The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-01-24

par with the several other comfortable
hotels in Caracas. A servant enters
your room with almuerzo first break
fast9 at a prepOSterously early hour
IN the morning The suns chari0tser
has not yet walked; parrots free and
numerous as chickens in a northern
barnyard are shrieking to the universe
that dawn is near, and a herd OF dom
keys in the inevitable neighboring cor
raj are vociferously answering back
that they are aware Of the fact Fur
Their sleep is impossible, and would be
unWise, no matter what your lazy
habits may have been elsewhere, If you
have sightseeing or anything else to
do.
Not only is the early morning the
most delightful portion of the day, it
is the only time to do business in Ven
ezula the local world being all asleep
during the middle of the day, when
North Americans are most actively en-
gagged.
The almusrzo consists of a big golden
orange, as rich in perfume as in tint,
and almost bursting with delicious
juice; a hard loaf of crusty bread about
the size Of your fist; three small square
cubes of sugar, tiny pitcher OF hot
milk Generally goats milk and cup
of strong, bitter black coffee. Much or
the coffee used here Is kent with the
hulls on until it is roasted. as wanted
and is decidedly richer in aroma 0han
that which has been cleaned for export
Sometimes you are favored with a
dirty-loolxing dab Of pale, tallow-Hke
grease, which masquerades as butter
brought all the way from Denmark ana
eagerly bought in Caracas by those VINO
are rich enough, at a dollar and up
wards per pound. Since this is an ideal
grazing country and vast herds OF cat
tie are known to roam the central
Llanas, you wonder why the scarcity OF
butter, until somebody explains that IL
cows tame enough for dairy purposes
were kept, they would inevitably FUR
nish beef for revolutionists.
The real breakfast, served between II
a. m. and / o'clock. is a substantial
meal. hardly distinguishable from din
ner. except in the absence of soups and
lulcies, and perhaps a little less Vine
Water is never drunk at any meal IN
South America, being looked upon as a
blessing provided by the gods for ablu-
lions only, but entirely unsuited to the
inner man. Claret is freely imbibed at
both brea kfast and dinner. and with
the latter meal more expensive wines
abound.
Cognae is frequently mixed with the
after-dinner coffee, by ladies as well as
gentlemen the weaker sex also evincing
a finely cultivated taste for the cigar
rito con cafe" Strange to say, all the
wine used here is imported-every drop
of it even the imita ton sorts. Yet the
mountain slopes of Venezuela are bet
ter adapted to vine culture than the
sunny hills Of France and Spain. Gem
turtles ago, when this was q colony or
the mother country, Spain forbade the
growing of vines, and though her IN
dutiful sons rebelled and set up for
themselves some so years ago, nobody
has tried grape culture-perhap& <e-
cause the peoples energies have mostly
been expended in the congenlal pastlme
of 'trevoluting.
As to the typical Venezuelan dinner,
it Is plentiful enough and tolerably well
cooked, but the style in which it IS
served is barbara. The meat is always
unGistingufsheb BILE as to cut. and often
as to kind, tough, stringy and unpleas-
ant to the taste Cattle are never pro-
perly fattened for the market, and the
manner of slaughtering is simply IN
famous. The animals are lassoed In
corral and dragged out to posts where
they are made fast for killing
Their horns are often broken in the
struggle. eyes knocked out by stones
and their thighs chewed by dogs. Mad
with terror. agony and rags and surfer
ing from thirst, they are left standing
10 or II hours before their throafs are
cut in time for the early morning mar
ket It is an actual fact. that their
flesh goes into the pot or the oven while
still warm with the animal heat In this
climate each days supply of meat must
be freshly cooked. in a few hours. OF
course such flesh cannot be fit to eat,
no matter how disguised by garlic and
red pepper
You Iall DdCk on lDG vegetables n5
uratively speaking, and are speedily
filed with wonder that such fine ma
terials can be so spoiled in the cook
ing Potatoes are always a soggy mess
indistinguishable as apples of the
ground" except as their names appear
on the bill of fare. There are no better
yams in the world than these Of Vene,
zuela, especially the cream yam, but
yams, plantains, seeds. cabbages, to-
matoes and everything else in the line
OF seeds. roots and vegetables the cook
can lay hands on, are boiled together in
one pot and served in a pile on a huge
platter, from which everybody helps
himself, 2olzing oven the mess and Sc
Letting tid-bits with his own fork.
And what amazing pepper eaters these
Venezuelans arei On a small dish by
each guests plate are laid from six to
nine fresh peppers-red and yellow pep
pers not very large, but with more red
hot fire in them than can be found any
where else outside the regular orthodox
inferno The cut surface of one, lightly
rubbed on a plate will be found as
effective as a liberal dash Of Tobasce
sauce. Yet these brass hroated people,
especially the old fellows, will fork them
into their mouths three or four together,
deliberately chew and swallow them ano
never turn a hair nor wink an eyelid.
A curious novelty on the dinner table
is an enormous platter piled high with
little green bundles, each tied neatly
with a green string. They are called
lialzis, as nearly as one can guess at the
word from pronunciation. Each pack
age contains a substance. wrapped and
tied with pieces of plantain leaf. Their
total constitutes a sort of lottery You
may draw successfully from the same
pile fish, flesh, fowl. sweet stuff and
plain vegetable matter, rarely getting
the same thing twice. Apparently the
cook uses all left-overs in this manner.
one wad may be delicious. the next
rank with garlic or wickedly peppery.
AS they have been all boiled together iii
one huge pot, you would suppose their
fiav0rs would mix. but the thick plan
tain leaf prevents that
Generally three sorts of bread appear
upon hotel tables at every meal-that
made from wheat -four. imported from,
the United States. arepas and plantains
roasted n wood ashes, or on an omen
hearth. The first is regarded as a
rather aristocratic sort Of provender.