had Marlow been oh Poas he would
rups, lest in case of a fall I should bs
dragged. We climbed up hill and down
and finally came Into a canyon, which
seemed exceedingly perilous. Out of this
we crawled up into the open, where a
stiff wind was blowing. The. region was
wild and hillocky. It was seamed with
earthquake cracks and gullies ' down
which 'the horses would almost go on
their noses, and up ' which they would
climb like the ponies of the Alps.
I.oitt cm Mount I'oaa.
All this time it was growing darker
and darker. The land was full of stumps
and down timber, nd the guide, who was
scrambling along upon his bare feet, fell
again and again. . I could keep track of
him only by his white straw hat, which
he carried In his hand. This made a faint
light for 'a tune, out at last even the
hat was Invisible. Then to crown it all,
the man stopped and said he had lost his
way. Ha advised us that we had better
wait there untlLdaylight, as some of the
earthquake cracks were exceedingly dan
gerous. He said, however, that the path
could not be far off. and I insisted on
our trying to find it. I got off my horse
ana.tr ed to make my way over the gul.
lies and the fallen trees and stumps,
but I was more often on my face than
my feet.; I soon became winded and then
concluded I would rather die on the back
of a horse than on foot. So I got on
again and threshed my steed Into action
Then the saddle girth broke and I slid
oown to the ground. Fiosckher lost . first
his. hat, and In trying to find that hi.
horse disappeared, and" he went along for
a time upon foot.
After a while we got the horse and
started on again, finally reaching a path
on the edge of the woods after manv
climbs over logs. The wind had now died
away and the guide used a candle by
which he finally brought us thromrh
gullies to a shed known as the Lecherla,
perhaps two hours from the crater.
It was now daybreak, but the clouds
were thick on the volcano and the mist
fell in drops like rain. It is strange how
one's mind works at such times. My
memory went back to the lessons of my
boyhood, the committing of vhlch one of
my ancestors, a sainted United Tresby.
terlan doctor of divinity, enforced upon
his children to the second and thir op
eration and I found myself rehearsing
parts or the xviii Psalm, Rouse's version.
lou may remember the verse.
Yes, though I walk through death's dark
vale.
Yet shall I fear no ill! "
For Thou are with me, and Thy rod
And staff me comfort still!
I also hummed that other fine psalm,
which seemed to just fit Into the occa
tlon: '
I to the hills with lift mine eyes,
From whence doth come mine aid,
Mv safety cometh from the Lord,
Who heaven and earth hath made. .
Thy foot He'll not let slide,
Nor will He slumber that thee keeps.
The Lord that keepeth Israel
He slumbers not nor sleeps.
Indeed, It would need the Lord to keep
any man's foot on the ' mountain of
Poas, If he had not one of the little
Costa Rican ponies to lift him up and
down. . . .
Ride Would Surprise Roosevelt.
I should like to see Theodore Roose
velt try that ride. I am accustomed to
the saddle and usually, make an . aggre
gate of 1,000 to l,50f miles every , winter
over the bridle paths about ' Washington
or In the mountains of Virginia. They are
the smoothest of polo grounds compared
to our soramble up this volcano The ride
by daylight was even worse than that In
the dark, for here we could see the
I
Toas Volcano Cclzzmn i.?a7a 0022 iwo'isziZialfMdlci
dangers before us and the trail was far , covers the center. There is always som
rougher. It was right through . the
mighty woods and the greater part of it
consisted of steps cut out of the precipi
tous hills, so slippery and muddy that
the ponies at times put their feet to
gether and slid going 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. I verily 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 capltol.
X doubt not he could. In some places
the steps up and down are of the height
of a table and often they equaled that of
a chair.
At the Crater.
