The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-01-28


 JuraturR-The Eating and Drinking Rather Attractive Living.
 Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier)
 Bogota. Colombia, Der 2, 1902.
 Zipaquira-the charming little village near the famous salt mines-is celebra- ted for its lovely gardens and flowery patios, especially for it's orchids and pansies. The last named favorites, which grow to especial perfection in el- evated regions of the far south, are known in the Spanish language as pen samientos (thOughts) one of Ophelia's words, Here's pansies, for thoughts.
 Never was climate so entirely delight ful as this of Zipaquira; never a hint of frost in the air, nor heat above sev- enty degrees. even at noon-day; lever night in which light blankets are not needed and neither excessive rain, nor heavy dews, nor continued droughts trouble the husbandman. The air is al- ways pure, clear and invigorating, the sunshine glorious; with fruits, flowers and green things growing" alike every day in the year. No wonder that peo- pie live to great age here, in uninter- rupted tranquility, so remote from the rush and hustle and dangers of cities, where epidemic diseases are unknown and anything like the strenuous life" undreamed of. However, Eden must have it's serpent, and the bete nOir Of this paradise is hydra-headed reVolu- tion. The market-place that occupies one of the pretty plazas of Zipaquira was the scene of a bloody battle, some fifteen years ago, in which General Ma rales was killed; and in the last revolu- ton, just ended-or, more correctly speaking, temporarily uspended-gov- ernment troops were quartered for weeks in the cathedral, while rowing bands of insurgents committed all manner of depredations in the neigh borhood. The church steeples and the walls of many of the houses are perfo- rated with bullets, and there are nu- nierous other traces of wars wild alarm
 A mile beyond the village is the quin- ta named 'Juratena, at which we were entertained. Shut in among Andean foothills and reached by long, narrow lanes overhung with green cones of the t'esmeralda,' it has so far escaped the raids of sevolutionists, though noted for it's fine fat cattle, which are usual ly promptly confscated by the self styled patriots. Perhaps the owner of the place stood in" with the rebels, as did many Cuban sugar planters during that islands last war with Spain, mak- ing 1t more profitable, all around, to pay secret annual tribute in cash. At any rate the place remained undis- turbed, while all its neighbors suffered grievously. No words can convey an idea of the smiling contentment which pervades this rural home, ther rich green of it's herbage, the great variety of its fruits and the beauty of it's flow CTS The adjacent foothills are clothed with bushes, as with a garment, each bush and twig covered with yellow ber- ries, pine-shaped and poisonous, called Pena de Diable-."the Devils pineap- ple;" the rich grass underneath them starred with pretty pink flowers. The manor house of Juratena is the usual low, substantial, adobe-wa1led struc- ture, built to withstand sieges, in the days when every mans house was lite rally his castle, and rural homes were also forts and cities of refuge for their retainers. Grey, windowless and unat- tractive exteriorly, it is all bloom, heau- ty and comfort within. The great pa tio is surrounded by a double corridor into which all the rooms open, and over it projects the red-tiled roof, af- 'fording shelter from sun and rain shaded by passion-vines and the blue blossoms of the lobelia, here called "azul"
 In order to give you a glimpse of do- mestic life among well-to-do country people in Colombia, I am going to re- count one days experience in this hos pitable home, where we were given no reson to believe that the family had de- parted from it's ordinary routine. It was nightfall when we arrived at the hacienda, after our inspection of the salt mine; and being wearied, we re- tired to our rooms soon after the many-coursed dinned was ended. My own apartment was large enough for a town hall, with chairs enough, ranged in straight rows around the four sides of the canvas-covered walls, to have seated half the population of the vil- Iage The floor was of strawberry tinted cement, smooth and cold as pol ished marble; the one little window was faced with heavy wooden bars painted green, and the wide door, open ing into the corridor, had neither latch nor lock of any kind and was evidently intended to stand wide open night and day for the admission of air. The little iron bedstead at the farther end of the vast apartment was curtained and cov- cred with stuffed muslin, tied up with pink ribbons, wherever ribbons could find any exficuse for appearing; and about the only other furniture was tallow dip in it's big brass candlestick on a small square table at the head of the bed Lulled by the sound of the rushing river, whose name the hacien- da bears, slept the sleep of the just,