164 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



were concerned, may have been due to the season of the 

 year, or to the amount of cloud and rain. 



On March 6, with Mr. and Mrs. Lankester, we left "Casa 

 Grande" about ten o'clock for Orosi and if possible Orosi 

 Falls. Our road led west along the valley of the Rio Grande 

 or Reventazon, crossed the Rio Macho on the long iron 

 suspension bridge and south through Orosi village with 

 its picturesque old church. About half a mile from the vil- 

 lage the road passed a small hot spring. The water, which 

 was hot enough to steam vigorously and had a strong sul- 

 phurous smell, bubbled up in a circular walled-in enclosure 

 and ran away down the roadside ditch. It is supposed to 

 have some medicinal properties. This seems to be the "Her- 

 videro de Orosi" whose waters were analyzed in 1865 by 

 Luciano Piatt, whose report has been mentioned on page 148. 

 We continued south, taking in general the left branch of 

 each fork and passing many coffee farms. By the roadside 

 we saw a huge rock fifteen to twenty feet high, which was 

 flat-topped and bore a most wonderful mass of ferns and the 

 red and orange orchid (E. radicans) often referred to in these 

 pages. The road finally led us to a bridge closed at the far 

 end by a gate and we were then in the property of Seiior 

 Tomaso Gutierrez. There was a number of peon houses, 

 chiefly on the right side of the road, and some men passed 

 us carrying a large rodent two feet long with brown and 

 white spotted fur and a short tail. This was the "tepez- 

 cuintle" {Coelogenys paca) which is greatly esteemed as a 

 game animal and considered delicious eating. The hacienda 

 stood on a steep hill near these houses and Mr. Lankester 

 rode up to ask permission to pass through and for directions 

 to the falls, as he had never been all the way himself. Per- 

 mission was readily granted, but reports of the road were not 

 encouraging as the trail was said to be completely overgrown 

 and impossible to find or follow unless we could get a peon 



