440 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



As we rode back from the fumaroles the rain ceased about 

 us, although evidently continuing higher up. After we had 

 recrossed the Colorado we tried, but unsuccessfully, to find 

 some insects in the woods. When we came out on the llano 

 we found that Espinoso had shot a doe, which was fastened 

 behind Padilla's saddle and so carried to the Hacienda. 

 Stephens, who came through Guanacaste on his way to 

 Nicaragua, in February, 1840, was much struck with the 

 great number of deer which he saw. As we looked up at 

 Cerro Guachipelin from this llano we could plainly see a 

 deep barranca or ravine on its southeast side with a fine 

 waterfall. Cerro Guachipelin was wooded to the top but 

 its outlying western ridges, plainly visible from the Hacienda, 

 were bare of trees. As we rode westward we could easily 

 see the Pacific from the llano. A little later when we looked 

 backward (east) toward the mountains, there was a beau- 

 tiful double rainbow, the lower bow very wide and appar- 

 ently resting throughout its entire length on the ground; the 

 colors at the yellow side were chiefly visible. We had left 

 the fumaroles at 1.30 and reached the Hacienda at 3.30. 

 Espinoso and Padilla skinned and cut up the deer and most 

 of the meat was salted and hung up on a cord under the 

 veranda — the only way meat can be preserved here. Some 

 of the venison, toasted, was given us as an extra supper 

 shortly before we went to bed and again at "cafe" next 

 morning and was very good. 



At sunset I sat behind the Hacienda watching Cerro 

 Guachipelin, over which the easterly winds were constantly 

 blowing great masses of clouds illuminated by the rays of 

 the setting sun; the summit was never visible. Near the 

 house, in line with the same cerro and lower than where 

 I sat, horses and cattle were grazing quietly in a green 

 potrero. Very high up in the blue sky overhead swifts 

 were circling as they do at home, while much below 



