Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-07
Turbulent Central America
EI-Nicaragua, Land of Blasted Hope
- Ev Eraderlc j Easkin --
= Bv FFsdeF1c j. Haskin

abounds in compliments, and their
hospitality is such that the stranger
is always received with courtesy Inc
best the house affords, though it may
be nothing more than a cup of coffee
and u small cake, is placed at his dis
posal. The Indians, though for CEN
turtles treated with cruelty by the
Spaniards, have not been soured by
misuse and still go their way with
much song and laughter
They are quick to coin words and
characterize people according to their
occupation. When the first engineering
party on the Nicaraguan canal estab-
lished itself at Rivas the wife of the
engineer in charge accompanied it.
Later she received a letter which had
no address other than La Canalera'-
literally the woman of the canal.
Honesty Is a marked characteristic
of the average low caste Nicaraguan
In the little stores the customers often
wait upon themselves. Sometimes the
store keepers have their cigars and
cigarettes where the passerby. may
get them and drop the price in cup
by the side of the box. Even the beg
gar will not touch this unguarded cup
Cock fighting is the principal pastime
of the people. Some of the NicaraguanS
wear their hair trimmed close except
for a little circle on top of the head.
The barber cuts q cocoanut in half, fits
it on the head like a cap, then trims
away all the hair not covered by the
shell.
The ant life of Nicaragua is most in
teresting. There is one species that
are agriculturists of a high order. One
sees them carrying little green leaves
toward their homes and then going
back for more. 1t was long presumed
that the ants used these leaves for
food, but Investigation showed that the
young ones chew them up finely and
then, in combination with another sub
stance, use them as a compost in which
to grow a kind of tiny mushroom which
constitutes food for the ants when
they are ut~indoors by the rain. The
evidence Of this is so positive as to ad-
nit OF no charge of nature taking.
Ants of another species are great for
ayers, and travel in hordes on their eX-
petitions. When they come to a brook
that is spanned by a single twig they
are not willing to wait until they can
pass over single file Some of their
number crawl out on a twig and by
clinging to its sides widen the natural
causeway with their bodies Then the
road is made wide enough for columns
of fours and eights, and the delay of
single filing vast army across is OBJ
Waited. Perhaps it does not take rea-
soning to arrive at the conclusion that
columns of fours can cross a place
more Quickly than a single file, but it
is so close to reasoning That it is hard
to differentiate it from that mental
operation.
Nicaragua has practically the same
area as the state of New York, and its
population is about equal to that of
the city of Baltimore, Five-sixths of
the inhabitants live on the western or
Pacific coast. The principal port on
the Pacific side is Corinto, which has
about 1000 inhabitants. The principal
town on the east side is Bluefields,
which is 1856 miles from New Orleans.
Nicaragua has one railroad which runs
from Corinto to Managua, and from
there to Granada on Lake Nicaragua,
the largest inland body of water in that
part of the world. Last Year Mica
ragua bought from the United States
textiles, clothing, machinery. etc, TO
the amount of $1,S00,000, and sold to
this country bananas coffee, rubber,
mahogany, cattle, hides, ETC., to the
amount of $1,O50O0O.
On the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua
there are seventeen recognized race
types, the product of the mixture OF
Chinese, negroes, Indians and whites.
In the interior there are almost as
MANY varieties of political parties, di-
vided by distinctions hardly less eX-
ouisite than those which separate the
various races on the coast. The issue
on which these parties differ is, at
bottom, the matter of the church. In
Nicaragua there exists a religious
question almost exactly parallel t i
that which still troubles the peace :
France. This situation is probably dt
to a considerable extent to that clio
sympathy and quick response wing
Central America manifests towards
things French. In spite of the gs
proximity of the UnF
States it's influence in Latin Amer,
is far less definite than that of F'rar
1t is to Paris that Central Amerh
looks for new ideas. 1t is French y
icies that Central American statesn
study and initiate. Much that
American publicist finds difficult
in Central American a1ff
may be explained by referring to @
temporary movements in France.
TOmOrrOw-Turbulent Central Ames III
III: Rivalry of Leon and Granada.
.SI.&1