The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-07-31
NICARAGUA
AS STRETCHED BY OUR ABLE
RESPONDENT.

Housekeeping in Observation-Disclosures i,
Leon, Nicaragua-The White House,
Nicaragu-Majestic Monotombo-rsaaSsss sdd
i've Garb-The Bath-social Ne
Leon, Nicaragua ->5fial Core
spondence.-We prolonged our stay anothe,
week, in order to enjoy the novelty of house.
Keeping after the manner of Central Amer
leans. Like most agreeable things, it came
ABOUT unexpectedly. Our letters of introduction
nave gained us several pleasant acquain-
tances in Leon. among them the Gonzalez
family. The senior and his good wife wera
gong out to their cafetal for week. and
commissioning our condition in the Gran
Hotel, placed their city home at out dds
posirion' during their absence. When We
demu1-ed a. little at accepting so great a
% isVo-, they were kind enough.to represent i,
as favor to themselves ITO see that tha
servants do not run with the WE'LL" said the
senior, with twinkle in his eye, "and that
they water the flowers before they take it,
adoed the Senora Amy change from hotel
life in Central America would be boon to
the hungry wayfarer, and to this well-ordered
well-provisioned casa was bliss indeed
Our house." for a whole week we may
proudly call it, is of adobe, like those of all
Cur nelghbors. You enter it from the street
through enormous double DOORS into q vast
ROOM which is divided into two by a bamboo
partition running part way up. This is the
sala Spanish for parlor) and it's great, IRON
barred windows, gultless of glass, with heavy
wooden shutters inside, almost overhang
the sidewalk of one Of Icons principal
streets. Facing the wide front door is a
smaller door leading out to the patio, or
courtyard. the hollow square around switch
the house is built, and which forms the most
important part of every Central American
establishment. The sala occupies the whole
front Of the square; the stable the rear of it
beyond the patio; one long apartment on the
ieft-Eand side serves for the family sleeping
room, with low bamboo partitions affording
some little privacy to each of it's several oc-
rupants; while the opposite side is divided
into storerooms and servants quarters.
In the far corner of the patio is matched
shed called by courtesy kitchen, screened
Off by bamboos stuck into the ground Behind
the bamhoos stand native range-a regu-
Jar altar of stone and adobe, with a sort OF
bonfire arrangement on top. First broad
bench, or table, of adobes is built, and on tor
OF this four large stones are placed, tc
leave deep hole in the center. In the hole
the fire is built, of long. crooked sticks and
branches of trees, which poems bring down
from the mountains on donkey back and ped
de by the bundle from door to door. The
wood is pushed in between the stones until
consumed and the cooking is done in clay
pots set over the hot embers after the blaze
has subsidized. You would be astonished to
see how quickly and we'll dinner, of as many
courses as you please can be prepared by the
knowing ones, on this primitive range.
The Bath.
In another corner Of the patio is our bath
room also indifferently screened with bam-
boos, but open overhead to the sky and what
ever may chance to fall therefrom. The
batia Or bathtub is an odd sort Of cross be-
tween coffin and canoe, and might serve
we'll for either 1t was scoOped out of an
enormous log of the fragrant Spanish cedar
a very monarch of the forest which prob
ably stood in its prime when the first Conquis-
tador came to these shores. There are no
"ater-works in the casa, aside from the
we'll in the patio. Whenever the
rain god turns his hose on-as
he does without mercy every day during a
portion of the year, one may enjoy not only
full tub but refreshing shower bath. At
other times the water must be brought in
buckets from the we'll. But the natives be-
lieve that to battle in dead" water, as they
call that drawn from the earth, is very de-
bilitating, while the soft, cool rain water
fresh from heaven has the opposite effect
The matched or tile rooted corridors which
surround the patio and answer for the Yam
kee back porch is the universal dining
room of the private house in Central America
On rare occasions meals may be served in
the sala, but we have never seen it done.
Our al fresco eating apartment is as charm
Ing as the most fastidious could desire
shaded by palms, and mango trees, with sing
ing birds in wicker cages overhead and
gorge GUS flowers a-bloom in front. We find
it wise to offer few suggestions to the
menu of our II o'clock breakfast, and 6
o'clock dinner although Dolores and Jose
and maid and moZo, evidently acting Under
orders from the departed sonora, come twice
with religious DunCtualitV learn
wishes. No doubt we fare better by keeping
our ignorance to ourselves, and by observing
the time-honored maxim, while in Rome
do as the Romans" Many of the native
dishes. whose ingredients are an unguessable
conundrum. and whose names, even, We do
not know. are delicious and wholesome To
be sure, we sigh in vain for milk in our coffee
and butter on our bread, and sometimes long
for the similltude of a beefsteak; but one
could fare we'll enough on the salads alone to
say nothing of the endless variety of fruits.
OF course. there is no ice. but the water Ia
not unpleasant. being cooled in a native inter
of red clay, like big, round bellied water
bottle, and called monkey" The national
beverage, known as ziste, made OF chocolate,
corn meal and water, is very refreshing. The
people drink it always from gourd of the
jiccary tree, fancying that it gives the de-
coction a better flavor. Every Nlcaraguan
house is rich in jiccaras. of all shapes and
sizes, many Of them beautifully carved anc
us ziste about every half hour, in beaut-
full long-necked gourd of Chinese yellow,
with figures in dull red sprawling over it..
Primitive Garb.
The costume of the serving women OF Leon
Is certainly not burdensome. Indoors it con-
sists of one garment only, white cotton
csmisa sleeveless and low in the neck. but
generously garnshed with embroidery, lace,
or drawn work. 1t is made much fuller than
the under garment, of similar name, known
to Northern ladies, and reaches nearly to
the feet, often with two or three hounces
around the bottom. In reality it is sort OF a
lcw-necked Mother Hubbard, and when con-
fined by a sash, answers very we'll for both
skirt and bodice In the street. a raboyo or
long scarf, is gracefully twisted around the
shoulders, and on extraordinary occasions
SHOES are i.:o, Atv"~'~., ---
women OF this class go barefooted, and very
pretty feet they have, small, we'll arched, the
toes separated like the pickets OF a fence
these girls, with more Indian than Spanish
blood in their VEINS are far handsomer than
the ladies of high degree in Nicaragua. About
the prettest sight you can find in Leon Is
the little stream back of the town on wash
days, when these women are out by the
score, arrayed in vivid reds, blues, green's and
yellows, for nS color is too bright or COM
binaticn too glazing to suit their taste. I'm
corseted, supple, and graceful, they bend t