FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 3, 1S98. 
dye woods, sweet cedar and lignum vitse being com- 
mon. About the only use the lignum vitas is put to here 
is to set it on fire and make it into a charcoal that is 
almost as hard as anthracite coal. The rubber trees are 
very valuable, and are constantly being tapped for crude 
rubber. 
It was so cool in the beautiful forest road that we 
walked our horses, not wishing to hurry through this 
garden of nature's wonders. We saw any number of 
parrots and paroquets; also several droves of white- 
faced monkeys, which chattered at us at a great rate, 
swinging themselves from tree to tree, and traveling with 
wonderful quickness. The most gorgeous bird of all to 
be found here is the big red, blue and yellow lapa or 
macaw. We saw several of them, and shot two fine 
specimens, which we took with us and cooked for our 
dinner, but the meat was very dark and tough. I was 
surprised to see several red squirrels, about the same 
size as the common red squirrel found in the New 
England States, and with the same markings. 
By 11 o'clock we reached a clearing planted to bananas, 
plantains, beans and yams; and after tying our horses 
at the ranch house walked down to the banks of a clear 
stream. We had at last reached the head of canoe navi- 
gation of the San Carlos River. Our German friend 
had visited this district before; but it being the first time 
Mr. B. and myself had seen the country we were en- 
thusiastic. If there ever was a Garden of Eden on earth 
this must have been the place. We found several Adams, 
also many serpents, but Eves are scarce here, and are 
either young and fat or very old and wrinkled. A fat 
pig had been killed that morning, so that with- the 
I had the good luck to shoot two wild pigeons and 
one jacksnipe, which are plentiful. My two friends got 
a duck, some parrots and a monkey. We ate the duck, 
pigeons and snipe that night, but the monkey meat we 
would not touch, though the owners of the ranch fried 
some of it and seemed to enjoy it. 
Early next morning, as we were drinking our coffee, 
the owner of the cocao plantation came down the river 
to go fishing. We had brought some' hooks and lines 
with us, and I had a few flies, a red-ibis and silver- 
doctor, that had done good work at Moosehead Lake, in 
Maine; but not a rise could I get here (and i have tried 
the fly several times in the different rivers of Central 
America, but never with success). My two friends tried 
both ripe banana and a red berry for bait, but with small 
success. But our old friend from across the river had 
made up his mind to make a sure thing of it, and had 
brought a big coffee sack and two sticks of dynamite 
with fuse and caps and a man to dive for the fish. 
We reached a place in the river where a small stream 
flowed in, and here the old man threw in his first stick 
of dynamite; then his man stripped and dove in for 
the fish that came to the surface of the water after the 
explosion. It was none of our business what the old 
man did, but we much preferred to procure our fish in 
legitimate manner. Out of that pool he must have taken 
at least 4olbs. of large "bobo" — fish that would weigh 
from 1 to 3lbs. each. These bobo have few bones and 
are good eating. One more blast down stream and the 
old fellow had all the fish he wanted, some 50 or 6olbs. 
We reached the ranch in time for a hearty 11 o'clock 
breakfast, after which we made arrangements with two 
COSTA RICA DUGOUT. 
182 
In Costa Rica Forests. 
We were to make our start from the City of San Jose, 
the capital of the republic of Costa Rica, and one of the 
healthiest and best located towns in Central America. 
It has an elevation of 3,800ft. above the sea level, and a 
temperate climate. A situation but ten degrees from the 
equator and a temperate climate do not seem to go very 
well together, but the climate is due to the elevation 
above the sea. The roses bloom in December as well 
as in June. 
There were three of us — an Englishman, myself and 
my German friend, who was the linguist of the party, 
very fat, very jolly and the master of half a dozen 
languages. I wonder if there is a spot on this earth 
where one can go and not find some member of the 
German race very much in evidence? They are good 
linguists and more adaptable to their surroundings than 
we Americans, and are very apt to many and settle 
down in Spanish-American countries. Our German 
friend was interested in everything, and always had his 
joke ready, and also an inexhaustible supply of stories, 
having been a resident of Costa Rica for the last fifteen 
years and speaking the Spanish language like a native. 
Saturday morning we strolled down to the horse mar- 
ket, which is held one day of each week in an open 
field on the outskirts of the city. It did not take me long 
to buy myself a strong gelding, whose only bad habit 
was always to try to start off as I tried to mount him; 
$80 was the price in Costa Rican money. Our German 
bought for $60 a big white mare — and a weight-carrier. 
