41 8 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



paddled by the ferryman. Senor Chamorro, who seemed 

 to be an expert in the business, stood in the round-bottomed 

 boat and held the guiding ropes of the horses in his hands. 

 The horses were pushed off into the water and swam to the 

 opposite shore pulling the boat with them while the ferryman 

 steadied it with his paddle. This crossing, with the unsad- 

 dling and saddling involved, occupied the greater part of 

 the hour around nine o'clock, as four trips each way had to 

 be made. The first took a load of saddles, Senor Chamorro 

 holding five horses; the next the remaining saddles and three 

 horses; the third and fourth trips carried half the men each 

 time. 



The banks of the Tempisque here are sandy and have 

 scanty vegetation, instead of clayey and tree-clad as where 

 seen from the steamboat. While waiting for the passage 

 we saw some men and boys cross the river on horseback a 

 little farther downstream. The horse ridden by one of the 

 boys was so completely submerged that its body was out 

 of sight, only the head and neck showing, while the boy 

 held on to the horse's ears. The other horses were not quite 

 so deeply covered, their backs showing. 



Soon after resuming our ride we passed a number of trees 

 bearing orchids with medium-sized pinkish flowers, which 

 were called "guarias"; the same name is applied to Cattleya 

 in the interior of the country, but these orchids were not 

 Cattleya. 



The road from here on to Liberia was through more or 

 less open, yet not treeless country, very sparsely settled, and 

 rising very gently except at one place where the road zig- 

 zagged over deeply grooved and worn rocks. We made a 

 short halt for rest about ii A. M. at a solitary house, where 

 a whole basket full of oranges, grateful to the tired and dusty 

 cavalcade, was bought for five centimos (two and one-half 

 cents). 



