The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-07-10
NICARAGUA NOTES.
HIGH LIFE AND Low IN CEN
TRIAL AMERICA.
Characteristic Things You See, in q Near
aguan Tour-Hotel Acco1nna ida lions
Getting Water Totlsome Task Modern
water-Works Piant-Hcw You Live:A

Water-WOrks Plant-Hcw You Live.:
Masaya, Nicaragua, -- Special
Observation-Disclosures rallies due west
from Granada, on the line of the National
Railway, lies Masaya, one of the Oldest, larg-
est, and most interesting of Nicaraguan ci-
ties, close by the lake and volcano of the
same name. Though with less than 10000
inhabitants, nine-tenths of whom are Indi-
ans, it rambles over as much ground as New
York City, for it's few fine casas and many
straw-thatched jacals are set in the midst OF
groves and gardens, most of them far back
from the street, and hidden from view by
overhanging foliage. We came here for two
reasons: first, to visit ''El Inferno de Ma
which the early chroniclers wrote so much.
and, second, because we are downright hun
cry, 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. Masayas best is a very
long, two-storied adobe building, with an
enormous apartment on the ground floor
which answers the triple purpose Of bar, bill
lard. and dining room. 1t has no from,
door, but is entered through the patio, III
which horses, mules, goats, pigs, dogs, fowls,
babies. ETC.. are corralled. In these Spanish
American countries, where ladies to the
manor born never, under eny circumstances.
feed in a public dining room, it is considered
an advantage to combine parlor, Office, din
ing-roonl, barroom, and billiard-room with
in the same four walls and if foreign females
will do such questionable things as to live in
hotels, and worse yet, to eat in public, they
must expect to be stared at by saloon loung-
ers. Beyond the patio is the kitchen, from
whose adobe altar the incense of grease anG
garlic ascendeth ever
Hotel Accommodations.
The bonifaces of Central America have no
idea of permitting one guest, or even a small
party of them, to selfshly monopolize a
whole apartment; and, therefore, the largest
inn has no more than two or three great bed
rooms, like town halls or the wards of hos
pital, around the four walls of 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, ami
upon this foundation are spread a few sheep
skins with the wool on, or at best corn husk
mattress; and as may be imagined, the re-
suit is something beside which a good pine
board would be "downy.' At the head o.
eacn cot sort Of skeleton table, painted a
lugubrious black, upholds large tin basin,
fllel with water once day, which is sup
posed to supply ones ablutionary needs for
tWenty-four hours. Soap and towels are
conspicuous for their Absence" but some
thing which answers for those luxuries will
generally be furnished for an extra dos reals
(25 Cents). If you unreasonably demand
other light than that of luna to go to bed by
a tallow dip can be purchased for a medic
(6 cents), or you may come provided, as the
natives often do, with a pocket full of CASTOR
oil beans, which, stuck on stick and ignited.
will furnish better illumination than the gas
of many Northern hotel.
The chamber maid is always man. and a
rather glum one, too, who cannot be bribed
to grant unusual indulgences by a bit of rib
bon or other female paraphernalia, as may
the bonny hotel maids of Yankeeand; heaven
bless them! For such accommodations YOU
pay from 81 to 81 day, per capita, with al
muerzo first breakfasD included The lat.
ter is brought to your bedside soon after day.
break, and consists of small mug of coffee
or chocolate. with an unbuttered loaf Of
bread, the size and shape Of a croquet ball.
and about easily masticated. Midday
breakfast and afternoon dinner are extra. and
you may take it in the dining-room attached
to the hotel or forage elsewhere.
Getting Water Toilsome Task.
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 con-
sists entirely of volcanic tufas, through which
moisture quickly percolates. Hence all the
water used must be brought from Lake Masa-
va, which lies below the westward limit of
reach it by following rough and roundabout
road 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 filed; 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,
carly in the morning and again after sunset
eah with water jar at her back. set in
queer network of twisted fiber and held in
place by leather band around the fore
head. BY the way, the water jars of interior
Nicaragua and the oldest have yet seen-not
OF baked clay, like those of Mexico, or Of wool
or stone, as IN some parts CT Central America.
but each OF huge gourd-a natural she'll Of
ten glazed and painted, and with strange de-
signs scratched upon it. Joining the female
procession, you presently come to the verge
OF sheer cliff, at the bottom CT which, more
tnan SUI feet below, sparkles a clear, cool
sheet OF Water-the lakelet which bears the
same name as the nearby town and the
mountain that overshadows both. The descent
is almost perpendicular, in one place a series
OF rude ladders. In others by steps cut into the
solid rock. We thought OF Jacobs historic
ladder, but no, the patriarch would never
recognize the angelic heroines of his dream
in these half-naked figures ascending and
descending. Most of them are clad Oily in
the brown suit provided by nature. with
feminine garment which is seldom mentioned
in polite society, while the older women are
encountered with no more impedimenta than
a short petticoat over the chemise. On the
way down and lettering awhile at the waters
edge, they laughed and chartered like so many
magpies, but on the toilsome upward climb
each bending beneath the burden on her back.
they were silent and breathless, Precipitation
streaming from their faces.
Modern Water-WOrks Plant
About five years ago some foreigners con-
:eived the idea Of supplying Masaya with mod
ern water works. The estimated cost of the
plant was $130,O00. The government favored
The enterprise and a large portion of the stock
t9as taken by Nicaraguans. Since 1893 the
works have been operated in a limited way:
but nowhere in the world is it more difficult
to introduce "new-fangled notions" than
among the Indians, who comprise the bulk
Of Masayas population, and to this day most
OF them prefer the old, laborious method OF
their ancestors The water for the work.:
aforesaid is derived from the picturesque falls
of Tincuantepe, about sixteen miles from the
city and 1000 feet above it. At Nindidi. 6
small Indian village two miles from Masaya
the company has built an enormous reservoir
capable of holding 6O0 900 gallons. The piping
was all purchased in the United States A
four-inch main is laid along Gale Monibo the
principal street In the city, and there are
Jor o{ru sid cfr RS