| Show cienfuegos june ath 1898 this city of the fiery name lies a long way west from santiago but ort on the same side of the island like cortez when he passed the way to th conquest of mexico aco according to his chronicler bernal diaz we sailed at hazzard toward that part of the horizon where the sun set at least it seemed at hazzard when a few hours after leaving santiago we rounded cape de cruz and skirted the bank of buena esperanza good hope and found ourselves among the green cays of doce leguas aleguas these are the in m numerable nume ruble islets named by columbus the queens gardens in the mazes of which his caravans cara vals wandered aimlessly many days nowadays the regular steamers take their course tat far around them in deeper water out ot of sight night of land and probably that is the reason why modern visitors to cuba seldom speak of this taoist lost beautiful and interesting archipelago for ideal journeying in the antilles at a favorable season of the year and when time is no object by all means take a yacht or some local coaster and stick lose close to shore you will wind in and out a thousand bights and cover ot of translucent blue whose silvery beaches are fringed with cocoa palms and al ways waya inland is a glorious picture ol of cloud and mountain the tranquil waters you are threading shut off by green islets from the uncertain carridean Carri bean hardly had the dark cobre range stretching from santiago to cape cruz faded from view before the trinidad mountains sprang out of the mist to meet us the latter are not so imposing or so rich as the cobre heights with their pico Tur tarquino turquino quino the highest peak in cuba and their exhaustless deposit of copper and iron but are much more beautiful being densely wooded to the clouds that veil their summits the only city we pass is also called la trinidad in honor of the holy trinity and is one of the oldest and quaintest quain test on the island with a famous and fertile valley of the same name behind it then another long line of mountains whose highest peak is ur tor and andl hen after a while break in the coast line a light house and another morro reveals the entrance to clentus sos goo harbor it seems sl a pity to take the romance out of any story of the olden time but sometimes the truthful chronicler is compelled to do it as in the origin of the fhe singular name of it is place UP V have all heard how it was bestowed bee towed on account of a remark made by columbus as he glided by in his ca tradition says that when the discoverer crossed the wide bay to the eastward he suddenly saw before him at nightfall the flashing of many fires in the forest that lined the shores abores and ex claimed cla Amed to his bis companions mira los loa abir fuegos look A hundred fires bros for the Ind indians lans who had become alarmed at the doings of the white strangers at other points were warning their fellows farther along the coast in the direction the caravans cara vals were taking by firing tall trees as danger signals but I 1 am sorry to say that this was not the way of it nor was waa the try cognomen bestowed on account of the heat as one might well suppose who arrived here on a summers day the original spanish town which was founded soon after the conquest disappeared two centuries ago the present city was christened about 1818 in bonor of don jose cienfuegos Clen fuegos then governor general of at cuba whose administration was signalized signalizes by such important events as the cession of florida to the united the concession to the colony of unrestricted trade and a mighty agitation for the suppression of slavery cienfuegos was waa created by the sugar trade and has ever since been devoted to its commerce many of the finest plantations of the county are connected with it either by railway or water it being the terminus of the american line of steamers and of the western railway system of cuba there are three routes from cienfuegos to havana and in whichever the traveler decides to take he will wish he had taken another one is a zigzag zig zag journey by rail involving an all days ride beginning and ending in darkness five changes of cars and no end of discomfort I 1 never saw more uncomfortable railway traveling than in the interior of cuba neither water nor food are to be had on the way at every station one may readily find harsh red wines and the rum of the country but no good water to drink and it is necessary to take along enough fluid of some sort to last till your destination is reached the second way is by steamer to batobato Bato bano requiring a night and a morning on the sea and a two hours ride by rail across the island and the third is an all the way ay around ocean trip wherever you go in cuba the familiar sentence will recur to mind we came into a land wherein it seemed always afternoon but cienfuegos Clen fuegos comes nearest to being wideawake wide awake than any place in the country bright clean progressive it has been not inappropriately dubbed the yankee town of cuba instead of the narrow crooked lanes rambling up hill and down which distinguished its older neighbor santiago its straight well paved streets are laid out on a dead level and were long ago lighted with gas while those of havana were yet depending on oil lamps the fact is it is too Yankee fied fled and devoid of to be att to the average curiosity hunting american traveler its commonplace two story houses might belong to any northern town and are all so nearly alike that a man coming home late at night must needs be comparatively sober not to mistake his neighbors casa tor for his own the present population Is officially reckoned at and there are or were before the war a number of english and american merchants and planters engaged in the sugar and to baco trade it has a fine harbor and Is one of the few tropical ports where steamers come up to the wharf as they do in new york permitting passengers to land without the aid