LA G A R I T A. 



349 



CHAPTER XVII. 



La Garita. — Alihuela. — A. friendly People. — Heredia. — Rio Segondo. — CofFee- 

 plantations of San Jose, — The Sacrament for the Dying. — A happy Meeting. — 

 Travelling Embarrassments. — Quarters in a Convent. — Seiior Carillo, Chief of 

 State. — Vicissitudes of Fortune. — Visit to Cartago. — Tres Rios. — An unex- 

 pected Meeting.— Ascent of the Volcano of Cartago.— The Crater.— View of 

 the two Seas. — Descent. — Stroll through Cartago. — A Burial. — Another at- 

 tack of Fever and Ague. — A Vagabond. — Cultivation of Coffee. 



The next morning we entered an open, rolling, and 

 undulating country, which reminded me of scenes at 

 home. At nine o'clock we came to the brink of a mag- 

 nificent ravine, and winding down by a steep descent 

 of more than fifteen hundred feet, the mountains closed 

 around us and formed an amphitheatre. At the bottom 

 of the ravine was a rough wooden bridge crossing a 

 narrow stream running between perpendicular rocks a 

 hundred and fifty feet high, very picturesque, and re- 

 minding me of Trenton Falls. 



We ascended by a steep road to the top of the ra- 

 vine, where a long house stood across the road, so as 

 to prevent all passing except directly through it. It is 

 called La Garita, and commands the road from the 

 port to the capital. " Officers are stationed here to take 

 an account of merchandise and to examine passports. 

 The one then in command had lost an arm in the ser- 

 vice of his country, i. e., in a battle between his own 

 town and another fifteen miles off*, and the place was 

 given to him as a reward for his patriotic services. 



As we advanced the country improved, and for a 

 league before entering Alihuela it was lined on both 

 sides with houses three or four hundred yards apart, 

 built of sundried bricks, whitewashed, and the fronts of 

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