Gustavo Niederlein

“ The eastern shore is less beset by obstructions, and small craft go along it with ease, and at high tide penetrate a few of its many rivers. It rises rapidly a short distance inland, but is at times bordered by mangrove swamps.
Near the mouth of the river Aranjuez, on a sand spit three miles long, stands Puntarenas, the only port of entry of Costa Rica on the Pacific coast, and which had, from 1814 until recently, nearly the entire foreign trade of the country. Ocean vessels anchor from one to two miles off in the roadstead. There is an iron pier for loading and discharging. ”

“ There are but two rivers in the long coast line from the Gulf of Nicoya to the Golfo Dulce, the Rio Grande de Pirris, and the Rio Grande de Terraba, the head waters of the former flowing through deep canyons with steep sides, which are almost bare of vegetation until the region of Guaitil is reached, where dense forests are encountered. The valley of the Rio Grande de Terraba is one of the most beautiful, extensive and fertile of Costa Rica, but is occupied by only a few families. Formerly it was the home of a large indigenous population. ”

“ The following year he reported to the King on the condition of Costa Rica, which he pronounced the “poorest and most miserable of all America. The current money is the cacao seed, there not being a piece of silver in the entire country. There is not an eatable sold in street or shop. Every family has to sow and reap what it consumes or expends during the year. Even the Governor has to do this or perish. Meanwhile the inhabitants of the province are contentious, chimerical and turbulent, and among the whole of them there are not forty men of medium capacity.” ”

“ Their nomadic spirit led them to the conquest of many of the Windward Islands, and, I am disposed to believe, urged them to invade all the countries bordering the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico having estuaries and rivers which could be penetrated by their war canoes. These carried from twenty-five to one hundred men each and were of sufficient size to make long voyages.”
Along all the Caribbean coast districts of Yucatan, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Chiriqui, and throughout the province of Panamá, the Carib has left traces of his presence. ”

“ The Atlantic virgin forests, as well as those in the region of the San Juan River and of Lake Nicaragua, which comprise two-thirds of Costa Rican territory, show such a dense vegetation that its interior can be penetrated almost only by way of the rivers, and its general character and its enormous extension be studied only from high mountains. Owing to the very mountainous character of the country, over half of its area lies between 900 and 2100 meters above the sea, and is almost wholly covered with virgin forest. ”

“ The people of Costa Rica must be considered as standing high above those of the neighboring countries in regard to morals and civilization. The mass of the people is industrious, honest, sober, clean, comparatively well-clothed, economical, obedient to the authorities and respectful of the laws. ”

“ In weighing existing data there seems to be no room for doubt that the highlands of Costa Rica once formed part of a vast archipelago extending from Panama to Tehuantepec. The lowest inter-oceanic depressions between the Arctic Ocean and the Straits of Magellan are the divide between the two oceans at Panama which is 286 feet above the sea-level, and the narrow strip of land separating Lake Nicaragua from the Pacific, which has only about 150 feet elevation. ”

“ Before giving the lists of the woods, tannings, dyeings, gums, balsams, resins, rubber, waxes, textile and medicinal plants, oils and oil seeds, etc., of Costa Rica, it is advantageous to research to name those collectors and scientists who, having traveled through Costa Rica or established themselves there, have especially contributed to the knowledge of the natural resources of the country. ”

“ Important agricultural districts are, besides the Central Highlands about one hundred and fifty kilometers in length by sixty kilometers in width, the great valleys of Talamanca, Santa Clara, Tortuguero, San Carlos and Rio Frio. Along the Pacific the great valley of Térraba and the plains of Golfo Dulce and Guanacaste are fertile regions, which, if properly tilled, would offer advantages equal to the Central Highlands, where nearly the entire population of Costa Rica is concentrated. ”

“ The heat is, at all times, moderate and agreeable. The course of the temperature has all the characters of an insular climate, without having so much humidity. The oscillation of the average temperature is greatest in March and during the dry season, as at that time the sky is clear and the soil exposed to uninterrupted insolation during the day, while the earth’s radiation of heat during the night is rapid. Also the daily oscillation is considerable during the dry season, and continues during the first month of the rainy season, according to the condition of the sky. ”

“ There is a tramway in Cartago, connecting the city with its suburbs and Aguacaliente. In San José a trolley line is soon to be established. Away from the conveniences now enumerated the people are wont to ride on horse or mule trails. The Government, however, takes care to increase and improve the cart-roads and other means of communications. During the last fiscal year over one hundred and ninety-four thousand pesos were spent on roads and bridges, and there is no doubt that Costa Rica, in this respect, too, is far ahead of the other Central American countries. ”

“ In the Santa Clara district, for instance, it is cooler at 500 feet elevation than it is in the Reventazon valley at 1500 feet. In general, the torrid lands of the country, ranging from the sea to 150 feet above it, and, if not clear and well-drained, even up to 400 and 500 feet, abound in malarial fevers; but as high ground, having an elevation of from 1500 to 3000 feet is reached, the fevers are of light type and not dangerous, while from 3000 to 5000 feet the diseases are those of the temperate zone, and are due less to local conditions of soil and climate than to personal neglect. ”

“ Among the twenty-four presidents and dictators who have governed Costa Rica since 1824, several have been men of marked intelligence and devoted patriotism, and under their administration the country has slowly emerged from its former depression, until to-day it may be said to be in a healthy political and commercial condition. ”

“ The live stock of Costa Rica, though in general superior to that of the rest of Central America, is not yet sufficiently large to supply the local demand. Although there has been recent improvement in breeding cattle and horses, yet the high grade animals, which could be easily introduced into a [95] country of so many natural advantages, are still lacking. At different times the development of this industry has been attempted. Costa Rica has vast pasture lands splendidly adapted to cattle. ”

