THE VOLCANO IRAZU 1 39 



southwestern wall of the mother-crater and then followed a 

 long zigzag up a steep cinder slope where the path was 

 simply a ledge trampled by horses' hoofs. This slope, lying 

 outside the crater, was the north side of a ridge running 

 westward from the summit of Irazu. We were too com- 

 pletely shrouded in mist to see what lay at the bottom of 

 this slope — whether it really had a bottom or continued 

 down directly into wooded slopes. As we rode we looked 

 down on a white sea of clouds some hundreds of feet below. 

 There is little vegetation here; the cinders are coarse and 

 loose with some larger fragments, so that the horses sink to 

 the fetlocks at every step. We now climbed over the crest 

 of this ridge and down on the outside of the cinder cone. 

 We soon began to ride over somewhat finer and harder 

 cinders and as we descended vegetation grew more abun- 

 dant. The Spiraeas, Myrtles and Arctostaphylos were not 

 now in flower here, and there were few flowers on the gera- 

 niums, but Hypericums and a white composite resembling 

 Ageratum were blooming freely. 



Owing to the rain the trail was much more slippery on the 

 way down than it had been on the ascent but even with the 

 cloud the forest was lighter than in September. Then the 

 light was dim and mysterious and the wonderful gray-green 

 trees stood up like ghosts in the dark green gloom. Now it 

 was possible to see long distances through the beautiful 

 forest glades. Part of this diflFerence, particularly near 

 the trail was due to recent cutting, but most was the result 

 of the oaks being in a transitional state between new and 

 old leaves. Many of the old leaves had already fallen or 

 else were dead or shrivelled on the trees, while the new ones 

 were only an inch or so long and a beautiful pink above, 

 whitish below. The mature leaves are dark olive-green, 

 stiflF and leathery and about four inches long. We noted 

 only one Cavendishia, so abundant in September, but Sipho- 



