LIVING A NICARAGUA COOK-STOVE.

39.

way one must take it. One wants to purchase chickens, beans, hides, or any thing else at wholesale. The retail price for chickens is, say, twenty cents per pair. By the quantity it will more than likely be thirty or forty cents, for the simple reason that you want them, and therefore must pay. Beef, good and fat, cannot be purchased at any price; the oxen are worked till they nearly drop, then they are penned up, without regard to fatness, until it suits the butcher to kill. The beef is cut into strips, like coarse shoe-strings, and then dried in the air for use. Whatever of fat is found, is converted into candles.

This beef with corn-cake, sugar and cheese, a sprinkle of onions and a heavy dash of garlic from the larder, is the general dish, although at an American hotel a splendid meal can be had. We give, however, the kitchen arrangements of the inhabitants of Nicaragua. The culinary department is remarkably simple-Adam and Eve might have used the same. apparatus; it answers pretty well for fries and stews, but it is to be hoped that some kind of a machine may be introduced or invented by which a broil may also be had. Two round stones, on which a pot is placed, is the stove; fire is kindled underneath, and from this results your meal. In regard to wood, one sees no loads brought into town; a small bundle of short sticks is sold for ten cents, and it is very difficult to procure a large supply at any price. It is generally porous and

soft, and burns with difficulty; and in many cases is a source of great annoyance. A vast amount is taken on board the Lake steamers, and yet but little steam can be generated from it. These boats run probably six to seven miles per hour; while upon our waters, with our wood, the same vessels could easily make from sixteen to seventeen.

CHAPTER IV.

OLD STATUES THE OLD CONVENT-THE PAROCHIAL-THE BODY OF THE VIRGIN -THE PADRE AND THE CALIFORNIAN-A WAGER-THE RESULT-LA MER

CEDES-SAN JUAN DE DIOS-THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE-HOTELS AND PRICES OF BOARD THE CUARTEL-THE TROOPS-THE BAND-THE MUSIC-FUNERALS -GRAVE-YARD-BURNING BONES—INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC-DRESS-PRICES OF CLOTHING-HATS-SHOES-RENTS OF HOUSES-THE GOOD Old rule.

IN and about Granada are some few things worthy of note, to which we recur prior to commencing our journey toward the Pacific. On the corner of one of the streets in the upper portion of the city-the Jalteva-stands an old relic called. "The Stone of the Mouth," which projects about two and a half feet above the ground, and is some two feet broad by the same in thickness. It was brought from one of the islands by a sailor, and is a strange old head. The mouth being open, seems to express "Oh! oh!" At one corner of the plaza, stands a statue of black basalt, representing a human figure with jaws.

open and tongue protruding, on the head of which rests a cat

or panther.

The old Convent of San Francisco must have been an elegant edifice in its day, for even yet it retains a massive grandeur with the paint and varnish of young years effaced. It faces a broad avenue, raised at least ten or twelve feet above the level of the street. Its plaza front occupies an entire square, with steps on either side leading to the level of the street below. The architecture is yet almost intact, and the entire building might be renovated at a trifling cost. It would answer well for a first-class hotel, a school, or government house-by far preferable for the latter to the one now in use. At the corner of this convent stands another curiosity, called "The Whistler," a broken fragment of an antique.

The parochial church is a very ancient structure, containing the bones of some of the early bishops of Managua, some prints and paintings of very indifferent merit, and also, if rumor be true, the body of the Virgin. The story runs thus: This body-which heretics pronounce wooden-was washed ashore one windy night, and found by one of the padres on the Lake beach. It was in a box. Upon opening this, the body was discovered, together with an inscription to the effect, that no harm should ever visit the church so long as this body should be kept inviolate within its walls. The story gained publicity,

THE PADRE AND THE CALIFORNIAN-LA MERCEDES. ·43

until finally it reached a doubting Californian's ears. He applied to a padre for the facts, who told him It was true.

"Well," said the Californian, "I'll bet my pile it's not so." The padre's eyes glistened as he replied, "You shall judge for yourself. The body is discolored, having been in the water so long; but you may paint it white, or any color desired, and by to-morrow morning the paint will have vanished." "Agreed!" said our friend of El Dorado. The evening came, and the Californian, with his gold in his pocket, and his pot and brush in hand, went to paint the statue. The padre did not flinch. "Now," said our friend, placing his money on the floor of the church, "there's my bet; and look you, padre, I shall sit here all night after I daub this: and remember, here are two Colt's revolvers, and if you dare to touch the body after I've painted. it, I'll shoot you." The padre's heart failed him. He thought the Californian would trust to the sacred character of the church; but the ruse failed, and the matter becoming public, a laugh ensued. Whether the joke hurt the padre or the Californian most, I did not learn.

In the interior of the city stands the Church of La Mercedes, which is truly an imposing building. It is situated similar to the Convent of San Francisco, and although it cannot boast of a gilded interior, costly altars, or choice paintings, still its exterior commands attention. About this church the private houses are of the first order, and within a stone's throw chiefly