464 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



less soft, usually pale-colored rock, and in many places very 

 steep. On the level, my horse could only be induced to go 

 faster than a slow walk by constant spurring, but when 

 it came to these ascending trails almost took my breath 

 away by literally galloping up them without any persuasion 

 from me. Indeed it would not be held back and I could 

 not avoid thinking how ugly the fall would be for both of 

 us if he slipped, so, as each mad rush uphill began, I confess 

 I caught hold of his mane firmly with one hand! We had 

 crossed the cerro when we passed directly under a large 

 black-bearded congo monkey looking down at us with no 

 apparent concern from a large tree whose widespreading 

 branches overhung the road. 



We went through the little village of Santa Barbara to 

 its eastern end and on the outskirts stopped at a house some- 

 what inferior to RoUo Jaen's already described, the walls 

 being of upright sticks or boughs with chinks between. 

 Furniture was not very different, but the interior formed one 

 undivided room. The cooking place in this house was a bed 

 of sand in one corner on which sticks were ignited, and pots 

 for boiling water or iron dishes for baking tortillas were 

 propped among or upon the embers. We brought most of 

 our breakfast with us but they gave us some very strong 

 coffee. The family consisted of a grandmother, her son-in- 

 law, three granddaughters and a grandson, the mother hav- 

 ing died. Their physical features appeared to be chiefly 

 Indian, but in one or two of the granddaughters there were 

 unmistakable signs of African blood. Most of the family 

 were able to read, Santa Barbara, like nearly all villages in 

 Costa Rica, having its schools for both sexes. 



Hardly six feet from the rear wall of this house a hole, 

 already five feet deep, had been dug. Many Indian graves 

 had previously been opened within a radius of a few hundred 

 feet, and scattered mounds of earth indicated where they had 



