The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-15

Copyright, 19l2. by Frank c. Carpenter)
 Guatemala City. rYHE most interesting travels today
 are upon our own continent. About
 \ 2O0,000 Americans now spend some lining like s2o0,0oo, GOO every year in Europe. They spend it for naught. They go abroad to find strange customs and queer cos- tunes. but return saying that such things have all passed away and that the peo- pie of Europe and the United States are much the same The only part of Holland which has the old fashioned cap, the wooden shoe and the voluminous trousers apparently cut out with a circular saw, is to be found on the Island of Marken, and the ether islands along the north coast You can see as interesting Ger mans in Milwaukee or St. Louis as you can in old Deutschland, and there are quite as many Irish faces in Boston as in Dublin or Cork Even Egypt is over run with American tourists, and there are parts of Cairo which are not much diff ierent from parts of New York.
 In the Guatemala Market
 On the other hand, take this city or Guatemala It abounds in strange sights. The houses arc all low and old fashioned. They are painted bright colors and they shine like Dolly Warden dresses under the sun Comparatively few of the people are dressed as we are. The men from the country have their own costumes, and inc IS Indian tribes which constitVte three-fourths of the population have each a dress of their own.
 Come with me to the market. It lies just below the wide plaza where the gay1y uniformed band plays every night It is within a stones throw Of " architecture g as interesting as any in Spain. and the market house itself consists of acres of low buildings surrounding court, the scenes of which remind you of th3 bazars of far-away India The whole covers four or five acres. There is a great wall of stores around the out side. and the court is roofed over to cover the booth shops and stores of the bazar The market is divided up into sections and everything under the sun is sold in it. There are booths full of native shawls, silk handkerchiefs and cloths of every description. There are sections devoted to the selling of meats, some to the selling of iron ana others to wooden ware, basket work and to hats, hammocks and childrens toys
 The streets outside the market are filled with Indians, who squat on the ground with their packs before them, and with the wares they have brought in from the country spread out upon mats. Here is a woman selling pottery of quaint make, there is one who has fancy baskets before her. and further on are Indians selling straw hats and sandals Some of the hats are foot high and three feet in breadth, end ing in a peak at the top.
 A Look at the Peddlers
 There are peddlers everywhere, and such peddlers! Here comes one smok ing a cigar She is an Indian woman with big, liquid eyes, black hair and face the color of copper. She is sell ing candies which seem to be painted. They are of all sorts of reds, yellows and bilious green. The candy boxes are of bark, and she has some put up in strips of brightly colored pine. Next her Is a peddler who is hawking iguanas. These are lizards which have heads like a turtle and tails like snake. Some of them are as big as cat, and those that this girl has are cooked or dried and ready 10 eat.
 Here come two girls carrying baskets of eggs. The baskets are on their heads. but they move about through the crowd without danger The girls arc good look ing. Their dress consists of a bright col- ored cloth about a yard wide, which is wrapped around the legs and the waist. showing only a spice of the calf. The shoulders and upper part of the body are inclosed in a waist with very full sleeves. This waist is beautifully embroidered and if often costs as much as the lace waists of our girls at home. These Indian girls have beads and coins about their necks. They are often barefooted, but not a few have over their heads Guatemala silk shawls of the brightest red, yellow or blue.
 And then there are Indian men with packs cn their backs and Indian women with babies in their arms The market l am describing is on Saturday and the