, 1888-04-29
IN CUBA.
Anticipated Methods by which the Peo-
pie Secure Rapid Transit.

@h@ SNDN DeA SSb1o VI
such cities as HaYana and Matanzas and
their immediate environs to those of a
trip across Cuba. Brilliant and Interesting
as is life and activities in these centers of
wlerd and strange population, all coast
wise scenes to the north have in them an
irrepressible sense of desolation. The
coast topography is dreary indeed. Blue
and mystic as are the half mountain rang
es when YOU first look upon them from the
sea, when you come to explore them on
foot there is little to charm or enthrall.
Great bald headlands are followed by
bare sweeps of valley, and these, save
where now and then a blooming village
may be found like a cheering desert oasis,
are again and again relieved only with
their own like and kind. Here and there
some single palm or cocoa tree lifts its
stately form like a giant sentinel, but that
is all.
One must reach the interior to know
the lOveliness and l%uxuriance of the
island. and it is only within the central
and southern valleys, like the splendid
valley of Guines, or within the almost i'm
penetrable forests of Sepa, or again upon
the descending plateaus OF the southern
slope and along the m%atchless wales of the
southern coast line that soil and forest,
fruit and flower, are so indescribably beau
tiful, majestic and magical, that the old
Cuban legends that here in the night
OF the ages was the true garden of Eden,
and here in the morn of paradise shall lay
the blessed Aidenn comes to one as a hap
py superstition, If not a positive reality.
As luck would have it, L fell in
with an American Cuban, whom the re-
Y~olutIon of '6S had driven out of his ma
tive island into the good fortune of Anne
rican citizenship, and wealth, of Phila-
delphia. | will call him Senior Manuel
DomInguez. He was now, after twenty
years expiration, returning to his family
estates among the once famous coffee.
lands to the north OF the ancient city of
Trinidad, Here his widowed mother and
brothers, the latter also former revolu-
tiOnary leaders. still lived. and it was with
genuine delight that, as his friend and
guest, | could in such intelligent compa-
nlonship become acquainted with so fair,
and so little known, a portion OF the ever
wlnsome, er-unfortunate island.
Our route, first to the important port
OF Cienfuegos on the south coast, lay over
the Bahia railway past Matanzas to Be-
moa, and thence over the Cardenas and
Jucaro and the Cienfuegos railways to the
sea, a daylight ride of over twelve hours
from Havana. This gave opportunity for
a little study of railway travel in Cuba.
1t has some curious aspects. For in
stance, when trains arrive at and depart
from cities or villages, it is rather a queer
thing to see, between the depots and
limits OF all municipalities, a man on
horseback preceding the engine. No
train may arrive or depart more rapidly
than the speed OF. this courier, who an
pounccs his own and the trains coming
by tremendous bellowings and %hallooings.
Sometimes he is provided with a sort of
trumpet which he sounds lugubriously.
The railways are nearly all Of narrow
gauge, and freight and passenger cars are
little and low. Not long age Cuban en-
gineers were nearly all Americans, and
received fabulous wages. This was also
true OF the engineers on the sugar planta-
tons.
But Cubans are bright and initiative,
and they are alon3 now in charge. The
machinery uttests that. 1t is dingy,
rusty, half ruined. The Cuban engineer
handles his engine in n hesitant, hysteri-
cal sort Of n way. He is no mechanic. If
a break down occurs, he calls upon every
hn1V within roach OnH in nnnnrln1n lna
n]crot;on .toiks T. onnr - ~ I
gctbCr or cnmmits onio;do So "m"y InO-
frigbt Tbo ]ra;i,vou Stat;ono ~" ene u
walled obont 40 hi"b os " Enr,ro aio :"
freight IS handel in tba yardS nnJ nnu
farred much 40 Inwnr Ey IT, u ans
stcombaat ;s "wonJeJii hn no"Ip v
ohonts who .,sbantv'S With J;snOl aowss
or Inv tho sunw;eiJy bmii cots nth V theI,
nictnresnn. carrotoneros 90 oommou -
the streets IF Havana Tbero = olSo
some i reT,lot;ons abort H. rol a
traycl Tictet' of;ces arc closod 6vo m;n
ntes hefore Jen~artnre Of tra;ns. anS;
fins fails Of secnring t;cLet nna th;rJ
additional n r]egnlor faro 10 nxontoJ e.
the Grst d;v;sion ovor rybioh noNr 49,
NAV Law Won are oIIowod 20 e.oo
oniy n hat hoy ~ a m"d;nm So yoi;aoo
Init if vonr train docs not NE sobadHIo
time Won can ston onvvbar" oIonn ,ho
rontc and oct vnnr ent;ro faro $780,
Ma Hncrsons of color" are aiiowod IN Grst
class cars tbonob game cocts in haSLats
are, and If Won attnmntoJ 70 r;Ja 49,
The nIatfnrm ar 70 oconnv moro tbon up pun
seat von void be imwod;oteI, tirU Ond
ovar to The gnardio o;v;i whoso nouaho"a
NhS S.NHt" Ni'ii "iooS "SlhDSIs