CHAPTER II.

Customs and Manners,—Tobacco —Morning Calls,—Occupations of a Domestic Man,— Scenes in the Plaza,—Evening Parties,— Gambling,—Superstitions,—Marriages and Funerals,—Almoneda or Auction.

Among the various occupations which employ the time and attention of a traveller in a foreign land, few are more amusing, and if properly exercised, are capable of being made more instructive, than to observe the variety of customs which that imperious tyrant, general usage, has imposed upon its inhabitants. We are generally too apt to exult in the thought of our own superior civilization, and while we smile sometimes contemptuously at what we deem the absurdities of other nations, forget that we ourselves are no less under similar bondage, and act oftentimes in a way equally opposed to unsophisticated

nature.

Still there are fashions in Guatimala which it would require more than common charity to speak of with respect, and among these stands

foremost the immoderate use of tobacco by both sexes. In private or in public—alone or in society, the Guatimalian must have his cigar, and the lady her cigarrito.* His proudest accomplishment is to strike a light with his pocket match, neatly cased in silver, and present his lighted cigar to her genteely, and she in return, permits him to spit in every corner of her room, without molestation. A gentleman consumes daily from fifteen to twenty puros, and a lady of moderate pretensions to celebrity, fifty cigarritos. Here far from being "destructive of society's chief joys," the "pernicious weed" gives a zest to every conversation, and supplies all those vacuums which, in English society, are filled up by gazing on the carpet. No business can be transacted, no bargain made, without exchanging the cigar, and both in the streets and public places of amusement, the ladies are to be seen smoking as composedly as in their own houses.

A history of the occupations of a domestic man during one day, will lay open in great measure the habits of the more respectable families.--At six he rises, and if it be one of their numerous feast days, accompanies his wife to mass, at which rich and poor, masters and servants indiscriminately

* A diminutive cigar, made by rolling a small portion of tobacco in the leaf of maize; ten of these are esteemed equal to a common cigar, called for the sake of distinction, puros.

kneel without distinction of rank or place. Returning about seven they take chocolate, which answers to our breakfast, with this exception that it is not made a social meal. Each one enters the comedor at the hour most agreeable to himself, and is then supplied with his cup of chocolate made very thick and sweet, which with a small loaf of bread, an egg, a little fried meat and a glass of clear spring water serves him till dinner.

At this hour during the warmer months, the habit of bathing, for which the houses afford so many conveniences, is very general, but in any other way the inhabitants appear to have the greatest aversion to the application of water. For weeks together the most respectable inhabitants never wash their hands, faces or teeth, and the slightest sickness serves as a pretext for delaying the operation as well as that of shaving, frequently for months; so that you have only to look at a gentleman's beard to know how long he has had a cold, or to a lady's face to discover when she last fancied herself indisposed.

From ten to twelve are the usual hours for morning calls and receiving visits. These possess. in general the same characteristics as in other parts of the world. Friends meet as lovingly, talk as scandalously, hate each other as cordially and lie as gracefully here, as in the most polished cities of civilized Europe. The only points of

difference are, that the ladies shout out their observations in the highest note of the gamut, becloud each other's beauties with the fumes of tobacco, and part with an embrace as cordial as the majority of modern English kisses. These parties generally meet in the lady's bedroom, the gentlemen dressed "a la Inglesa" with coats cut any thing but anatomically, and the ladies in black silk, with lace mantilla for the head, splendidly worked silk stockings, and shoes almost diminutive enough for the Empress of China. Modesty and prudery are here understood to be synonymous, and subjects are freely discussed in mixed parties to which common delicacy would seem to forbid the slightest allusion.

At one they dine on soup, rice, vegetables and meat of various kinds cooked in as many different ways, with dulces or sweetmeats for a dessert, of which about 200 different sorts are prepared. Fish frequently appears towards the close of the meal, and fruit is introduced before the cloth is drawn. Scarcely any wine is drank. In many of the most respectable families it does not even make its appearance on the table. The whole concludes with a recitation, miscalled a thanksgiving. Well-bred people in Guatimala, like well

bred people in England, naturally feel that any thing like serious thanks to their Maker would subject them to the charge of fanaticism, and

therefore arrange matters so that this service is merely understood to say that dinner is concluded.

ner.

From the comedor each individual adjourns to his bedroom to take the siesta and digest his dinSo universal is the practice that from two to three the streets are deserted. Old and young, masters and servants, are alike reclining on beds and sofas. The very domestic animals at this hour are to be seen stretching themselves in the sun, and, partaking of the infection, "join the general troop of sleep." Between three and four things begin to revive, and first one and then another, yawning, rubs his eyes, and strolls to the clock to see how time has passed during his slumbers. Towards four the comedor again becomes frequented for chocolate, after which the occupations of the day are once more resumed.

Let us then take a walk into the street and see what is passing there. The daily market is about over, and contains only a few stragglers buying at a cheaper rate the refuse of the day's sales; ten or a dozen half naked Indians are basking in the sun; three or four soldiers are reclining against the pillars of the piazzas, humming a revolutionary air; and a little further on are two or three devoted Catholics most devoutly kneeling before the image of a saint, and apparently in a state of the most perfect abstraction. In a little while the tinkling of a bell is heard, notifying the