ALAJUELA AND THE VOLCANO POAS 325 



in Costa Rica to any extent, had completely died out, so 

 that when it was proposed to revive it there were no looms. 

 These were imported from Salvador, where weaving is a 

 most important art, and teachers were brought from Salva- 

 dor and Guatemala. The school was designed to teach 

 useful arts to the young people of Costa Rica. They had 

 ten or eleven large hand looms on which they wove a great 

 variety of cotton cloths, white ducks and highly colored 

 denims as well as white and red-and-white cotton towelling. 

 The yarns and threads were imported from England and 

 we were shown several dozens of patterns, stripes, checks, 

 plaids and plain, in a number of weaves. They were all 

 such as were worn here by the poorer or plainer people and 

 found a ready sale. In addition to the weaving of cloth, the 

 school taught cane-seating, basketry, hat-weaving, stock- 

 ing-weaving and leather-work (particularly the weaving or 

 braiding of bridles and whips). The school was becoming 

 deservedly popular and promised to be very valuable, as 

 there were few native arts here compared with those of 

 other Central American countries or with Mexico. 



The beneficio (a place where coffee is bought, cleaned, 

 dried and prepared for market) of "El Brazil" was on the 

 Ciruelas River, which is there joined by the Brazil River. 

 The house was a pleasant two-story frame building, with 

 both lower and upper porches or "corridors" as they are 

 called in Costa Rica, the upper floor commanding wide 

 views towards the volcanoes of Poas and Barba to the north, 

 the range of Candelaria to the south and a great sweep of 

 rich rolling country between. In front of the house in a 

 tiny garden stood lemon and orange trees and an eucalyptus, 

 the latter brought from California by a former resident. 

 There are many places in Costa Rica where the eucalyptus 

 was introduced, when it was supposed to be efficacious 

 against malaria. The tree thrives and flourishes although 



