Ch. III.] WILD IXDIAXS. 37 



houses are mostly palm-thatched lints, with the bare 

 earth^ floors seldom or never swept. The people are of 

 mixed origin, Indian, Spanish, and Negro, the Indian 

 element predominating. Two or three better built 

 stores, and the quarters of the military governor, redeem 

 the place from an appearance of utter squalor. Behind 

 the town there are a few small clearings in the forest, 

 where maize is grown. Some orange, banana, and plan- 

 tain trees exhaust the list of the productions of San 

 Carlos, which is supported by being a calling place for 

 all vessels proceeding up and down the river, and by the 

 Ulleros or rubber-men who start from it for expeditions 

 up the Rio Frio and other rivers. "We found there two 

 men who had just been brought down the Rio Frio 

 by their companions, greatly injured by the lianas, up 

 which they had made their ladder to ascend one of the 

 rubber trees, having broken and precipitated them to the 

 ground. I learnt that this was a very unusual accident, 

 the lianas generally being very tough and strong, like 



O * O / O O 7 



great cables. 



Most fabulous stories have been told about the Rio 

 Frio and its inhabitants ; stories of great cities, golden 

 ornaments, and light-haired people ; it may be useful, 

 therefore, to relate what is known about it. 



The Rio Frio comes down from the interior of Costa 

 Rica, and joins the San Juan, near where the latter 

 issues from the lake. The banks of its upper waters are 

 inhabited by a race of Indians \vho have never been 

 subjected by the Spaniards, and about whom very little 

 is known. They are called Guatuses, and have been 

 said to have red or light- coloured hair and European 

 features, to account for which various ingenious theories 



