The Republican journal., 1896-08-27

sheriff. 1t is unsafe to express admira-
ton for anything whatever in these coun-
tries. Do you say of picture on the
wall, jewel, dress, the family carriage
OF the family baby, sit is beautiful, the
instant rejoner is, cit is yours, Senior"
Many times my too ready tongue has
brought me into painful embarrassment
on these lines. You must wriggle out of
the situation as best you can. To say,
thanks, would not deprive you Of it,
| is equivalent to jumping from the frying
pan into the fire, for the more you demur
the more the article will be pressed upon
you-though all the time nobody for
moment imagines that you will accept the
| protfered gift.
The streets of Yzabal, if the Irregular
spaces between houses set haphazard can
be called streets, are unpaved and I'M
lighted, and business is by no means
| brisk. outside the Custom House. There
is one church-Roman Catholic, of course,
and school, in which we counted four
children, three dogs and rooster. The
people differ from those of the coast, for
while the whites are as usual Spaniards
with sprinkling of foreigners, there
| principally Germans, engaged in business,)
the lower class are not Caribs, or negroes,
but Indians of mixed blood. They seem
fairly intelligent class, Industrious and
peaceable, and very quiet as compared to
| the gaIruious Caribs These Indians are
really the beasts of burden of the coun-
/ try. By an order from the Comandantia
the mozos de cargo, as they are called,
are compelled to convey freight and com
modities of all sorts from the landing to
! their destination with no more to say about
it themselves than the donkey has else
where which has been hired from its
/ owner foT the same purpose. The Indians
receive three reals, (about 81 and one half
I cents) per diem and are required to carry
about 100 pounds; but have often seen
| them staggering along under 3 or / times
that amount. They carry the load on their
| backs, supported by leather strap passed
across the forehead. The only industries
of the town are fishing and the building Of
| boats and small schooners. There are
many extensive banana plantations IN the
neighborhood, and their products form an
! important item of export. The ''depart-
ment'' of Yzabal has only three munich
palities in its area of ], 800 square miles.
/ yHlta hyr nm rnl1
streams, are extremely fertile and produce
every known fruit; its mountains are COW
cred with all sorts of valuable timber
and its forests are alive with birds of
numberless varieties. By the way, we
| saw here for the first time the Quetzal
| pronounced kezal, j the national emblem
of Guatemala, as the eagle is of our coun
try. 1t is no use trying to describe the
beautiful Quetzal, a bird about the size of
robin, with tail feathers feet long,
superb peacock-green, darkening to indl
90 on the wings, the inner breast vivid
scarlet 1t is truly bird of freedom,
for it never survives captivity, even when
taken in earliest life. In ancient days
none but the royal families were allowed
to wear its gorgeous plumes Nova
days the Indians bring the skins from the
mountains in considerable numbers, their
value depending on the length of the tail
feathers. Happily, the female is very
plain as compared to her spouse, SO she
escapes the snare of the fowler and pre-
serves the species. Another case of 1.-THE
fatal curse of beauty" Besides their
birds and pottery, the mountain Indians
bring down a good deal of gutta- percha
and sarsaparilla for shipment at Yzabal.
The department contains extensive beds
of gold placers, particularly along the
rivers Libertad and Quebradas. They
have been worked for many years in
primitive way, with fair results, and
within the last two years foreign COM
panies have commenced operating them
with the best modern appliances, and eX-
pect great things in the near future. They
say that the gravel beds cover large
area, are well defined and of good thick
ness and promise large dividends. These
rivers and their tributaries drain an eX-
tensive mountain country, and have In
the course of centuries cut and dragged
down their golden sands from quartz
veins existing in their course; therefore,
it is but reasonable to suppose that some
where in the almost unexplored upper
line of their flow, regular Ell Dorados OF
yellow wealth wait for coming genera
lions. In the near by foothills several
coal veins have been discovered, of
good anthracite variety; but nothing has
yet been done about developing them.
In the evening we adjourned to the
plaza, by the light of the moon, to listen
to a concert on the marimba; given for
the entertainment of ''Las Americanas.