SKETCHES IN NICARAGUA, CENTRAL AMERICA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3017, 14 November 1891, Page 5 (Supplement)

SKETCHES IN NICARAGUA, CENTRAL AMERICA.

From our Americ.lll contemporary. t ! >' N»:w York Sun, we make the following interesting extracts, which afford a glimpse of tropical life in Ontral America A journey from the Caribbean •Sea up the San Juan river to Lake Nicaragua is full of interest to the stranger, in spite of (perhaps because of) the almost unbroken wilderness tint borders the stream. But it is not until one has crossed the lake that the people of the country and their surroundings can bo seen appreciatively. Tha route across the lake is from San Carlos to Granada, and the tepee-shaped peak of the active volcano of Ometepe is con stantly in view. As the steamer passed the peak we saw the smoke of fires where natives were clearing the land for coffee plantations ; and we were told that when, some five years ago, the volcano was pouring out lava on the southerly side, the natives continued their usual I avocations on all other sides The fact that they live over a caldron of molten lava that may burst at any time and destroy them, gives them very little concern. Beyond Ometepe the island of Zipateria is likely to attract attention, for the reason that it is about as full of ancient art work as the district of Copan in Honduras—a district, by the way, where the Peabody museum of Boston is spending a large sum in collecting plaster casts of the statues, etc, to be found in the forest where a great city once stood Zapateria was once the home of a great population, but now only a few Indians can be found there, and few people know, and fewer care, about the treasures in stone and terra cotta that it contains. Freight and passengers are landed on a long pier at Granada, and a tram car conveys the freight and basrgago to the station of the Government rail road running to Managna, the capital. A host of cabs stand beyond the pier, and their drivers swarm over tha steamer in search of fares as soon as she arrives. Dozens of young women go down to the pier as well, but, unlike the young women about piers and railroad stations in the States, these will not flirt with even the best lookins? stranger. Other women, younsr and old, can bo seen along' the shore, and in tho lake, caring for the family washing, or gathering up tho clothing that had been sproad upon tho sand to drv. It is a typical scene that can be depicted on the water front of every citv aud village about any of the lakes of Central America. They say it is about a mile from tho lake to the plnza of Granada. The land on which the city is built is a gently sloping hill side, and the streets are wide and laid out at right angles, as indeed all Nicaraguan streets are. Those of Granada are most curiously graded in terrace", the level stretches are nearly all improved, and, when we saw them, several inches deep in du«t. Along thesa streets are found tho typical home*, and the business houses as well of the rich people of Control America. It is impos - Bible to tell by a look down the street whether it house is a homa, p. dry goods store or a coffee warehouse. All that nan be s=een is a onecesiiiti of one story house*. with tile roofs and smooth whitewashed windowless walls, broken perhaps, twice between cross streets by doors. There are no side walks, strictly speaking. but only narrow ledges whnre side walks might be, no two of them are in the same grade, and people rarely walk upon them. They rarely walk anywhere on those streets after mid-dav, unle-s Impelled by aire necessity. In a walk along tho streets after that hour, there is a s«nse of weight upon tho head from the ravs of the sun above. The dust from about the feet rises up to fill the heated air, as it boils and surges before the eye 3; while on every side is the maddening glare of red-tiled roofs and blank whitewashed walls. Fever and death follow in the footsteps of the uuacclimatised one who exposes himself to such conditions. In marked contrast are the homes of the wealthy. The doors lead through thick adobe walls into great windowless rooms, where the soft light of nightfall pervades the air, where the deep blue marble of tha tiled floors almost suggest a sheet of ice, where the cedar timbers and bamboo poles of the roof are seen dimly overhead, where a look through another door to the court-yard shows heaps of green plants and mounds of lovely flowers, with wide and shady verandahs on all sides, and here and there a hammock inviting to rest and peace.