Nevertheless, the only time the horses
held back was when we came near the
crater. The air there was full of brim
stone and they objected to the sulphur
ous 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 a path covered
with white volcanic ash. . At the 'name
time a strong wind was blowing from
the lake of sulphur below.- It sent the
brimstone 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
seamed. At our first coming it was one
great bed of clouds. A little later we
could see the gorges and volcanic ash,
and could make out the lake of suphurous
acid lying below. This lake is yellow at
the edges and a yellowish green' soum
One of Dippell's Song Birds
whole sky was peppered with stars, and
leach one' seemed a planet -' V 'V.
Shortly after' we left the hotel we had
'a magnificent view of this valley of the
upper Andes, in which Alajuela, San. Jose
I land other towns lie. San Jose waa lighted
:' jby electricity, and it seemed a great
"1 'golden lake on the star-lit expanse be
j't jlow us. :
" For the first few miles the road was
y Ifalrly good. We passed, through sugar
jand coffee plantations, and by rude fac
i jtories which with lamps or candles the
men ' were already grinding the cane.
(They start at 1 o'clock in the morning
&nd at about 8 have enough juice to boil
(for the day. , "
! Climbing Vv the Volcano.
So far all was peaceful enough and as
j.; jwe rode rapWly along on our Costa Rican
' ponies, I thought of the remark of the
'j .British conusi at San Jose that the ride
l 'was a hard one and I rather sneered at
liis judgment, saying to Floeckher, "Wfoy,
; 'my boy, this is a cinch. It Is like riding a
'; ,rocklng horse over the Washington aa-
4 :phalt." : - .: . .. , .,' . -
ij , I wa soon to find my. mistake. We
I shortly left the road and took a trail
:,- ,'over the mountains. Senor de Soto, wnn
1 venture is a descendant of the man who
l discovered the Mississippi, and the guide,
a peon rained Roja, agreed that, we had
h 'better fike a short cut over the hllis as
it was M dark to go through the woods.
'Ws 'dkd thjs and came at once 'into a
Wric-s of ravines - and gorge, so deep
t that we could not see our horses' heads in
,. front of .u. Vv ' ''?
4! In the meantloM ;tlu eiouda had ob
' . rscured the stars, a nilst1 rose, and the
' - tcllffs .seemed to extend op- on, all sides.
' (We forded several streams and I was
'.warned to put only my toes la the itir-
Sty : ; - i
t"'A "J f Hi '
v...:9i.iy.,i, Y.s... '
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. . - . AT.TCTC 7RPPTT.T.T i
In the "Secret of Susanne" at the Auditorium Thursdays October 17.
ANGRY SURF UPSETS BAPTISM
' 11 . ' ' .' l. ' . .,. i
Atlantic Wave Hand Lively Time
, to Pastor : and His Con
-'.. . ' '. "vert.' '.: ' '
Members of the .Mount Carmel Colored
Baptist church at Arverne, Long iBland.
met at the. foot of Remington ' avenue,
in Arverne, to see the baptism of Den
Ford,, of. 21 North Carlton avenue, by
Rev., L T. Harrell, their past6r.' ; Mem
bers of the Bhlloh Colored Baptist church
or Rockvllle Centre ' met at the aaroo
place for the Immerslnn of Lucy Clary of
Rockvllle Centre by her pastor, Rev. J,
w.. 'Dudley, '';:- ;' -:',' ; 1
Until, the time appointed for the ban-
tlanial . oeremony the two converts and
ina ; members of the two congregation
waiting to give them the right hand nf
fellowship strolled In the sunshine along
the boardwalk. The- candidates retired
to a, bathhouse and changed their gar
ments for, long, flowing robes. ' Their
past6rs then led them -under the board
walk out Into the water. ?' ' , -Pastor
Dudley,' holding the hand of his
candidate for baptism, went first They
encountered a heavy see, .combing the'
beach under the boardwalk, where, ordi
narily the waves lap gently. r But," fear
lng naught, they proceeded out to where
the water was waist-deep, " the pastor
Immersed the woman once and then
again, but the second time he dipped her
both were caught on the crest of a big
wave. and the preacher lost his hold of
the woman. The . woman, having lost
her' footing, was swept seaward on the
outgoing wave. After a desperate strug
gle the pastor caught hold of her robe
and dragged her to land. New York
Times. - "
Persistent Advertising is the Road to
Big Returns.
smoke coming out ot 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 I have said the volume of vapor
often carries - with It mud and stones.
