Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-28


one can study Uruguay life and character
to much better advantage than when shut
up by ones self in private carriage. There
are 55 miles Of tramway in Monteyideo, and
everybody pstronizes them. The tariff is
from 2 to z cents, according to the length Of
your trip; and the spick and span new cars
(all made in New York; are certainly safer
and pleasanter than the jolting, double
springed, bug-infested hacks.
Music OF the Drivers Cowhorns.
There is but one drawback to the tram
cars, viz, that their Jolly drivers, one and
all, carry cows horns and toot to one another
continually, executing shrill, prolonged
trills with might and main, and out OF pure
facetiousness making din that is almost
deafening. It does not take long in our
peregrinations to discover that Uruguay's
capital is city of stucco and tiles and gor-
geous coloring, of fns shops and handsome
houses, of magnifcence, wealth and luxury,
of noise and clattering hoofs-though no.
body bustles and hurries in the North-of
cheerful faces and good clothes and con-.
tented people, who have no acquaintance
with the wolf called poverty that prowls
about the doors of many of their cousins on
the other side of the continent.
Owing to its situation on granite prom
ontory, almost surrounded by water, Monte
;yideo is admirably drained, well ventilated
and constantly washed clear, by the rains
that fall about IS days out of the 365. The
buildings are all fat-roofed, of two or at
most three stories, the materials that enter
into their composition being mostly brick
and stucco, tiles, marble, iron and very
little timber.
The Houses of Montevideo.
The general plan of the private houses is
the Andalusian vestibule, with floor Of
marble and dadoes Of alabsster or blue and
white Talaera tiles; double front door Of
massive iron or carved wood, always wide
open by day, disclosing tall inner gate of
open-wrought iron or steel, through which
one can plainly see the fowery patio, en-
bellished with palms and statuary and fra
grant shrubs growing in boxes, and often q
second and even third patio beyond, maxi
ing charming vista.
The frail looking gate with its lace-like
pattern, though it affords no obstruction to
the view, is firmly fastened inside, and to
gain admission one must ring bell, similar
to those on our doors at home, which sum-
mons the servant to unlock it. The facades
of the better houses are adorned with much
marble and stucco, and before every window
are iron bars-gilded, perhaps and highly
ornamented, but nevertheless as secure as
seems that the wealthier man is, the more
does his casa run to fanciful establishment
in the way Of tiling and stucco, the more
elaborately lace-like is his ironwork, the
thicker the gliding upon his gate and win
dow bars, the softer the tints of rose and
purple and blue and yellow upon his outer
walls.
Paving Made of Sheep Zones.
Many of the tenement houses have their
vestibules and patios paved with the
knuckle bones Of sheep, arranged like
mosaic-work in fantastic designs; and it is
stale old Joke to tell astonished strangers
that those are human bones, of people who
were killed in the hundred years war.
At any rate the effect is gruesome in the ex-
treme, and in walking upon them one feels
as if entering charnel house.
The city is lighted by gas brackets at
tached to the walls of the houses, and also
by electricity in many of the shops and
streets, furnished by two enormous estab-
lshments The Gale, Eighteenth de Julio
street, is pronounced by many travellers to
Be the finest street in South America In
the evenings it is most animated, 26 metres
wide, with shops filed with rich Partisan
goods. The Plaza Independence is hardly
second in interest to that of de Ia Consti-
tucion. 1t is an imposing parallelogram,
221 meters long by 232 wide, crossed by
broad, paved path, lined with benches It
is being surrounded by lofty colonnades in
the Doric style-such as we have seen in
Lima, Arequipa, Santiago and the City of
Mexico-seetions of which are already COM
pleted. On one side OF the plaza is the
Government building-in local parlance
called ''Palacio, though it bears no sort
of resemblance to palace, being an exceed
ingly plair affair.
Doesn't Have . Large Army.
By the way, Uruguay's standing army,
does not exceed 5000 men, and they are
mostly concentrated at the capital. The
Presidents bodyguard, q battalion 400 strong,
sport picturesque toggery of leopard skin,
topped by scarlet fez, each fez with black
tassel bobbing over the wearer's ebony nose.
The common soldiers wear baggy red trous-
ers fastened around the anEle-a sort Of
zouave costume. -.-
The policemen of Montevideo, as in other
cities, are detailed from
the army, and the army is mostly recruited
from the prisons Thus it often happens
that your nightly safety depends upon an
ex-criminal stationed outside the window.
The police are armed with sabefs instead Of
clubs, and they know how to use them upon
offenders who resist arrest. A few years
ago murders and highway robbery were Of
daily and nightly occurrence, in city and
country, till President Santos came TO the
fore and made an agreeable change by
hanging every murderer and highwayman.
FANNIE B. WARD.