“ The cultivation of rice in Costa Rica demands very little care and no irrigation to produce two crops a year of a very superior quality. Beans and corn are successfully grown everywhere in the country, while the raising of potatoes is almost wholly confined to the hillsides of Cartago and Alajuela, where they acquire an extremely fine quality. ”

“ The River Matina is navigable by small steamers over the bar and by large ones above the bar to the point where it receives its principal affluents, the Chirripo, Barbilla and Zent. It yearly overflows its lower valley, depositing an inch or two of exceedingly fertile mud highly appreciated by the banana planters.
The entire mainland of the coast, from the River Colorado to the Matina, is separated from the Caribbean Sea by a continuous narrow sand bank, between which and the mainland is a lagoon, said to be navigable the whole distance by boats. ”

“ Port Limon has a wooden pier 930 feet long, accommodating two sea-going ships, but an iron pier is about to replace it, which will berth four large ones of deep draught.
The Talamanca coast lying south of Limon is low, flat and swampy, except where it is broken by hills. The little River Banana is the first one met with going south, and its valleys produce large quantities of timber and bananas. ”

“ In 1562 Juan Vasquez de Coronado was named Alcalde and Mayor of the Province of Costa Rica and Veragua. He founded the City of Cartago which remained the capital until 1823.
Up to 1622 fifteen governors succeeded Vasquez, but disappointed in their efforts to find gold, to enslave the Indian population, or to make the country prosperous, they allowed it to lapse into a barbarism far worse than it was at the time of its discovery. ”

“ This oak region slopes gradually down from east to west. The vegetation on the summits of the high mountains of Costa Rica is of a marked subalpine character, having a great number of northern genera, as Vaccinium, Pernettya, Alchemilla, Cardamine, Calceolaria, Spiræa, etc.
Certain types of vegetation are often more due to the sterile nature of the soil than to elevation.
Although a northern flora is frequent on the high terraces of San José and Cartago, that character is not general because of the introduction of cultivated tropical and other plants peculiar to Costa Rica. ”

“ The men are intelligent, industrious, economical, honest and peaceable, as well as polite, truthful and generous. They respect order and property, love to work, and are proud of their wealth and of the independence of their nation. ”

“ Excellent cacao was grown during Spanish colonial days around Matina, but none is exported now.
With respect to wheat, up to 1860 there was sufficient for the consumption of the country. It was so intelligently cultivated that the finer grades were produced. The rise in the price of coffee and the competition with the flour of the United States and Chile drove out the native wheat almost entirely, and to-day the cultivation of this grain is badly neglected. To-day the only flour-mill in this country grinds imported wheat. ”

“ Costa Rica is also very rich in Fishes. Those in the Pacific are almost entirely different from those of the Atlantic Ocean. Also its tributary waters have more varied species than those of the Atlantic slope. ”

“ From here to the Esquinas River, at the northeast angle of the gulf, the shore is hilly, and thence to the harbor of Golfito, which is surrounded by high hills, the country rises rapidly inland, but between Golfito and the entrance to the gulf it is lower and less broken, and thence to Platanal Point and Burica Point, the coast is bold, the country descending gradually from the northeast. ”

“ Along its lower margin mud flats spread to a great width, and, from its mouth towards the northwest, cover a region which surrounds also the lagoon of Sansan, and extends up the rivers Zhorquin and Sicsola. Behind the muddy zone the lands rise rapidly into hills, which in a few miles reach an altitude of several thousand feet, at times intermingling with the Cordillera. Along the entire sea margin of Talamanca runs a narrow sand-belt of firm land, at times not a hundred feet wide, like that described between the Matina and San Juan rivers. ”

“ Immigration to Costa Rica has been small. During the first half of 1897 there entered 1533 individuals by Port Limon and 389 by the Port of Puntarenas; but during the same time 1150 persons left Costa Rica through Port Limon and 344 through Puntarenas. The result is a gain of only 428 persons in favor of the country. In 1896, the excess of registered immigrants over emigrants was 1112 persons, there having entered 3980 and departed 2868 persons. Several times attempts have unsuccessfully been made by foreigners to establish colonies. ”

“ THIS monograph treats of the topography, geology, mineral wealth and soils of Costa Rica; it describes its climate and presents the details of its flora and fauna with reference to their economic value; it displays the distribution of population according to race, wealth, communities and social conditions; it examines the agricultural development of the Republic, including its live stock and forests ”

“ Cacao culture has received but little attention in Costa Rica, because the more profitable coffee plantations absorb all the time and capital. The number of plantations regularly established up to 1888 was 198, having in all 56,426 trees that yielded in the same year 331,900 pounds valued at 165,770 pesos. Most of the cacao was cultivated in Aserri, Atenas, Naranjo, Heredia, Paraiso, Guanacaste and Limon. ”

“ The better class of women follow in their dress the fashions of Europe; the lower classes have gowns of muslin or calico, and wear petticoats, rebozos and very often panama hats. Some adorn themselves with earrings and other jewelry and some wear shoes.
The men dress in European style. The lower class, consisting of hard-working farmers, owners of small coffee plantations and ox-carts and oxen for internal traffic, wear coarse cloth coats, drill or cotton trousers, and straw or felt hats. Most of these people go barefooted.
The houses of the wealthy have all modern conveniences. ”

“ In fact there are no continuously dry months, and on the northern declivities of the volcanoes of Turialba, Irazú, Barba and Poas, it rains more or less during the entire year; also near Lake Nicaragua it rains nearly continuously, and the mountains of the Guatuso country and the surroundings of the volcano of Orosi are seldom without clouds. At times there are cloud-bursts of tremendous power, broadening rivers for miles. Port Limon is said to have an annual rainfall of eighty-nine inches, but it is greatly exceeded by that of Colon, which averages 120 inches. ”