October i, 1905.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



A GLIMPSE OF RUBBER PLANTING IN COSTA RICA. 



By the Editor of " The India Rubber World." 



OUR first sight of Costa Rica came at 5 o'clock one morn- 

 ing, when we sighted the low lying city of Port Limon 

 with its background of far away mountains. It was 

 nearly 8 o'clock before we made fast to the pier, and 

 even then it took us some time to have our luggage weighed 

 and the customs paid. The time came finally, however, when 

 we were free to walk down the long pier, through the gates, 

 and explore the town. 



Not only is Costa Kica justly called the Banana republic, but 

 Port Limon is a banana town and we fully appreciated it when 

 we saw the train loads of green fruit run out upon the piers, the 

 huge bunches dumped upon rubber conveying belts and carried 

 smoothly into the holds of the waiting steamships. The town, 

 moreover, had an alert air about it that was in no way sug- 

 gestive of typical Spanish America. It had no very pretentious 

 buildings, with the exception, perhaps, of the office building of 

 the United Fruit Co.. but it boasted two hotels and the " Gem 

 saloon," where all the men congregated, and beside that, almost 

 everybody spoke English. 



At 10 o'clock in the morning the thermometer stood at 90°, 

 the air reeking with moisture, the sky covered with evil look- 

 ing clouds. Nevertheless, the streets were thronged with a most 

 vivacious mixture of porters, fruit sellers, soldiers, Jamaica ne- 

 groes, Chinese, and native Costa Ricans. At 10.30 we boarded 

 the train that was to take us to the interior and rode for 20 

 miles through a flat, swampy country where even the native 

 Costa Rican cannot live, but where the Jamaica negro flourishes 

 and waxes fat. At intervals along the railway were little hud- 

 dles of huts built on stilts to keep them out of the black mud, 

 roofed with corrugated iron or palms, and full to overflowing 

 with the ebony subjects of his Majesty King Edward VII. 



The heads of the families that called these shanties homes 

 were very largely laborers on the banana plantations of the 

 United Fruit Co., and when it is remembered that out of Port 

 Limon will come this year some 7,000.000 bunches, it is easy 

 to appreciate how large a force of men is needed to cultivate, 

 cut, and ship this great crop. It is claimed that there are 

 11,000 Jamaica negioes on the plantations near Port Limon. 

 For them the United Fruit Co. provides hospitals, keeping out 



2 per cent, of their wages for medical attendance ; and yet, in 

 spite of black fever, yellow fever mosquitoes, and snakes, there 

 is not a great amount of sickness among these laborers. And 

 if one can judge by the appearance of the people, their home 

 life in their little tin roofed shacks, crowded with pickaninnies, 

 mangy dogs, monkeys, and parrots, shows a greater measure of 

 content than is to be found in the majority of settlements more 

 favorably located, and populated by those who have a thousand 

 fold more to make existence tolerable. 



As the train emerged from the palmetto swamps it ran 

 through some magnificent banana plantations, the trees grow- 

 ing rankly from rich alluvial soil, and the bunches of fruit 

 being often five or six feet long and weighing over 100 pounds 

 each. The railroad, by the way, over which we were traveling, 

 was built through the enterprise of that well known American, 

 Mr. Miner C. Keith, who was also the creator of the great 

 United Fruit Co. 



After a time the road began to ascend and the scenery be- 

 came more and more beautiful. Nearly the whole of the dis- 

 tance up to the city of San Jose the way lay along the side of a 

 range of mountains and ran parallel with a rapidly rushing 

 river, whose white water could be seen oftentimes for miles. 

 As we got up into the higher country, the home life of the 

 Costa Rican began to be apparent. 



Everywhere through the broad valleys and up the mountain 

 sides could be seen cleared farms, in many cases fine plantation 

 houses and great cof!ee estates. The native Costa Rican is 

 perhaps one of the most enterprising and independent of all 

 the Latin Americans. Nearly every man owns a patch of land 

 and cultivates it. The better class speak English and are very 

 friendly to Americans, welcoming them to their country with a 

 manly, prideful air that is extremely taking. 



In the meantime, the Ferrocarril Costa Rica was slowly but 

 surely getting us up toward San Jose. The English locomotive 

 was having a tough time of it with the steep grades, and it 

 seemed every now and then as if the pull would be too much 

 and the heavy train slip back down into the valley. The slow 

 progress, however, gave us every opportunity to examine the 

 track with its iron sleepers, to see where various great land- 



WHARF AT PORT LIMON, COSTA RICA. 



UNITED FRUIT CO.'S COMMISSARV, PORT LIMON- 



