4o6 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



Barranca on a new iron bridge and soon after stopped at 

 the station of that name near the right bank of the river; 

 between railroad and river was a cattle-farm. After stops 

 at two small stations we ran out in sight of the Gulf of Nicoya 

 and parallel to the beach, only a few rods above high tide, 

 so that breakers rolling in were plainly visible from the car 

 windows. Soon an estero or arm of the sea appeared at a 

 slightly greater distance on our right, so that with the gulf 

 on our left we ran out on the long narrow peninsula near the 

 tip of which is situated the town of Puntarenas. According 

 to Professor Tristan the estero is the former mouth of the 

 Rio Barranca which now empties some miles farther south. 

 Reaching Puntarenas soon after 8 A. M. we established 

 ourselves at the Hotel del Pacifico, at the corner diagonally 

 opposite from the railroad station. Here a number of the 

 local school authorities greeted the Commission; I was 

 introduced to them and also to Seiior Romagosa, the Captain 

 of the Port, a very agreeable young man, educated in Ger- 

 many and speaking English, French and German. We 

 walked to the gulf side of the town where were the custom 

 house, the ice-factory, ocean-going steamship pier and a 

 recreation pier with bath houses. Then we crossed to the 

 opposite water edge on the estero where the pier for steam- 

 boats plying on the gulf is located. Puntarenas was larger 

 than I expected, with wide streets laid out at right angles 

 and more ample sidewalks than San Jose. The streets were 

 sandy and unpaved, but lighted with electric arc lamps. 

 Nearly all the buildings were of wood except for the tile 

 or galvanized iron roofs. A church with a single tall spire 

 looked as if it were of a yellowish stone but it may have been 

 painted wood — it was off the line of our walks so that I did 

 not examine it at close range. The cuartel or barracks was 

 a plaster-covered and presumably stone or adobe structure. 

 Most buildings were one-storied, but on the principal street 



