Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-03-14


been put up. This is so partly from the fact
that before work on the canal commenced
there were great number of houses of the
town rotting down and teuantless. When there
was good harbor here previous TO twenty
live years ago the town fiourished. but when it
closed by the sand bar forming before its
mouth great portion of its population drifted
away. The principal stores are kept by Eng
lish, German and American merchants. though
some are of native birth. the bulk of the trade
being conferred IL two or three houses San
Juan Is free port, the custom house being
some eighty miles up the river, at Castillo, the
rapids passing by that place being SO shallow
that steamers stop just before reaching them,
and goods passing inspection by the custom
officers are transferred by tramway TO an
other steamer beyond the dangerous section
In lieu of tariff merchants here pay 10 per
cent on the total value of their importatiOns.
Consequently prices of imported manufactured
articles from Germany. France and England,
the chief sources on which merchants draw,
are generally lower than they could be bought
in the states.
The Masonic lodge here is the only secret
order represented prominently. A little one
story building is devoted to the uses Of the
lodge, which is composed of nearly all the
leading men of the town and officers of the
canal company 1t is quite an element in the
affairs OF the place, and occasionally its mem
beers give entertainments. which are the events
of the town. A burying ground back of the
rouge room mas received the remains OF many
members of the fraternity who died in
strange land.
The RUM MILL FLoURIsHEs.
As might be expected the rum mill fourishes
everywhere, from the handsomely fitted-up bar
room to the shack with mud floor, where two or
three bottles of aguadiente a veritable fire.
water, stand on the end OF q barrel Yet
drunkenness is not so common as it would be
supposed, and the little frame town Jail is not
oyertaxed by delinquents who cannot behave
themselves from the too free use of liquor.
The town Is patroled by policemen uniformed
in the general style seen in the large cities of
the states and are In good numbers.
Communication with the interior or Pacific
side of the country is by the River San JUAN a
broad stream, luxuriant in tropical growth,
and which winds about a distance of one hun
dred and twenty miles between Lake Nicaragua
and the Caribbean SEA. The river is famous as
the route of the old Vanderbilt Transit Com
pany and during 40 and so was alive with little
ste-n-wheel steamers carrying passengers up to
the lake, where they embarked on sailing vessels
torFirgin bay, near the location for the canal as
1t Is now planned. From that point TO the
Pacific they went overland, the old transit
road. as it is known, being until recently the
only road constructed with stone bed in
Nicaragua. The several rapids met in the
trip from San Juan to the lake were the cause
of losses TO the transit company on a number
of occasions and the bulls of steamers can now
be seen where they drifted on the rocks thirty
years ago For many years a company has
been granted the exclusive privilege of navi-
eating the River San Juan and Lake Nicaragua
by steam. and the stern-wheel boats OF thiscom-
pany, of the style common the Mississippi
are the only ones to be seen there excepting
the canoes and an occasional bungo of the ma
tiyes. Before the rubber was practically ex-
hausted from the forests of Nicaragua bv
ignorance of the manner of tapping the trees
these native boats were frequently seen coming
down the river to San Juan loaded with rub
Der, which was generelly shipped to England.
Now their only and very small work is In the
transportation of fruit.
Branch offices of the Bank of Nicaragua and
of Hoadley, ingalls, & Co. are here. Mr. Walter
ingalls,, nephew of Senator Ingalls, of Kansas
has charge of both of these enterprises.
FEMALE DRUMNERs.
Not an Insignificant feature of Greytown
business are the native cachedoras or travelling
saleswomen. They make constant trips from
this place to the interior, are looked upon as
doing a good deal of smuggling and are sup
posed to make considerable money in their
way To the interior they carry imported
manufactured goods and returning bring a
store of products OF the country, such as vege-
tables, cheese, eggs, chickens, DC, which they
dispose OF readily, for, although these things
bring a fancy price here, no one in this vicinity
appears to care to devote attention to raising
garden truck and other things, for which there
Is always a fair demand.
The climate here has so often been described
as OF two ssasons-the wet and the id wet
that the repetition of thatancient joke is hardly
permissible. The wet and dry seasons are not
well marked or regular, and it often happens
that the latter cannot be said to last over a
couple of months, and even then there are fire.
quent showers. The climate is not unhealthy,
slight malarial fevers being the general form in
which sickness comes. Living in q tropical
climate a m,
all people of northern climates and that is
demonstrated here as well as elsewhere
The other terminus of the canal, Brito on
the Pacific, is at present only the name of a
location. now forming part of a cattle estate.
Comparative pictures of these termini of the
canal now and when they shall become familiar
to the commerce of the world would form an
interesting collection. That they must become
important places there is no doubt.
&. EK