Our horses were good enough for traveling over rough 
roads, and could make their forty or fifty miles a day 
up hill and down. When 'one has seen Central American 
roads and traveled over them he will have considerable 
respect for a horse that can travel fifty miles a day. A 
rich hacienda owner will pay $3,000 to $5,000 for a fine 
Peruvian stallion, and put out as much as $500 on his 
saddle, heaA^y with hammered silverwork. T have seen 
fine saddle horses in Paris and New York, but none finer 
than here in San Jose. 
A few days later we left San Jose and made Alajuela 
I hat afternoon, putting up at a wretched hotel. We 
carried our outfit in our saddlebags and took pack 
horses. The German was flea-proof, and so got some 
sleep that night. Not so Mr. B. and myself, and we 
were glad to get our coffee at 5 A. M. and to leave at 6. 
We made about fifty miles that day, and in the late 
afternoon reached a pretty little village away up in the 
mountains, and were glad to borrow all the blankets 
we could procure. We stopped with a man that kept a 
small shop, and next morning when we came to pay 
our bills our host would receive no pay. He would no.! 
take our money, but "was glad of the pleasure it gave 
him to entertain us." and all this in the most perfect 
Spanish. So we bade him good-by, and he expressed the 
wish that God would be with us. At more than half 
the places they would not take our money. Rather a 
contrast to our own country, is it not? 
The third day we had crossed the main ridge of moun- 
tains, and after riding for some four hours with the 
clouds all shut down about us we at last had our first 
look at the beautiful valley of the San Carlos, the 
garden spot of all Costa Rica, but as yet almost a wilder- 
ness. The clouds broke away, and far, far to the north, 
as far as the eye could see, stretched this always green 
level valley, with the river San Carlos winding its quiet 
way through it until it joins the San Juan River, 
some seventy miles above Greytown. 
Two superb birds of paradise flew across our road 
and lit on a small tree within easy gunshot. Mr. B. 
dismounted, and I held his horse while he slipped a 
couple of shells into his gun. At the first shot down 
came one of the birds, as big as an English pheasant, 
but the other got away; it turned out to be a fine speci- 
men of the lyre bird, and to kill it seemed a. shame, as we 
had no use for the feathers. As we were examining our 
prize we were startled by a most peculiar roar, which 
seemed to come from the mountain side, half a mile 
to the east. It sounded like the roar of an African lion, 
but the German told us it was the great Congo ape, as 
it is called in Costa Rica, and that the ape was thirsty 
and calling for rain; and it is a curious thing that be- 
fore each shower one can hear them roaring or calling 
each other through the jungle. 
That night we slept at a cattle ranch some five miles 
from the San Carlos River. It was 4 in the afternoon 
when we reached the ranch house, and as we waited for 
supper an incident happened that shows the cruelty of 
the native Costa Rican to horses. The owner of the 
place was doctoring a big open sore on the back of one 
'of his horses, and every time he put his hand on the 
horse's back the poor brute would tremble and try to 
pull away. At last the man lost his temper completelv, 
and in a fury of passion seized a 3ft. long club and beat 
the poor animal over the head and sore back until he 
had exhausted himself. The sight was so sickening that 
we entered the house in disgust. This is only one ex- 
ample— I could cite a dozen— to show what brutes some 
of these people are to their horses. 
That night we slept in a kind of half-open room, 
and m the middle of the night I was wakened bv some- 
thing cold and wet rubbing against my face. I struck 
it a blow that pretty nearly broke my wrist, sprang out 
of bed and lit a match, when imagine my disgust to see 
a six-months-old calf looking at me with a reproachful 
expression, as much as to say, "What did you hit me 
for?" I went back to bed. after having driven him out 
of the room, in anything but a pleasant mood, and my 
friends had a good laugh at my expense. 
