4i6 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



of them were in fruit.^ After we left the forests we found 

 many of the hedges or living fences bounding the fields and 

 pastures composed of madera negra trees lacking most or 

 all of their foliage but bearing along their branches clusters 

 of beautiful pale pink flowers. Some madera negras bore 

 also fruit as well as blossoms. A characteristic of this tree 

 is the perpendicular way in which many of the smaller 

 branches are given off from the larger. Occasionally there 

 was a poro {Erythrina costaricensis) in the hedgerows; 

 these differed from the poros of the central plateau [E. 

 corallodendron) in having larger leaves and paler red 

 flowers. 



At 6.30 we rode into the yard of the primitive hotel of the 

 village of Filadelfia, formerly known as Siete Cueros. The 

 village was celebrating its fiestas and after dinner we walked 

 around the fenced-in plaza. At nearly diagonal corners 

 facing the plaza — in each case in a room adjoining a store 

 kept by a Chinaman — a dance was going on to the music 

 of a marimba, an instrument suggesting a xylophone. The 

 marimba consists of wooden slats of graduated length 

 arranged horizontally all at the same level, while beneath 

 each slat is a resonator made of a jicara. It was played 

 by two persons seated side by side who struck the slats 

 with sticks. It is found in Guanacaste and northward and 

 is said to be of African origin, as many people here, the so- 

 called Zambos, are descendants of African slaves and Indians. 

 The dances were all round dances, mostly of familiar figures, 

 waltzes and polkas, but one, called "el punto," was peculiar 

 in that the partners do not hold each other but walk side 

 by side, turn around each other and so on. Some of the 

 dancers were graceful in their movements and good-looking. 

 Before one of the dance rooms, several tables were set out 

 in the street, where passers-by could gamble upon the throw- 



' Pittier mentions only one species for Costa Rica, however. 



