Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/305



A WEEK AT CORRIENTES. 275

was bought at 35,000 francs, including 15 per cent, to the agent. M. Peterkin has been made Inspector of Arms, with the rank of Captain of Infantry.

We sallied out to see the sights, and first of all the market-place. I asked for the bath. Point ! Yet I hear simultaneously four grind-organs that are actually paid to play. The Plaza del Mercado, at which the Calles Rioja and Julio meet, is by far the most interesting, and, indeed, the only lively spot at Corrientes. The bazar is now " hot,'^ and when not so the place is terribly dull. In the centre stands a " galpon,^^ a tiled shed, some fifty yards long, where flesh, which here means beef, is sold — ^' Car- neiro no es carne,^^ mutton is not meat, says the gaucho. The butchering is slovenly, and the badly-cut joints, if they can so be called, are mere hunks of animal matter. There is no milk, the country being pastoral ; butter is very rare, and all things are dear; even eggs command four sous apiece. The square is surrounded by pulperias, an Italian panaderia (bakery), and stores of wet and dry goods — especially blankets and saddlery. Of course the Circo de los Gallos is not forgotten.

" That man-'s throat should be cut,^^ said to M. Peterkin an old woman, recognising in me a Paraguayan officer- prisoner. Many of her sisterhood sat at squat before benches or napkins upon which were spread their wares, cane and tobacco, gourds and melons, potatoes and maize- heaps, with fruits, vegetables, and sweetmeats of sorts. Far more " Indian ^' than Christian — say three-fourths coloured — they are remarkable for personal cleanliness, and there is a merry smile upon many a wheat-coloured face. The skin is well lit up, the eyes large and dark, and the forehead lies low under volumes of blue-black hair, coarse as a horse's mane, and looking as if once wet it would never dry till the day of death. The fuU mouths and the

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