4i8 



ET ME RCA DO CENTRAL, ASUNCION, PARA G LA I. 



earthern or tin platters, in which they heap the fruit, 

 vegetables and meat bought, and which they invariably 

 carry upon the head. Should you pass through the 

 streets early in the morning, you will meet scores of these 

 stewardesses bearing their loaded provision baskets so 

 skillfully poised upon the head that there is no need to 

 touch them with the hand. I have often seen them bal- 

 ancing an erect bottle or pitcher or pail of water upon 

 the head, holding it so adroitly that never a drop of 

 water is spilled. Once, as I was writing the very notes 

 from which this account is taken, I looked out of my door 

 and saw a woman passing with a child in her arms, and 

 a basket of meat on her head which I thought from its 

 looks could not weigh less than 50 or 75 pounds, both of 

 which she bore with the utmost ease. On another oc- 

 casion, I saw a young girl, who bore a tall jar upon her 

 head and a bundle in one hand, lift with her foot a hand- 

 kerchief which she had dropped, take it in her other hand 

 without stooping, and go on as unconcernedly as if her 

 gymnastic achievement were a very simple affair. I 

 should like to recommend that girl to Barnum as a first 

 class gymnast. 



But as yet I have said nothing of the most extraor- 

 dinary sight to be witnessed in this curious market. 

 One considerable section of it, lying just inside of the 

 outer rooms of the quadrangle, is occupied by the frying- 

 pan brigade, if I may designate them by that term. 

 Here may be seen a large number of women squatted 

 upon the floor and frying over charcoal fires all sorts of 

 meat and flour compounds, — pieces of beef and mutton, 

 sheep's entrails, cakes of maize dough, pastels, and 

 strange things full of pepper, garlic, olive oil and grease 

 which you do not recognize, and which if you should 

 happen to taste you will vote to cast to the dogs — who, 

 by the way, bear the name of legion in Asuncion, and 

 will be only too glad to act as your proxy. 



Around these fryers are policemen off duty, working 

 men, boys and women who come into the building just 

 far enough to reach this point, where they spend all the 

 little change they have in buying these delectable com- 

 pounds and devouring them on the spot without plate or 

 fork. 



You can get, if you wish, ladled hot out of the boiler, 

 a nice bowl of arroz diilce y leche, sweetened rice and 

 milk, or, if it be hot weather, a glass of molasses and 

 water into which a spoonful of ginger has been thrown, 

 or a lemon squeezed. 



It was my custom when I kept a bachelor establishment 



in Asuncion (which I did for a long while) and purveyed 

 for my own cafe and almuerzo, to visit this market every 

 morning; and I seldom came away without patronizing 

 a nice looking Paraguayan matron, Anita by name, who 

 Sat on a low stool and presided over a pastel manufac- 

 tory. Pastels are small flat cakes made of flour paste, 

 having much shortening in the dough and in the center 

 a composition of hashed bread, meat and vegetables. 

 They suited my taste much better than any other dish of 

 the market that I ventured to try, and Anita who prepared 

 them was quite attractive in spite of her bare feet, her 

 culinary occupation and disagreeable surroundings. 

 Her long black locks were neatly done up and fastened 

 with a high gold backed comb, her ear pendents sparkled 

 in the light of her charcoal fire, and she wore a clean 

 white frock which was flounced below with folds of Para- 

 guayan lace which is as fine as genuine Honiton or Valen- 

 ciennes. Her pastels were always nicely rolled up in 

 fresh banana leaves and handed to you with a graceful 

 bow. She usually had two children between her knees 

 or at her side, one of them, a little girl of five or six 

 summers, as bewitching a chichita as I ever encountered- 

 with flashing black eyes, round, chubby cheeks and 

 pearly teeth, who could just shake me by one finger and 

 greet me in about the only Spanish she knew ; "Buenos 

 dias, Senor." 



Well, as I look back upon it all from this distance, I 

 must say that poor and ignorant as are the women who 

 carry on this market, I can but honor them for their 

 commendable efforts to earn an honest living for them- 

 selves and their families, which their lazy, shiftless hus- 

 bands will not or cannot do. Many of them daily trudge 

 on foot to town from the country for a distance of from 

 five to ten miles, bearing their loads of produce upon their 

 heads, and return the same day after earning perhaps a 

 half dollar or a little more. I often met troops of them 

 walking along the sandy roads and in the burning sun. 

 Their lot is a little better if they are rich enough to own 

 a donkey and a lemon, orange or banana grove, or a 

 vegetable garden. They are good humored, industrious, 

 social and even merry in their own homes. I am sure 

 that with all the hardships to which they are subject, 

 they are more contented and happy than scores of re- 

 fined and educated ladies of our own country, who waste 

 time and health in fashionable excesses, and with all their 

 luxury and ease are devoured with ennui and are weary 

 of life long before the appointed three score years and 

 ten. Thomas Morong. 



