The Republican journal., 1896-08-13


back again, taking sides against the cler-
cal party. More than a thousand of them
are settled in the vicinity of Livingston,
and they are scattered all along the coast
their old war-lke character lost with
their tribal autonomy and now peaceble
almost to abjectness. Only in recent
years have they worn any clothing at all
not until compelled to do so by the gov
ernment. In figure they are short and
squat, but erect and muscular. Their
heads are round as cannon balls, and look
as unbreakable; complexion the color of
old mahogany; hair black and abundant
and more OF less inclined to ''kink'' ac-
cording to the admixture of negro blood.
The women have a queenly gait and are
sometimes handsome and, like other Indi-
ans, they do the hardest work while their
lords play hero. One of their noticeable
peculiarities is that the hands of most of
the men are speckled like the backs of
brook trout--clearly defined spots of
black and white displacing the original
reddish brown. Some say it is disease
akin to leprosy, and others attribute it to
the gathering of sarsaparilla roots an
other of their oddities is that the men and
women speak different language, the
men, when together, considering it deep
disgrace to use the language of the
women; and if one of them inadvertently
lets fall word Of ''woman's talk" he is
jeered at uumercifully by his companions.
This peculiarly is explained by a Carib
tradition, which runs as follows: Away
back in the early days, when their ances-
tors lived along the Orinoco river, there
was lake near one of their settlements,
twas it Ma1acaibo?) which was greatly
worried by a water-sprite. y pole had
been set up in the water to mark the eX
act spot to which the mischevous sprite
retired after troubling the children OF
men, and it was believed that any one
who touched the pole would suffer great
bodily harm. The chief of the tribe had
beautiful daughter, (as what chief of
tradition had not?) and she determined to
rid her people of the water sprite, though
she perished in the attempt. According
ly, one dark night she stole out of her
father tepee, embarked on the lake in a
canoe, seized the pole and gave it vigor-
GUS shaking with one hand, while with
the other she waved aloft charm most
potent for the exercising of evil spirits.
Expecting to see some horrid monster
arise and flee with futile curses-a la
Chambers "Maker of Moons,' what was
her astonishment when a beautiful youth
sprang into the canoe and dispelled her
fears with words of love. Together they
returned to her fathers tepee, and their
sons and daughters were the founders of
the great Carib nation. The sons Inherit
ed the turbulent spirit of their father, to-
gether with the adventurous courage Of
neighboring islands, where they killed all
the men and married the women; and that
is why the women to this day speak diff
ferent language.
After days pleasant sailing on the
American Mediterranean we reached
Puerto Cortez at nightfall-or rather
Puerto Caballos Port of Horses), as Cor
tez named it, because here number of
his horses died. 1t has beautiful har-
Dor, the best on the whole eastern coast
of Central America, the water being deep
enough for large steamers to approach the
wharf With his usual wisdom Cortez
selected it as the entrepot of New Spain,
and for more than two centuries it re-
maned the principal port in these parts,
until by and by the repeated ravages of
the buccaneers caused it to be deserted
by trade and Omoa, farther south on the
Honduras coast, came into favor. Puerto
Cortez is also noted as the Atlantic term-
gnis fatuus that will never materialize,
though for its building alone S27, 900, 00O
was raised. The railway was completed
about y miles, (rather an expensive road
"a million dollars the mileD to place of
little account, called San Pedro. The
coaches and locomotives are of the most
) antique pattern and the road is in a
wretched condition of disrepair; so that
one might walk the distance as fast as he
t can ride. Viewed from shipboard Puerto
S Cortez-with it's thatched and red tiled
houses, its background of lofty noun
tains and fringe of palm along the bay
g is beautiful as dream; rapidly dissolv-
ing view in the brief twilight of the trop-
les, Oh which ''the curtain of the dark" is
, rung down to the music of vesper bells
But have no doubt that the usual tiltl
and squalor, vermin and vile odors o.
other Central American ports prevail
there. Happily We did not land, but pre-
served the beatific first impression by