of small boats the instant our gangplank gang plank was thrown out we were surrounded by a crowd of hollow eyed spectators who seemed to spring up from the earth they were all products of this long and terrible war mostly homeless re rados who had been lying about the wharf tor for of a better place to stay they would have swarmed upon the boat in their desperation of hunger had not spanish soldiers driven them off at the point of the bayonet and the skeleton ek eleton hands i outstretched and nd pitiful appeals for alms made ua regret that we had ever seen been the unhappy island being the commercial center of thirty or forty of the largest sugar estates on the island as well as many extensive tobacco plantations cienfuegos enjoys a large export trade in time of peace there are three tolerable hotella ho telsa government palace an opera house market place military and public hospitals and a fine alameda or grove of elma driveway and promenade the few which serve as a fashionable noteworthy public buildings are mostly grouped around the central plaza the latter is a large handsome square well lighted by electricity and enormous emor moTia ornamental gas lamps its broad pavement of marble tiles bordered by palm trees and beds of flowers is guarded by two uan lion surmounted pillars while pedestals here and there support whitewashed white washed statues on one side of it stands the cathedral too now new to be very interesting with an esplanade in front and two towers one much smaller than the either filled with little bells perpetually jangled out a tune on another side of the plaza is the government house bouse faded with impressive colonnades colo nades and flanked by a long line of barracks on the opposite side is an open air theater a popular cate cafe acdan and an extraordinary club house built and owned by chinese se its president is a chinaman who was educated alt aft harvard and speaks a good deal better english than some native Ameri americans cams I 1 have known the plaice is well worth visiting being fully up to the best beat of its kind in the chinese quarter of san francisco A broad hallway paved with marble tiles leads to an extensive sala also marble paved which opens into a quadrangular courtyard in which palm and flowering shrubs grow around a central fountain in a big reci eption room on om the second floor above a shelf where jos sits surrounded by other gods hangs a framed parchment upon which are recorded the names of the who compose the membership of the club to get a general idea of at the town N you should climb to the top of at reser l voir hill the only commanding point in the vicinity from which the city stretches west a couple of miles while are the plantations with their neat villas and sugar mills and scattered groups of palms the parti colored casas lingk blue purple and green often all the colors of the rainbow combined on the wall are built in the usual cuban style interiorly wl with th an open courtyard in the center well filled with flowering pl plan anlis to A few og at the more ambitious display lavish adornment of ran iron work carvings or 1 stucco balustrades and marble floors it happened that we arrived on a sunday the gala day of the week in all spanish america and although so soa much suffering and hunger were every i where apparent cienfuegos was not without its show of galety gaiety mostly kept kent up by the spanish residents who at still at 1 maintain a brave front of igna ignoring r I 1 g the t h e gravity of the war situation situ aaion in the these j parts the clergy are so accommodation accommodating as to have the last service in the chure churche over by nine or ten in tho the morning this leaves nearly a full day I 1 tor for cockfighting cock fighting bull bating horsey lore dj racing gambling and the other fi tavor avor ite of spanish americ in the evening e ening a military band rende rend lenderts nde erts excellent music in the plaza and all ahn thai local world turns outto out to enjoy it t broad marble walk upon which h the senoritas seno ritas in their best clothes parade para to and fro was lined on one side wt indulgent chaperones and duenas sit ait ting upon stone benches and con convent 1 I 1 antly keeping but half an eye i their flirtatiously inclined charges arges 1 on the other side by a solid it ph several rows admi admiring I 1 male ale I 1 ott on lookers while the farther edges wen w darkly fringed tinged by hopeless and ht hungry poverty during all the week senoritas seno ritas are never allowed to go of alone but are kept under rigid r atral nt constantly watched and abw aiwas accompanied by their elders or servants in their walks church V about town this system of supervision would be intolerably irksome to the mothers and guardians of the girls 4 it if marriage were not arranged for them fr at a very early age at 13 or 14 a cubana Is supposed to be ready tor for marriage and a match is made for her i toy by her parents as soon as possible 1 meanwhile during the transition she is not allowed to make any male acquaintances unless it be at a long range through the medium of fan and handkerchief communication but though kept under guard during six days of the week on sunday she is j trotted out and exhibited to all comers c the whole town goes to see the show and for hours all r 11 the unmarried tramp up and down displaying theo their f cha charms set aft ff in choicest gaud and i J gear while hundreds of young men x V I 1 join the procession and exchange glances and signals if not words with a I 1 them and the mothers and chaperons chaperones chape rons complacently overlook the scene from the side benches this is the cuban vanity pair fair girls of 13 and 14 are the belles of the walk said and the great concourse ion ton course of carefully dressed profuse ly powdered perfumed and toothpick tooth pick plok toed men watch them with eager in 4 0 o terest 5 FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD |
