The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-07-16


for sale.
The Markets OF SEA- Jsau.
But let US go to the markets and see
what the Porto Ricans eat We cross the
wide piazza. walk up the hill between the
postof1ice and city hail. and come at last
to long low building surrounding a
court. We hear the din of buying and
selling az we approach 1t. We enter and
find ourselves in the midst OF about an
acre Of Porto Ricans. negroes. mulattoes
and whites. There are men. women, chill
dren and babies buying and selling. chat
ting and squawiing. There are black-faccd
women In white or gay calicoes with ban
dana handkerchiefs about their heads.
There are market men wearing nothing
but shirts and pants the former cut very
low at the neck.
Women squat on the floor with vegeta-
bles and fruit piled around them. Here IL
-one selling egg plants, some Of which are
as big as pumpkins. She offers me one the
size OF q football for cents and. seeing
II does not attract me- she picks UP a
squash the size OF a peck measure and
asks me to buy. Over there n a woman
selling tomatoes. They are no bigger than
marbles and have probably grown Wild
ask the price OF eggs Of a man at one
OF the counters In the building and am
told they are 4 centavos apiece. or about
Is cents of our money a dozen. The chick
ems, as you can see from the httie ones
all about us. are game fowls, and IL occurs
to US that there might be money in an
American chicken farm near San Juan.
Chickens are easily raised here. but such a
thing as one the size of a Langshan, a
Plymouth rock or a mammoth bun Coch-
lin In unknown. II would be as great q
curiosity as IN ostrich.
Queer Market Scenes.
Get out Of the way OF that goat. There
are goats wandering about through the
court picking up what they can get. They
are stray goats belonging to the city, and
do not seem 20 bother the peddiers.
Let us go over there and visit thu butch
ers They sell chiefly beef and we look
In vain for mutton or lamb There are but
few iambs In Porto Rico. and the only
meat OF the town II beef and pork. The
hogs are of the black. raxor-back variety
They are lean and scrawny, but their
meat II delicious. You seldom see them
in the market, for when one is killed In
the country the neighsprs come in and
all have great feast. A common way
OF cooking the hog Ii TO stick a sharp
stick through II from one end TO the ether
and roast e az whole 1ver the Goals.
Don't turn up your noses. II 1. bv no
means bad. I can tell you.
Among the RutehePs.
The staple meat. however. 10 beef There
IL no better beef IN Chicago than that
which In furnished by the cattle Of Porto
Rico. The only trouble In that there are
no cold storage plants nor Ice houses in
which 10 keep IL and freeze IL. and IL must
be eaten the same day IL II killed. All
the meat Of san Jran comes from one
man. He mas bou:a. the night 70 furn.sh
the meat for the city for 10 much year.
and the butchers have to teks the cattle
which are brought TO the city slaughter
houses by him The meat II all subject
20 government inspection. and at present
believe the prices are nxed 80 that each
butcher sells at the same rate. Over each
meat stall this morning We eee tie fig
ures - This In the price per kllo for
which oee< n selling A kiia Is AS
pounds. 30 that beef is selling at about
a shilling Of our money PER pound.
la another part Of the market We End
dried beef for sale. This Is brought here
in srrat quantities from NeneEueia and
osaerxrsre and s often hxsnxs q better
price than fresh meats. The most OF II II
ssltier than the brine u he Caribbean sea,
Sat the Porto Rteans like H. They cook
n an in ssews and sas 3. with rice and tn
other waya Another fsvorste article Is
cocasa. which = largely osnszsssa and