EL MERCADO CEXTRAL, ASUNCION, PARAGLA^. 



415 



the weeds in a garden may form an interesting study, as 

 new ones appear almost every year. Last year old Levi 

 left undisturbed what he thought was a melon vine, 

 though it came up in the unplanted pear orchard. This 

 vine grew wonderfully, and soon covered a space at least 

 two yards square, besides ascending several trees. We 

 soon saw that it was not a melon vine, and when it had 

 bloomed and perfected its fruit, by analyzing it was 

 found to be one-seeded star cucumber (Sicyos atigtilaliis), 

 a plant we had never seen before, and most assuredly 

 not planted. 



Another year the common nightshade {Solaniim ni- 

 grum) came to join the larger variety {Solanum dulcam- 

 ara'), which, festooning a fence with its purple flowers 

 and red berries, had long been with us. Then there is 

 a great plant of the common elder {Sambuius Canadensis), 



another of the pokeweed {Phytolacca dccandra), mother- 

 wort [Lconurus cardiaca) and catnip (Ncpeta cataria) are 

 plenty. 



Some years ago we brought from the sea shore a few 

 seeds of pimpernel (Anagallis ari'cusis), which were 

 planted in the part of our house lot farthest away from 

 the garden. The pretty little flowers bloomed there for 

 a year or two, then entirely disappeared from that local- 

 ity, appearing two or three years later in the garden, 

 where, now they kindly come each year to act as weather 

 glasses. 



But a catalogue of all our weeds, common and uncom- 

 mon, would fill many pages and be of little interest, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, to an enthusiastic botanist, or to some 

 one who had a method of extermination. 



Plymouth Co., Jl/ass. M. E. \'igneron. 



EL MERCADO CENTRAL, ASUNCION, PARAGUAY. 



STRANGER in the capital of Para- 

 guay wishing to see the sights will in 

 all probability be advised to visit the 

 great central market. This is cer- 

 tainly about as characteristic of 

 Paraguay Hfe, and about as lively and amus- 

 ing, not to say instructive, as anything to be 

 found in the country. It is situated in the 

 heart of the city on the principal street, Calle 

 Palmas, and belongs to a private corporation which 

 derives a large revenue from its operations. The 

 building is a huge, rambling, brick structure, one and 

 one-half stories in height ; or rather, when you enter 

 it, you will find that it is composed of a large shed 

 in the center which, in the beginning, was probably 

 all there was of it, around which has been erected 

 a still larger quadrangular building, the outer build- 

 ing alone having a half story above. This upper 

 half story is divided into low rooms, the ascent to 

 which is by steep stairways in the interior, and the 

 rooms are rented to tenants of small means who pay 

 dearly for their cheap accommodations by being 

 nearly suffocated all summer long with heat, dust, 

 poor ventilation and foul odors. 



Around the entire structure runs a brick-floored piazza, 

 roofed over with the peculiar curved, double rowed, red 

 tiles which, may be seen upon most of the houses in 

 Asuncion. A series of stone steps leads up to the floor 

 of the piazza from the four streets upon which it bor- 

 ders : and these steps are generally covered with a litter 

 of corn husks, pea shells, orange and banana peels and 

 other refuse which has been thrown down by the people 

 above. None of this litter, however, goes to waste, as 

 scores of donkeys, cows and cart horses stand along the 

 streets and help themselves from the piles, being scarcely 

 willing to move aside long enough to allow you to mount 



the steps. These creatures in Paraguay appear always 

 to possess hungry stomachs which are capable of digest- 

 ing anything. Donkeys in particular, refuse nothing 

 which can be broken finely enough to be swallowed. I 

 have seen them munching melon rinds, thistles, cactus 

 stalks, palm branches, fish bones, pine-apple tops and 

 even barrel staves without the slightest discomposure. 

 On the westerly side of the market is a common which 

 really forms an open air vestibule, and is quite as peculiar 

 as the market itself. Here the celebrated Lopez once 

 tried to construct a grand plaza, and only succeeded in 

 making a grand failure, as he did of so many other 

 schemes in the course of his detestable career. This 

 plaza is a piece of low, flat sand, occupying the space of 

 two city squares ; one half of it is enclosed by an ugly- 

 wire fence, the posts of which, many of them, lean over 

 as if they were tired and wanted to lie down. One side 

 of the enclosure is graced with a Pindo palm, which is 

 lop-sided and seems undecided whether it has strength 

 enough to live or not ; another shows two small casu- 

 arinas and a tree of paradise, anything but paradisical 

 in aspect ; the third displays a solitary, unhappy looking 

 Mexican agave ; while the fourth side is luckily destitute 

 of all such decorative appendagesi and therefore is at 

 least natural if not handsome. 



The unenclosed portion of the plaza has been devoted 

 from time immemorial to the occupation of numerous 

 nondescript vehicles, pack donkeys, loads of commodities 

 too heavy or too bulky to be taken into the market house, 

 and the miscellaneous collection of boys, women and 

 dogs who naturally figure in such a scene. Go there at 

 any moment between 5 and 7 o'clock in the morning, 

 and, my word for it, a picture will be impressed upon 

 your mind's eye that you will never forget. The donkeys, 

 which the country market women use for transporting 

 both themselves and their produce to town always excited 

 my deepest interest. They are hardly larger than a good 

 sized Newfoundland dog, and usually have a couple of 