The unfinished huildings of Granada are the largest buildings, and, perhaps, the most interesting. One of them is on the corner of the plaza and the street from the pier. It looks more like a ruin than a new church —in fact, it is at once a ruin and a beginning. The greatest cathedral in Nicaragua stood there, until one day an earthquake shook the country, and the people fled praying to the church. Then another shock followed, and tumbled the walla on those who prayed, killing hundreds. The lower parts of the walls still stand, showing cracks in places. The decorations in the finished churches are very expensive, and some are beautiful. There is a garrison of troops in every town of any importance. Central American troops have usually excited the derision of the book writers because the uniform consisted of blue jeans, trimmed with red calico stripes, straw hats, and bare feet; but some good military authorities in our party said that in any war in which they were interested —as one where invaders were to be repelled—they would make tip-top fighters. After we had rested a day in Granada, we took the car to Managua the capital. The railroad was built by the Government, and is operated by the Government now. Tho track and rolling stock are American, the engine burning wood. The first-class car has a smoking compartment at one end. The second-class cars are simply American smoking cars, in them the fare is IeBS than a cent a mile. Everybody smokes in them, for the women of the labouring class smoke as much as the men. The features of Managua that first attract the attention of the stranger, are the policemen and the Government buildings. The police force is made up of the best looking men in the city. They wear a blue cloth uniform, and the different ranks etc,, ar < indicated by stripes of white tapes, which are kept carofully clean. We saw but one man under arrest, he was druuk and boisterous, but that was the only drunken man we saw in the whole country. It may be said that liquor is on sale in every block. The national drink is a kind of rum called aguardiente. After a taste no one would blame foreigners for not getting drunk on it. But wine, whiskey and brandy are imported, but the price is high because of the duty. The building is called the palace. It is a two-storied buildiug with marble walls, and is constantly guarded by a squad of troops, but the Government officials are very easy of access on proper occasions. One peculiarity about the officials was that they all seemed to be under middle age, and very bright and active.

Leon is reached after a trip across Lake Managua, and a journey on a railroad, both of which are under the Government management. The scenery about Lake Managua is particularly grand, tor the volaano of Monstrembo is always smoking while the mountains near thecity —pictured on the national coins—are marvellously beautiful. After returning to Granada, we sailed away to Rivas, whence

we were to take mulo over that part of the canal route between the lake and the Pacific. Rio as proper is u village) lying threo miles buck from the lake. A magnificent turnpike road le \ds from Rivns to the pier on the lake, awl the side streets all alone: hive been (Traded in a way we did not see elsewhere in the couutry. A Company is now building a tram road from Riva.s to the lake. Wo »»w hero two lnrcro cocoa plantation 1 *. Tho cocoa tree, a shrub with dark bark, some twelve or fifteen feet hisrh, was in hlonm in snme parts of tho plantation, and in other* had tho fruit well nicrh matured. The fruit as most pooplo know, is a bean, it irrows in a pod that looks like a brown or greencoloured butter nut, the colour depending on the variety. The cocoa slmil.s grow under a larger tree always cultivated fo' 1 its shade, because tho cocoa does not thrive in the open. The. flowers and fruit are developed on the body of the tree near the ground, and wo were told that in ordinary troo yielded about two dollars worth of beans a year. At last we reached the port of San Junn del Stir, from whence the mail steamers leave for New York. The harbour is rososhapod. Tho waves of tho ocean camo in through n portil a mile wide, guarded by piles of rock° more than '100 feet high, and then, spreading out in all directions breaks at last on a wide-curved sandy beach that is beautiful to look upon. The Tillage nestles under tho trees on a narrow valley that is shut in on all sides by dills, forming a great amphitheatre about the bay. The hills are always green with verdure, and bright with flowers, the bench is always white with tho foam of the breakers. Morning and nigrht the natives go down to plunge in the surf and make merry, and life is a perpetual holiday. Tho work day of tho poorest is but six hours long, and ho lives iu comfort on his wages. Thero is game in plenty in the woods, and fish in plenty in tho sea. There is music and danoing in tho village. What would you havo. Lot him who eschews ambition seek San Juan del Sur, and be content.