The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-08-18
A DELIGHT TO LOOK UPON.

But, strange to say, most Mexican gentle
men to whom this tropical style of beauty
is too familiar to excite especial notice
prefer any lank, fiat-footed, billious-com-
plexioned, pale eyed American woman up
TO the age of fifty, to the loveliest girls OF
their own race Such is the inexplicable
nature of the genus homo in its search for
noveltiesi
Accompanied by a Mexican matron we
visited some friends of hers whom she de
scribed as mug dee6ntc" very respectable,
or well connected) though poor. Through
barber shop we went, back of which was
long, empty shed, and then stable,
wherein were stalled a couple of donkeys,
cow and some goats; and out of this
stable a rickety flight of stairs assembled to
the home above. AS in all Mexico, the
trades people of La Paz almost universally
utilize the lower floors of their houses, if
they chance to have a second story, and in
any event the front rooms, for purposes of
business, the family living contentedly
above or IN therear. Despite the unprepOses-
sing entrance and the dirt and disorder that
reigned supreme, it was not an abode of
abiect poverty to which we were intro
duced The family comprised an incredible
number of people, considering the cramped
space, and more children and dogs than /
dare attempt to enumerate; but everybody
seemed healthy and happy, and serene in
the unshakable conviction that their own
little isolated town was the most desirable
place in all creation to live and die in.
While the merry, but curious, children fin
gered my clothing from hat to shoes and
their elders pleasantly commented thereon,
small gifts were exchanged according to
custom; wine and cigarettes were handed
around, and confidential chatter went on
amid clouds of smoke from feminine lips
Upon the wall l noticed that familiar carl
cature of the Garfield family-the death
bed scene-the coarsest of prints, painful
enough to make the martyred president I'M
easy in his grave, but which was regarded
with great pride by the mistress of the
mansion.
We tried in vain to purchase a photo
graph of some scenes in La Paz; but here
is a city nearly three hundred years old
and one of the most picturesque in exist
eRce, which
PHOTOGRAPHER HAS NEVER INVADED.
Besides pearls and mother of pearl shells,
silver bullion and ore, the exports of the
section are hides, SALT deer skins, tortoise
shells, oranges, panocha, orchilla moss and
damiana-the latter being an herb extern
sively used for tea. But here is the place
to buy corals and beautiful shells of all
kinds Among the middle and lower
classes, everybody keeps them for sale;
while boys follow the stranger about the
streets with baskets full, or row to the
ships side with canoe loads of them to sell
to passengers. Though remote from "the
worlds busy mart" they are not at all be-
hind in the tricks of trade, and will come
down gracefully from five dollar demand
to twenty-five cents if they find you are
not to be swindled. Among other rare and
curious trophies of the sea one may
purchase "porcapine fish'-or rather,
their empty hides, dried and inflated, every
quill standing erect and eyes, mouth and
fins like Mrs. Partington's crocodile
Large as life and twice as natural. " Nearly
every species of edible fish to be found in
the world abound in these waters, in
greater numbers than elsewhere and of eX-
traordinary size and brilliancy Of coloring.