The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-03-19
LETTER FROM CAD,Iz.
Corrs.ponaeuse of ths Richmond Dispatch

q LETTER. FROM ADIz.
Correspondent of ths Richmond Dispatch.
------..-..-CAp1z, February %, 1861
On Saturday the goth Of January We
left Havana on the Spanish mail steamer
Guipuzcoa, bound for Cadiz. A departure
for the old country is an event OF great IN
terest to the provincials, and a large con,
course Of the citizens of Havana, composed
mainly of those of low degree,--boatmen,
Wharf-rats, and the like-aseembl ed TO give
us the benefit Of their benedictions on our
momentous adventure. The friends OF the
messengers were out in force, many Oh
whom graced the neighboring house-tcps'
whence they waved their handkercni e,
with zeal and vigor; and l was especlaliy
struck with one who, his aboundlng love
beinp too vast to be, eneompassed IN any
handkerchief. had provided himself with
sheet or table-cloth, and from MS nlgn Pi.-
nacle waited his good wishes AFTER us IN
volumes. As for ourselves, having oeen
skinned to the utmost possible point curing
our soiourn in the city, we were pretty sure
that there was no one present Interested In
our IuTLQeT- @AhA " "
the scene with much composure.
The next day was lovely one ana the
passengers summed and aired themselves
on the upper deck with prodigious gusto.
We numbered some seventy or eighty per-
sons, comprising several ladies and chill
,dren. During the day I endeavored to in
.eratiate myself with the parents by teach
ing two or three babies to say "riua es-
pana''-my Cuban experience leading me
to believe that it was bit of erudition not
unlikely to stand them in good stead here
after. In the night the wind freshened
and the sea roughened, and this state Of
things continued to grow worse for the next
three DAYS, when the weather became really
tempes,uous. And now, in the words of an
old nautical bard
"How stormy the winds did blow,
And the ragin' seas did flow a.
You'd see the old tars go tippin' to the top,
And the landsmen q layin down below"
Our craft rolled about terribly. 1t was
impossible to move around except by the
performance of series of difficult and
startling acrobatic feate, while to remain
still subjected US to submersion and satu-
ration by the huge waves that ever and
anon surged over US. To eat with any
satisfaction was out of the question. Plates
of garlic soup, decanters of dreadfully mean
wine, and pots of scaldiDg hot and highly
colored coffee, were constantly capsizing in
our laps, and our very bread would be
snatched out of our mouths. Plates and
dishes and cups and saucers persisted by
the score. On one occasion, n car used to
convey these articles from the cabin to the
kitchen, loaded to its maximum, broke
from its mornings and demolished its con-
tents with crash which for moment led
us to believe that of a verify our last hour
had come. At every roll Of the vessel the
children bawled with terror, and their
yells mingGng with the bowling of the tenn
pest and the smash Of crockery, combined
to form scene Of appalling grandeur. This
scene l essayed to contemplate from posi-
ton on the upper deck near the wheel.
I can conceive Of nothing better fitted to
Undue the soul Of landsman with the idea
of utter helplessness than to stand where l
did and note the bark that bears him as
she battles with the dark and boiling
waters Of an angry sea. With rueful feel
ines I gazed till I beheld billoW, which
may have been of about the dimensions of
Church Hill, coming at US. While looking
at it with sensations something akin TO dis
NAV, O. slice of the said billow, rather
smaller than St. Johns church, broke for
me, and gave me such q plastcring and
tousling as persuaded me to 60 below end
to wait there till quieter times were come
unto US.
To augment the horrors Of our situation,
that direful malady, the sea-s!ckne5s,
broke out amongst Us, and such was lts
malignancy that in less than two days it
was epidemic, and nearly every one of US
was laid low by it. myself had some OF
it's premonitory symptoms. My appetite
was taken from me, and from time TO time
it gave fearful admonition that it was dis
posed to "go back" on me and deprive me
of my former acquisitions; but by judici-
ously taking an occasional ounce or so of
preventive l was enabled not only to come
off unscathed, but even to triumph super
abundantly over the miserable retchers
who strewed the ship from stem to stern.
Few things afford more heartfelt joy than
is experienced by o disinterested spectator
as he looks upon victim Of this fell dis
ease in full agony, OF as he notes the
CHASTITY subterfuges and evasons by which
some strong minded but weak stomached
sufferer endeavors to conceal the fact THAT the
.enemy's grip is heavy upon his vitals. AL
this enjoyed, but somewhat to my discom-
fort, nevertheless, for the sounds Of their
woe assembled continually, disturbing my
meditations by day, and, in conjunction
with the shaking | got in my berth, efectu-
ally breaking up my rest at night; and,
moreover, before the epidemic disappeared
the vessel was in little better plight than
Hog alley, against which the efforts of your
Board of Health have been 60 persistently
directed. Fortunately for our sanitary con-
dition, hogshead or two Of water would
now and then surge down below, washing
us out and saving us from an otherwise in
evitable quarantine-though at the expense
of moist beds and of exhalations whose like
have not been smelt since the demolition
Of the Augean stables.
Among our company was the secretary to
my lord the Bishop of CUBA pale and
delicate looking gentleman-sent out, per-
adventure, for recreation and relaxation.
But, God wot, of recreation got he manifold
little, though of relaxation he was favored
with exceeding oyermuch abundance. He
was one Of the very first, as well as the very
last, victims of the epidemic. He could
play e1cellently we'll both at cards and on
the piano; and during the brief spell Of
fair weather he played in both capacities
to the satisfaction of all concerned. But
when the wind begun to blow and the seq
to flow, he was played out. He threw up
his cards, and he threw up his whole stock
of eatables, and with the cooperation Of the
garlic soup, which was prescribed to him as
stomachic, it really appeared as if he