The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-07-17
MANAGUA.
Continued from LIST. PaxeA

nSure eiSnt IN IL the lsland-peaKs, MOuu-
tombo and Momotobita, rise from the waters
edge to height of 5000 or : 900 feet, sending
up intermittent volumes of smoke or steam to
m1ngle with the clouds. Lake Managua is
higher than the nearby Lake Nicaragua, but
not nearly so Deep line of five small
steamers is now employed On it's waters to
accommodate the constantly increasing traf-
hc between Momotombo Town, the terminus
Of the railroad from Corinto on the Pacific
coast, and the capital.
Native Customs.
The country about Managua must have
been densely populated by the aborigines
and is full of most curious relics of a pre-
historic race, which the natives regard with
great veneratiOn.
II the old saw about "early to bed and early
to rise be true, the people of Nicaragua ought
to be wiser than Solomon, weather. than
Croesus. and healthier than Methuselah. BY
o'clock every light is extinguished in Man
aqua, and everybody is sleeping the sleep OF
the just behind the mosquito bar of his OK
hide stretcher, or hammock, or little iron
bedstead and long before "sun up the bust
ness Of the day is begun. The Nicaraguan
takes even his pleasures leisurely and in
homeopathic doses-all but sleeping and
smoking. Every other little town in His
pano-Amerca has it's casino and other places
Of public amusement or social gatherings:
but there are none in ManaSua. The enter
tainments in private houses generally take
the form of early dinner parties; and if
dancing is INDUCED in it is begun in the af-
ternoon and concluded about the hour such
exercises commence elsewhere. The poems
ave In the ouIsxirrs or the city, IN nuts e
bamboo matched with straw surrounded with
cacti hedges. They are very poor, and dirty
beyond degree, yet apparently happy as the
summer day is long. a real which is worth
121a cents in our money, will sustain a
whole family for week, for they Esed li;Me
more than that with which nature has sup
piled theEl-plantains and yams for food,
tobacco and sugar-cane for luxuries, and thei'
own brown skins for a covering. They se!
dom eat meat, and never wash themselves.
They sit nearly naked in the doors of Their
huts, both men and women smoking cigar
cites, and chatting contented(y as If ey
cry want of life was fully supplied-as doubt
ISIS it is. for them Densely ignorant and
superstitious, they know nothing of the world
beyond their own immediate surroundings.
and care still less. Most of them work on the
estancias, when there is anything to be done:
walking five or six miles in the twilight at
either end of the day, going to and returning
from the scene of their labor before and after
sunrise.
Lake MnnnEua.
Vehicles of any kind are scarce in this part
of the world, most people making their in
frequent excursions on horse or donkey back.
In honor Of Las Americans, who naturally
wished to see the environs Of the capital, q
large and cumbersome landau was hunted up
which had formerly belonged to the Bishop OF
Leon, but had been discarded by that digni
tary for more stylish conveyance. In these
Catholic countries, you know, it is the GUS
tom for everybody to fall upon their knees,
wherever he may be, when the Bishops car
rage is seen approaching, on the presump-
ton that his holiness may be in 1t, and as we
were whis1ed out of town at the heels Of
fn1,y icl/v
startled by the sign Of men and women "fop-
ping by the dusty wayside, la Mrs. Jerry
Cruncher, and enjoyed the slow establishment
that stole gradually over their faces in the
midst OF an ave, ave." as they behell
bonnets and Jackets instead of priestly robes.
We drove some distance along the edge of the
lake, then up steep hill, to an elevation OF
perhaps 200 feet, where halt was made thA'
we might view the magnificent prospect. At
our feet lay the Lago de Managua, looking
dark-gree in contrast with the surprising
brightness of the encircling mountains, whose
barren cliffs and crags shine like gold and
silver IN the tropic sun streaked WITT
cinpabar and other high colored minerals
presenting the effect CT gorgeous
sunset. Then onward and upward we went,
TO the extinct crater - ANITA Clara. This
mountain hollow, circular basin. 100 feet
deep and 600 yards in diameter, is as nerfect
IN IN contour as If chiseled by art lake, called
'1scapa, occupies the bottom of the crater.
ana tnls Ii che public laundry of Nicaragua's
capital, where the lavenderas Cwasherwomen1
clean their dirty linen. A ragged roadway
leads down to the water, where at all hours a
novel scene is presented. Standing knee
neep or waist-deep in the water, dressed &C.
raener undresseD, accordingly. the native
women pound the clothes on fiat stones. We
are told that the middle Of the lake IL ah-
solutely oottomless, and that little way from
ne outer edge lines have been dropped down
NV rect without finding anything. At times
e ene water becomes warm, and sulphurous
1unGs rise IRON Its surface, and again the
s wnoAe oody OF the lake suddenly lifts IN
I'VE or six feet. and the washwomen have -
run Tor their lives, leaving the clothes to
t1 away. Though pronounced "extinct"
Lhls would indicate that the temper of the VOL
ano is still too uncertain to make If an |
agreeable neighbor. ~ az
FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD