ALA JU EL A AND THE VOLCANO POAS 351 



levity. Visitors on the road to Poas are always warned by 

 the old folks they meet not to laugh and jest while on the 

 mountain, above all not to laugh at the mountain because 

 the volcano does not like it! Mrs. Clark's servants had gone 

 to a christening picnic at San Pedro de Poas (on the lower 

 slopes of the volcano) the very day of the eruption and she 

 laughingly accused them of being too gay and hilarious and 

 so angering the volcano. They took it quite seriously and 

 asked her if she really thought they were responsible for 

 the eruption! 



We had often discussed a trip to Poas, where Mr. and 

 Mrs. Clark had been several times but which was of course 

 unknown territory to me. The desire we all felt to see the 

 volcano as soon as possible after the eruption decided us to 

 make a flying trip at once. On the 27th, therefore, after a 

 few hours' rest, we had a cup of chocolate apiece and at 

 1 1 P. M. started off on horseback, the three of us and Cirilo, 

 one of the workmen on the place. There was a fine moon — 

 one of the reasons why we made the trip in this way — the 

 night was cool and the horses fresh and lively after a long 

 day of resting and extra feeding. As a rule Costa Rican 

 horses are not grain-fed except in preparation for unusually 

 hard trips. 



After riding through the outskirts of Alajuela we traveled 

 generally north to San Pedro de Poas, over roads which 

 were now in fairly good condition. Before reaching San 

 Pedro we passed the road leading to the "Cerro" visited 

 by P. on September seventh. The Cerro is part of a long 

 ridge with a valley on each side, running generally east and 

 west and falling away sharply on the west end. On this 

 ridge are situated this Cerro, Carrizal and the B. farm, 

 while at the east end the ridge runs into the folds of Barba. 

 Our road bent around the west end of the ridge and then 

 up a long hard hill, leading at last into San Pedro which we 



