The herald., 1896-11-18
An Interesting Letter From a
Former AngeIcno
LION AND BULL FIGHTS
On Only One Occasion the Lord Of the
Desert Was Victor
The Climate as Compared With That of
Southern California-Crudities in
Building-Business and Exports.

GUATEMALA, Oct. Is, 1S96.-(Special
Correspondence to The Herald) After
a residence of six months here have de-
cided that there is no place like Los An
geles. Not that have any complaint to
make against this country, butt isn't
Los Angeles. The climate here is very
pleasant; six months, from May to No
vember, is the rainy season, and it rains
without any effort at all. Usually it is
clear and dry in the forenoon and rains
off and on during the afternoon and
night. 1t is quite warm in the sun any,
where, but in the shade the change is as
great as in Los Angeles. Nights are cool
and pleasant and a double blanket very
comfortable. The city is said to contain
100000 inhabitants but in my judgment
there are not more than $4,000 The
houses, with very few exceptions, are
only one story high, being built on the
Spanish style, around patio" with
walls and partitions of a poor quality of
brick or adobe, about four feet thick,
which makes considerable waste room.
In some blocks there are not more than
two or three doors. The water and sew
err systems are very bad, and as yet no
attempt seems to be made to better
them. Much Improvement Is being made
by putting down cement sidewalks; but
their manner of doing it would make an
American contractor sick. They tear up
the old stones, which would make the
very best foundation, and lay cement
tiles about an inch thick, which will not
last very many years. COrnices are be-
ing put on the buildings on the principal
streets with water pipes carrying off the
water instead Of flooding the passer
from the caves.
Amusements, there are none. The
military bands play in the different
plazas Mondays, Wednesdays and Fri
day evenings, and Sunday afternoons.
They play very we'll. Every Sunday
some one of the fifty churches have some
sort of fiesta" and probably have a
procession carrying around several i'm
ages and playing drums, firing sky
rockets and burning of incense. These
always attract great crowds
The fair and races in August were very
largely attended. The national holiday,
September 18th, was celebrated in the
usual style-procession, speeches and fire
works. We have had several fights be-
tween the lion, Sultan" and different
bulls, with various results. ] send you
few photos of the only fight in which
the lion killed the bull. We are promised
some old fashioned bull fights with bulls
from Chile and matadores from Mexico,
in few months.
Business here is done In ways which
seem sui generis, and which are, to say
the least, very peculiar. The principal
and almost the only export is coffee.
Bills are paid usually in the exchange
made by it's expectation, but the price
of exchange is as variable as the wind
and seems to be at the caprice of the
bankers. In June it was selling at SO per
IN no ant i'm ic
100 per cent. with almost none for sale.
Most of the money is paper, issued by
the banks. supposed to be guaranteed
by silver in the banks vaults. But the
amount of silver Is very limited. Peru
Wan and Chilean dollars form a large
part of what silver there is in circulation.
Since exchange has been so high the mer-
chants have found 1t policy to ship silver
to pay their bills, but within the past
week the government has laid an export
duty of 10 per cent on all silver sent out
of the country. What exchange will be
now is an uncertain question. The price
of silver elsewhere seems to have no
bearing upon exchange.
So far as l have heard there are no
mines of any consequence in this coun-
try
Duties on all classes of goods are very
high and everything is charged for by
weight, almost everything by gross
high on nearly everything. In country
where eight crops of alfalfa can be
raised in a year. hay is $50 to $1DO per
ton, and mostly imported
Bacon and hams sell for from 621a to
rs cents per pound, but on several art-
cles of necessity the duty will be taken
off next February in order to forward
the. exposition, which is expected to do
great things for this country.
1 have noted with pleasure the inter
est taken by the Merchants and Man
ufacturers Association of Los Angeles
in the future trade with this country.
Much could be done if the proper means
were taken. G. w. Randall has been
here over six months selling thousands
of dollars worth of rubber stamps man
ufactured in Los Angeles Seattle has
put on steamer, which makes a trip
about every sixty days, selling immense
quantities of lumber, sewer pipe and
beer and flour. H. r. HANNA.
HE GETS So YEAR,