Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-11-03
In COSTA RIGA.
THE OLDEST CITY IN CENTRAL
AMERICA.
Dead Our Lady of Angels
and Her Miracles.

/ have received many letters asking in
,erning the various Republics of Central
America To all such, and TO any other
inquiring friends, permit me to say right
here that there are those who are em-
ployed to answer just such questions, and
who can do SO far more promptly and reli-
ably than wandering Journalist could do,
however obliging she might be in inten-
tion. IL one writes to the State Depart
ment at Washington, inclosing an envelope
addressed and stamped for reply, he will
be given the fullest and most correct in
formation, or be put upon the right track
for obtaining il; or, better still, one may
write to the American Consul, who resides
at the capital of each foreign country and
who is paid salary on purpose to attend
to such business. For instance, if one de-
sires information on any subject pertaining
to this Republic, address the envelope in
this way; Ell Consul Americana, San
Jose, Costa Rica"-and remember that the
postage is five cents.
Deserted and dull as Cartago usually ap-
pears, there are two days in every week
Sundays and Thursdays) when the people
shake of their enchanted stupor enough
to go sleepily to mass and to market.
Early on Sunday all the bells prove to dis
traction the metal they are made of, and
clamor incesSantly till high noon. Then
out of the apparently uninhabited houses
a,,I tbo;,.
draperies-the patricians with lace man
tillas thrown over their heads, and the
plebians with cotton rebosas-and glide
through the half-awakened streets toward
the sanctuaries; while the district militia,
having dutifully attended mass and made
the old cathedral echo to the ring of salut-
ing arms in honor of the elevated post,
spend the remainder of the forenoon drill
ing on the plaza.
Everywhere in Spanish-America it is
the Sunday fashion to perform ones re-
ligious duties early, and then to assidu-
ously divert oneself during the remainder
of the day. Cock-fghting is of course the
order of the hour for most of the male pop
ulation, and bull-fghting (patronized by
both sexes) wherever there is plaza de
t0TTOs; while the mcst respectable people
including the Government and Judiciary
indulge in La Lotteria, vingt-un and other
games of chance and skill, in booths
erected conveniently near the churches
In the evening the garrison band perform;
its best in front of the Governors casa, and
all the town are ont in holiday attire tc
enjoy the music and moonlight dancing
flirting, feaSting, or whatever may be il
progress
Thursdays are even livelier for the mid
die and lower classes, though less musical
owing to the absence of band and bells L
is the market day of the district, when tn,
plaza-that indispensable adjunct of al
Spanish cities-suddenly blossoms into
surprising activity, and presents vivio
blending Of the sharp contrasts of tropica
life. The Carriage plaza-shut off on one
side by the massive white towers Of tn.
parochial church, on another by substan
stantial, one. storied houses, with projecting
| roofs and iron-barred easements, anC
| fronted by the Quartet and Governor
audience hall-the whole directly over
| hung by the frowning volcano, Irazu. anC
shadowed by the clouds collected around
his cloven forehead.
Every Thursday all the streets leadin!
into the plaza are thronged with carts anC
oxen, mules and muleteers, soldiers ant
wondering minstrels, peddlers-male ant
female-beggars innumerable and c
wretchedness indescribable, mostly Grip
Piles, whose distorted bones are proftabl
stock in trade. The usual conglomeratiol
of articles is offered for sale, piled up il
booths or spread out in the sun.
| There are rainbow-hued silks brough
from across the ocean, gorgeous shawl
woven in nearby Guatemala, gaudy zar
apes of home manufacture, brigand-lik
jackets fairly bristling with superhuou
buttons there are cocoanuts in ox-hid
hampers, which bare-legged fellows hav
brought all the way from Matina, ant
queer drinking-cups, made of the shells Q
the calabash fruit "a kind of eourd), carvet
with surprising deiicacy of touch and rich
ness of design. At other stalls Englisl
calico may be found; also crockery an,
cutlery. The United States contribute
little-but few plugs of Virginia tobacco
Cartago herself furnishes excellent sol
hats, made from pitd liber and good dea
of gold and silver filigree work, in chains
brooches, bracelets aud small trinkets
among the most beautiful of which ar
tiny baskets constructed with wonderful
nicely and filled with lustrous pearls from
the Gulf of Nicoya.
Among the infinite variety of fruit
there are blackberries, (the first | hay,
seen in Central America; potatoes-evel
more rare in most portions of the countr,
ready cooked and steaming, not large
than hickory nut, yet good as any Irish
man could desire; and edible palm-tops
| which, by the way, make the most piquan
and delicious of salads.
In these Catholic lands the ladies wea
their plainest clothes to church, but thei
best alike to opera and market, ball, bull
| fight and promenade, their bare heads pro
tected by the airiest of sunshades Each i
followed to market by female servant
who carries basket on her plump, brown
| arm to contain her mistress purchases.
| The country women evidently beliey,
in beauty unadcrned," the universal gart
of the nestizds (of Indian and Spanish
blood being a single short, scant skirt
over a very low-necked chemise. PercheC
behind their Serones of fruit and vegeta
bles, their wedges Of cheese and loaves o
coarse brown sugar, or beside double rov
| VI potIiSe vi yuudupv kthS iciiheLtSu 1ulC'
of the sugar-cane), they expatiate upor
the merits of their merchandise in gill
| Castiliano.
| The young women of Costa Rica ar,
decidedly handsome, with regular features
fine compilations, and full, round figures
The exhilarating air of the mountain
tones down the carnation richness of tn
| Spanish blood and suffuse it with pearl,
hue. There are some bronzed and mot
tied faces even among young girls, and no
a few cases of the horrible goitre, BIZ
beauty is the rule. The old women, how
ever, including those on the sunny sid,
of forty years, are extremely ugly. Why
in this charming climate, females becom
octogenarian at an age which, in northern
regions, has only served to give color ant
dignity to perfected womanhood, am a
a loss to comprehend. Probably it is du'
as much to excessive eating and smoking
| little exercise and no thinking at all, as t
the fact of very early maturity.
The Carriage Campo Santo field o
saints, must not be unvisited, for within
i its walls of wAitewashed adobe repos,
several of our ooantrymen. Passing in a
the gate through 6he chapel, whose doc
is always surrounded by beggars and vend
4 IL