Under the Southern cross in South America . , or trying to sell, candymade of raw cane-sugar wrapped in banana leaves and flat cakesof unleavened pie-crusty bread which looked as if it would givedyspepsia to an ostrich. Below, stokers were haggling over fruits,dulces, and black cigarros, and doubtless some surreptitious flasksof pisco changed hands in the bargaining. Pisco is a white brandymuch affected along the coast, and is so called from the place ofthat name. As Guayaquil is the great depot and distributing center forPanama hats, of course many venders of the costly headgear cameaboard. T
Under the Southern cross in South America . , or trying to sell, candymade of raw cane-sugar wrapped in banana leaves and flat cakesof unleavened pie-crusty bread which looked as if it would givedyspepsia to an ostrich. Below, stokers were haggling over fruits,dulces, and black cigarros, and doubtless some surreptitious flasksof pisco changed hands in the bargaining. Pisco is a white brandymuch affected along the coast, and is so called from the place ofthat name. As Guayaquil is the great depot and distributing center forPanama hats, of course many venders of the costly headgear cameaboard. The Panama is passing, its great day is over, the day whenwealthy planters and Inisiness men were willing to give $100 andmore for one of the finest make. Still many thousands of inferiorgrades are yet sold annually in this section. They are not madeat Guayaquil, but at a little group of villages some fifty miles inlandfrom the coast. The grass of which they are composed is calledpeita and is found chiefly in the neighboring province of San. 7T ALONG THE WESTERN COAST 79 Cristobal. The best are braided during the night or early morningas the heat of the day renders the grass brittle and it breaks in thebraiding. It takes a native about two months to fashion a hat otgood quality. We were told of a hat on which eighteen monthswere spent and which was valued at $400. Such are no longermade. There is no demand for them. Most of the Panamas ofcommerce are but mere imitations of the genuine article. Nearlyall the hats the venders brought on board the Huasco ranged inprice from $5 to $13. A fev/ went beyond the latter figure and wecould easily recognize their value as they were of very fine braid,so closely woven as to resemble linen. If a large price were demanded the would-be purchaser seemedto intuitively feel the figure was exorbitant and that the venderwas trying to get the better of him, so the amount was sure to beresented and a much lower sum offered, or the seller ignoredaltog
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidcu3192402042, bookyear1914
