The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-11-10
and where living is at once 50 dear and
SO Door. There ia great need here Of at

pointed hostelry, such as may be found
in Montevideo, Buenos Ayres and most
other of the larger South American
cities, where fewer travellers come. at
present the most desirable houses in
Rio are the two smallest; first the
Hotel Carson, if one can possibly gain
admittance to it, which is kept by a
New Highlander, or rather now by his
wife, since Mr.. Carson died year ago;
and the Hotel of the Strangers, which is
queer, but comparatively clean and
morally decent mixture of French,
Spanish and Portuguese methods.
There are also many boarding houses,
especially near the Botofoga end of the
town, which are desirable if one can
manage to squeeze into them, but
which are even more crowded than the
hotels and quite as expensive.
Wherever you live in Brazil 1t will
not be very we'll in the line of food, for
money cannot buy what does not exist
in the country. You must expect mis-
OiooiS ilSue anu iloii3 "OloC SOOhlIlR, llO
vegetables, and pastry that an ostrich
would hesitate to tackle; nothing any
where near what it should be, except
the salads prepared by yourself, wines,
prepared dulces, and few others pre-
pared or imported articles, fruits which
are sure to kill you in this climate if
you consume too much, and eggs which
the worst cooks can not spoil, if you
insist upon sticking to them boiled and
served in the shell. Come to think
about it, perhaps | better modify the
eggs the natives seem to make little
account of age or stage of incubation.
But never under the sun were seen
such pineapples, such oranges and
Strawberries, not to mention graLes.
peaches, mangoes, bananas, and a hun
dred strange varieties never seen or
heard of at the North, tropical in size
, and richness (and in deadliness, too, if
eaten to excess,) and Gin season" the
year around, But in everything that
is cooked, from young chicken to quail
on toast, grease and garlic are used
galore, until every human being you
meet seems to perspire the former fuel
as freely as he smells of the latter.
Everywhere in Brazil jerked beef is an
important article of food. Immense
quantities of it are exported from
Uruguay and the Argentine Republic,
and it is stated that not less than thirty
, tons of it are annually brought into
Brazil. Think of it, thirty thousand
tons a year of that leathery, indigesti
, bic substance consumed by this scanty
population. 1t furnishes the staple
food for plantation laborers and for the
lower classes in cities. Indeed it may
be called the Brazilians' national dish,
for it is as omnipresent on every table
at least twice day stewed with beans
and grease and garlic, as the frijoles of
Mexico and the rice of China. Another
great delicacy hereabouts is bacolao
Goldfish, AS highly esteemed among the
Brazilians as partridge, planked shad
and terrapin in the District of Column
bia. At least 100000 tons of Goldfish
are annually sent to Brazil from the
United States and Nova Scotia, and the
people are so fond of it that the fresh
fish of their own rivers are entirely ig-
nored for bacalao, which is feature of
every banquet, as Indispensable as
roast turkey at New England Thanks
giving. But when prepared i'll Portu-
guese fashion and served on the festive
board the Yankee that caught it would
never recognize his own Goldfish, SO be-
creased and begarliced is it, and turned
rusty red by the addition of strange
condiments, and served with yams and
cabbage and goodness knows what else
in one abomnible ola podrida, which,
once smelled, can never be forgotten.
: AS everywhere in Spanish America,
good wine is always procurable, while
tea, water and other mild beverages,
to which we weaker vessels" are
more accustomed, are frowned upon
and regarded with pronounced disfav-
or, as catering to a perverted and
i heathenish taste, if they are not abso-
lutely unprocurable. 1t has been well
said, and truly, that, eff "a Spaniard
were limited to crumb of bread and a
drop of water, he would expect bot
tie Of wine to sip with it," and it is
equally true of the Portuguese in Bra
zil. The laboring classes drink vile
beverage called casasch, which is made
regular distillery fashion from the juice
of the sugar cane, but, as before re-
marked, drunkenness, except on coffee,
is uncommon, because that vice is a
sure invitation to death in the form of
yellow fever. FANNIE B. WARD.
The Porcupine Bounty.
1t develops from the count now being
made of the bounty porcupines killed
in the State last year that the bill
which the State will have to pay will