CHAPTER XI 



JUAN VINAS THE WATERFALLS 



West of the crater along the railroad the wall of the canon 

 of the Reventazon rose to a height of 700 or more feet above 

 the tracks, in some places perpendicularly, in others in a 

 series of varying slopes and terraces. Brooks from the 

 upper country on their way to the river formed cascades or 

 waterfalls over the canon sides. Two of these, accessible 

 from the tracks, were often visited and yielded some most 

 interesting insects. In our own conversation and diary 

 we designated them as the "nearer" or "high" and the 

 "farther" waterfall from our cabin. 



The nearer waterfall, which had the larger volume, slipped 

 over sheer rock faces two to three hundred feet high. Wher- 

 ever there was sufficient slant the adjacent wet rocks were 

 draped with mosses, maidenhair and other ferns, Selaginellas, 

 Commelinas, Tradescantias and a Streptocarpus-like plant. 

 At about a hundred feet above the railroad track (which oc- 

 cupied a narrow ledge cut out of the cliff face), the water 

 usually disappeared beneath a mass of boulders and flowed 

 underground through loose soil to reappear on the slope far 

 below the track. Up over these boulders we climbed to the 

 foot of the actual fall with its vertical rock-face. The 

 amount of water over and among the boulders varied with 

 the rains. On our first visit in June the water did not ex- 

 tend to the rails as a surface stream as it did on December 2, 

 while on February 14 the waterfall was as full, if not fuller, 

 than on December 2. On February 18 there was so much 

 less water coming down that it was again possible to climb 



