GUANACASTE—PUNTARENAS TO LIBERIA 41 1 



millimeters long, the hind legs very long (17.5 mm.) and very 

 slender, especially the tibia and tarsus. There were also 

 small gray asilid or robber flies (of an indetermined genus 

 of the Dasypogoninas) about three-eighths of an inch long. 

 They had many white, gray and pale yellowish hairs over 

 the body, the most striking being those of a pale dirty yel- 

 low which formed a thin flat brush stretching across the face 

 below the antenna between the relatively large eyes, and 

 projecting downward and forward. 



At I A. M. of January 8 we went to the wharf on the es- 

 tero where was lying the small cabinless steamboat " Cariari " 

 bound for Puerto Ballena, Guanacaste. The boat was 

 already well filled with men, women, children, baggage and 

 freight, but somehow we and our not inconsiderable luggage 

 were piled aboard and we found seats on the bench running 

 around the bulwarks. 



To my agreeable surprise we left almost on the minute 

 of the announced time of departure — 2 A. M. The stars 

 were brilliant, the Southern Cross (which I had not seen for 

 many months owing to the prevalent cloudiness in the in- 

 terior) and Orion being conspicuous, and later the Dipper. 

 The estero was very smooth, the Gulf not disagreeably less 

 so. We snatched a little sleep in various uncomfortable 

 positions. About 5.30 we landed a few passengers by row- 

 boat at Manzanillo on the mainland; it is the port nearest 

 the Aguacate gold mines, to which a road leads. It was now 

 the very early dawn and it was difficult to distinguish more 

 than the dim outlines of the houses on shore. 



Our course in general was northerly, passing near to some 

 islands which, like much of the eastern shore of the gulf, 

 have precipitous sides. Later, off to the left, we passed the 

 island of Chira, the largest in the gulf, whose surface is a 

 constant succession of wooded and usually round-topped 

 hills. I saw no houses and I was told it was not inhabited. 



