36 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



and after a great deal of wrangling succeeded in getting our guns. 

 The officials made but little objection to my taking the shot guns, 

 but haggled a great deal over the rifle. After my repeated assur- 

 ances that I had no warlike intentions, they finally gave it up to me. 



I then went to the Banco Nacional and cashed a bill of exchange 

 for $500 in American gold, getting for it $1,000 in Colombian 

 paper currency. As a great part of this was given to me in small 

 notes, 1 had nearly a satchel full of money and felt very opulent. 

 The paper notes in circulation are the hundred, fifty, twenty, ten, 

 five, and one dollar or peso, and the fifty, twenty, and ten cents, or 

 centavos. The peso is regarded as divided into one hundred cen- 

 tavos, corresponding to our cent, and into ten reales, corresponding 

 to our dime. There are also three nickel coins, media, cuartilla, 

 etc., corresponding to 5, 2|-, and \\ centavos. Silver coins are very 

 scarce. Besides a few cuartillas I saw only two others, both fifty-cent 

 pieces, which I bought and kept as curiosities. Gold I did not see. 

 There are certain designations of currency which are apt to confuse 

 a stranger ; for instance, there are terms which would nearly corre- 

 spond, if translated, to "hard" and "soft " dollars. A "peso 

 fuerte," or, as it is often called, a " fuerte," means a dollar of ten 

 reales, whilst a peso is generally taken to mean a soft dollar of eight 

 reales. 



Later in the afternoon we drove around to the market and bought 

 some sleeping-mats, or " esteras." We had supper about six, and, 

 being tired out, went to bed early. 



Barranquilla, although it covers a considerable area and contains 

 a population of over 20,000 inhabitants, does not amount to much 

 as a city except in a commercial sense. There are very few two- 

 story houses ; nearly all are of one story, the majority built of bam- 

 boo and mud, plastered and whitewashed and thatched with rushes. 

 The floors are of mud or brick. All of the windows on the street 

 are protected by a framework of iron or wooden bars which pro- 

 jects about a foot from the wall. The houses are unprepossess- 

 ing from the outside, but as we passed along the streets we caught 



