The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1902-11-13

| sleeping IN a room whose walls go all
| the way up to the roof i'll this climate.
BY the way, are you familiar with
the undutiful habits of infant scor-
numerous brood clings to the mothers
back, legs and sides, in lump as large
as a goose egg, growing heavier and
| heavier every day. The mother clings
to her moorings for dear life. until at
last their increasing weight compels
her to let 60, when down drops the liv-
ing wad with a dull thud wherever it
happens to hit Then the young scor-
pions instantly detach themselves. turn
IN and devour their long-sutfering parent
i'll the twinkhng OF an eye, and disperse
to begin life on their own account.
Naturally the domestic arrangements
of hato are extremely simple. the
expense and difficulty of Transporting
things SO far from the worlds centers
nishing quite cut OF the question. Ham
Knocks of woven grass, suspended from
hooks or wooden pegs driven into the
posts that sustain tie roof are the uni
versal beds and lounges. RaW-hide up
holsters the chairs and carpets the floors
OF mother earth. Bull horns and deer
antIers answer well for hat-racks. ward
robes and closets: calabash gourdS Big
and little, serve variety OF household
uses III lieu of tinWare and breafab!e
crockery. Will little labor on the part
OF the ramch-man, there is always album
dance OF beet, pork. game, fish Terra
pin. turtles, milk. cheese. certain fruits,
nuts and vegetables, Strange to say,
where fresh meat aboumds, the fayorite
article Of consumption is tasaio, jerk
ed beef. prepared by cutting fresh
/ beef into long. shaving-lile strips. rub
bing them thoroughly with salt and
drying in the sun Tasaio cannot ac-
tuaIly spoil, bat soon becomes tough
er than leather and more odoriferouS
than hlnberger: and the stronger and
tougher it is, the more it is rehshed by
/ the typical IIanero, The universal bread
of the plains is arepas.-a close kin to
the t0rtilla OF Mexico and Central
America. The making of it requires
several days and variety OF opera
| tons. and is much more trouble than
to make the finest Vienna bread. First
! the corn used must he hulled, by labori-
| Gus pounding in wooden mortars, ad-
| ding a handful ot salt and a little
water. Next the grain must be care
| fully separated from the chatt, washed
several times and then boiled over a
slow fire, taking particular pains that
it does not become "mushy.' Finally
the mixture is ground between two
stones, then patted into thin fiat cakes
between the palms of the hands, and
baked in shallow pans. The result does
not Justify the labor, to the taste of the
unsophisticated. 1t resembles pretty
good chicken-food while warm and
fresh. but after few hours becomes
too tough for the digestion of an os-
trich. Everywhere in rural Venezuela
one longs for civilized bread. In the
cities one may buy French bread. i'm
ported, OF made in Caracas bakeries;
but hotels and private families cannot
make their own, even if they wished to
-,
the country provided with such North
ern essentials as chimneys, stoves or
ovens.
Another favorite article of Llano diet
is called queso de manos, literally
''hand cheese" Milk is brought to a
curd in the usual manner, and then the
curd is boiled in its own whey. When
the proper consistency is obtained, the
stuff is pulled in the hands until cold,
precisely like molasses candy. Then
salt is sprinkled on, it is rolled into fiat
cakes and hung in nets suspended from
the ceiling, to ''ripen, amid the taran-
tulas and scorpions. When ready to be
eaten it will separate into layers, like
parchment, yet retain all the flavor of
the milk. There are no dairy-maids in
| Venezuela, the wild cattle requiring
the strength and courage of men to
manage them Although the particu-
larly domesticated cows rejoice under
such fancy names as Flor del Campo"
Glover of the field, La Estrella" (the
star etc, every one must be MIXED by
main force, by the united efforts of two
or three experienced rancheros; and
then not drop of milk will the animal
Weld until the calf has been allowed
the first chance
The Llaneros of Venezuela, like the