The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-10-18
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Home Life in the Hot Regions of
the South.
FEMALE BEAUTY 0BSCURED.
Manual Labor Considered DishonorableA
Life of Pleasure-The Homes of
Guaymas Cathedral


GUAYMAs, Sonora, Oct II, l5S9-
Especial Correspondence of The HERALD.
Travellers say of this odd and isolated
little town that it possesses two things il
an eminent degree
PRETTY GIRLS AND HOT WEATHER.
The latter is simply indescribable, espec
tally when the wind happens to be shore
ward, the encircling hills completely shut.
ting of every breath of air not heated to
$50 ia the shade. AS to the senoritas, they
certainly are beautiful while young; but,
Unfortunately, women age rapidly in this
ferVid climate, and seem as old at twenty
five as most northern females at forty
There is one thing, however, in favor OF
Ssuaymas girls, viz, that they know how
30 dress better than their sisters in most
parts of MeXico-a circumstance due to the
large foreign element of the city, chiefly
American and French. Beauty I'M
ssdorned' is all very well-in poetry, and
perhaps in fact, if left absolutely I'M
adorned But the prettiest woman is not
attractive when slOuching about cOrsetless
III All il-uJGluB, DdulN -CuG gown luO matter
how rich the materially, which says just
enough in the rear to wipe up the dusty
streets, hatleSs and gloveless, hair banged
straight over the broWS u la poodle, and
feet crowded into
SHOES TWO SIZES TOO SMALL,
with enormously high heels that give the
yvearer gait absurdly awkward. In many
ElaEas in various portions of this sunny
al 1,-1sA
euade, | have watched the procession of
wealth, youth and beauty, longing to prop
up the plump figure into something like
shapeliness, to gather the untidy folds
Of the skirt into grace of contour and to
fling those ungainly heels into the middle
Of next week. But then they all have
abundant dark hair, lustrous eyes and
pearly teeth; and in Sonora most of them
know how to wear their good clothes in a
becoming way, and, better than all, their
faces havea flush and glow in keeping with
their liquid eyes, indicating good health
rich blood and warm hearts-and beside
them the average pale tinted American
Looks ike a snow drift.
Here all the native women, Mexican and
Yaqui, still wear over the head, instead of
4Iats or bonnets, either the Spanish man
ttll2(p pronounced man-tee-yal or the rebosa
The former is simply three-cornered
ser is long, wide scarf, black or blue, of
cotton, wool or silk,
40 OTHER SORT OF HEAD COVERING
IS ever seen here, except among the visit
lag strangers, and none others could be so
universally becoming and so suited to the
climate. In most other respects the Sonora
ladies' follow American styles except in the
matter of gloves (Which are never worn at
all, and those eXcerable French heels,
nearly finger high set directly under the
Lnstep.
Probably the total absence of gloves is
largely owing TO the difficulty of getting
them on and off in an atmosphere so per-
sPiratingly provoking; but, notwithstand-
ing this lack of protection from the tropic
sun and the blistering glare of the nearby
aay, the Guaymas ladies are justly famed
tnr the whiteness and beauty of their hands,
in which they take great pride.
Probably this arises from the fact that
sr,NUAL LABOR Is CONSIDERED DIsHoyoR-
ICY any but the lowest classes: and Door
indeed must the arisJOcratic Mexican be-
come before he or she will consent to do
say kind of work, indoors or out-in most
cases | verify believe they would prefer
To be sure the ladies look after
her households little each day, after a
fashien-that is, they go around the casa
5sEd worry the multitude of servants by
ignorant orders; and most of them use the
needle skillfully on lace-wOrk and embroid-
cry But for the most part their lives are
spent in a hammOck-eating sleeping,
q Gking cigarettes in dainty silver holders.
.end chatting airy nOthings They are all
very religious, and regular church goers to
morning mass and evening vespers, observ
zg ali festas and doing whatever priest
zgG e6RfessOr dictates. They read little or
= 0tbing; as a rule, know nothing of the
as0nd beyond the limits of vision, and their
slightest idea of enjoyment is in
DANCING AND sINLEss FILTRATION.
There are a great many balls, and every
evening there is informal dancing in some
i10dys casa. 1t is the universal custom
everywhere in Mexico for neighbors and
friends TO drop I'M of an evening without
invitation-and always where two
or three are gathered together there is
music and dancing, to which these light
aearted, pleasureloving, warm FLOODED
people incline as naturally as ducks to
water
AS an incident characterize Of the place
may mention that coming to Guaymas
once, via the California gulf, the steamer
arrived on Monday morning. 1t was after
Z; clock when | went ashore with the cap
tain, but we found everything shut up
che custom house, the postoffice, the stores:
stirring but the American consul:
even the distributor of the mails and the
Saaster of the port being cross and sleepy
because disturbed so early. There had
been a carnival ball the night before (Sun-
day.. and young and old had danced till
Monday dawning.
THE HOUSES OF GUAYMAS
are Of stone and adobe-mostly the latter.
5uiit in the prevailing style of Mexico. one
story high, with fiat roofs and walls from
three to five feet thick. The more preten-
tious residences inclose d court, around the
inner walls being a broad veranda or CORR
dor open to the court, every apartment
leading into it by its only door, there being
no outside doors excepting the main en-
trance which also leads to the court and
thence to the rooms of the casa, and through
which donkeys and carriages may come as
well as the people. The poorer classes
and they compose by far the larger part Of
sde Opulation-inhabit palaces made of
poles tied together by wither and plast-
cred with a little sun dried mud, Goorless,
and rooted with cactus
branches, palm leaves, old rags or what
ever happened to come in the builders way.
Even in the best houses window glass is
rare, the easements being of the French
type, doubled and reaching from f1oro to
ceiling, the place of the ordinary sash to
which we of the north are accustomed be-