The vapor often assumes the shape of an
umbrella, and the ashes have been carried
out far out in the Pacific ocean. On five
days It Is possible to get down Into the
crater lake, but this was not bo during
our stay. ,
Leaving the active volcanic lake, we
climbed 1,000 feet further up the mountain
to the Laguna Fria or cold lake, and
j there stopped for our lunch of jam, crack
ers, cannol tongue and biscuits. The
upper lake Is ot about the same sixe as
the acid crater below, but the water Is
I as pure as that of the Adirondack!, and
without a sour ttste. The water bf the
first crater tastes like strong vinegar.
In the Tropical Mountains.
I wish i could show you the vegetation
through which we rode- on our way over
Poas. ,The mountain is covered with
magnificent trees, some of which are as
big around as a hogshead, and 150 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 cov
ered with moss of bright" green sn inch or
so thick, and greut beards of frosted sli
ver moss hang from some of the branches.
When the sun shines upon these they
seem incrusted, with diamonds.
And then the bamboos, the ferns and
the palms! There were ferns of a hun
dred varieties, some as fine as the
maiden-hatr and others tree ferns, each
a single stalk as big around as a man's
arm -at the biceps, rising to a height of
fifteen or twenty feet and bursting out
Into lace-like green fronds at. the top.
There were gorgeous flowers the names
of which I know not. One made me think
of a cross between our golden-rod and the
sunflower. The blossom of this on Its
long stalk was even with my eyes as I
sat on my pony. I pulled some now and
then. The Bcent was delicious.
Among the floral beauties were the or
chids and other air plants. There were
tens of thousands of bushels of these
aristocrats of the plant world to be had
for the taking. They covered the dead
limbs and nettled In the Joints of the
live ones. Many of the trees were entirely
covered by them and In some places the
orchids were In flower, forming a mass
of purple, yellow or white blossoms ot
the most .exquisite shapes. There were
also lianas, which fell straight from the
branches hundreds ot feet and rooted
themselves In the earth There wert
thick vlnea which wrapped themselves
around the huge trunks as the snakes
wrap the Laocoon In the famed statue at
Rome. Some of the vines had varnished
leaves like the holly and some bore flow
ers. .. : 'a .
The mist added to the beauty, of : th
woods, and the perpetual dripping' from
the trees reminded me of the wonderful
rain forest of the Victoria falls on th
Zambeil, he African Niagara. Thers
v,ere also open places during the ride,
and at these the sun came behind; us and
painted little rainbows on the mist. Som
ot the rainbows were not more than 201
feet long and I felt.like whipping up my
pony to find the bags of gold at the!
ends.
At a Costa n lean Da try.
Coming down the mountains,. we stopped
at the Lecheria, outside which we had
expected to sleep In our bags or, In case
of rain, to have taken a bed on the
boards within. It is lucky that we chose
San Pedro. The rooms were filled with
dirty cows and the floors were unspeak
able. A sucking calf was tied on the
porch of the shed, and near It a raior
backed hog sipped slop while we sipped
our coffee. The milk was scarcely sani
tary, and the shed was not. as good nor
as clean as the ordinary pig pen of our
country. ' '.
We made our way from here down to
San Pedro and there had . a fairly good
dinner.' It consisted of soup, an omelet,
a roast chicken, a custard and a cup of
hot coffee. The soup waa of oheesa,
macaroni, rice and eggs all mixed up to
gether, and the omelet waa somewhat
flat and a bit leathery. The meal was
sauced with hunger, however,- and It waa
not at all bad after our long, long day
In the saddle. We slept there that night,
the boards In some maglo way changed
by the fatigue of the ride Into comfort
able beds, and In the early morning rode
back to Alajuela, where we now are.
FRANK O. CABKNTER.
r
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