We were up early next morning and made a start 
before 6. For a mile we rode through pasture: then 
the road entered such a forest as one cannot see out- 
side the tropics. Such trees, such interlocking of 
branches, such huge vines, as large around as a man's 
leg! It seemed as if at least twenty different kinds of 
palms grew there. We also saw beautiful specimens of 
tree ferns growing from 6 to 12ft. high. The trees met 
overhead and made it delightfully cool. Here and there 
was the much prized rubber tree; and there were different 
macaw soup, the roast pig, the boiled rice and the roast 
plantains, we dined in great style. The owners of the 
ranch were two Norwegians, as pleasant fellows as one 
would wish to meet; and it is a strange thing that men 
from a northern climate seem to be less subject to fever 
than the native Costa Rican. We spent several days 
there, and were treated with the usual courtesy which 
we received all through our trip. We were given the 
best the people had, and when we tried to pay for it the 
answer was, "No, senor," or "The payment has already 
been made by the pleasure of your company." These 
people are polite and gracious in the extreme, and ex- 
press themselves with much more elegance than we 
North Americans. 
The next day we had our horses put out to pasture, 
packed our saddles, bridles, etc., in the loft of the ranch 
house, and made our preparations for our canoe trip. 
We crossed the river to see a man who owned a large 
cedar canoe, which was just what we wanted. Nothing 
would do but we must see his cocao or chocolate trees. 
Ten acres of seven to ten years old trees loaded down 
with cocao pods, some of which were being picked at the 
time. A little way from where we were standing a 
laborer was picking up some pods, when all at once 
he sprang back and called out. "Un colabra grande." 
and sure enough it was a big snake. The huge reptile 
was coiled under a rock. We wanted to shoot its head 
off, but the old man told us to wait, and sent the laborer 
for a long pole. He then sharpened the end of the pole 
:uul proceeded to stir up the snake with the sharp point. 
In a moment the snake was bitins at the stick and 
crawling out from under the rock. The laborer had his 
machete ready, and when the reptile made his next 
strike at the pole sprang in on him and cut his head 
off with one well-directed blow of the keen blade. The 
snake measured a little over oft. and was as big around 
as a man's leg. One must be no coward to kill such 
a creature! The old man and the native thought noth- 
ing of this episode, and when we went back to the house 
he showed us the skin of a snake his son had shot which 
measured over 18ft. in length. That afternoon w r e went 
hunting in the forest near the ranch. Not expecting 
to see any large game. I took a shotgun with me. and 
followed the river bank up stream, my friends striking 
off in two opposite directions. 
guides to accompany us down the San Carlos River on 
our hunting trip. 
The morning dawned bright, clear and cool; every 
blade of grass, every leaf, was drenched with dew. Our 
guides, Juan and Antonio, had everything stowed away 
in our two canoes. Their own dugout was a battered 
looking affair, but they managed it with admirable skill. 
We bade our host good-by, and were really sorry to 
leave the comfortable ranch, where we had been enter- 
tained so well. Our guides led the way down stream, 
we following them. There was no need to hurry, the 
weather was perfect, and we were in a grand country 
for game, so we took our time. The current was not 
at all rapid, and there were long stretches of dead water 
where it was necessary to do some paddling. The 
canoes used here are dugouts, cut out of a single tree, 
most often cedar — very heavy, clumsy affairs that a self- 
respecting Maine man would prefer to use as firewood, 
but they answer the purpose well enough, and last several 
years. ' It would be impossible to portage one; both 
paddles and poles are used. The guides or native hunters 
one learns to respect, as they are. fearless, resourceful 
and all-round competent men, never waste powder, and 
fully understand their business. At 10:30 we camped on 
a little sandy beach above the Soubraro rapids. There 
we bad breakfast and rested for a couple of hours. A 
beautiful spot it was, and the prettiest camping place 
on the San Carlos River. We liked the spot so well 
that we concluded to spend the day there. The -guides 
went to work at once, and in an hour's time had a shack 
built and thatched with palms. We had our tent and a 
bit of canvas stretched for a dining tent. In the afternoon 
we saw some alligators on a sandbar some 400yds. down 
stream. The German had been Avatching them through 
his field glass and said that one was a monster; from 
where we were they looked like logs. One of our guides 
killed an armadillo, which he cooked for supper; the 
meat was white and tender, and we all enjoyed it. That 
same afternoon we saw the fresh tracks of a danla or 
tapir. The brute had been to the river edge the night 
before. Our guide Antonio had caught some fresh 
fish, so that with the fish, armadillo stew, roasted plan- 
tains, flapjacks and coffee, we made a good substantial 
meal. Our guides assured us that this was a great coun- 
try for peccary or wild hogs, so we concluded to hunt 
