Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-07-20
THE PEOPLE OF TRUJILLO.
WOMEN OF HONDURAS THEIR DRESS,
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
A Town that Was Built by Cortez and
that Lives To-day Largely on the
Memory of the Past.

correspondence Vi the new 1Ork
1t is but few hours sail from the island
of Raotan to Cape Honduras, where CO.
lumbu8 first set foot on the American con-
tinent, and situated on beautiful harbor,
sheltered by the long sand spit of the
cape, is the old city of Trujillo. There is
no other point on the north coast that, in
commerce, can compete with this city,
which Cortez founded and built up at the
end of his long overland march from TIE.
huantepec. From here, in olden times,
the gold and silver bullion were shipped
to Spain, and when that country's power
and influence in the New World was on
the decline, it was in front of Truiillo that
the buccaneers laid in wait to pick up the
Spanish treasure ships.
Our small schooner was able to pass the
bar with which every river flowing north
in Central America seemed to be damned.
and German merchant and /, the only
passengers, were landed at the small wharf
in the dory. The city contains about
5000 inhabitants, four-tifths of whom are
as dark-skinned natives as one meets on
the mountain trails of Guatemala, though
yellowish tinge of color runs through
them all, betraying their Carib origin.
The arrival of the monthly schooner is an
event in the life of Truiillian, as i'm
portant as that of Christmas to the small
boy of the United States, and a hundred
men, women and children, offering fruit
for sale, greeted us as we stepped ashore.
The only hotel was one-story adobe.
whose rooms opened on an interior "patio,"
which served as stable, pigsty, coward
and general dumping ground for the whole
house, but as dirty as we found the court
yard, the rooms and beds were scrupu-
lousy clean.
Nothing but the seashore Immediately
under the equator could be more tropical.
Palms and banana trees lined every street,
and through every door opening into the
houses one sees the most luxuriant vege-
tation and flowers that bloom the year
round A remembrance of former pros
perity induces nearly every class of its in
habitants to dress better than people do at
other coast towns; and here, as elsewhere,
found a decided and growing preference
for American goods. The pure Carib wears
little but the coarse, common cottons of
naive weaving; the woman of higher
grade affect ginghams and gaudy COLLEGES;
but the dress of the GLADLY" par excellence.
is different affair, and those whom had
the pleasure of seeing, were quite up to
the foreigners idea of the clark, languid-
eyed" senorita. To be dressed as they are
in Havana is all that the belle of Trujillo
desires, and as the climates differ but little,
texture, weight and fashion may be accur-
ately copied. Light, gauzy materials
seem to be the rule the year round, and
among the wealthy every fold necessary
held together is pinned with a diamond
clasp.
Fortunately | was invited to the New
Years ball, and had some illusions dis
PEELED which | had formed of Central
American beauty. With very few excep-
tions the young ladies were tall, graceful
and of beautiful figure, though their dress
rather detracted from their appearance;
and could not help thinking how much
themselves if they could only have passed
through the hands of New York modiste.
The delicate paleness associated with
Spanish tropical beauty and the raven-hair
type predominated.
Pretty hands and feet are common,
though decent shoe is very rare. The
hair is usually banged " and worn plated
behind, though the beauty of the coil is
always lessened by running bright-colored
ribbon in with the hair. | do not remem-
Der seeing hat worn by any lady along
the coast. They are never worn while
making calls, and in the street the man
tilla is always used. The soft climate
does not cause neuralgia. and / thoroughly
enjoyed the absence of females with their
faces tied up in handkerchiefs, which one
sees so much of in the streets of Guate-
mala. There is the general lack of educa-
ton among women; to play the piano a
little and to waltz is about all that is re-
quired outside of reading and writing.
Many writers and travellers mention the
women of Honduras as graceful and fear
less horsewomen. Nothing could be fur
Their from the truth. | have seen very
many in the saddle, and have never seen
one who showed as much courage as the
average American girl who mounts a
horse the first time. Young women know
no more than to sit in the saddle, and their
Rosinante," or mule, follows the trail,
and those of middle age their time of
great avoirdupois) ride their animals in
such way as to resemble bags of -four, as
they go humping along. Very few know
what riding habit is, and when taking
short rides their ordinary dress is not
changed, which makes the passing eoues-
trienne an object of much interest to the
"Caballeros." The place to see the Cen
trail American belle is not on horseback.
But with none of the advantage offered by
more enlightened countries she never fails
to interest the traveller by a peculiar gen.
tleness and sweetness of manner, which
places her far above the pert, forward
"miss of San Francisco and on a level
with the best-bred girls Of New York.
a considerable portion of the trade of
Trujillo is in medicinal plants, more of
which grow in the Department of Olan-
cho than in any other portion of Central
America The sarsaparilla vine grows
wild, and one has only to walk few steps
beyond the town limits to runs against its
thorns. 1t is climbing vine and clings
as close to bushes, trees and rocks as the
common ivy. Natives make trips into the
woods at regular intervals, gathering its
reddish-brown roots in small quantities,
which always command ready sale to
the seaport merchants, who separate it into
two qualities, governed by the diameter of
the root and its color and richness of
juice. These pieces are cut in 1-foot
lengths and shipped to foreign countries
in 25-pound bales. The medicinal proper
ties of the vine are not recognized in Hon
duras, and when the native thinks his
blood needs purifying he physics himself
with blue mass pills until he salivates
himself.
There is plant called the cayamuela,
which has the peculiar property of saliva
ton. 1t is about four feet high, with
flexible stalk like our milkweed having
at its top yellow lily. The pungent odor
of the stalk when inhaled swells the face
like poison ivy, and the leaves, if eaten,
loosen the teeth. Cattle instinctively