CUSTOM-HOUSES 
269 
sent as a present, the nature of the ingredients 
of each separate piece of candy was not in 
dicated, and a fine of $80.00 imposed and ob 
tained. 
The bar of a famous ex-prize-fighter has 
been for years in a Latin American custom 
house because the importer never could raise 
the money to pay the arbitrary fine exacted. 
Brass pays a high duty according to the 
schedule of the country to which this bar was 
shipped, because cartridges can be made from 
it, although there is not an ammunition factory 
in the entire land. In the decorations of the 
wooden pillars at the end of the bar, there 
were one or two strips of brass about two 
inches wide. The whole bar was assessed as 
of this metal and a duty and fine amounting to 
several thousand dollars imposed, which 
caused the American who bought it and who 
had intended to open a cafe in one of its cities, 
to get out of the place on the first ship, leaving 
the bar as a souvenir. 
An iron bed, with four hollow brass balls as 
ornaments on the end posts met with the same