The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-30

1t is a thriving beehive that is never
empty, and the money changing hands
i'll the course of twenty-four hours is
nc inconsiderable sum.
One can pass through the entrance
and emerge again fully clothed. fed
and satisfied. There are stalls offering
| for sale fish, boots, ane-bottomed
chairs, walking sticks, medicine and
! lottery tickets. Cheek by jowl will be
found a jewelry booth. carrying valu-
able stock, and one displaying ten ba-
nanas at cents the lot.
Each Cuban market is a bedlam of
noises-that class - 1roar expected
from a horde of shrill-voiced negroes
negresses. and excitable half-whites
There are drunken people, shouting
servants and babies. The conversation
of the strange visitor must. perforce
be carried on through the medium of
gesticulations. and 1t is difficult to
make ones meaning plain even then.
There are policemen about and ward
ems Of the market, but they make no
effort to queH the constantly arising
disturbances, except under danger Of
riot.
Probably one of the most peculiar
customs noticeable in the Cuban mar
kets is the extremely small purchases
small in quantity-made by the lower
class of natives. Small gourd CUBS
holding scarcely more than a table
spoonful are used in measuring rice,
flour, beans and peas. Cabbages are cut
, in wedges the size of a cigar, turnipS
into eighths, squasheS into minute
chunks, and onions in halves. Pota-
toes are sold by number.
Buying Two Ounces of Meat.
1t is no uncommon thing to see a
woman buy a piece of meat weighing
a couple of ounces, then pass through
the market purchasing tablespoonful
of vegetables here and piece of garlic
there, and finally, after an hour of
gossip, depart with food products worth
5 or 6 cents.
An odd feature of the market is the
temporary restaurants found in every
nook and corner. They do not occupy
stalls, but are conducted wherever
bit of space can be secured. AS the
sole equipments consist of a small
charcoal brazier, d fryingpan and
wicker basket, not much room is re-
quired.
The proprietor is generally an ancient
black dame-one of the toothless,
mumblins kind sometimes found in the
south The menu is not extensive.
rarely exceeding three articles-fried
plantains, tortillas, or corn pancakes,
and friioles, black bean.
There are no dishes, no cutlery, no
napkins. The beans and cakes are sold
together. and the cake acts as plate
for the beans. The fried plantains are
served in husks and are eaten much as
a banana, the husk being peeled off
by degrees. a breakfast of this class,
consisting of two portions of cakes and
beans and three plantains, is sold for
cents. There are fried fish stands
and places where jerked meat is
the piece de resistance, but they are
reserved for those who earn a davis
wage. or who have money left them.
There is a tradition in the Santiago
market that a man from Jamaica once
started an eating place with real
tables and plates, but only the oldest
frequenters tell it.
A new business in Cuban mercantile
circles is the selling of pledged articles
to the American soldiers and visitors
from the north. Shortly after the sur
render some one started the runor that
the pawnshops of Santiago were filled
with valuable plate and jewels pledged
by the inhabitants during the siege.
This may have been true to a. certain
extent, but the quantity of alleged fam
lily heirloonns carried from Cuba during
the past six months would stand for
three periods of Spanish history.
Last June there were two pawnShops
in Santiago. Today there are at least
six, and they are springing up, fully
equipped, all over the city. 1T is quite
the thing for the tourist to ask after
their location on reaching shore, and
his purse must be small if he cannot