The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1873-05-28

MGlteS OF tlC Residents The SOldirrY-
| Glance at 4 Bulls Fight, Etc, Etc
ETC..
S.nce I wrote last from New: On
LEAFS / have been sailing over the & Il
on short tonr of ob>e vatiou to thi,
"Ever Faithful le." Yesterday au,
to-day have been bu lily spent in see
ing tic sights---a running comment or
Which | got down in the greatest
haste, rcser, lag olscrv .tivus upu,,
the p"lti ii aspect Of htl'airo for au.
other letter.
The entrance to the harhor O!
Havana is i'agnifcdnt. 1t is view
worth beholdlug. Far out upon the
Gulf, as you approach the mountainous
coost line, Il flag fr, III un ancient for.
trc's upon n rocky bluff s;en,ls the
nationality Of your vessel to the city
beyond. This is the celebrated Moro
Castle. .Soo@ your ship passes under
it, frowuing battlemcnts, and throueh Il
,thS narrow but deep channel, which
suddenly expands into capucious and
beautifully land-locked harbor, when
the yellow, massive city on the right,
The lofty END antinuo fortress on the
left, thS rS1aantio mountains In front,
&llh the endless mats, sails, ships and
flags in every direction, all burst a,
once upon yoar delighted gaze and
form compact and exceedingly va.
rid sS"ne to be long remembered.
The first peculiarity of the 'f!acc is
:h@. the ships orc all compelled to
anchor out in the harbor and load and
unload by means Of small boats which
continued breeze watt. to and from
the shore. Where New Orleans has
Lcr grand lcvcc Havana has Q prom
ensde with shade trees. There seems
to be twice as many ships in the har-
Dor as are to be seen at the Crescent
City, but the fact that they cannot
loa from the wharyes makes
'hcir expense in this port heavier
than elsewhere. In the III fiddle of The
harbor is anchored q huge Spanish
war friga'd, the Sar gossa, with about
hundred guns. I should say that
one broa dside from her would blow
tho c'tire fleet at Key West clear out
OF t c water.
The Spaniards here boast that their
navy is superior to thas Of the Unitel
States, which, I an astonie;Ied to as. .
certain, is. pretty Lear,Itla. truth.
they say that any fight for Cuba M ust
necessarily be q, naval war a.and that
within two weeks from, It's outbreak
Sp"in will sweep the American CON-.
mcrcial maine from the seas and
blockade the ports Of New York and
Nc" O:leans. i doubt this, but l do
MT question that che wonld make it yer
lively for US for awhile at leaCt, oh
make our ultimate victory cost Us
more than dozen Cubas are
worth.
Passengers &c ashore from the ships
in little covered gondo'as, which arc
as plentiful as omniiusscs at al
Amer can railway station, and in
charge of civil police officers with
rosctis on their Panama hats. at a
shed Oh shore your bngga 20 is indif-
fcrcntly searched, yoa are charged
two dollars and twenty cents in green.
backs for tho scrutiny of ycur pass
ports, shen the gaze is, opened snd
you arc turned free into The. city.
The volante Is the Havana suhsti,
thtc for our street cars. 1t is a
strangely built, covered carri,gc or
CAB Tor two persons, to which is
hitched one rickety horse which. car
ries you at lightning speed through
the narrow alleys called business
streets, at the rate Of twenty five
cents trip, in Cuban currency. II
You hire y volantc Ly the hour they
charge yoa a dollar, but you cannot
indmcc the driver to 60 faster than q
walk. The volantcs were formerly
driven exclusively by negroes, but Of
late years stalwart Spaniards and Il
few Cataloniana have monoro!izcd tho
bu<iucss. Nobody walks in Havana,
everybody rides in those .volantcs or
in private carriages. WSen ladies 70
shorfing their vo!ante stops iD front
Of t. store and tho, ,olerk brings out
the bolts OF. silk and calico for their
Inspection. g.,
There is nothing American about
the, characteristics Of Havana. Fycry.
thing hiss either tropical or Euro.
pean aspect. The Panama hats of
the men, the black lace walls which
the ladies ,.wqar, .instcnd Of hats or
tchhcts, the light GUNNER goods in
the wcll-st6ckcl stores, tho checkol
49d striped summer clothes Of the
people, the excessively warm weather,
with watermclons aud roasting ears
in tho middle Of April, make ne feel
that J am suddenly transported
into tho heat Of a tropical sam"
.mer.
Thc situation of tho houses gives o
sIugular aspect to tho whole ci Y.
They are airlr, coolly aud substan,
TALLY built Of rock, usually ono tall
story high, right upon tho edge of tie
street, and arc universally covcrud
| lpt. Il n, e