The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-08-24
A CITY IN THE CLOUDS.
Some Queer Features of Life in the
Capital of Colombia.

Ex-Representative Mckinney of New
Hampshire. who has Just returned
from Bogota. where he has been
United States Minister for two years.
spins tale full of interest. Mr.. Me-
Kinney seems to get along famOusly
with the Colombians. He likes them.
and they appear to have liked him.
Mrs. mckinney, who has been with
him. has also made lots of friends.
The very first thing I had to
learn, said Mr.. Mckinney, twas not
to hurry. When person gets 1900
feet up in the atmosphere he is sure to
find the atmosphere good deal rarer
than that which he has been accustom-
ed to breathe. His heart pumps faster,
and any undue eXertion brings on
vertigo. Some years ago, as | learn
ed after one or two experiences, an
Italian minister in Bogota lifted
trunk, and died in an hour as the re-
suit of his exertion. When | reached
Bogota | wanted to buy hat a
little girl at the hotel volunteered to
guide me to store. She went ahead
| like a deer. for she was acclimated,
and | tried to follow her. | felt the
most curious sensation, something
entirely different from any previous
feeling, and | think if | had not
stopped would have dropped in the
street. Since then do not hurry. If
you were to see me on the streets of
Bogota now you would think me the
LATEST man alive"
rs Bogota hard to reach?"
There is but one city more mae
cessible in the world, and that is
Quito. 1t takes nearly month for a
letter to go from Bogota to New York,
and the same time for it to return. so
that two months are sure to elapse
before you get an answer to a letter
written to the United States. The city
! is 100 miles from the coast. Of this
distance the greater part is travelled
up the Magdalena River until the
Andes are reached, and then you
travel for three days over the noun
tains on mules. 1t takes a week to
get to Bogota from the coast. The
| trip over the mountains, though, is so
sublime that it compensates for all
the Inconvenience. You can see for
hundred miles, and the mountains rise
one above the other to the height in
some instances. of 1900 feet. The
snow line is at 1900 feet. The road
is at times narrow and dangerous. but
the mules are sure-fOOted and the
guides are careful. Finally you reach
the railroad that runs down TO BogOta
and you descend into beautiful
plateau. guarded by two mountains.
La Guadalupe and Mount SerratO. l
reached there on the Fourth of July,
and the United States flag was waiv-
ing over our legation. | always
thought the stars and stripes were
beautiful. but just how beautiful |
never realized until Isawthem against
the sky in BogOta.
lis the city a pleasant place of resi-
dence."
Il have found it so. The houses
are all one or two story buildings.
made of brick. The house which
have rented is seventy feet front, with
immense rooms. and with court in
the center where the flowers bloom all
the year round. One curious thing
about the house is that there is no
wood used in the construction. Even
the floors are of brick arches and
tiling. The people are divided into
two classes-the rich aristOcracy and
the poor poems. The rich people are
highly educated and live we'll. The
poor are in lthe depths of ignor-
ance and poverty. The prevailing
type. of course. is Spanish, but there
is sprinkling of foreigners. Some
twenty Americans, for instance, live
there all the year round, being engag-
ed in business. The customs are very
unique. All the women smoke cigar
etts. and the men smoke cigarettes and
cigars. We buy good cigar
for Sl.S0 per hundred. | undertook
once to smoke pipe, but it created
such a sensation on the streets that
now when l indulge in such luxury l
stay in my own rooms, where no one
will see me. think | must have been
the first person to smoke pipe in the
place. Another thing which is inter-
esting is that no ladies appear alone
on the street after dark, although
hundreds of men will be walking. The
young women are most carefully
guarded. When a young man is
counting a girl in Bogota he stands
by the hour outside of the barred
window of her parlor while she re-
mains inside. If they are engaged he
lis allowed to see her in the presence
of her family. If he wants to take
her to the theater he must hire a box
and take her father, her mother, her
|, sisters, her brothers, and her cousins,
and her aunts, if she has any. That
might not suit the young American,
| hnt in R0OOfa II ia q vary ri Oid ol,sf0m