102 
GUATEMALA. 
minimum of sixty-five bottles per diem , paying twenty-five 
cents a bottle for all over this amount. All the product 
is brought to the public store, where it is tested at 50°; 
and the retailers sencl in their written orders for the 
number of bottles they require. The estancas (or drink- 
shops) pay forty dollars per month. The unfortunates 
who drink take a small tumblerful at a time. 
I bought a mare — yecjua colorada — for sixty dollars; 
and as all bills of sale and receipts must be in Spanish, 
we, with the help of the postmaster, composed the fol¬ 
lowing simple affair on stamped paper : -— 
Saben: 
Coban, 13 de Novr. de 1883. 
Que yo Miguel Keyes vicino de Coban, Alta Verapaz, he 
vendido y vendo a Don Guillermo T. Brigham una yegua 
colorada con el hierro del margen en la suma de sesenta 
pesas en efectivo. En constancia firmo yo el vendidor. 
The paper is not only stamped, but also water-marked, 
and is for sale at the principal shops. As the stamps are 
changed every two years, the Government has to redeem 
all stamped paper on hand at the end of each biennial 
period. 
Cuartillo of Guatemala (enlarged three times). 
