IN FRONT OF THE MARKET IN GUATEMALA CITY.

In the central markets native products of usual and unusual character may be found in amazing variety. Within the market building the goods are attractively displayed in booths but outside these homemade products are spread out on the street in simple fashion.

An article of pottery in general use throughout the country and a highly developed native industry. These jugs are made in plain and fancy designs. One of the most picturesque scenes in Guatemala, especially in the interior towns, is that represented in the illustration. Little children, clad in costumes similar to those worn by their elders, accompany them to the streams for water, each carrying a little jar.

and industrious nature of the people. They reflect, moreover, surprising skill and patience on the part of the workers. The sale of their handiwork is not unlike their manufacture. Each producer is his or her own salesman. Occasionally where a particular object has become general in its use either as an ornamental piece or as a serviceable article, its manufacture is carried on in communal fashion by a group who combine their simple facilities and share the results of their labors. But as a general rule the individual who makes the article is the one who comes to the market or takes his place in the public square, there to offer for sale his wares or to barter them with his fellow tradesmen for other things.

Because of the demand for many of these articles by the tourist and traveler a number of shops arrange with the individual "manufacturers" to purchase from them their continual output and then realize a handsome profit in the resale. The prices they pay to the native worker are surprisingly low. However, the latter is satisfied, as it affords him a steady market for his work, and if perchance he makes a few additional sales in the plaza or market place he augments his profits by that much. The fact is it keeps the people profitably engaged, and were a foreign market established for the many pretty things which are produced it would mean the development of those home industries on a large scale as well as prove a profitable undertaking to the enterprising dealers.

To obtain a good idea of the variety, kind, and character of such products as have been referred to a number of times, one should betake himself to the central market. In the capitals these market places are remarkable institutions. In the other cities and towns the size of the market is in accordance with the size and importance of the place. But be the market large or small, it is there that one finds the native industries arrayed in all their glory. From around the surrounding country the people bring their wares, each person displaying some peculiar knack in the make-up of his article, each vicinity offering something different from the next, and each country producing or excelling in some particular thing. Pottery and crockery, silk and cotton, straw and rope, leather and skins, silver and stones, these are the substances from which the assortment of native industries are made-a hundred and one little things of usefulness and ornament to meet the wants of some people and to charm and fascinate others.

In passing through Guatemala who has not stopped, admired, and then acquired several of the famous guacales, the bowllike receptacles carved from the gourd, calabash, and coconut shell? The calabash variety is the most common and attractive. They are hand carved, colored in black, and the designs are sometimes tinted with vegetable colors. But the standard guacale is the black and

The market places furnish a touch of local color not seen elsewhere. The maker of a toy or trinket, the weaver of a scarf or blanket, and the designer of a basket or hammock, brings his product to the market either to sell it or barter it for some other commodity.

A "GUACAL," A RECEPTACLE MADE OF CALABASH.

These "guacales" are made up in a variety of sizes and shapes and are very artistically carved. They may be used for recei ing trays, fruit bowls, and even as ornaments. They are inexpensive and would prove to be good sellers. The baby rattle is also a product of the calabash.