218 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



by manufacturers of a kind of coarse flag mat, half an inch in 

 thickness, known by the name of petdte, and usually inter- 

 posed between the rough tile floors and carpets. In this same 

 callej6n are constantly seen a number of Indians and negroes 

 making segarreros, and washing and glazing straw hats from 

 Manila and Guayaquil. The segarr6ro is a case for cigars, plaited 

 with the fingers, of a species of grass which grows at Choco, 

 near the Equator. It consists of two symmetrical halves, one 

 being nicely received into the other. Some are as fine as hair, 

 and of various colors, disposed in difierent figures ; the initials, 

 and even the whole name, are occasionally worked into them. 

 Their price varies, according to the quality, from a dollar to a 

 doubloon. 



At the corner where the portdles join, are generally hung 

 up the placards or bills advertising the play, cock-fight, and 

 bull-bait. They are all done by hand instead of the printing 

 press. The most interesting scene of the play to be repre- 

 sented is caricatured in bright colors, much as we see large 

 wood cuts of the feats to be performed at the equestrian the- 

 atres in the United States. The bull-ring is shown, with some 

 one of the different modes of attack to be resorted to on the 

 day of exhibition. Cock-fighting is announced on a scroll, sup- 

 ported from the beaks of two cocks, painted on a large piece 

 of cloth, on which are some eight or ten doggrel rhymes lau- 

 datory of the birds, and the amount bet on the pitched fight. 



At the same corner there is always a number of boys, with 

 quantities of cheap dry goods, spread upon the ground, con- 

 stantly crying the qualities and prices at the top of their voices : 

 <*Panuelos finos, a real y medio^' — fine pocket handkerchiefs, 

 at a real and a half. 



At sunset the scene changes. All the shops are shut, busi- 

 ness is closed for the day, and the plaza is then devoted to plea- 

 sure and promenade. Along the Portal de Escribanos are ta- 

 bles, where are sold, by candle light, ices and iced drinks of 

 several kinds. Orchata — prepared from almonds — and chicha, 

 a species of beer made from maize, are common. 



Ice is a monopoly granted to a company. Physicians deem 

 ice so important in the treatment of diseases, that the mono- 



