The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-04-25
CUBA.
It's Resources and Products.
Peeu1iarities of the People
and Country.
a Description Of its Picturesque
Points.
Corespondence New York sun.

| correspondence New York Sun.
Cuba is one of the fairest lands under tn
light of the sun, and one of the healthiest
There is probably no other country in tn
tropics where people of Northern birth ca
live more comfortably or more safely.
is true there is yellow fever in Havana a
all times, and in the summer it become
epidemic, but this is the effect of loca
causes. For winter residence for North
ern people nothing can be more delightful
than the Cuban climate. Through Febru
airy this year the average of the thermo
meter was about 70, and there was onl,
one day of rainy, unpleasant weather Still
the climate is never bracing one Ever
| in winter white man cannot do as mucl
hard work as he can in PENNSYLVANIA O
| Iowa; and in summer he must rest durin!
the middle of the day.
| Havana is very attractive city of semi
Moorish aspect. 1t is built on the western
slope of long and narrow bay. The de
cllv1ty is sufficient to insure good drainage
The streets are narrow and the sidewalks
are often only wide enough for a single
person. The houses are built of stone, an(
the older ones are generally of one story
They are painted light blue and yellow
The roofs in many eases are of red tiles
eral effect is exceedingly bright and gay
The public promenades are charming, with
their handsome drives, smooth walks,
fountains, palms, and masses of tropical
Towering shrubbery. In the evening they
are brilliantly lighted and filled with
throngs of people, sitting, walking, talking
smoking, listening to the music, enjoying
the soft, delicious air. The picture is like
that of the Boulevards of Paris, except
that it is broader, more varied, less crowded
and less noisy.
The sewage Of the city is all carried into
the long and narrow harbor. The mouth
of this harbor is less than half a mile wide,
and the rise and fall of the tide is only one
or two feet. Accordingly, there is no cur
rent outward, and during the hot weather
of summer the contents stagnate and fer
ment. Hence malaria, yellow fever, and
the unhealthiness of the town. Engineers
say that it might be changed at no great
expense by cutting canal from the head
of the harbor ENTHUSIASTICALLY to the sea,
producing a current and changing contin-
ually the waters of the harbor.
The cabs of Havana are Nictorias with
one horse, carrying two persons. The
horses are a small, active, tough native
breed. There are thousands of these cabs
anu no OIIG Has W W at ~ iIIIN OlIC. I1C
drivers are honest beyond the wont of their
trade
The price of drive to any part of the
city, whether there be one or two persons
in the cab, is forty cents in paper or twenty
cents in coin.
Cock fights are q regular Institution all
over Cuba. In every village festival they
play a part. Sunday appears to be a
favorite day for them. In Havana there
are also bull fights on Sundays, when the
placards say the bulls are fought to the
death. The cock-fghting people are said
to be especially gentle and kindly; though
for that matter brutality and ruff1anism
seems to be absent everywhere.
Hotels in Cuba are dirty. There is no
clean hotel in Havana, and the most FIRE
quented by foreigners seem, if possible,
to be the diftiest. 1t said that in visiting
any place where Spanish is the language,
the safe way is to go to the newest hotel.
The usage everywhere is to begin the
day, say at from to 9 o'clock in the
morning, with cup of coffee with sugar
and milk. Breakfast very substantial
meal, with wine and desert of sweet
meats, follows at about II, and dinner
from 6 to Z. The best cooks are Chinese.
The is a great deal of dram drinking
among the people. Gin is a favorite
liquor and large quantities of it are sold.
Smoking is as universal and constant as
breathing, but l saw no ladies smoking,
though no one refrains from smoking be
cause they are present. Cigarettes are
more frequently used than cigars, No
apology is required for introducing them,
and no one asks his visitor or companion
to Join him in smoking because he assumes
that the visitor has his own tobacco in his
pocket and would light his cigarette if he
wished to do SO. The only places where
one can't smoke are the churches and
the theatres. AT the opera | saw a man
who had begun to smoke in the parquet
compelled to quit the indulgence; but at
the same time a cloud of smoke blown
from one of the private boxes back of the
proscenium excited no attention whatever.
In the railroad car everybody smokes
without restrain and q special car for the
purpose would be ridiculous
There are few railroads in Cuba, and
some of them are in good condition. The
hrst-class cars have cane seats, and all the
cars are shabby. In some cases, however,
the road bed is smooth and in good order.
The trains are slow.
There is one good carriage road in the
island, the Government highway, con
structed evidently for military reasons, ex-
tending westward into the Vuelta Abajo,
the tobacco country, and eastward into the
sugar region; but the country roads gcner-
ally are of the most primitive description,
little better than cattle paths. Even about
San Diego de los Batfos, one of the most
agreeable spots in the world, where there
are sulphur and magnesia springs, and
where thousands of Norteern people would
be delighted to 90 every winter, if it were
more accessible there is no road on which
an ordinary carriage can be comfortably
driven. If the island is ever to start out
in the race of modern progress, it must be-
gin by the construction of good country
roads,
The cattle of Cuba are long horned
breed, but otherwise similar in color and
appearance to Jerseys. The oxen are very
compact. stout and smart; better oxen /
never saw. The cows are DOOR milkers