Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-06-29
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which he would sell. though he did not
make a practice Of either renting or
selling. His name instead OF Alexan-
der alone is Alexander Lamarpue he
proved 70 be a good friend 10 US.
MONEY OF THE COUNTRY.
One Is constantly annoyed in travel
ing through these countries to make the
proper change for small purchases, es-
peciully among the people living out
side OF the influence OF the larger towns
and cities. For instance, the issues OF
money In Mexico are in decimal de.
nominations, while the people IN all
their dealings use the duo decimal. 4
quartia equals three cents; a medic,
six cents and a real, twelve cents. The
fractional currency Is in ! cent cents,
ten cents, twenty-five cents, etc
five and a one makes q medic. a ten
and a two makes a real and three one
dents make a quartla. One never pur-
chases five cents worth or ten cents
worth OF anything, but always a cen
tave. quarto, r. ,dio or real.
In the state Of Chiapas, which once
belonged TO Guatemala, there are many
places, especially In the Indian Wiz
lagos, where the Mexican money win
not pass. Often we offered ten cent
pieces, or five cent pieces, In exchange
for food but We're refused Luckily
we had good supply of centavos,
which were more often taken The
Guatemalan money was always in de-
mand especially IL II had the face Of
Carrera on IT, In CONTAIN the last of
the larger Mexican towns, all prices
are based on the Guatemalan money.
and to our surprise we found that our
ten cen pieces were counted as reals,
and our five cent pieces as mediOs. The
centayos were at par for less than
medic, but for this five We're accepted.
Hence, If a person bought two reals
The twenty-five cent pieces were
mt par, Hence, II per-
son bought two reals worth
he could pay in two ten-cent pieces or
In one twenty-five cent piece, At this
place we changed Mexican money into
Guatemalan new silver for twenty-five
per cent premium, but when we
reached Guatemala we found prices
based on the greenback issue which
was one hundred per cent discount on
the silver That Is, We could get in
certain places two dollars greenbacks
for one dollar silver But this vas not
uniform In other places we could get
only one-hfty for one silver and stin
in other places, especially I'm the City Of
Guatemala, there was no premium at
all. OF All the republics so far visited.
/ believe Guatemala has the worse
mlXup In its money matters.
1t has an issue Of old silver
Of q certain value an issue Of
t.. astl 10 tH.I
q greenbacks Of still another and an
Issue Of small change In nIcke which
in places VIII not be taken az all On
the west side Of the republic nothing
but greenbacks was wanted, on the
east side we could hardly force the peo-
pie to take the vlete as the greenbacks
are called. AS for the nlckle, It is yalu-
able only in the interior.
Our gold brought us In the capital
six dollars and thirty cents greenbacks
for every dollar and the boys were
smiling as they came from the money
brokers with fun pocket books, but the
smile changed when they went to the
stores and found that a shirt worth al
home a dollar and a half costs here
from twelve to fourteen dollars. A pair
of shoes cost twenty-five dollars and a
pair Of pants thirty. But food. even in
this deprecated money was cheap. A
tolerable dinner at the MARKET could be-
had for from twenty-five to fifty
cents and at the hotel for a dollar.
In Honduras. the new silver Of Guate-
mala is taken at par, but neither the
nickel nor the viete passes, while in
Salvador nothing passes but the old
silver except, might say. the medic
and the quartla Of the new silver.
Salvador Is on a strict silver basis
Her money is sound and good, passing
even above par In all the republics ex-
cept Mexico, where II Is slightly below
par. The different issues Of greenbacks
are also at par. But as there is much
Of the deprecated money of Guatemala
in circulation, every piece taken by the
shop girl Is not only sounded on the
counter or on rock, but IS examined
to see that It is strictly 300 fine
HOT AND DRY SEASON.
We were in sinuapa, Honduras when
the first part Of this letter was written,
TO which place we had walked from Co
chasing two animals, and Of selling an
At Slnuapa we were fortunate In pur-
pan because of the death Of our mules.
extra pack. Thus llghtened we
were able to ride, and at two o'clock
p. m. Monday. May 9Th, after bidding
our friends, Mr., Lamarque and his wife,
good bye, we were on the road for SAL
vador. The day was very hot, and but
for few clouds that occasionally COW
cred the sun, It would have been almost
unbearable. This is the hot month, II
corresponds to our July, When the
rains come the air Is greatly cooled by
the fall and evaporation Of water.
We passed down the valley, which
gradually became more and more level,
and iipally reached the little town Of
Jocotepec, or Acotepec as some spell Il.
Here the mountains on both sides were
high and precepituous, the valley level,
and covered with fields and gar
dens, and the whole presenting a scene
that reminded us very much Of home.
A few miles farther and we crossed the
line into III Salvador.
IN REPUBLIC OF SALVADOR.
Immediately on entering Salvador we
came to good roads. Honduras has
paid but little attention TO her roads,
but Salvador takes pride In having a
wagon road from one end Of the repub-
lie TO the other Gradually, too, the
grow smaller, the valleys
larger. and the country more thickly
until on the third day we
left the mountains entirely and entered
a large valley. the extent of which could
not at first be seen. The land was
dry. however dryer than in the hills we
had just passed, but the abundance OF
dry grass denoted corresponding
abundance Of rain in the season there
Of. This is the valley OF the Lempa
river the largest river In Salvador
Along the banks OF the streams and in
the deeper draws the trees are thick
and large, but on the hills nothing
grows but grass. As we proceeded the
timber became thicker and larger, I'M
81 we called II the valley OF large
trees" so large and beautiful were trees
NJ the many varieties growing one
OF these was the umbrella tree. low,
but spreading so far in all directions
that often It would cover quarter
acre Of land
The Lempa az the crossing was only
about two hundred yards wide, and so
shallow that we forded Il with ease, but
during the rainy season. as the signs
showed, II carries an i'm
mense body OF water. a sc0w near by