WEST AND NORTH OF CART AGO II5 



In October we visited Cot from Cartago, a distance of 

 seven miles. It is a straggling village except the streets 

 bordering the grassy plaza. The church had no tower, but 

 under a central peak in the roof were two niches in which 

 the church bells hung. This village is an old one, going 

 back to Indian times, while Tierra Blanca is modern, but 

 there is nothing in the outward appearance of Cot to indicate 

 any greater age than belongs to its neighbor. The roads 

 near Cot command extensive views of the Reventazon Valley. 



Half a mile east of Cot is a fine waterfall about one hundred 

 feet high, locally called "Ojo de agua" (eye of water) as 

 waterfalls and springs commonly are termed in Costa Rica. 

 The stream is not usually large but the drop is almost sheer 

 and the whole place very pretty. There must be a great 

 volume of water immediately after heavy rains, as the pool 

 at the bottom showed that it had been much larger a few 

 hours before our visit. About the waterfall was much red 

 earthy rock, a volcanic (andesite) ash, discolored by weather- 

 ing, containing plagioclase, hornblende, glass, iron hydrox- 

 ide and clay. The vegetation around the fall is quite difi'er- 

 ent from that of the Juan Vifias waterfalls. The mosses 

 and Selaginellas so characteristic of the latter were absent 

 from Cot and instead there were many Equisetums, comme- 

 linas (C virginica), Brozvallia demissa, Cupheas (C in- 

 fundibulum, C. wrightii) and phytolaccas {P. octandra). 

 The fall was shaded by a handsome tree-composite with 

 bright yellow flowers. 



Along the roadsides even below Cot we saw the pretty 

 Geranium mexicanum, which we found to be so common in 

 the cinders of the crater of Irazu but it was much rarer at 

 this lower level. 



