The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-23
THE INFERNO OF MASAYA.
A REMARKABLE FREAK OF Ma.
TURE IN CENTRAL AMERICA.
Fishing For Gold in Fire-Adventure
OF Some Spaniards, as Told by an
Old ChrOnicleF-High and Low Life
in Nicarngmn.

VI some Spaniards, as Told by an
Old ChrOnicIeF-High and Low Life
in Nicaragua.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Masaya' Nicaragua.-Thirteen miles due
west from Grenada, on the line of the Ma
uonal railway, lies Masaya-one of the
OLDEST largest and most interesting of Nj
caraguan cities, close by the lake and
volcano of the same name Though with
less than 10000 inhabitants nine-tenths of
Whom are Indians, it rambles over as much
ground as New York city, for it's few fine
plazas and many straw-thatched jacals
are IN the midst of groves and gardens,
most of them far back from the street
ana hidden from view by overhanging To-
mage. We came here for two reasons:
First to visit "El Inferno de Masaya"-
that freak among volcanoes, about which
the early chorniclers wrote so much; and
second, because we are downright hungry
and were. assured that here is 1.-The very
best hotel in Central America"
Let me tell you what they call good
hotel in this part of the world Masaya's
best is a very long, two-storied adobe
building, with an enormous apartment on
the ground floor, which answers the triple
purpose of bar. billiard, and dining-room
IL has no front door, but is entered through
the patio, in which horses, mules, goats
pigs, dogs, fowls, babies ETC., are corral
ed. In these Spanish-Ameriean countries
where ladies to the manor born never,
under any circumst ances, feed in pub
lie dining room, IL is considered an adVant-
age to combine parl0r, office, dining room.
barroOm, and billiard room within the same
Tour walls; and ii foreign females Will do
such questionable things as to live in no
tells ana, worse yet to eat in public, they
must expect to be stared at by saloon
loungers. Beyond the patio is the kitchen,
from whose adobe altar the incense of
grease and garlic ascendeth ever.
The bonifaces of Central America have
no idea of permitting one guest, or even a
small party OF them, to seltshly monopo-
llze whole apartment; and, therefore,
the largest inn has no more than TWO or
three great bedrooms, like town halls or
the wards of a hospital, around which
single beds are ranged. The little iron
bedsteadS are usually bottOmed with OK
hides stretched tightly from end to end in
lieu Of springs, and upon this foundation
are spread few sheepskinS with the wool
on, or, at best, a corn husk mattress, and,
as may be imagined, the result is some
thing, beside which good pine board
would be 'downy." At the head of each
cot a. sort OF skeleton table, painted a lu-
gubrious black, upholds large tin basin
nlled with water, once a day, which is
supposed to supply ones ablutonary needs
Tor twenty-tour hours. Soap and towels
are conspicuous by their absence" but
something which answers for these luxu-
ries will generally be furnished fer an ex-
ira uoS realS-zo cents. II you unreaSOna-
bly, demand other light than that of Luna
to go to bed by, tallOW dip can be pur-
chased for a medic (6 cents); or YOU may
come provided, as the natives often do,
with pocketful of castor oil beans
which, stuck on a stick and ignited will
furnish better illumination than the gas
of many northern hotel The chamber
maid is always man, and a rather gIum
one, too, who cannot be bribed to grant
unusual indulgences by bit of ribbon or
female n3rdnlpTn9lia he
bonny maids of yankeeland-heaVen bless
themi For such accommoda atoms you
pay from 81 to 81 a day per capita, with
almuerzo first breakfast) Included The
latter is brought to your bedside soon
after daybreak, and consists of a small
mug of coffee or chocolate, with an I'M
buttered loaf of bread, the size and shape
of a croquet ball and about as easily mas
ticated. Midday breakfast and afternoon
dlnner are extra, and you may take them
in the dining-rOom attached TO the hotel
or forage elsewhere.
You cease to wonder that the use of
water is limited in Masaya when you
learn how the city supplies itself with
that necessary liquid. There is not a
we'll, spring, or stream within the radius
OF several miles, for the earth consists en-
tirely of volcanic tufas, through which
moisture quickly percolates. Hence all
the water used must be brought from
Lake Masaya, which lies beyond the
westward limit of the town and $50 feet
below It. You may reach it by following
a rough and roundabout road for three
or four miles or by climbing down a
steep precipice two-thirds of a mile from
the central plaza. OF course the cattle
and horses are driven the long way
around TO drink and the water carts to
be filled; but the women and girls of
Masaya make the scaling of that precipice
no small part of their daily labor. You
see long lines of them early in the morn
. ing and again after sunset each with a
water jug at her back set in queer net
work OF twisted fibre and held in place
by leather band around the forehead
by the way the water jars of interior
Nicaragua are the oldest | have yet
seen-not of baked clay, like those of
Mexico, nor of wood nor stone as i'm
some parts of Central America, but each
is a huge gourd, a natural shell, often
glazed and painted, and with strange de-
signs scratched upon il. Joining the fe-
male procession, you presently come TO
the verge of a sheer cliff, at the bottom, Of
which, more than 800 feet below, span -,
a clear cool sheet of water-the lakeIct
which bears the same name as the near
by town and the mountain that over
shadows both. The descent is almost per-
pendicular, in one place a series of rude
ladders, in others by steps cut into the
solid rock. We thought of Jacobs his
toric ladder; but no--the patriarch would
never recognize the angelic heroines of
his dream in those half-naked figures as
cending and descending. Most of them
are clad only in the brown suit provided
by nature, with the sole addition of the
short and scanty feminine garment which
is seldom mentioned in polite society |
while the older women are incumbered
with no more impediments than a short
down, and lettering awhile at the water
edge they laughed and chartered like so
many magpies; but on the toilsome up
ward climb each bending beneath her
they were silent and breathless, perspira-
ton streaming from their faces.
About Ave years ago some foreigners
conceived the idea Of supplying Masaya |
with modern water works. The estimated |
cost of the plant was 100000. The govern
ment favored the enterprise, and a large
norton of the stock was taken by Near |
aQuans Since 1898 the works have been |
operated in limited way-but nowhere
i'm the world is II more difficult TO intro |
duce ''newfangled notions" than among |
the Indians VINO comprise the bulk of Mas
aya's population and TO this day most OF |
them prefer the Old, laborious method OF |
their ancestors. The water for the works |
aforesaid is derived from the picturesque |
falls of Tincuantepe, about sixteen miles ]
from the city and 900 feet above II. AT |
Nindiri, a small Indian village two miles |
from Alasaya. the company has built an |
enormous reservoir. capable Of holding co., |
900 gallons. The piping was all purchased |
in the United States. A four-inch iron |
main IL laid along Gale Monibo the prin- |
cipa. street in the city and there are two I
- three anna lfgr mains ON side etraafa