SALESMAN  AND  CUSTOMER  251

America  are  terrible.  Toilet  and  bathing  accommodations ­
  are  poor,  the  cooking  vile  and
the  dishes  unpalatable,  while  the  beds  are  intolerable. ­
  Vaults  in  American  cemeteries  are
far  preferable  as  residential  quarters  in  comparison ­
  with  some  rooms  I  have  slept  in  in  this
part  of  the  world,  especially  in  the  small  towns
and  villages  of  the  interior.  Conditions  become ­
  rapidly  worse  the  farther  away  one  gets
from  the  larger  cities,  and  as  one  penetrates
out  of  the  way  places  hammocks  and  your  own
food  supplies  are  to  be  recommended.  It
would  be  almost  impossible  to  describe  the
primitiveness  which  exists  in  this  part  of  the'
Western  Continent  away  from  the  beaten  path.
Travel  facilities  are  execrable.  Trains  are
slow  and  late  and  accommodations  decidedly
bad.  Steamers  are  small  and  stuffy  and  not
safe.  River  boats  are  provided  with  few  if
any  conveniences.  Going  up  the  Magdalena
River  in  Colombia  from  Barranquilla  to
Bogota,  a  journey  of  about  ten  days,  the  traveller ­
  formerly  had  to  provide  his  own  sleeping
accommodations  and  this  was  wise,  and  it  al ­