12 MEMOIRS OF THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM 
also made a visit to Las Guacas. In a valuable paper® he gives an account of his 
archeological observations on the peninsula, briefly describing this burial-ground 
and its artefacts, and making comparisons with ancient remains observed by him in 
other parts of Central America. 
III. Las Guacas NEAR THE PuEBLO or Nicoya. 
The rugged forest-covered mountain-chains of the southwestern part of the 
peninsula of Nicoya reach a height of about six to eight hundred meters and some 
isolated mountain peaks rise to one thousand meters and more. About four leagues 
southeast of the pueblo of Nicoya, or, on account of the steep and difficult approach, 
half a day’s ride from that place, there is on a high mountain-ridge, uniting the 
Cordillera de Santa Rita and the Cordillera de Canillas, a canyon and a mountain- 
pass named La Quebrada de Las Guacas on account of the ancient remains or 
‘‘ouacas”’ there found. The present settlement near the ‘‘guacas”’ is simply known 
under the name Las Guacas. According to information I obtained from the people 
now living at the spot and from old persons in the pueblo of Nicoya, professional 
hunters from the latter place used of old to make yearly excursions to Las Guacas 
where they had small “ranchos para cazar.” <A narrow trail was thus kept open 
to this spot through the forests and thickets of the mountain-slope. No one of the 
present inhabitants of Nicoya, however, recollects the time when Indians occupied 
this spot, or know about any earlier Spanish occcupation of the place. According 
to the same informants it was about the year 1877 that two natives of Nicoya, Sil- 
vestre Rodriguez and one Villalobo began to clear the forest and first broke the 
ground for cultivation. Some years later the present owner, Antonio Carillo, a 
mulatto, purchased the right to the place. He built houses for himself and relatives, 
who now have cleared an extensive portion of the territory for the cultivation of 
sugar-cane, corn, beans, and other crops. From the green fields a fine view opens 
over the Gulf of Nicoya with its islands, and from the opposite side of the peninsula, 
the “tumbos,” the thunderings of the high waves of the great ocean, are plainly 
heard when the wind blows from that side. In the neighborhood of Las Guacas 
are the headwaters of the Rio Zapotal and the Rio Tabacco, which empty their 
waters directly into the ocean, and Rio Blanco and Rio Camarron, which have their 
outflow into the Gulf of Nicoya. Heavy primeval forests surround the little settle- 
ment on all sides. hese forest-covered mountain-chains are very rich in game of 
many species. They teem with deer, wild hogs, tapirs, jaguars, tepezcuintle, 
(Calogenys paca (Linnzeus) ) and other animals, 
®Sapper, Carl. ‘‘ Huacas der Halb-Insel Nicoya,’’ Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1899, Heft VI, pp. 622-632. 
