The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-01-23

mate is very hottie temperature is rarely
below S5 degrees, but owing to the dryness
of the air, the heat is less enervating than
in damper localities.
Twenty years ago the population was
about ten thousand. less than q per cent
of which was of pure white descent. The
masses We're the mixed descendants of In
dams, negroes and whites. There was every
shade of color, from the lefty African to
the orange colored Mestizo and the ashy,
pink-eyed Zambo. Sometimes you would
see the clear cut and classic features of
the Castilian beneath woody head and
yellow skin. Sometimes you would see the
facial angles of the negro physiognomy
/ beneath straight hair and a white skin.
Sometimes you would see such nice blend
ing of Indian, negro and Castilian all in
the same person as would battle all attempts
at chronological analysis.
The language of the masses (for I am now
speaking of the lower masses) though NOM
inaIly Spanish, was d curious 5argon or
patois sometimes incomprehensible even
by their own countrymen from the national
capital. Children of all ages and both sexes
appeared III the streets in state of per-
feet nudity. Even half grown boys would
walk the public thoroughfares naked
as when they were born. You would some
times see middle-aged men with nothing
on but a straw hat and Il sort of clout about
their hips. The adult females wal ell about in
sleeveless gowns which extended from be-
low the breasts to a little below the knees.
The streets, though well graded and never
muddy or dusty, We're at the time of
| which I am speaking, difficult of passage,
owing to the great depth of loose sand. The
| houses except those in the business section
| or those around the grand plaza, were gem
| orally mere huts covered with thatch. The
walls were constructed of upright posts set
! deep in the sand, with bamboo splits mat
| ted between. Sometimes they were plaster
! ed and whitewashed, inside and out, some
| times not even plaStered The floors were
| of native earth or of broad red (ile. Even
| the best houses were seldom more than ons
! story high and there We're PROBABLY not Il
| dozen glass windows in the place. OF
| course there were no CRATES or .lroDlaceS,
! and cooking stoves were almost jiEknCWn.
! The convenienceS for cooking, even n the
| hotels and in better class of residences,
! We're rude furnaces or fogOneS made of sun
dried brick, and heated by charcoal. In the
| humber dwellings, the cooking was done
outdoors in fair weather. and during the
rainy season in the only room of the house,
the vessels in both cases being rude clay
pots heated over a lfttle fire 'nade Of straw
| or charcoal The water used for Domestic
! purposes had to he carried from the muddy
cano on the backs of doDheyS end pc
ones. Sometime it filtered through a
sort Of porous sandstone peculiar to the
country, sometimes not; and in s'ther case
not only very warm but disGus1in;sly i'm
pure. Few people drank water as water.
Foreign residents fell into the Leer and
brandy habit through sheer desperation The
natives drank a decOCtlOn OF nlOlaSSe5 and
maize called chiche. Everybody smoked,
everybody seemed able to afford it where
native cigars (such they were) cpcld lie
had at cents per dozen. The pahc n,ar-
ket was an open and very dirty plaza. the
very sight Of which would spoil The best
appetite for the whole day.
At the very best hotel in the place, it was
quite impossible to secure a clean room or
decent meal. The furniture usually con-
sisted Of one or more cr0Ss-legged cots,
Girty straw mats a broken mirror, Il few
rabaretas or raw~hde chairs, a broken
water pitcher molly tin BASIN d number
of dirty glass tumbcrs Stacks Of empty
beer and brandy bottles, and greasy
petroleum lamp with broken chimney.
And when you retired for the night, tie
mosquitoes and sand flies made sleep I'M
possible.
Such was Barranquilla in 1873. but not the
Barranquila Of today Tor during
the past twenty years the place mas under
gone complete Transformations Its. popula-
ton is row ITltie short Of fifty thousand
and, quite contrary to general experience
the ratio Of Increase has heen greatest
among the whites. This may be accounted
for by white emigration ana by aCcessions