338 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



president on the subject of this hole, that the president 

 ought to be ashamed of such a spot before his own house, 

 had no effect — "the hole would be just as bad soon again 

 even if it were mended." We skirted the town of Alajuela 

 and finally took the road leading to the village of San Pedro 

 de Poas. Although much traveled — and because of this 

 — parts of it were in exceedingly bad condition. Even pick- 

 ing the best path through the mud, our horses frequently 

 sank in it above their hocks. At one place several ox-carts 

 were ahead of us, each cart drawn by two oxen as usual. 

 The carts rocked from side to side, as one wheel or the other 

 sank more deeply, so that from behind they looked like ships 

 in a rolling sea. Mr. Clark asked one driver how much his 

 team could haul and the answer was an equivalent of eight 

 hundred and fifty pounds. The average cart was 60 inches 

 long, 32 inches wide and 20 inches deep, equivalent to nearly 

 21 cubic feet or a space occupied by half a ton of anthracite 

 coal. As oxen are so much stronger than horses it needs 

 only the comparison with the weights drawn by our horses 

 at home to show how transportation here is handicapped 

 by these bad roads. 



Our route to El Cerro was a constant succession of ascents 

 and descents, nearly at right angles to five ridges and five 

 valleys. Four of the latter were occupied by small rivers, 

 the Alajuela or Maravilla, the Itiquis, the Tacacori and the 

 Tambor. The Itiquis and the Tambor we forded, the other 

 two we crossed on covered iron bridges. The country 

 through which we passed was occupied by pastures, fields 

 of corn (maize) or coffee, or low woods. The Maria trees 

 along the roadsides were very conspicuous. As we ap- 

 proached El Cerro we lingered to enjoy the fine views. To 

 the north were the volcanoes Poas and Barba, to the east 

 Irazu with its whole upper part in clouds, to the southeast 

 La Carpintera and in line with Carpintera, San Jose, twenty 



